her house, white as a sheet, visibly shaken, and scared beyond belief. The ghost had been staring at her from a distance; just watching her, Ally had said. She’d stopped what she was doing to take a closer look and that’s when it had walked straight toward her and simply disappeared. Ally had been visibly shaking as she’d described the ghost. Maggie finally had to admit that something strange was going on in the Willows! It was then that, just like the boys’, the girls’ investigation had begun.
It wasn’t long after they had started visiting the Willows that they realized that the boys were up to something as well. Naturally, they couldn’t help but wonder if it was the same thing. The girls had watched Stewart and Andy messing with something, but they had no idea what it was. They could tell that it was some kind of equipment, but they couldn’t see it exactly. They had crouched behind the willows, scared to death that the boys would catch them spying on them. They had been very lucky that the boys hadn’t caught them, and they’d watched the boys through several different excursions. The girls decided it was time to take the investigation to the next level. Their plan was to stay in the Willows until dusk, catch the boys red-handed, and confront them. They had hoped that Andy and Stewart would have some information to share with them about the ghost that the girls had seen in the woods.
When the girls had put the plan into motion, they’d had no idea how creepy the woods could be once the sun went down. The light – or lack of it – changed everything, and they had been afraid. They’d sat behind a large rock, clasping each other’s hands as they waited to see if the boys would show up. It had taken two weeks to catch Andy and Stewart in the woods again, and Kendall had been certain Stewart sensed something was not right. When he’d appeared to stare a little longer than necessary in their direction, Kendall had thought for sure that Stewart had seen her. She’d ducked down as quickly as she could. Stewart had definitely been busy with something, and thank goodness he had not noticed them.
The girls had realized that the boys seemed to have a camera. Stewart had appeared to be pulling and pushing the camera into a log. The girls had come to the conclusion that if Stewart was pushing a camera into a log, it was fair to say he intended to leave it there. They surmised that the boys were, without question, onto something major. It made sense that Stewart and Andy had seen the ghost, too! Maggie thought something else: the girls had the upper hand in the situation, and the boys didn’t know that they knew.
Maggie was suddenly startled when her little brother appeared out of nowhere and jumped up onto the bed and sat next to her. “Clay, out now, please. My friends are coming,” she said, as he continued to bounce up and down. He didn’t care; he liked it when they came over, the girls always made a fuss over him!
“You, out,” Mrs. Cook scolded Clay, as she suddenly appeared at the bedroom door. She smiled at the two of them. Maggie was tickling Clay and he was trying to break free. She pulled out the mom voice again. “Now, Clay, I’m not playing. Let’s go, bath time in ten!”
“Later, gator,” Maggie said as the doorbell rang. “Clay, answer the door and send the girls up to my room.” He was happy to help and raced down the stairs.
***
The girls piled on top of Maggie’s bed, stacking the pillows and getting comfy before they started their meeting. Kendall had a suggestion, and it was a good one. “Well,” she said, “we’ve already told the boys that we know what they saw, and it’s pretty clear they don’t believe us; not yet, anyway.”
“Right,” Ally, Krista, and Maggie said in unison.
Kendall continued, “I think we should give them a push and tell them exactly what we saw and when we saw it. I mean, the actual ghost!” She giggled. “I know, right? Can you imagine the looks on their faces when we steal their thunder?” The second bombshell could be very effective, that was for sure. With delivery of such a message, the timing would definitely be everything! It was the perfect way to speed everything up; after all, there was no telling how long the boys would wait them out if they didn’t make their next move a drastic one. Stewart had been pretty stubborn during summer camp, only speaking to the girls if spoken to, and not once initiating a conversation, and Andy, well he just followed Stewart’s lead. The girls seemed to irritate them both, getting on their nerves. And Zack was always busy; it really didn’t seem to matter to them whether he was around or not.
“Let’s tell them that we saw the ghost. Who wants to do the honors?” Ally asked. “Or should we take a vote just to be fair?”
The girls agreed that Ally would giggle too much and probably wouldn’t be taken seriously. Kendall didn’t want to deliver the message, and Maggie had no desire to deal with Andy or Stewart, for that matter. The task was left to Krista. They devised a plan. The message would be dropped during lunch. Since the boys always ate in the corner, it shouldn’t be a problem to get them alone at the same time. If they dropped this bombshell and the boys didn’t want to talk about it, well, they’d have to continue on their own.
“How do we know that Andy won’t blow me off like he always does? I swear if he does, I’m going to come unglued. If he drops that pen, then I have his attention!” Krista giggled, and so did the other girls.
Ally laughed so hard that her red hair bounced everywhere. Andy never gave them the time of day, and Stewart didn’t, either. Kendall suggested they stick with the same plan even if Zack happened to be there, which was doubtful, but just in case. The girls all agreed. No distractions.
The girls whispered about the ghost they had seen in the Willows and couldn’t help but wonder where it had come from or whom it could have been. They had been scared at first, terrified in fact, but there was something about the ghost that made them feel at ease. They didn’t know what it was. It could have been the demeanor, perhaps, or maybe the size. Perhaps it was the gender; they just didn’t know. They just knew that they were fascinated and wanted to find it again. They wondered if the boys had managed to capture evidence on the equipment that they had so carefully set up. They all recognized how amazing that would be and wanted more than anything to view the data if there was some. If the boys would share with them, who knew where the investigation could lead, what they could all accomplish together?
“OMG,” squealed Ally, “Just, OMG, can you even imagine if we grouped up?” It was too much for preteen girls; they suddenly stopped talking and just burst out laughing!
***
The lights were dimmed in Stewart’s room. Andy had the logbook and his favorite pen in hand; they were ready to watch the DVDs. It was the same routine every time: DVDs first, voice recorders second, and then, last but not least, the thermal image recorders. Stewart hit play, and no one said a word. The boys stared at the screen, blinking only when absolutely necessary. They watched the monitor as Stewart gathered and reset the equipment. They could tell from the video that it was just as Stewart had described, eerily still. The willow branches weren’t moving in the typical sweeping to and fro manner that they usually did when there was a breeze. They watched as Stewart stopped and looked all around him. They could tell he was uploading information from the equipment, but he kept stopping and looking around his surroundings, as if something wasn’t quite right. They could see that Stewart was very uncomfortable with something, though they could tell that he didn’t know what. Stewart was rushing about and was obviously very nervous, and Andy made note of that fact several times in the log. Stewart was mopping his brow and nose as the sweat poured off of him, profusely at one point. Andy noted this in the log as bizarre and circled it, since the temperatures had been relatively mild that evening. The sweat was definitely an indication of an increased heart rate likely due to fear, which Andy also logged and circled.
“Whoa, wait a minute; stop rolling!” Zack suddenly hollered as he jumped to the edge of the bed. “Did you see that? Back it up!”
Stewart
