The Horror Read Online Free PDF Page B

listen to me.
    Lightning jolted again and I saw Katie grasping the top of the window, pulling with all her strength, her head bowed under the open frame, her neck—
    Springing toward her in the dark, I yelled at her to get back, knowing she was too stubborn and mad to listen to me.
    It took forever to cross the room—I kept bumping into things, as if the house didn’t want me to get to Katie.
    In the dimness between flashes of lightning I saw the top of the window give a little shiver.
    I was too far away to save her.
    I threw myself through the air.
    Slamming into Katie sideways, I shoved her out of the way just as the window crashed down.
    It slammed shut so hard, the whole house shook.
    I pushed myself up off the floor and took a deep breath. Katie didn’t move.
    â€œWow,” she said softly, her voice small. “That was close.”
    â€œI tried to tell you,” I said. “This is a dangerous place.”
    A sudden gust of wind blew rain over us both. But if I thought Katie was going to be grateful that I’d saved her life, I was wrong.
    â€œHow could you!” she said through clenched teeth. “This will get me in trouble for sure. Your mother told me about all the antiques in this place. They’ll be ruined!”
    She groped her way toward the last window in the room. I ran to get in front of her.
    â€œLet me do it,” I pleaded. “They’re all stuck. But I can tell when they’re about to let go. Stand back!”
    I flung myself at the window and pulled. As it came crashing down I stumbled and fell backwards over a chair.
    The air was suddenly still inside the house, although it continued to rattle the window glass from outside.
    â€œAre there any candles?” Katie asked.
    â€œI have a flashlight,” I said, getting up from the floor. “But it’s upstairs on my dresser.”
    â€œWe better get it and clean up this mess.”
    Sally was waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs. I could just make her out. She was holding something in her lap. I ruffled her hair. “You okay, kid?”
    Sally nodded. “Winky doesn’t like the thunder,” she said, holding up her bunny.
    I waited, keeping Sally company while Katie went up to get the flashlight.
    The beam of it blinded me as Katie came back down the stairs. She shone the light around the living room. “What a mess,” she said. “We’ll be up all night trying to clean this up.” She shot me a baffled look. “I don’t understand what you were trying to do, opening all those windows in the middle of a rainstorm.”
    â€œI know you won’t believe me, Katie, but this house really is haunted. I didn’t open the windows. It was the ghost, Bobby.”
    â€œNo,” cried Sally loudly. “It wasn’t Bobby. He wanted you to fix it. That’s why I came into your room!”
    My heart sank. If not Bobby, then it was the other ghost—the old witch with the skeleton hands and the glowing eyes.
    But if Bobby’s ghost wanted me to stop the old witch, then they weren’t doing their haunting together.
    And if they weren’t together then what I had feared last night was probably true. Bobby and the old witch were fighting some great battle—and we were caught right in the middle.

15
    The next day Katie convinced me to go play baseball with my friends.
    â€œMaybe the windows really weren’t your fault,” she said. “Maybe you were sleepwalking. Or something.”
    We’d been up half the night sopping up water and using Katie’s hair dryer on the chair cushions and rugs. I really needed a break.
    â€œGo ahead,” Katie said. “I’ll look out for Sally.”
    Maybe it was safe for me to leave, now that it was daytime. The really bad stuff happened at night, right?
    â€œGo on,” Katie said, giving me a weary smile. “Hit a home run. Hit two home runs.”
    â€œThanks,”