The Twilight Prisoner by Katherine Marsh Page B

brusquely before flying ahead of them and out of the park.

IX | The Museum of Unnatural History
    â€œAn errand?” Cora said to Jack as they darted after Euri. “ Now ?” She peered down over the snarl of yellow cabs and buses on Central Park West. “You’d better not let me fall.”
    â€œI won’t.” He shook his head, puzzled. “I thought she’d go to the East Side. That’s where her parents’ apartment is. She used to haunt it.”
    â€œWell, she’s going to the Museum of Natural History,” said Cora. She pointed at Euri, who was hovering above a bronze statue of Teddy Roosevelt atop a horse. Behind her was a building with four enormous Roman-style columns, topped with more statues of scientists and explorers. Giant banners advertising the latest exhibits hung above three padlocked doors. A stream of ghosts disappeared through them.
    Jack floated up the stairs with Cora, following Euri through the doors. He felt Cora’s grip tighten. “It’s okay,” he said as he pulled her through. “Look, we’re inside.”
    They were standing in an echoing exhibit hall with a soaring vaulted ceiling. In the center of the hall were towering dinosaur skeletons. Ghosts in white lab coats, tweed jackets, and khakis and pith helmets scurried around them, greeting one another, drawing calculations in the air and waving copies of what appeared to be scientific journals. One group in baggy pants, white shirts, and brown fedoras floated alongside a barosaurus skeleton, taking measurements.
    Jack expected Euri to continue on to another hall, but instead she sailed up and disappeared through a tiny door near the top of the ceiling that Jack had never noticed before. Jack pulled Cora into the air and they darted through the closed door after her. They followed her down a stairway and into a room with about twenty cabinets on rails. “Where are we?” asked Cora.
    â€œIt looks like some sort of storage room,” said Jack. He pulled open one of the cabinet doors. It contained several drawers of carefully catalogued dead beetles. “I think we’re in the entomology section.”
    But Euri didn’t stop there. She continued on through another door, past some elevators, and into a windowless hallway, lined with offices. On the floor of the hallway were glass tanks filled with tarantulas and what looked like several different kinds of cockroaches including a large, wingless, brown one. The label on its tank read “Madagascar Hissing Cockroach.” Euri dipped her hand into it.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” Jack asked.
    Euri turned to face them. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her hair looked slightly charged. “Can I have a word with you, Jack?” she said, pointing grimly toward one of the offices.
    â€œUm, sure.”
    â€œI’ll wait here,” Cora offered.
    Euri didn’t thank her.
    Jack followed Euri into an office with a couple of windows. It was filled with colonies of bedbugs in small jars. Jack stood across from Euri. They were finally alone together but it felt all wrong. “What is it?”
    Euri suddenly gave him an uncertain look. “Nothing.”
    â€œThen why are you ...?”
    â€œYou didn’t call,” Euri interrupted with a forced smile. “You didn’t write.”
    â€œIs this about Cora?”
    â€œCora?” said Euri as if she’d never heard the name before.
    Jack felt the blood rush to his face. “I didn’t hear from you for months. I could see other ghosts, but the only one I wanted to see was you. I tried to contact you through the Ouija board. I went to Central Park practically every day looking for you. I even tried to find a way back . . .”
    For a moment, Euri’s arms uncrossed themselves and the muscles in her face relaxed. But then she scowled and said, “Until you gave up and started hanging around with her!” She jabbed