The Secret of the Skeleton Key Read Online Free PDF

snooping around. Maybe they were looking for that treasure. I heard Skeleton Man used to be a gold prospector.”
    â€œWow!” Luke said. “You think there’s gold hidden on his property?”
    â€œAnd dead cats?” M.E. added.
    Quinn shrugged. “Very funny, M.E.” He looked at the others, one eyebrow raised.
    â€œMaybe we should go find out,” Cody offered.
    Before anyone could say anything more, a loud boom shook one wall of the clubhouse.
    â€œMountain lion!” M.E. screamed, grabbing Cody and hugging her tightly.
    Luke leaped up and peered through the eyehole in the door, while the others sat frozen to their spots. Cody could hear her heartbeat through her T-shirt and wondered if everyone else could hear it, too.
    After a few tense seconds, Luke whispered, “I don’t see anything.”
    â€œWell, something hit the wall!” M.E. said. “Either that or the clubhouse is haunted, too.”
    Luke unbolted the door and cracked it open a foot. He stuck his head out, looked around, then took a step outside, searching for any sign of movement.
    Cody thought, He’s so brave . She rose and followed him to the door, but remained inside.
    Moving around to the side, Luke called out, “I think I see something…. ”
    He was quiet for so long, Cody finally said, “Is it the mountain lion?”
    â€œI don’t think so. Unless it’s wearing a T-shirt. Whoever it was, he’s disappeared behind the trees.”
    Probably Matt the Brat , Cody thought, stepping outside. Quinn rose, put on his sunglasses, and followed her. Then came a reluctant M.E.
    â€œLet’s get out of here!” M.E.’s voice quavered. Cody could see that her friend was terrified.
    â€œYou’re safer inside the clubhouse,” Quinn said. “Stay here. I’ll go check it out with Luke.” Cody and M.E. huddled in the doorway.
    Luke had disappeared from sight behind the clubhouse. Cody waited, barely breathing, squeezing M.E.’s hand. Seconds later she heard Luke call out from the back of the clubhouse, “You can come out now.”
    Cody and M.E. followed Quinn’s route around to the back of the clubhouse, where they found Luke holding a rounded stone the size of a softball.
    â€œWell, that was no mountain lion. Unless mountain lions can throw rocks.”
    Cody looked at the clubhouse wall and spotted a dent in the siding.
    Luke held up the stone for the others to see. It was wrapped in a piece of paper secured with a rubber band.
    He removed the rubber band and unwrapped the paper. Letters of various sizes cut from a magazine or newspapers had been glued to the paper. Luke read the note aloud.

    Cody took the note from Luke, looked it over, and gave a short laugh. “This is so bogus. Whoever wrote this spelled Skeleton wrong. And besides, how could Skeleton Man write this anyway? He’s in the hospital. It’s totally fake.”
    â€œYeah, but whoever it is obviously knows his nickname,” Luke added. “Someone’s trying to scare us away from his place.”
    â€œBut why?” Cody asked.
    â€œAnd who else knows his nickname?” M.E. asked.
    â€œLots of kids in the neighborhood do, and our parents know we call him that,” Quinn said. “But something’s up. And I think we should go over there and find out.”

Chapter 6

    A fter dinner with her mother and Tana, Cody went outside to search in her front yard again for her adopted cat. She checked some bushes and behind her ash tree, then called across the street, “Punkin! Here, kitty, kitty!” Still no sign of the orange tabby. Cody hoped he—she?— was just hiding somewhere safe and would turn up soon.
    Remembering Quinn’s plan to contact the club members, she looked inside the knothole of the ash tree as she passed by. Nothing. Maybe Quinn had texted her. She headed inside and climbed the stairs to her bedroom to check her