Spirits and Spells Read Online Free Page B

scattered across the room—the furniture, covered by protective sheets.
    â€œNo cellar door here,” said Derek after Jenny had played her beam across all four walls. “Just that arch in the back wall.”
    Moving slowly, they threaded their way among the shrouded pieces of furniture. The arch led into a dining room. A long table stretched before them. Several large paintings hung on the walls.
    To the left was another door.
    It led to a vast, gloomy kitchen.
    â€œI’ll bet the cellar door is in here somewhere,” said Jenny, getting caught up in the search in spite of herself. “It would make sense, in a fancy place like this. After all, they wouldn’t have it leading out of the living room.”
    Derek spotted a windowless door against the left wall. Taking Jenny by the hand, he crossed the room and opened it.
    â€œThis is it, all right.”
    Jenny shuddered. The spiderwebs arching over the steps were so thick and numerous they made the passage look more like a tunnel than a stairway. Derek shone his flashlight down it, but they couldn’t see the cellar floor.
    â€œThere’s a broomstick back there,” he said. “Grab it for me, will you?”
    Jenny moved away from him reluctantly. She found the broomstick lying on a counter beneath a shuttered window and took it to Derek.
    â€œI’ll clear a path for us,” he said. Moving slowly, he extended the broomstick before him and swung it in wide circles, catching the cobwebs and winding them around the wood like cotton candy around a paper cone.
    â€œNo footprints on the steps,” he noted “Of course, there could be another entrance. Or Travis could have been sneaky enough to sprinkle some dust and dirt across the steps behind him.”
    Jenny reached out and put a hand on Derek’s shoulder. A step creaked beneath his sneakers, and she tightened her grip. Derek laughed.
    The stairway was longer than she would have expected, and the air grew cooler as they continued down.
    â€œWe’re almost there,” he said. “I can see bottom.”
    The cellar itself was almost as heavily cobwebbed as the stairway had been. They stood at the base of the stairs and panned their flashlights over dirt floors, thick wooden beams, and millions of clinging webs. The dank air smelled of mold and decay.
    â€œDerek …”
    â€œIt’s all right, Jen. Let’s see. Usually at this point in a game we would ask some questions of the leader. He’d probably tell us we should beware of some supernatural menace. But I’m not about to go all the way up to the library just to ask Travis a question. Be careful, though. Like I said, he may have planted something.”
    â€œLike what?”
    â€œI don’t know. I can’t imagine him getting anyone to wait down here to scare us. The place is just too gross. Maybe he set up some water balloons. If we break one and come back all wet, he can say that we stumbled into a trap so we’re dead, or under a spell, or something like that.”
    â€œThat’s pretty clever,” said Jenny. “But I don’t like it.”
    â€œThen be careful. Now, shall we split up, or stick together?”
    â€œYou have to ask?”
    â€œNot really. Stay with me—and keep your eyes open.”
    Derek moved forward, still using the broomstick to clear the way ahead of him. He walked slowly, training the beam of his flashlight from side to side, looking for any sign of where Travis might have hidden the sword.
    â€œDerek.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI hear something.”
    â€œJenny, don’t get—”
    â€œJust listen, will you?”
    Derek heaved an exaggerated sigh. But he stopped to listen.
    After a moment his eyes widened. “You’re right!” he whispered.
    Jenny couldn’t tell if it was fear or excitement that made his voice husky.
    â€œIt’s someone breathing,” he went on.
    â€œIt’s