Sleepover Stakeout (9780545443111) Read Online Free PDF Page B

“We told you what we heard. Tell us what you saw.”
    â€œIt just … it doesn’t make much sense. It was probably nothing.”
    â€œSpill!” Darcy yelled.
    He groaned. “Fine. I saw a small light. Moving around outside. It was real quick and just sort of shot by in the dark.”
    Maybe Darcy’s alien theory wasn’t too far off.
    â€œBut it was nothing,” he said quickly. “It was probably from staring at the video game too long. My mom’s always on me about that. She’s probably right.”
    â€œThat doesn’t explain the voice we heard,” Maya said.
    Hunter cocked his head to the side as if a thought had just occurred to him. “Could the voice have been an old lady?”
    I shrugged. “Anything’s possible. Like we said, it wasn’t clear.”
    â€œI bet I know who it is, then.” Hunter put the flashlight under his chin again. His whole face lit up orange and distorted. He made his voice go deep and creepy as he said each word slowly, “It … was … the … Old Witch.”
    I took in a sharp breath. “Who?”
    Maya gasped, “What?”
    â€œYou don’t know about her? You should. She lives right across the street from you,” Hunter told Maya smugly. “Someone in the neighborhood should have warned you when you moved in.”
    â€œA person lives in that run-down old house?” Maya asked, surprised. “I’ve never seen anyone.”
    â€œShe hardly ever comes out,” Hunter said, adding a dash of menace to his voice. “Only once every few years, when it’s time for her to lure an innocent child into her house … for sacrifice.”
    Darcy groaned. “You’re full of it, Hunter.”
    â€œNo, he’s kind of right,” another voice said.
    Startled, I jumped and turned around. A shadow was walking toward us, from the house next to Hunter’s, two doors down from Maya. Hunter shined the flashlight at the figure, and my throat went dry.
    Zane Munro.
    I slowly blinked a few times as he joined our group.
    Zane was here. Standing right next to me. And I was wearing cloud pants. I closed my eyes and prayed for Darcy’s aliens to beam me up. I opened my eyes again. No luck. Still here in my dorky pajamas.
    â€œWhat do you mean ‘kind of right’?” Darcy asked.
    Zane stuffed his hands in the pockets of his athletic pants. “There is a woman who lives across the street and hardly ever comes out. And she is very strange. But I don’t believe those stories about her.”
    Hunter said, “Well, then how did she get the name the Old Witch?”
    Zane shrugged. “Probably from kids referring to her as ‘that old witch.’ You know how these stories get started.”
    Hunter shook his head. “It’s more than that. She lives alone in that giant house and she’s, like, a thousand years old. No one in the neighborhood can remember her ever being young.”
    My logical brain told me that Hunter was only trying to scare us, but my illogical heart pounded wildly. Between hearing the voice on the monitor, sneaking around in the dark, and listening to a story about a witch, this was turning into one creepy night.
    â€œMaya!” a shrill voice shrieked.
    We all jumped, even the boys. Footsteps pounded the dead leaves on the ground as Anya stomped over to us. Arms crossed over her chest, she yelled, “What are you children doing out here?”
    Again with the emphasis on “children.” Sigh.
    Maya shrank back. If she was a turtle, she would have just retreated into her shell. “We’re hanging out, Anya,” she said. “I didn’t think we had to stay in the house. You’re in charge of Rishi tonight.”
    â€œWell, I’m in charge of you three, too.” She pointed at Maya, Darcy, and me. “And I came downstairs to find you gone. What if something had happened to you