Ghost Invasion

By Zilpha Keatley Snyder

It’s almost Halloween, and the Castle Court Kids are ready to raise some ghosts
The old Anderson barn is haunted. According to sixteen-year-old Bettina Katzenbach, the ghosts of Addie Anderson and her bandit boyfriend return every Halloween. Enthralled by the sad story of the doomed, centuries-old romance, Kate Nicely and Aurora Pappas hatch a plot to see the phantom lovers for themselves.
Their scheme is thwarted by the other Castle Court Kids, who are trying to horn in on the action. Eddy Wong, Carlos Garcia, and Bucky Brockhurst have their own plan for raising the spirits. So do their younger sisters and brothers. How are the ghosts supposed to rest easy with an invasion of Castle Court Kids? To top it all off, their parents just came up with the brilliant idea that they all go trick-or-treating together.
But on this Halloween of chills and thrills, strange creatures walk the night . . .
This ebook features an extended biography of Zilpha Keatley Snyder.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Release date: Mar 25, 2014
• ISBN: 9781480471870

Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Zilpha Keatley Snyder is the author of The Egypt Game, The Headless Cupid, and The Witches of Worm, all Newbery Honor Books. Her most recent books include The Treasures of Weatherby, The Bronze Pen, William S. and the Great Escape, and William’s Midsummer Dreams. She lives in Mill Valley, California. Visit her at ZKSnyder.com.

Book preview

Chapter 1

UNDER THE TALL TREES the shade was deep and dark and the only sound was a leafy whisper from high above. The air smelled of pine needles and sun-warmed dust. Kate Nicely and Aurora Pappas moved slowly and silently, watching and listening. They could see the barn now through the trees—paintless gray-brown walls rising to a sagging roof.

Shh, Aurora said suddenly. There it is. Don’t you hear it?

Kate listened. Hear what? she said softly.

Nothing, Aurora whispered. That’s just it. How quiet it is. Everything’s holding its breath.

Kate listened again. It did seem quieter, somehow. There were no bird sounds and even the leafy whisper seemed farther away. What—what is it? she asked again.

Aurora shook her head slowly and thoughtfully, and then suddenly froze. Her face turned upward and her hands, too, as if her open palms were receivers, sensing sound or motion. Kate watched her approvingly. Aurora looked so—mysterious. Even in her usual grungy T-shirt and ragged tights, and with her crinkly hair frizzing out in all directions, she still managed to look like an enchanted creature. A gray-eyed creature staring out through flyaway strands of hair, like a wild thing in a tangled thicket.

Following the direction of Aurora’s stare, Kate could see only trees and distant glimpses of barn, with slanting rays of sunlight making glittering pathways through the deep shadows. She sighed and went back to watching Aurora—and waiting. Like always. Every time they came to the barn they stopped and waited for a while before they went in.

They’d been coming to the old, deserted barn for months now. Not often, of course. Only now and then when Aurora got a mysterious feeling that it was the right time. They would walk around the cul-de-sac once or twice, checking things out and deciding which secret path to follow. Whether to take the short, dangerous route, right through the Andersons’ property, or the longer, safer way, by a trail that started behind Kate’s house, wound up into the hills, and came down again into the small pine forest that surrounded the old barn. And even then, after they’d finally arrived safely at the barn, they always stopped and waited. And waited …

Now, Aurora said. She turned toward Kate, her gray eyes glowing. Let’s go in. It’s all right to go in now.

The heavy barn door creaked, groaned, and swung open into a dark, confusing maze of passageways, bordered by horse stalls and other dark, cobweb-filled rooms. The brick floor was covered by a thick layer of dirt and straw. The light was very dim and, as always, there was a special smell. An old, dead smell of dust and decay with a ghostly hint of hay and horse. Aurora led the way through the near darkness, moving slowly but surely toward the ladder that led to the loft. Kate followed close behind her.

At the last box stall, an especially large one, Aurora stopped and, on tiptoe, looked over the door. It was a largish space, empty except for the remains of a wooden manger. They stood there staring into the stall for several seconds before Aurora sighed softly and moved on. They were almost to the ladder when Kate asked a question she’d been wanting to ask for quite a while. Why do you always look in that stall?

Aurora stopped and turned back to face Kate. I don’t know, she said. Not for sure, anyway. There’s just something … She shrugged and turned away. Come on. Let’s go up to the loft.

Kate liked the loft a lot better. She liked the open, soaring space and the beams of sunlight that drifted down through holes in the rotting roof. At one end of the huge floor a stack of straw bales made a good place to climb up and sit.

About that stall, Kate said when they had climbed up onto the bales, what is it? I mean, what do you suppose it is?

Aurora’s nod meant that she understood Kate’s curiosity. I can’t exactly explain it, she said. But it’s like … like whenever I stop there she’s trying …

She? Kate asked quickly. Who’s a she? Is the ghost a she?

Aurora thought for a while before she slowly nodded her head. I think so. A girl, maybe. I think she wants to … Maybe she wants us to know something.

Kate was fascinated. Aurora had never said much about the ghost before, except to agree with Kate that there must be one. Usually when they came to the barn she’d let Kate do most of the talking. They would sit on the pile of bales and talk about the pigeons and mice and bats that lived in the loft. And then sometimes they would talk about ghosts. Or at least Kate did.

Kate had always liked to read ghost stories. And she liked to talk about ghosts—and about what kind of ghost might live in an old barn. Usually Aurora would just listen. Actually, Aurora had never before said there was a ghost in the barn. Not in so many words. It was just that she acted as if there were. The main reason Kate was so certain there was a ghost was because of the way Aurora acted.

And now she was actually saying there was a ghost and it was a girl. Kate was very interested.

What makes you think it’s— she was starting to ask when Aurora suddenly grabbed her arm.

Shh, she said. Listen. Someone’s coming.

Chapter 2

THEN KATE HEARD IT too. The creak of the barn door, a thud, and then the soft whisper of footsteps. Kate and Aurora stared at each other.

Mr. A.? Kate whispered hopefully.

Aurora shook her head. I don’t think the Andersons come here very much. Not anymore.

The sounds continued. A door creaked open and slammed shut and the footsteps began again, moving on toward the ladder to the loft.

Suddenly Kate clenched her fists. Those creeps, she said. I’ll bet it’s Bucky and the PROs. I’ll bet it’s those creeps again.

Bucky Brockhurst, who was in Kate’s fifth-grade class, was a world-class pain in the neck. He was always teasing Kate and Aurora. And sometimes his friends, Carlos and Eddy, were in on his dirty tricks too. They must have followed us here, Kate said. Come on. Let’s hide. Kate grabbed Aurora’s arm and pulled her down behind a bale.

Kate was still crouched down in the straw when she heard Aurora whisper, No, it’s not the PROs. Look, Kate. Look.

Kate raised her head in time to see an unbelievably weird figure rising into the loft. At first it was only the top of a head. A round, smooth, perfectly bald head. Then came eyes. The head turned from side to side and big dark eyes looked around the loft. Kate ducked down behind the straw and then raised herself up again in time to see ears appear. Small ears hung with all kinds of dangling, sparkling earrings.

Suddenly she gasped with relief and poked Aurora. Hey, it’s all right, she said. "It’s just Bettina. Remember?