‘Can you tell us what’s going on here?’
‘I can’t stop thinking about what happened on Halloween!’ Camilla raked her hand through her spiralling curls, rattling out her words with just as much intensity as if she were
in the middle of shooting one of her movies. ‘It was just too weird! My parents told me to stop worrying about it, but I can’t, because something was
very
wrong! And at first I
thought I was overreacting, imagining that it had to be something unnatural – but the more I look into things, the less crazy I think I am.
You
don’t think I’m crazy, do
you?’
‘Uh . . .’ Olivia looked helplessly at her sister, who was crouching behind her.
Before either of them could answer, Camilla raced on, wildly jabbing her fingers towards the corkboards. ‘I had no idea until I started researching,’ she babbled, ‘but this
Halloween was
not
the first time there’ve been reports of a poltergeist in Franklin Grove.’
Olivia winced. ‘Could we
please
use another word for it?’ she begged.
Camilla shrugged impatiently. ‘Whatever you want to call it, this town is full of ghost-like phenomena. Look!’ She pushed past Olivia and Ivy to wriggle out from under the mass of
strings. As soon as she was free, she started jabbing at different notes on the boards. ‘See all these different incidents? They’re all reports of doors slamming shut or swinging open,
windowpanes rattling, and eerie, howling winds. And it’s always around this time of year!’
Ivy gave a nervous-sounding laugh as she followed Camilla out from under the strings. ‘Well . . . at least the howling wind has an obvious explanation. The wind always gets a little more
“howly” in the autumn, doesn’t it?’
‘That’s true.’ Olivia crawled after her twin. ‘In fact, in Franklin Grove, we could probably rename the whole holiday “Howl-oween”!’
Camilla shook her head irritably, picking her way through the strings until she found the one she wanted. ‘As soon as I figured out those details, I started digging, tracing all these
incidents back as far as possible. Apparently, this kind of stuff didn’t start getting reported until the 1860s. So I decided to research some local history, see if there were any significant
historical events in Franklin Grove that happened at the end of October in the 1860s. And guess what?’ She pinched the yellow string she’d found, holding it up as she followed it to the
corkboard on the opposite wall. ‘I found one story that fits
perfectly.
’ With a grin of fierce concentration, she pointed to the note that was attached to the yellow string.
‘That wind that we heard sounded anguished, didn’t it? Like the howl of a person in pain.’
‘Well . . .’ Olivia shifted uncomfortably.
Don’t panic,
she told herself.
Remember what Ivy said.
‘It did kind of
sound
like someone in
distress,’ she admitted, ‘but I’m sure there must be some rational explanation . . .’
‘Oh, there is.’ Camilla pointed to the corkboard, where a photo of a much-too-familiar portrait had been stuck. ‘And I’ve found it! See, there was one girl in the 1860s
who had
more
than enough to be distressed about, and her name was Patience Calhoun . . .’
Chapter Five
I vy was wearing her best stomping boots as she, Olivia, Sophia and Reiko all headed towards the Meat and Greet diner for breakfast the next
morning. Even her vamptastic bat-patterned black leather footwear wasn’t enough to cheer her up, though . . . not when the adult vamps were acting more freaked out than ever.
The girls might have nosed out a good lead the day before, but the mystery was still unsolved; and worse, Camilla had posted a blog, asking if anyone in Franklin Grove knew of any “spooky
legends” – she was pretending she was researching for a new movie idea, but it was obvious what her real motive was – and that it was exactly the kind of thing that was going to
put the vamp community on edge. That
‘I can’t stop thinking about what happened on Halloween!’ Camilla raked her hand through her spiralling curls, rattling out her words with just as much intensity as if she were
in the middle of shooting one of her movies. ‘It was just too weird! My parents told me to stop worrying about it, but I can’t, because something was
very
wrong! And at first I
thought I was overreacting, imagining that it had to be something unnatural – but the more I look into things, the less crazy I think I am.
You
don’t think I’m crazy, do
you?’
‘Uh . . .’ Olivia looked helplessly at her sister, who was crouching behind her.
Before either of them could answer, Camilla raced on, wildly jabbing her fingers towards the corkboards. ‘I had no idea until I started researching,’ she babbled, ‘but this
Halloween was
not
the first time there’ve been reports of a poltergeist in Franklin Grove.’
Olivia winced. ‘Could we
please
use another word for it?’ she begged.
Camilla shrugged impatiently. ‘Whatever you want to call it, this town is full of ghost-like phenomena. Look!’ She pushed past Olivia and Ivy to wriggle out from under the mass of
strings. As soon as she was free, she started jabbing at different notes on the boards. ‘See all these different incidents? They’re all reports of doors slamming shut or swinging open,
windowpanes rattling, and eerie, howling winds. And it’s always around this time of year!’
Ivy gave a nervous-sounding laugh as she followed Camilla out from under the strings. ‘Well . . . at least the howling wind has an obvious explanation. The wind always gets a little more
“howly” in the autumn, doesn’t it?’
‘That’s true.’ Olivia crawled after her twin. ‘In fact, in Franklin Grove, we could probably rename the whole holiday “Howl-oween”!’
Camilla shook her head irritably, picking her way through the strings until she found the one she wanted. ‘As soon as I figured out those details, I started digging, tracing all these
incidents back as far as possible. Apparently, this kind of stuff didn’t start getting reported until the 1860s. So I decided to research some local history, see if there were any significant
historical events in Franklin Grove that happened at the end of October in the 1860s. And guess what?’ She pinched the yellow string she’d found, holding it up as she followed it to the
corkboard on the opposite wall. ‘I found one story that fits
perfectly.
’ With a grin of fierce concentration, she pointed to the note that was attached to the yellow string.
‘That wind that we heard sounded anguished, didn’t it? Like the howl of a person in pain.’
‘Well . . .’ Olivia shifted uncomfortably.
Don’t panic,
she told herself.
Remember what Ivy said.
‘It did kind of
sound
like someone in
distress,’ she admitted, ‘but I’m sure there must be some rational explanation . . .’
‘Oh, there is.’ Camilla pointed to the corkboard, where a photo of a much-too-familiar portrait had been stuck. ‘And I’ve found it! See, there was one girl in the 1860s
who had
more
than enough to be distressed about, and her name was Patience Calhoun . . .’
Chapter Five
I vy was wearing her best stomping boots as she, Olivia, Sophia and Reiko all headed towards the Meat and Greet diner for breakfast the next
morning. Even her vamptastic bat-patterned black leather footwear wasn’t enough to cheer her up, though . . . not when the adult vamps were acting more freaked out than ever.
The girls might have nosed out a good lead the day before, but the mystery was still unsolved; and worse, Camilla had posted a blog, asking if anyone in Franklin Grove knew of any “spooky
legends” – she was pretending she was researching for a new movie idea, but it was obvious what her real motive was – and that it was exactly the kind of thing that was going to
put the vamp community on edge. That
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