Phantom of the Haunted Church Page 3

  “What about all those weird sounds?” he asked. “Shouldn’t we be investigating those, too? Hmm? And what about this ZEEG REEED guy? He sounds pretty mysterious.”

  “And deadly.”

  “We’re a detective agency, Misty. These are exactly the type of mysteries we’re supposed to be solving.”

  Melissa shook her head. “The only mystery is how you and I could possibly be related.”

  “All right,” Dad said, holding up a hand. “That’s enough, now.”

  “So can we go back and investigate?” Sean asked.

  Dad hesitated, then answered. “I’m not saying you can’t . . .”

  “All right!” Sean cried.

  “But I am saying you have to be careful. Be very careful on this one, guys.”

  “Of course!” Sean exclaimed. “You know us.” Then before Dad could say that’s what he was worried about, Sean turned to Melissa

  “You hear that?” he asked. “We can go ahead with the investigation.”

  Melissa cranked up a pathetic excuse for a smile. “Oh boy,” she sighed. “I can hardly wait.”

  4

  dropping in for a look

  FRIDAY, 08:39 PST

  “Thanks for letting us borrow these X-ray goggles,” Sean said as he, Melissa, and Slobs entered through the back door of the church. “They’ll come in handy if that treasure really is hidden inside one of the walls.”

  “No problem-o,” little Jeremiah squeaked from inside Melissa’s digital watch. “ ‘Do unto others before the early bird gets the worm,’ that’s what I always say.”

  Despite her fear, Melissa couldn’t help giggling. “Actually, the saying goes—”

  WOOOoooooo . . .

  Suddenly there was no need to correct him. Come to think of it, there was no need to do anything but shiver.

  “Wh-h-hat was that?” Jeremiah stuttered.

  “We’re not sure,” Sean whispered as they moved through the hall and cautiously entered the sanctuary. “Could be that ZEEG REEED character.”

  “That what?” Jeremiah squeaked.

  WOOOoooooo . . .

  Sean waited until the sound died down. “The best we figure, it’s some sort of monster or something.” He tried to sound bored, but Melissa could tell her brother was as nervous as she was. “It probably guards the treasure and attacks those who are looking for it.”

  “It does what?” Jeremiah cried.

  But before Sean could answer, Slobs began to growl.

  “What’s wrong, girl?” Melissa whispered. “Are you okay?”

  The growl grew louder as Slobs looked toward the front of the sanctuary.

  “Sean . . .” Melissa whispered, “take a look at Slobs.”

  “I see.”

  So did Jeremiah. His little voice crackled nervously from the watch. “Well, would you look at the time. I need to be getting a-short.”

  “You mean ‘along,’ “ Melissa said. “But you just got here. What’s the rush?”

  WOOOoooooo . . .

  “I, uh, that is to say, er, my socks! Yeah, that’s it! I’ve got to wash my socks!”

  “Jeremiah,” she chided. “You’re a computer-generated character. Computer characters don’t wash socks—or even wear them, for that matter.”

  WOOOoooooo . . .

  “So you’re going to let a little thing like that stop me from running for my life?”

  Melissa could only shake her head. Jeremiah was cute and funny. But the word “brave” had never been programmed into his data base. “Okay,” she sighed, “if you gotta go, you gotta go.”

  Jeremiah gave her a thumbs-up. “You’ve got that left,” he said as he faded from her watch. “Catch you ladder, dud.”

  Of course he meant, “Catch you later, dude,” but he was gone before she could correct him. Which was okay because at the moment, Melissa had a few other things on her mind.

  Like the constant wailing, Slobs’ continual growling, and watching Sean nervously slip on the X-ray goggles to take a better look. Everything was fine until Sean suddenly yelled in surprise . . . which caused Slobs to suddenly bark in surprise . . . which caused Melissa to suddenly scream in surprise . . . which was more than enough surprises to go around.

  “What is it?” Melissa cried. “What do you see? What do you see?”

  Sean could only point to the front wall behind the altar.

