Playing with Fire Read Online Free PDF Page B

Lily. She hated watching people cook.
    â€œWe’ll see about that!” She lunged to grab the remote from my hand, but I was too quick. I snatched a pillow and bopped her on the head.
    Giggling, she reached for my second pillow and whacked me back.
    â€œGirls!” Mrs. Randazzo called. “Stop acting like savages. What’s poor Spencer here going to think?”
    I stole a glance at Spencer. He smiled. He had no problem with a pillow fight.
    Angela thrust glossy, printed sheets of activities into our hands. “Look at all the fun stuff they have for kids your age. Throw on suits while we unpack.” She glanced through the door leading to their room. Her pink luggage teetered in a pile. She seemed to have suddenly realized just how much she’d brought with her. “It’s going to take me a little while to unpack. We’ll meet you down at the pool.”
    â€œLet’s go claim some lounge chairs,” Lily suggested.
    Mrs. Randazzo made us listen to a long list of rules. We couldn’t swim without a lifeguard. We couldn’t leave the hotel property. We had to stay together. She went on and on. Finally, Mrs. Randazzo and Angela retreated to their room. I pulled on my favorite aqua-and-navy halter one-piece. Lily slipped into her magenta ruffled bikini. We both threw on the matching paisley tunics we’d bought together last month at a stand on the boardwalk and hurried back to the elevator.
    â€œWhat am I missing?” Lily rummaged through her bag as we waited for the elevator to open. “I got sunscreen, lip balm, floppy hat, sunglasses, cards, celebrity magazines. . . . ”
    My attention drifted down the darkened hallway. The hallway that was off-limits.
    Dim light filtered in from a small window at the far end. Shadows swirled about in the silence. My shoulders stiffened as my eyes caught a shape moving.
    I squinted, trying desperately to see. A figure. Small. A long skirt or a robe formed a triangle by her feet. A ropelike braid fell down her back.
    I blinked rapidly. Was Sofia right? Was this floor haunted?
    â€œWho’s that?” Lily hissed.
    Lily saw her too. What did that mean?
    â€œHello? Hello, down there!” Lily called.
    Her voiced echoed back. The hall was now empty. All we heard was the faint click of a guest room door shutting.
    And the chime of the elevator as the door opened.
    Lily looked wide-eyed at me. I looked at her. We both hurried into the elevator.
    In the lobby, Lily grabbed my hand. “We need to report this.”
    â€œReport what?” I wasn’t sure what we’d seen.
    â€œMr. Himoff!” Lily barreled toward the reception desk. She was an act-first, think-later girl. I liked to turn things over in my mind, but today Lily was leading the show. “We just saw the weirdest thing.”
    Mr. Himoff kept his usual broad smile but cautioned Lily to lower her voice. He nodded at a group of guests in the lobby preparing to set out for a hike up Mount Norma.
    Lily told him and Sofia, who stood by his side, about our strange sighting.
    â€œThat’s impossible,” he scoffed. “That hall is beingrenovated. No one is staying in those rooms.”
    Lily insisted we’d seen a woman.
    â€œMust’ve been a cleaning woman.” He didn’t seem overly concerned, but he promised to send security people to check it out.
    â€œAh, Mrs. Foster and Darius!” he turned his back on us to greet a woman and her young son. “What can I do for you?”
    Sofia waved us to the far side of the desk. “That hallway,” she whispered, “the one he said is closed for renovations. That’s not the truth. It’s closed because that’s where the ghosts are.”
    â€œSofia!” Mr. Himoff’s voice boomed in the high-ceiled lobby. “Darius here is looking for a checkers set.”
    Sofia gave us a grim smile and went to help Darius. Lily and I took off out the back