to, so it was easy to do. “Where was I? Had I arrived yet?” Stewart asked.
“You had, but you were busy,” Andy replied, in between gulps of water. “Remember, it was late, dark, and we had trouble with Camera Two. If I’m not mistaken, you were resetting Camera Two.” He ran his hands through his hair as he thought back over the evening before. “Yep, you were definitely working on Camera Two!” he said.
That made sense, since they’d had a lot of trouble with that camera; it seemed that strange things had been happening. One time, the batteries had actually been removed. But how was that even possible? Thought Stewart. He had no idea. Perhaps it was more evidence that they were not alone in the Willows? Since Camera Two was always placed in a critical location, it would make total sense for activity to surround that camera.
Andy glanced around the cafeteria again and leaned toward Stewart, “Trust me, I wanted to yell, ‘Hey, I’m being watched! Ahhh!’ But knew I’d scare him, her, or it off, so I kept working on setting Camera Three and it wasn’t easy, not easy at all, because, between you and me, I was terrified!”
Stewart pushed the log toward Andy and threw down the pen. “Here, you double-log yourself. I’m freaked out!”
The boys hadn’t figured out why the ghost had picked Andy when they had both been there. Andy noted it in the log as ‘needs to be investigated further.’ They were nervous, but excited at the same time, and still had to get through the rest of their day. Plus, they still had to do their chores and their homework when they got home before they could even think about going back to the woods to retrieve the data. If they had captured evidence from the night before, it would be a crucial break in their investigation. Neither one of them could afford OCS. Trouble at school equaled trouble at home.
“We have one more thing to consider,” Stewart mumbled through a mouthful of sandwich as he watched Andy dive into the biggest chocolate brownie he’d ever laid his eyes on. “The girls. We have to deal with the girls. What if they’ve really seen what we’ve seen?”
That would be bad, they thought. They discussed possible scenarios and decided it would be best if they took a wait-and-see approach. If the girls knew anything, anything at all, they would come back to the boys eventually. This would buy Andy and Stewart some time to figure out what to do about it. They were girls, after all, and they couldn’t help themselves; the boys were sure they’d want to rub it in. The worst-case scenario, and the one the boys didn’t want to entertain at all, was that they would have to join forces and work together as a group. “Ahhh, can you even imagine,” Andy groaned. He insisted that if that happened, the girls would likely scare pretty easily anyway and give up the hunt. Then they’d have nothing to worry about.
Stewart thought about that, and it made him feel better. They felt pretty good about something else. If the girls did know anything at all and then blabbed about it – well, seriously, who would believe them anyway? This was a very comforting thought. So far, there hadn’t been a single rumor floating around the school about a ghost in the woods or, more importantly, about the girls being crazy. This would likely be the rumor, the boys decided, if they spoke of such things anyway. So, waiting was a smart move, and Andy could out-wait anybody. Stewart would rather pull his teeth out than to talk to the girls about something this important.
What the boys didn’t know was that the girls had already agreed not to tell anybody about what they’d seen. They were on their own mission, but they just needed some help.
The bell rang, and the boys headed off to art class. Kendall was in their class as well. Stewart told Andy to keep an eye on her. “Look for clues, observe detective-like, without alerting her,” he said, and they watched every move she made. It was too early to tell if the girls had seen or knew anything worth reporting, but their message was definitely unsettling. The boys had deliberately sat in the center of the room, a premeditated move. The girls circled the middle art table and sat on the opposite side of the room. The way they circled made Andy nervous. They knew something was up; he could feel it.
“What’s up?” Stewart said, as Zack sat down next to him. “You up for an assignment after school?” he asked.
Zack grinned, “Is it what I think it is?”
“Oh, yeah,” whispered Andy.
Stewart glanced at Andy’s paper, and Andy could tell that Stewart had no idea what he had drawn. Before he could ask what it was, Andy said, “Abstract,” and then he grinned. “Works every time!”
Stewart burst out laughing, and that was that. Mr. St. Claire took one look at him and, to his relief, sent him out of the room! He hated art anyway.
3 A Presence:
“I can see you.”
The bus made great time, which was a good thing, since it took at least fifteen minutes to get to the Willows. Stewart dropped his backpack on the kitchen floor and opened the refrigerator door. He grabbed a juice box and a cheese stick, his favorites, then left a note on the table. Be right back, it said.
He ran all the way to the Willows with his heart pounding. At first, he thought it was because he was running faster than usual, but he soon realized it was because he was nervous. His brow was sweaty, and so were the palms of his hand. He broke down and walked a while. Come on, dork, he told himself, trying to calm his nerves. You’ve gathered equipment a hundred times. Do it like you always do: gather, reset, and leave.
Stewart had a sick feeling in his gut. He was worried that whatever had touched Andy would be watching him, just like it had Andy. He pushed the thoughts out of his head and continued to walk toward the woods, wishing Andy were with him. His eyes darted back and forth as he walked the path, and Stewart thought the woods seemed eerily quiet. There wasn’t a single breeze to be had.
His instincts suddenly told him to stop. Stewart listened to the stillness, and his hand smeared the beads of sweat across his face as he wiped his brow. Just keep walking, he told himself, forcing one foot in front of the other, in an attempt to shake his nerves. Stewart picked out familiar sounds and focused on those. He recognized the sound of the stream and the bullfrogs croaking in the distance, a bird every now and then fluttering from tree limb to tree limb, and the occasional rustle amongst the bushes. It was working; his nerves started to settle. He was ready to do what he had come to do: gather the data, reset the equipment, and, hopefully, leave without an incident.
The surveillance location was deep in the woods, to the left of the stream, behind the great big dip. It was surrounded by lots of weeping willow trees. This was how the woods had gotten its name in the first place: the Whispering Willow Woods.
Camera Three had been the hardest camera to place. It was located in a log that had fallen years ago, landing directly over the dip. The log was charred, a sure sign it had been hit by lightning – unless you were talking to Andy. According to Andy, it was the heat from an alien exhaust craft. Stewart didn’t buy that, but whatever.
The boys always placed Camera Three deep into the log and protected it with a waterproof cover. They had pointed it toward the largest clump of willows on top of the hill. Getting the camera into the log was always easier than getting it out. They’d lie flat on their stomachs, crawl into the log as far as they possibly could get, and push the camera deep inside the log with their hands. Finally, they would
