Ghost Invasion (10 page)

Right! Good for Aurora,
Ari thought. It certainly could have been Bucky. In fact he’d heard a rumor that Bucky and his PRO buddies were planning to spy on other people’s science-fair projects to get some new ideas, because all the ones they’d tried had self-destructed. “Tell her, Aurora,” he whispered under his breath. “Tell her about Bucky getting new science-fair ideas by spying.”

But Aurora didn’t say anything more and only a few seconds later Kate said, “Well, where are
you
going, twerp? I thought you were still asleep.”

Ari pushed aside a particularly prickly branch and peeked out in time to see a small, pigeon-toed, bristly-haired figure trudging up the sidewalk. Carson Nicely. “I’m going to Web’s house,” he heard Carson say. “To see Web.”

Just before Ari turned loose of the holly branch so he could stick his punctured finger in his mouth, he saw Carson start on up the sidewalk. But a moment later he heard Kate’s voice again. “Wait a minute. Come back here. I want to ask you something. Did you see anybody running out from behind the Pappases’ house just now?”

There was a long pause. Ari pushed the dangerous branch aside again and saw Carson peering nearsightedly down the driveway. “No,” he said finally. “Who was it?”

“Holy cow!” Kate said in an exasperated tone of voice. “That’s what I was asking you. We don’t know who it was. But somebody just tried to spy on our science project. Or else sabotage it.”

“Sabo … what?” Carson said.

“Sabotage. You know. Blow it up, or steal it, or stuff like that.”

“Ohhh,” Ari heard Carson say. “Ohhh.” He didn’t say anything more but Ari could see that he was nodding his head slowly up and down and his eyes, behind his round glasses, were wide and glassy.

“Oh for Pete squeaks,” Kate said. “You’re no help. Come on, Aurora. Let’s go look for clues. Maybe whoever it was left some clues.”

Ari scrunched down again as Kate and Aurora’s footsteps went past him down the driveway. But he didn’t hear Carson’s going anywhere, so after a minute he peeked out again. Carson was right where the girls had left him—in the middle of the sidewalk. He was standing very still and his eyes were even more glassy-looking.

As Ari watched, Carson caught a deep, shaky breath and muttered something that sounded like “Terrorists.” He glanced from side to side, quickly and nervously, as if he expected to see something sneaking up on him. “It’s the terrorists,” he said again before he blinked, swallowed hard, and added, “Web. I gotta tell Web.” Then he started on up the sidewalk at top speed, which in Carson’s case was a kind of lopsided trot.

“Hmmm!” Ari said. “Terrorists?” His hand was reaching back automatically for his fanny pack before he remembered about the prickles and stopped. But a couple of minutes later, when he was sure Kate and Aurora had had enough time to get clear back to the old studio, he crawled out of the holly bush and started up the sidewalk in the direction of Web Wong’s house.

Ari was almost to the Wongs’ driveway when he stopped for a minute to get out his notebook and pencil, in case he might want to do some spur-of-the-moment writing about terrorists. It was while he was trying to get his fanny pack unzipped that he heard an odd thumping, scuffling noise and looked up in time to see Susie Garcia jumping rope down the sidewalk right at him. He ducked quickly to one side, but not quite quickly enough. Susie’s jump rope hit him on the shoulder, and a second later she hit him again. With her fist this time.

Susie Garcia, who was in Ari’s third-grade class at Beaumont, was like that. She hit people a lot, particularly boys. But Ari had always figured it wasn’t her fault. Growing up with lots of older brothers could probably do that to a person of the opposite sex.

“You made me miss,” Susie said. “Why didn’t you get out of the way? I was almost to five hundred.”

Ari grinned at Susie. He liked the way her funny baby-rabbit face looked when she was angry. In fact, he pretty much liked the way Susie looked anytime. “Sorry about that,” he said. “I guess I was too busy getting out my notebook.”

Susie’s frown changed from plain old mad to slightly curious. “Why?” she asked.

