"C'mon, Jack, we've all done it," they lied, pushing a guy wearing a baseball cap toward the Mansion. "Go in and get us a shrunken head!"
I could see Jack Patterson was nervous. He was a handsome crush-worthy guy, the kind who should be spending his time shooting hoops or making girls swoon, not sneaking into haunted houses to win friends.
It was like Jack had already seen a ghost as he approached the Mansion. Suddenly he looked behind the bushes where I was hiding. I gasped and he screamed. I thought we were both going to have a heart attack. I crouched back down, because I heard the gang approaching.
"He's screaming like a little girl and he's not even in yet!" one of them teased.
"Get outta here!" Jack said to the guys. "I'm supposed to do this alone, right?"
He waited for the others to retreat and then nodded to me that it was clear.
"Damn, girl, you scared me! What are you doing here?"
"I live here and lost my keys. I'm just trying to get back in," I joked.
He caught his breath and smiled. "Who are you?"
"Raven. I already know who you are. You're Jack Patterson. Your father owns the department store where my mom buys her swank purses. I've seen you working the cash register."
"Yeah, I thought you looked familiar."
"So why are you here?"
"It's a dare. My friends think the place is haunted, and I'm supposed to sneak inside and get a souvenir."
"Like an old couch?"
He smiled that same smile. "Yeah, goofball. But it doesn't matter. There's no way—"
"Yes, there is!" And I showed him the loose boards at the basement window.
"You go in first," he said, prodding me forward with trembling hands. "You're smaller."
I slithered easily through the window.
Inside, it was really dark, even for me. I could barely make out the cobwebs. I loved it! There were stacks of cardboard boxes everywhere, and it smelled like a basement that had been there since the beginning of time.
"C'mon already!" I said.
"I can't move! I'm stuck."
"You have to move. Do you want them to find you with your backside hanging out?"
I yanked and pushed and pulled. Finally Jack came through, to my relief, but not his.
I led the terrified senior through the moldy basement. He held on to my hand so tight I thought he would break my fingers.
But it was nice to hold his hand. It was big and strong and masculine. Not like Nerd Boy's, whose tiny hand always felt squishy and smarmy.
"Where are we going?" he whispered in a terrified voice. "I can't see a thing!"
I could make out the shapes of massive chairs and sofas, covered with dusty white cloth, probably once belonging to the old woman who stared at the moon.
"I see some stairs," I said. "Just follow me."
"I'm not going any further! Are you crazy?"
"How about a full-length mirror?" I teased, peeking behind a cloth.
"I'll take one of these empty boxes!"
"That's no good. Your friends will kill you. You'll be a laughingstock the rest of your life. Believe me, I know how it is."
I looked back at him and saw the terror on his face. I wasn't sure if he was scared of his friends outside or of the basement steps that might cave in at the slightest pressure. Or maybe he was afraid of ghosts.
"Okay," I said. "You wait here."
“Like I could go anywhere? I have no idea how to get back!"
"But first…"
"What?"
"Let go of my hand!"
"Oh, yeah."
He let me go. "Raven—"
"What?"
"Be careful!"
I paused. "Jack, do you believe in ghosts?"
"No, of course not!"
"So you don't think there is a ghost here? Of that old woman?"
"Shhh! Don't talk so loud!"
I smiled with expectation. But then I remembered his gang's dare and grabbed his baseball cap. He screamed again.
"Relax, it's just me, not one of those spooky ghosts you don't believe in."
I carefully ascended the creaky steps and bumped into a closed door at the top. But it opened when I turned the knob. I was in a wide hallway. Moonlight was shining through cracks in the boarded windows. The Mansion seemed even bigger on the inside. I caressed the walls as I walked, the dust softly caking my hands. I turned a corner and stumbled upon a grand staircase. What treasures lay at the top of it? Is that where the ghosts of the baroness appeared?