was working; his breathing had slowed down and he still had his wits about him. Stewart moved his frozen feet, one foot in front of the other. His mind knew what to do, but for some reason, his body wasn’t cooperating. Walking was awkward, let alone running. If he were having a stroke, surely someone, anyone, eventually would find him and help him if need be. Providing, of course, I’m still alive! He pushed that thought right out of his head; of course he’d be alive! He wasn’t having a stroke. He said his name and address, and counted backwards from ten to make sure. He had seen that on TV somewhere and couldn’t believe he’d remembered it.
“You’re being watched; you’re not being messed with. Think of the mission, think of the hunt. You’re in control, buddy! You’re in control!” Stewart told himself, though he didn’t feel as if he was in control. He listened to the sound of his voice and realized for the first time that his feet were finally moving and going in the right direction. Stewart was ready to get home, call the boys, and tell them what had just happened. They wouldn’t believe it! They would go over the data he’d retrieved piece by piece and see if they’d captured anything. He hoped the cameras had captured his experience. Stewart was certain at this point whatever was in the Willows was a who and not a thing.
As soon as Stewart reached his house and opened the back door, his saw his mother waiting for him in the kitchen. He couldn’t tell if she was upset with him. He was late, after all. He had so much to do that he didn’t have time for explanations. Not now, within a few seconds he’d know for sure, 5,4,3,2, and 1 . . . bingo, here she goes.
“I was about to start looking for you,” his mom said playfully. “Where have you been? You didn’t answer your cell.” She opened the oven door and pulled out a covered dish, poked it with a fork, and slid it back into the oven again. Stewart was caught off-guard when she asked him a second time. “Son, where have you been?” This time, he could tell that she wanted to know.
He gave a brief description of the events in the woods – with the exception of the possible ghost. His getting wet was due to fishing, he lied, which would explain why he’d been by the stream in the first place; well, kind of.
Fortunately, she seemed okay with all of it. “I’d rather you’d go with the boys than by yourself. It’s not safe,” she said for parental measure. She pulled the dish back out of the oven and poked it one more time; it was done. She pointed Stewart toward the sink. “Hands, son,” she said, “Wash them!”
Stewart did and sat down at the table with her; he was hungrier than he had realized. He ate, but kept one eye on the clock.
After dinner, there was a knock on the door. “Oh, I forgot,” Stewart said, “I called the boys; they won’t be here long. Is it okay?” He didn’t wait for an answer. The boys walked through the kitchen, saying hello and grabbing the usual cookies and soda his mom quickly put on the table. They ran up the stairs and shut Stewart’s bedroom door, and before anyone could say a word, Stewart started rambling.
“You’re not even going to believe what happened to me in the Willows today,” he said excitedly. Turning to Andy, he said, “Get your pen ready.”
“Start talking,” Andy said opening up the log and entering the today’s date. “I’m ready.”
Stewart described how the cool air had followed him everywhere he went as he zigzagged down the trail, testing his own theory. He explained the eerie feeling the woods seemed to have that evening while he was there, “But then,” he said, “you’re not going to believe this.” He took a deep breath. “It spoke to me!”
“What?” Andy and Zack yelled at the same time.
“Shh,” Stewart said, “My mom will hear you. It spoke to me.”
“What did it say?” Andy asked, hardly believing what he’d just heard.
“It said, ‘I see you,’” replied Stewart. “Just like that. ‘I see you!’” Stewart stared at his friends; their mouths had dropped open and their eyes were huge. “It was so clear, I couldn’t move. Heck, I even screamed. I’ll admit it. I screamed – a manly scream, of course – but a scream like this: Ahhh!”
“Whoa!” Zack mumbled. “Wicked! Very, very, wicked!”
“I know, right!” Stewart said in agreement. He jumped up off the bed and pointed to his arm, “I’m pretty sure it brushed past me, too. I felt it right there!” he said excitedly.
Andy picked up the pen and started scribbling again. He was still as intrigued as Zack was about the voice. There were so many questions he wanted to ask, but he didn’t want to miss a single detail.
Zack wanted his own personal experience so bad he could taste it. But for now, he would just have to accept being a part of the team, hunting the ghost, and searching for some answers. He definitely wanted his own physical or visual experience like Andy’s or Stewart’s, one they could log in the journal on his behalf. “I can’t wait to have an experience like that, except you can bet I won’t be scared!” Zack joked, and all the boys laughed.
Andy threw a football at Zack’s head, and just as Zack picked it up and threw it back, he said, “Hey, I just thought of something: we still need to review the tapes.”
Stewart’s eyes lit up as he looked at the disks; there was no telling what they would find. With any luck, both of the boys’ personal experiences would have been captured. They were getting closer to figuring out what was going on in the Willows.
They dimmed the lights and hit play.
4 Plans
“Hi, Mrs. Cook. Is Maggie available, please?” Ally asked, rolling a soccer ball underneath her foot as she waited.
She could hear Mrs. Cook talking to someone. There was a slight pause and then, “Yes, we had a fabulous time, and thank you for asking.”
“Hiya, Ally,” Maggie said cheerfully as soon as she picked up the phone. She smiled at her mom and waited for her to leave the room before she continued. “Go!” said Maggie. It was her signal. “Hey, did you talk to Kendall, and can you guys come over?” Maggie asked. All of the girls could and would be there shortly.
Their meeting was a very important one; they had to decide what they wanted to do next regarding the boys. The bombshell had been dropped for sure at the lunch table, but it didn’t seem to be enough. Andy was very stubborn, especially when it came to girls. The girls suspected that if they’d told the boys that they knew that they were investigating a ghost, there would be consequences. But they had no idea what those consequences would be. They’d end up telling the boys they’d been spying on them, and if they did that, well, even they knew that would probably make the boys mad.
Maggie didn’t know what to do about getting the boys to take them seriously, and hoped that Krista, Kendall or Ally would have a suggestion or two. Maggie wracked her brain as she waited for her friends to arrive. She kept going over and over the events they had witnessed and wondered if the boys had seen the same things. If she wasn’t mistaken, Kendall had caught sight of something first. Then Krista had unfortunately experienced an actual physical encounter with the ghost and had