“Why was I getting out my notebook?” Ari thought fast. If he came up with a really interesting answer, maybe she’d stay and talk for a minute. It was a long shot, he knew. Susie never talked to boys if she could help it. “Well …,” he said. And then suddenly he had it. “Well, it’s because of the terrorists.”

“Terrorists?” Susie’s huge black eyes seemed to grow even bigger.

“Yeah,” Ari said. “Haven’t you heard about them?”

Susie shook her head.

Ari took a deep breath. “I don’t know too much about it yet, either, but I know it has something to do with Web Wong.”

“With Web? Why would a terrorist want to …”

Ari racked his brain.
Why would a terrorist be after Web Wong?
his brain asked itself—and almost immediately came up with an answer. Web, who along with Ari and Susie and Carson Nicely was in the third grade at Beaumont, was a genius. A scientific genius. Web was always doing absolutely amazing scientific things, and right at the moment he and Carson were doing a special project for the science fair. Ari knew that for sure because he was supposed to be part of their team. But after he’d talked to Ms. Nelson about how basically unscientific he was, she’d agreed to let him write about the science projects instead of doing one. So he didn’t really know what Web and Carson were doing. Except that Carson had said that he
had to tell Web
about the terrorists. So …

Lowering his voice to a whisper, Ari said, “It’s his science-fair project, I think. It’s like—some kind of secret weapon and these terrorist guys probably want to steal it.”

“Ohhh,” Susie said. “Ohhh, wowee!”

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Zilpha Keatley Snyder (b. 1927) is the three-time Newbery Honor–winning author of classic children’s novels such as
The Egypt Game
,
The Headless Cupid
, and
The Witches of Worm
. Her adventure and fantasy stories are beloved by many generations.

Snyder was born in Lemoore, California, in 1927. Her father, William Keatley, worked for Shell Oil, but as a would-be rancher he and his family always lived on a small farm. Snyder’s parents were both storytellers, and their tales often kept their children entertained during quiet evenings at home.

Snyder began reading and telling stories of her own at an early age. By the time she was four years old she was able to read novels and newspapers intended for adults. When she wasn’t reading, she was making up and embellishing stories. When she was eight, Snyder decided that she would be a writer—a profession in which embellishment and imagination were accepted and rewarded.

Snyder’s adolescent years were made more difficult by her studious country upbringing and by the fact that she had been advanced a grade when she started school. As other girls were going to dances and discovering boys, Snyder retreated into books. The stories transported her from her small room to a larger, remarkable universe.

At Whittier College, Zilpha Keatley Snyder met her future husband, Larry Snyder. After graduation, she began teaching upper-level elementary classes. Snyder taught for nine years, including three years as a master teacher for the University of California, Berkeley. The classroom experience gave Snyder a fresh appreciation of the interests and capabilities of preteens.

As she continued her teaching career, Snyder gained more free time. She began writing at night, after teaching during the day; her husband helped by typing out her manuscripts. After finishing her first novel, she sent it to a publisher. It was accepted on her first try. That book,
Season of Ponies
, was published in 1964.

In 1967, her fourth novel,
The Egypt Game
, won the Newbery Honor for excellence in children’s literature. Snyder went on to win that honor two more times, for her novels
The Headless Cupid
and
The Witches of Worm. The Headless Cupid
introduced the Stanley family, a clan she revisited three more times over her career.

Snyder’s
The Changeling
(1970), in which two young girls invent a fantasy world dominated by trees, became the inspiration for her 1974 fantasy series, the Green Sky Trilogy. Snyder completed that series by writing a computer game sequel called Below the Root. The game went on to earn cult classic status.

Over the almost fifty years of her career, Snyder has written about topics as diverse as time-traveling ghosts, serenading gargoyles, and adoption at the turn of the twentieth century. Today, she lives with her husband in Mill Valley, California. When not writing, Snyder enjoys reading and traveling.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 1995 by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Cover design by Barbara Brown

978-1-4804-7161-0

This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

345 Hudson Street

New York, NY 10014

www.openroadmedia.com