The Green Ghost Read Online Free

Well, no. She didn’t float. Not really. She must have walked. But she walked so smoothly, so silently, it seemed like floating.
    Kaye pulled on her jeans and sweatshirt. Then she followed the girl. Kaye found her waiting downstairs in the kitchen.
    “Get your coat,” the girl said. “You breathing folks get cold, don’t you?”
    You breathing folks!
What other kind of folks were there?
    Still, Kaye pulled her jacket down from the peg where Elsa had hung it. She put on her hat and boots, too. Her boots were fleece-lined, so it didn’t matter that her feet were bare.
    She looked for her scarf and then remembered. The wind had stolen it on the way to Elsa’s house.
    And that made her think of the storm. Was it still raging out there? Did she want to go outside?
    But the girl waited beside the door, so Kaye opened it. The girl moved out ahead and Kaye followed.
    She stopped on the edge of the porch, amazed. The storm had blown itself out. The night was as still now as it had been blustery before. A round, creamy moon rode high in the sky. The world was sketched in shades of black and white.
    Even the old barn across the way looked beautiful under its sparkling blanket of snow.
    Kaye stepped down from the porch. The snow lay everywhere, deep and untouched.
    “Where are we going?” she called to the girl, who had gone ahead.
    “Not far,” the girl called back.
    For the first time, Kaye hesitated. Should she go off with this strange girl? What if her parents woke and found her gone?
    But she couldn’t let the girl get away.

    Besides, they wouldn’t be at Elsa’s much longer. The storm had stopped. The plows would come through. A farmer would pull their car out. She and her parents could have Christmas breakfast with Elsa. Andmaybe the girl would be there, too? Then they could go on to Gran’s.
    Wouldn’t it be nice, though, to leave Elsa with a beautiful tree? Family tradition or not, nobody needed a scraggly old juniper for Christmas.
    Kaye hurried to catch up.
    “What’s your name?” Kaye called after the girl. If she was going to follow this stranger, she should at least know her name.
    “Lillian,” the girl called back.
    Lillian
, Kaye thought.
I like that!
    And lifting her feet high to make her way through the deep snow, she followed Lillian into the woods.

Chapter 8

The Tree
    L illian led the way. No matter how fast Kaye walked, the girl always stayed a short distance ahead.
    Kaye followed her through the scrubby trees behind the barn. She followed her into the moon-shadowed forest.
    Here the land sloped up sharply. Lillian didn’t slow her pace.
    Kaye’s legs began to ache from walkingin such deep snow. But she kept her eyes fastened on the dark cloak.
    “Do you have a saw or ax?” she called to Lillian. “To cut the tree?”
    “We don’t need one,” Lillian answered.
    A shiver ran through Kaye. Not from the cold, exactly, just from … She wasn’t sure what it was from.
    What did Lillian plan to do, pull a tree out by its roots?
    Again Kaye quickened her pace, trying to catch up. Again the distance between her and the strange girl never seemed to shorten.
    If the moon hadn’t been so bright, Kaye wouldn’t have been able to follow at all. With her back turned, Lillian’s glowing face was hidden. She became little more than a moving shadow.
    “Could you slow down, please?” Kaye called. Her heart was beginning to pound. Her breath stuttered.
    “Sure,” Lillian said.
    But if she actually slowed, Kaye couldn’t tell.
    What if this girl was playing a trick on her? What if she was trying to get Kaye lost in the woods? Could she find her way back to Elsa’s alone if she had to?
    Just when Kaye was beginning to think the worst, Lillian called cheerfully, “We’re here!” And she stopped walking.
    Huffing, Kaye caught up. She stopped beside Lillian and looked around to see where “here” might be.
    They had stepped through a thick line of trees and now stood in a clearing. At the center