  Melissa directed her flashlight to it. There was nothing but the usual dust and cobwebs. “What?” she asked.

  “It’s . . . it’s hollow,” he stuttered. “The wall . . . it’s hollow.”

  “Are you sure?”

  He nodded. “There’s some sort of space behind it—a passageway.” He tilted his head down. “It runs under the floor right behind the altar there.”

  Without hesitating, he started toward it. The wood creaked and groaned under his weight.

  “Sean, be careful,” Melissa whispered. “That floor looks pretty rotten.”

  WOOOOOoooooooooo . . .

  The wailing grew louder.

  “Sean . . .”

  She knew he heard her, but she also knew that he was too curious to listen. She stayed glued to his side, keeping her light just a few feet ahead of them as they arrived at the altar and moved around it.

  That’s when she saw the spongy section of flooring. It was right between the altar and the front wall.

  “Sean,” she warned.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it,” he whispered as he continued forward. “It looks like a tunnel or—”

  “Sean, the floor!”

  WOOOOOOOOOooooooooo . . .

  “Sean!” She reached out to grab his arm. “Sean, don’t step—”

  But she was too late. His foot hit the dark, soggy wood, and a moment later he was falling through it.

  “AUGHhhhh . . .”

  “Sean!” she screamed.

  But he did not answer.

  “Sean, can you hear me? Sean! Sean, answer me!”

  If he answered, she could not hear. The wailing had suddenly grown deafening.

  WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo . . .

  And with the deafening roar came the wind. A ferocious wind that flew up out of the hole and into her face, blowing her hair in all directions, screaming into her ears.

  “Sean!” she shouted. “Sean!”

  And then she saw the briefest movement of shadow.

  “Sean?!”

  She dropped to her hands and knees. Cautiously, she approached the gaping hole, careful not to fall through it herself. She shined the flashlight down into the darkness.

  “SEAN?”

  Nothing but the wind and the wailing.

  “SEAN, ARE YOU ALL RIGHT? SEAN?”

  And then, ever so slowly, the howling began to die down.

  “Sean . . .”

  Eventually her light caught a glimpse of him. He was a good eight to ten feet away, under the floorboards, directly beneath the front wall.

  “Sean?”

  “I’m all right,” he answered. He started to rise. “It’s a tunnel. Some sort of passageway.”

  Melissa craned her neck for a better look.

  “That’s where the sound is coming from,” he said. “The howling—it’s the wind whipping through this tunnel.”

  “A tunnel?” Melissa repeated. “But where does it go to? If there’s wind, it must be coming from some—”

  Suddenly an icy dampness touched her arm. She screamed and spun the flashlight around to see . . . Slobs, giving her arm a sniff. The poor animal yelped and leaped back in terror.

  “Oh, sorry, girl,” Melissa said as she reached out to pet the dog. “I’m sorry.”

  Slobs gave a pathetic whine and drew closer, obviously milking the sympathy for all she could.

  “Shine your light back down here,” Sean called. “Misty?”

  Melissa turned back to the hole and shone the flashlight inside.

  “More,” he ordered. “I need more light.”

&nbs
p; She obeyed. The floor groaned slightly as she inched a little closer to the opening.

  “More.”

  She stretched another inch, maybe two . . . which was about two inches farther than she should have. Suddenly the floor gave way, and she tumbled through the opening after her brother.

  “AUGHHhhh . . .”

  But unlike Sean’s fall, this one seemed to last forever. And when she finally did hit— “OAFF!”—it wasn’t just once, but again, “OAFF! OAFF!” and again, “OAFF! OAFF! OAFF!”

  It was as if she was bouncing down stairs. When she finally stopped (which was a good thing because she’d just about run out of “OAFFs”), she was pretty bruised and shaken. But as far as she could tell, nothing was broken.

  The ground felt damp and cold. Not at all like the floorboards of the church.

  “Misty?” Sean’s voice came from somewhere up above. “Misty, are you all right? Misty, are you down there?”

  She took a ragged breath. “Yeah . . . I’m okay,” she called.

