Secrets at the Chocolate Mansion (16 page)

“You know this Margaret that Beckett keeps talking about?” I asked.

“His imaginary friend,” said Caroline. “Sure, we've discussed her with you before.”

“Yeah, except she's not imaginary,” I said, looking to Finn for confirmation. He nodded. “We know, because we saw her just a little while ago.”

“In Beckett's room,” Finn added.

“I thought it was the cat at first, but then I saw her. Margaret. The ghost of Margaret, I mean.”

Lisa and Caroline ran to Beckett's room and we followed, all of us bursting through the door at once to reveal Beckett all alone and fast asleep.

Caroline checked in his closet and under his bed and even behind the dresser while Finn and I stood there, embarrassed.

“I know we sound crazy,” I whispered as we all made our way back into the living room. “But we were eyewitnesses.”

“Maybe you two should go home now,” Caroline suggested gently as she squeezed my shoulder. “Get some rest.”

Lisa handed us some folded bills and sent us on our way.

“Think they're going to ask us to babysit again?” asked Finn moments later as we walked home in the dark.

“I would say there's about zero chance of that,” I said.

Finn shrugged. “Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted.”

“It's too bad, because Beckett is crazy about you,” I said.

“Yeah, I like him, too,” said Finn. “He's got some awesome energy for a three-year-old. And he's a very cute kid.”

“A cute kid who conjures ghosts,” I said.

“Right,” said Finn. “That's about the only downside of the night.”

“I'm so going to have nightmares tonight,” I said.

“You're lucky,” Finn replied, thrusting his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. “ 'Cause I'm not going to sleep at all.”

Some kids—like my brother—don't like spending the night in new places, but I can't think of anything more exciting.

I love everything about sleepover parties. The midnight movies with popcorn and other junk food; the silliness and late-night high jinks; the going to sleep surrounded by your closest friends, all wearing their cutest pajamas, knowing you're going to wake up in the morning right next to them.

Tonight was Beatrix's first sleepover party—and it was her birthday, too, so that meant we were going to have all sorts of fun. More important, I still hadn't come up with a logical explanation for the ghost in Beckett's room, so I definitely needed a distraction. Even if that distraction happened to be taking place directly next door to the supposedly haunted mansion. I tried not to
think about that, but couldn't help but tense up when I walked past the old Adams place.

Okay, I lied.

I didn't just
walk
by the Adams mansion. I
ran
.

“Hey, you're the first one here,” said Beatrix, opening the door to her apartment and giving me a quick hug.

“Happy birthday!” I said as I handed her a present wrapped in red paper with blue twine. “I'm not going to tell you what it is,” I joked.

“Let me guess,” she said, putting the book-shaped package next to her ear and giving it a shake. “Is it an airplane? No, wait a minute. I think it's a chocolate-covered banana.”

“Oh, I can't believe you guessed,” I said as we both laughed. I'd actually gotten her the first two books in a new gothic horror series. Not my thing—especially these days—but Beatrix likes scary stuff, and this was supposed to be good. At least that's what the lady who works at Community Bookstore down the street told me, and she's usually right.

We headed to Beatrix's room and she showed me her new iPad, a gift from her dad.

“Fancy,” I said.

“I know,” Beatrix agreed. “Ever since the divorce, his presents have been way over the top. Not that I'm complaining. It's all the guilt, my mom tells me.”

We played a few rounds of Angry Birds before the doorbell rang again. This time it was Lulu and Sonya. They'd arrived together.

Sonya handed Beatrix a big bakery-style box as soon as she walked through the front door.

“What's this?” asked Beatrix.

“My famous chocolate-chip-peanut-butter cookies,” she said. “Joshua's famous, I mean. He just taught me how to make them.”

“Oh, are these from your new bakery?” asked Beatrix.

“It's a soda fountain, not a bakery,” said Sonya, frowning slightly.

“What's the difference?” asked Beatrix.

Sonya's eyes widened. “Are you serious?” she asked. “There are a gazillion differences, which you'd know if you bothered to visit. But since you haven't, I figured I had to bring some cookies to you.”

