Who Let the Ghosts Out? Read Online Free Page B

in the air. Mom was usually so quiet, like a little mouse. But she enjoyed wrestling more than Dad.
    “Kill him!
Kill
him!” she was screaming.
    Dad slapped her a hard high five.
    I turned and climbed the stairs to my room.
    I IM'd Aaron for an hour or so. I was starting to feel more normal. I asked Aaron if he hadtrouble with the algebra homework. Some of the equations were about a mile long.
    But, of course, Aaron hadn't opened his math book. He never does.
    That's one reason I really like Aaron. He's just about the only kid in my class who never asks me for help with his homework!
    Other kids call me all the time. “Brainimon, help me with my science project.”
    “Brainimon, what's the answer to number six?”
    “Please, Brainimon—write a quick book report for me.”
    My phone rings so often, you'd think I was actually popular!
    Anyway, I was online with Aaron until nearly eleven. Then, yawning, I tucked myself into bed. I could hear Colin playing his guitar in his room down the hall. After a while, the music stopped.
    I had nearly drifted off to sleep when I heard the noises in the kitchen. Again. The scraping sounds. The clanging of pots. Faint footsteps.
    And then the soft croak of a voice. Soft and sad, like a sigh.
    “Oh, glory. Oh, glory…”
    Trembling, I jammed the pillow over my head and covered my ears.
    I didn't want to hear these ghostly whispers. I'd heard them every night, ever since we moved intothis house. No one else heard them. No one believed me.
    Who was down there? If only I had the courage to go and see …
    Instead, I jammed the pillow over my head— and prayed whoever it was would go away.

7
    T HE NEXT FEW DAYS went by without any problems. Except two kids dropped out of my after-school
Stargate SG-1
club. They said
Stargate SG-1
was boring, and they wanted to join a
Deep Space Nine
club instead.
    “The joke is on them,” Aaron said after they left. “There
is
no
Deep Space Nine
Club. It broke up three years ago.”
    So now there was just Aaron and me left in the
Stargate SG-1
club. Kinda boring, since we're not into
Stargate SG-1
that much. We just wanted to make some new friends.
    On Monday afternoon, I hurried home and hard-boiled eight eggs. They were almost finished when Colin came nosing around. “Yo. What's up, Chicken Lips?” he asked, staring into the pot.
    “Just making some eggs,” I said.
    He started to reach into the boiling water to pull one out. I knew what he planned to do. Drop the egg into my T-shirt pocket and then smash it. He'd done it before.
    Luckily, his phone rang, and he hurried to answer it.
    A close call.
    Why did I need eight hard-boiled eggs? For juggling, of course. Juggling is an important part of my magic act. I don't want to be a good juggler. I want to be an
awesome
juggler.
    That night after dinner, I took my eggs out of the fridge, went up to my room, closed the door, and began to practice in front of the mirror. I juggled four eggs at once, keeping two in the air at all times.
    Yes. Yes!
    I really had a good rhythm going.
    And then I heard a voice, a whispered voice behind me:
“We're back—!”
    I stared into the mirror. No one was there.
    I spun around. No one.
    I started juggling again. Two eggs up, two down. Two eggs up …
    And then another whispered voice—so close to me I could feel a rush of cold wind on the back of my neck.
“Yes, we're back.”
    The hard-boiled eggs flew out of my hands.
    “Ow—!”
    One egg cracked and splattered on my head. The yolk ran down my forehead. Another egg cracked on my sneaker, spreading yellow goo over the laces.
    Big jerk Colin.
He switched the eggs!
    Wiping egg yolk off my face, I stared at a boy and a girl. They both wore short-sleeved T-shirts even though it was freezing outside, and straight-legged, faded jeans.
    “How—? How did you—” I sputtered.
    How did they get in my bedroom? Who were they? How come I could
see right through them
?
    They were both tall and thin, with slender,