  She heard Sean scrambling down after her. With him came a few hundred pounds of lose dirt and rock.

  “Are you sure?” he asked as he reached her side.

  “Yeah,” she said, coughing. “Where . . . are we?”

  “I figure we’re ‘bout fifteen feet under the church.”

  “Fifteen feet!”

  “Yeah, you found a bunch of steps cut out in the dirt. Looks like they lead under the church and out toward a tunnel.”

  “Wonderful,” she groaned.

  “Shh . . .” He motioned for her to be quiet. “Listen.”

  Melissa strained to hear. Directly above them was some sort of noise. Like someone pacing the floor.

  “What’s that?” Melissa whispered.

  Sean gave no answer.

  Suddenly more dirt and rock began showering down on them.

  “Something’s coming after us,” Sean cried.

  The noise increased. The mini-avalanche continued. Whatever it was, it was heading down the steps, and it was big. Real big.

  Melissa braced herself. Her mind filled with a thousand thoughts, each and every one involving the ZEEG REEED coming to devour them. She wanted to run, to get away, but she was torn between scrambling to her feet and running down an unknown tunnel or turning to face an unknown monster.

  (Decisions, decisions. Sometimes it’s hard deciding which way to die.)

  The creature was practically on top of them now.

  “Who are you?!” Sean shouted into the darkness. “What do you want?! Who are—”

  And then the thing hit. Hard.

  It knocked them both to the ground. Sean yelled and Melissa screamed.

  But only for a second. That was all it took before the wet, slobbery tongue started covering Melissa’s face with drooling licks.

  “Slobs,” she coughed, trying to push the dog away as she caught her breath. “Slobs get off, girl. Get off. Slobs, get off now!”

  After a little more coaxing, the big dog finally clambered off her—all 102 pounds’ worth.

  “Well, that was exciting,” Melissa said as she wiped the slick drool from her face. “What’s next? An earthquake? An attack by Martians? How about—”

  “A hundred red eyes staring at us?” Sean offered.

  “What?” She glanced at her brother. Like her, he was still on his hands and knees. Only now he was staring straight ahead. She followed his gaze. At first she saw nothing. But as she squinted, the things came into focus.

  Faint at first. Very faint. Still, there was just enough light spilling down through the hole to illuminate them.

  Or at least their eyes . . .

  Hundreds of them, maybe more. All beady, all red, and all less than three feet from her own face.

  Melissa gasped and scampered back in terror. She fumbled to turn on her flashlight. It was blinding, stabbing her eyes.

  It didn’t do much for the hundred beady little ones, either. The hundred beady little eyes that were suddenly filled with panic as their little feet and little claws began scampering this way and that.

  At last Melissa’s own eyes adjusted to the light. She wished they hadn’t.

  “RATS!” she screamed. “We’re in a nest of rats!”

  5

  zeeg reeEd closes in

  FRIDAY09:00PST

  Normally, Sean liked being a guy. Yes sir, nothing beats messy rooms, giving wedgies, belching in public, and all the other hundred and one things guys can get away with that girls can’t. But right now he would have given anything to join Melissa in her screaming-girl routine. Something about a bazillion rodents scurrying all over you can make screaming your lungs out kinda popular. But since screaming is not in the Official Guys’ Handbook (probably written by the same person who wrote the Big Brother’s Handbook back in chapter two), Sean had to settle for the next best thing . . .

  Shaking in his boots, trying to catch his breath. And of course the ever popular

  “AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

  (Please note, this is not screaming.

  Yelling, perhaps. Shouting, sure.

  But it is definitely not girl-type screaming.)

  Good. Now that we’ve got that straightened out. . .

  It was hard to imagine who was more frightened: Sean, Melissa, Slobs . . . or the rats. But when the yelling, barking, squeaking, and yes, screaming were all over, the brother and sister had dashed fifty yards farther down the tunnel.

  When Sean finally came to a stop, he leaned against the tunnel wall trying to catch his breath. “Boy, was that fun,” he gasped in obvious sarcasm. “We’ll have to do that again real soon.”