“Does this mean you tracked down the chocolate chips?” I asked.

“I didn't, but Joshua did,” said Sonya. “Turns out they were delivered to the wrong address. Rather than going to one-eighty-seven Seventh Avenue, they were sent to one-seventy-eight Eighth Avenue.”

“That's right next door to my building,” said Beatrix.

“I know. It's the Adams mansion,” I said.

“Right,” Sonya agreed. “And the crazy thing is, Joshua found the entire case of chocolate chips in the alleyway between this building and the Adams mansion. Not like they got lost; it was more like someone was trying to get rid of them.”

“Weird,” said Beatrix.

“Totally,” said Sonya. She patted the box in Beatrix's arms. “There's enough for everyone, if you want to open it now.”

“I'm not really hungry,” said Beatrix, setting the cookies down on the front table. “Let's save them for after dinner.”

Sonya shrugged. I could tell she was hurt but trying to hide it. “Whatever you say.”

Lulu handed Beatrix a gift bag stuffed with pink and green tissue paper. “Thank you,” said Beatrix.

“Wait until you see what's inside,” said Lulu. “Then you'll really thank me, because I made them myself.”

“Cool!” said Beatrix.

“It's a pair of mittens with a matching hat,” said Lulu, too excited to contain herself. “Whoops. Guess I spoiled the surprise.”

“That's okay.” Beatrix laughed. “I still don't know what color they are.”

“Purple and red,” said Lulu, before covering her
mouth with both hands. “Ah, I can't believe I did it again!”

We all laughed, and then Beatrix's mother came into the entryway.

“Oh, I'm so glad everyone is here,” she said.

“Hi, Mrs. Williams,” I said.

“Hi, Maggie, girls. Please call me Jessica. And please come to the dining room, because dinner is served.”

We followed Beatrix's mom into the next room and sat down to a surprisingly delicious dinner of vegetable stir-fry with tofu.

“So, Maggie. Tell us about the ghost,” said Lulu.

“Ghost?” asked Beatrix, raising her eyebrows.

“Yup. Maggie and Finn babysat at the haunted mansion last night,” said Lulu. “And they saw the ghost of Margaret.”

“No!” said Beatrix.

“‘No' is right,” I said. “We saw something that
looked
like a ghost, and, yes, it was scary at the time; but the more I think about it, the more I realize it couldn't have been a ghost.”

“I don't know,” said Beatrix. “There are some weird things happening at that place. I heard the lady in the top-floor apartment died a few months ago.”

“Seriously?” I asked. “How old was she?”

“Like, ninety or something,” said Beatrix.

“That's ancient,” said Lulu. “She probably died of natural causes.”

“Perhaps,” said Beatrix. “Or maybe the ghost of Margaret scared her to death! I heard they didn't find her body for weeks. She's probably haunting the place now, too.”

Beatrix was just kidding around, but after the weirdness of last night, I wasn't in the mood.

“Stop,” I said. “One ghost is plenty for me to worry about, and I don't even believe in ghosts.”

“Not even after you saw one?” asked Lulu.

“I don't know what I saw,” I said, glad to see Beatrix's mom coming into the room with a large bowl of strawberries so we could change the subject.

“Dessert is ready,” she said. “Now, who wants to sing ‘Happy Birthday'?”

“That's so not necessary, mom,” said Beatrix, cringing with embarrassment.

“Of course it is,” said Lulu.

We sang “Happy Birthday” to Beatrix, and she blew out the candle lodged in the largest, plumpest berry with a single quick breath.

“No birthday cake?” asked Lulu.

“I don't like cake,” said Beatrix, crinkling her nose.

“Since when?” asked Sonya.

“I don't know. Since always,” Beatrix said defensively. “It's no big deal.”

“You're right,” Sonya agreed. “We can just open up the cookies I brought.”

“You brought cookies?” asked Beatrix's mom. “That's so sweet.” She turned to Beatrix. “You didn't tell me.”

“Why is everyone making such a big deal out of the cookies?” Beatrix grumbled.

“They're by the front door,” said Lulu.

“I'll get them.” Beatrix's mom hurried out of the room, returning a few minutes later with a plate of cookies stacked neatly in a beautifully sweet, buttery pyramid.

I grabbed one right away, and so did Lulu and Sonya.

Beatrix took one reluctantly and put it on her plate.

“I'm not super hungry,” said Beatrix, squirming in her seat and tucking her hair behind her ears. “Mind if I save mine for later?”

“It's your birthday,” said Sonya. “Do whatever you want.” She smiled, but we could all tell her feelings were hurt by the tone of her voice.

We ate our cookies in an awkward silence, all of us wondering why things had gotten so weird. At least,
I
wondered. As soon as I finished my last bite, Beatrix
pushed her chair away from the table and said, “Let's pick out a movie for later tonight.”

We followed her into the living room and she turned on the TV, heading straight to the horror-movie category on cable. “There's this new movie I want to see about someone who gets trapped in an insane asylum.”

“Great!” said Lulu.

“Sounds perfect,” Sonya agreed.

To be honest, I wasn't in the mood for a scary movie. I'd had another bad nightmare last night, this one starring the ghost of Margaret. She kept cleaning and cleaning my room, and I couldn't get her to stop even though I begged and pleaded. This doesn't sound like such a horrible scenario, I realize, but the Margaret in my dream was translucent and had hollow black spaces for eyes, and she sang this creepy version of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”; even just thinking about it later, in the company of my best friends, gave me the goose bumps. But I didn't want to argue—not when everyone else seemed so excited about the movie.

“Here it is,” said Beatrix. “
Onslaught at the Asylum
.”

“Sounds pretty gory,” Lulu said with a lot of enthusiasm.

Frozen on the screen was a gaunt and pale young
woman with a jagged scar across her face and blood dripping from her ears. Suddenly queasy, I looked away. “You guys want to watch this now?”

“No, let's set up our sleeping bags first,” said Sonya. “That way I can hide at the scary parts.”

“Brilliant plan,” said Beatrix. “Let's put on pajamas, too. I'll go first.”

Beatrix disappeared into her room, and the rest of us set up our sleeping bags on the floor of her den in a semicircle in front of the TV. I made sure to place my sleeping bag in between Beatrix's and Sonya's because I didn't want to be on the edge. Not that I had any reason to be scared, because I know there are no such things as ghosts, but still. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't completely freaked out being a mere twenty feet away from the Adams mansion—and having seen the “non-existent” ghost.

When Beatrix came back she was wearing pajamas with purple polka dots and flowers. I went next, and changed into my new flannel pj's that had dogs all over them.

Lulu's pajamas were leggings and an oversize shirt with a giant owl and the words “Hoo's Sleepy?” on it. Sonya's pajamas were red-and-white striped and baggy.

“You look like a gigantic candy cane,” I told her.

“I know. Isn't it great?” said Sonya, spinning around so we could see her from all angles. “They're new.”

“Hey, before we watch the movie, let's play Would You Rather,” said Beatrix.

“What's that?” I asked.

“It's this totally fun game I always play with my friends in the city,” said Beatrix. “Basically, you get two options and you have to choose between them.”

“I don't get it,” said Lulu.

Sonya and I looked at Beatrix with puzzled expressions on our faces. “Neither do I,” I said.

“Okay, then I'll go first,” said Beatrix. “It's simple; one person poses an either-or question, and everybody else answers it. Like this: Would you rather kiss your boyfriend or Justin Bieber?”

“My boyfriend, for sure,” said Lulu.

“That's sweet,” said Beatrix.

“Me, too,” I said, feeling a little weird because I wasn't exactly positive that I still had a boyfriend, it having been so long since Milo and I had spoken.

“Justin Bieber for me,” said Sonya. “But that's easy, because I don't have a boyfriend. Yet. Although Joshua promised he'd share his gingerbread recipe with me. He makes the best.”

“You think Joshua makes the best everything,” I said.

“Yeah,” said Sonya, “because he does. He must have some serious bakers in his family, because everything he's made for our store is amazing. He always says it's because it's a family recipe.”

Lulu turned to Sonya and asked, “Would you rather eat rotten cheese or spend the night in a haunted mansion?”