  “Yeah,” Melissa agreed, also gulping in air, “like the year 2099.”

  Sean nodded, then glanced around. “Where’s Slobs?”

  “I don’t know.” Melissa snapped the flashlight back on. “Slobs . . . where are you, girl? Slobs?” She scanned the tunnel with the beam. The dirt and clay sides glistened with moisture. She threw a look over her shoulder. The entrance, with its steep dirt steps, was no longer visible.

  Now there was only darkness. She turned and shined the light in front of them.

  More tunnel and more darkness.

  “Slobs?” Sean called. “Slobs, where are you, girl? Slobs?”

  But there was no answer. Only the wind as it whistled through the tunnel.

  “You think she ran back?” Melissa asked.

  Sean shrugged. “Could’ve. I tell you, sometimes I think that dog is more chicken than hound.”

  “Maybe,” Melissa answered, “but she can also sense stuff we can’t.” With that, she turned and started back toward the church.

  Sean grabbed her arm. “You’re not going back?”

  “Of course I am.”

  “Why would you want to do something like that?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. . .” Melissa pretended to think. “Maybe it has something to do with living.”

  “But we’ve gone this far. What about the treasure?”

  “Sean . . .”

  “Don’t you get it?” he said. “The rumors were true. There was something behind the church walls. This tunnels

  Melissa started to pull away, but he tightened his

  grip. “And if the rumors were true about this tunnel, then they’ll be true about the treasure. It’s all connected. This tunnel will lead us to the treasure. I’m sure of it.”

  “Sean . . .”

  “C’mon, Misty, think of what we can do with all that money. Think of all the stuff we can buy. We could redecorate your room. Shoot, we could buy you a whole new room. We could buy a whole new house . . . for each of us.”

  But even as he spoke Sean felt a little uneasy. Something about Dad’s lecture on greed kept rattling around inside his head. Still, he could see Melissa starting to weaken, so he pressed on. “Dad wouldn’t have to work day and night to keep the radio station going. We could buy it flat out. We could buy lots of radio stations. In fact, we could buy just about
anything we wanted.”

  He could see her hesitate. She looked back down the tunnel. He had her. He knew it.

  “How much farther do you think this goes?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. The best I figure, we’re under the cemetery now, so—”

  “UNDER the cemetery?” Melissa cried as she looked up to the ceiling.

  “Yeah, from what I figure.”

  “You mean, the caskets and dead people and all that stuff . . . they’re above us?”

  “Well, uh—” Sean cleared his throat—”yeah, I guess.” Now it was his turn to look nervously up at the ceiling.

  Melissa slowly turned to Sean.

  Sean slowly turned to Melissa.

  Maybe Slobs was right after all.

  YEEEEOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWwwwww . . .

  Suddenly an unearthly scream roared behind them. Part human, part they-didn’t-know-what. It came from the church entrance and reverberated along the walls of the tunnel. Then came another

  AAAOOOOOOOWWWWWWWllllll . . .

  “It’s ZEEG REEED!” Melissa gasped.

  Sean squinted back into the darkness. “Maybe . . . then again, maybe—”

  But there was no time for maybes. Suddenly Slobs emerged from the darkness, heading directly toward them. If she had wanted to go back to the church, she had definitely changed her mind. Now she was baying and running for all she was worth.

  “It’s ZEEG REEED!” Melissa cried. “Run, Sean! Run!”

  They took off as Slobs zoomed past them. Another anguished cry echoed through the tunnel. Cemetery or no cemetery, Sean and Melissa ran underneath it as fast as their terrified tootsies could take them.

  Melissa tried to keep the flashlight beam ahead of them so they wouldn’t trip over any stray rocks or boulders.

  “OUCH, OW, OO, OUCH!”

  But she didn’t always succeed. Even though the light pointed at the floor, she couldn’t help noticing the reflection of white roots now jutting out from the roof and sides of the tunnel. At least she hoped they were white roots. After what Sean had said about the cemetery above them, she wasn’t so sure.