Late that night in the middle of the night, the little playhouse where the Aldens were camped out shook in the wind.
Jessie reached over and tapped Henry’s shoulder. “Henry are you awake?”
“I’m glad you’re up, Jessie,” Henry whispered back. “I hope all this wind and rain doesn’t wake up the others. And that the roof on the playhouse doesn’t leak, either.”
Just as Henry sat up, he and Jessie heard a huge boom outside.
All at once, the younger children woke up, too.
“What was that big crash?” Soo Lee asked. She snuggled close to Jessie’s sleeping bag.
“There, there, Soo Lee,” Jessie said. “It’s a storm. Henry is going to check on what that noise was.”
Henry grabbed his flashlight and stepped outside. As soon as he opened the playhouse door, the rain and wind slapped against him. He beamed his flashlight across the property. A huge tree branch had crashed to the ground just a few feet from the playhouse. Then he saw another beam of light cross with his. “Who’s out there?” he yelled, but the wind carried his words away.
The flashlight grew closer. Brian was holding it. “Gather up the other kids to bring them to the main house,” Brian told Henry. “We’re asking all the volunteers camping on the property to move indoors. Bring your sleeping bags and whatever else you need—especially flashlights. We’ve lost all electricity and heat in the house.”
With that, Brian disappeared into the rain and darkness.
Henry stepped back inside the playhouse. He left his flashlight on. “Okay, everybody. Brian just told us that everyone who’s camping out has to go to the main house during the storm. Get your flashlights and jackets. Jessie and I will help you roll up your sleeping bags.”
A few minutes later, the wind and rain died down a bit. “Okay,” Jessie said. “There’s a break in the storm. Let’s make a run for it to the main house. Ready, everybody?”
“Ready!” Benny said. He was excited to be up in the middle of the night, even if things were crashing around them. “It’s okay, Soo Lee. You can hold Jessie’s hand. And I’ll hold Henry’s hand.”
Jessie grabbed the camp light and led everyone out.
“Wow, what a huge tree branch!” Henry said when the children stepped over it. “We were lucky it wasn’t any bigger. It sure left a big empty spot up there. Hey, look!” he said, pointing up. “Did you notice that skylight before—there, up on the roof near the nursery wing? See?”
Jessie looked up, even though all she wanted to do was get inside where it was warm and dry. “I don’t remember seeing any room with a skylight in that part of the house before. I guess the tree branch that fell hid it from view. There’s a light moving around in there, too—like somebody’s flashlight. Let’s go inside.”
When the Aldens finally stepped into the Bugbee House, it was pretty dark and buzzing with people. Several volunteers beamed their flashlights at the children when they came inside.
“Hey, Aldens!” one of the volunteers said after he recognized the children. “That was a pretty scary noise!”
“We weren’t scared,” Benny answered. “Well, maybe just a little bit.”
Mabel arrived just then and came over to the Aldens.
“You are very brave children,” she said. “Nan told me there was quite a crash when that tree limb came down. She called me immediately. I told her to round up everyone who was camping on the property. I’m glad she got you in here so quickly.”
The Aldens were puzzled.
“Brian was the one who came over and told us to come into the main house,” Jessie told Mabel. “Not Nan.”
Mabel looked puzzled and a little annoyed. “Oh, dear. I must say, Nan and I are always crossing messages. Well, never mind. The most important thing is that you children are out of harm’s way.” Mabel put one arm around Soo Lee and the other around Benny. “The second most important thing is that this house is out of harm’s way, too. At least I think so. I expect Brian and the Gardiners are checking the house to make sure we didn’t lose any windows or roof shingles.”
“Or skylights,” Jessie whispered to Henry.
“The heat just went off,” Mabel continued. “But since warm air rises, it will stay toastier for a while on the upper floor. So why don’t you go find an empty room upstairs to sleep in? The third floor has a working bathroom, so try there first. Would you mind that?”
“Not a bit,” Jessie said.
“Good,” Mabel said. “Now I wonder where my leaders have gone off to. I must say, I’m not quite as alert in the middle of the night. If you see the Gardiners or Nan or Brian around, tell them to find me.”
“Sure thing,” Jessie told Mabel. “See you in the morning.”
“This is the morning,” Benny said. “But the dark part.”
The children carried their sleeping bags all the way to the third floor.
“It’s a lucky thing Mabel sent us up here,” Henry said in a whisper. “She said we can find a room. While we’re up here, maybe we can figure out where that skylight room is.”
“And who was in it,” Jessie said. “Don’t forget that.”
But when the children checked the doors on the third floor, they discovered all of them locked except for the bathroom.
“Let’s try the second floor.” Henry walked back down a flight of stairs. “There’s one room unlocked down here,” he called up to the other children. “Come on down.”
The unlocked room was small and snug—just big enough for the children’s sleeping bags. In no time, they arranged their bags on the floor.
The sleeping bags were ready for sleeping, but the Aldens weren’t.
“I’m not tired,” Benny announced. His blue eyes were as wide as if it were the middle of the day, not the middle of the night.
“We should try to get some sleep,” Jessie said. “We need our rest so we can work hard tomorrow.” Jessie turned off the camp light.
“Hey, someone’s in the hallway,” Benny whispered a few minutes later.
The door opened, and a light shone in. The children couldn’t see who was there. They pretended to be asleep.
“Did you see who that was, Henry?” Benny asked.
“No,” Henry said, “but the footsteps are going away. Whoever it was is gone.”
The Aldens always enjoyed whispering to one another before falling asleep—especially in strange new places.
“I wish we could go see where those secret stairs in the ceiling go to,” Benny said in the dark.
Jessie wriggled in her sleeping bag. “I was just thinking the same thing. I suppose we could take a peek now that everyone else is asleep downstairs. Maybe those stairs lead to the room that has the skylight.”
One by one the Aldens slipped out of their sleeping bags and into the hallway.
Soo Lee was in her bare feet. “This floor is wet,” she said when she came out of the room.
Jessie bent down to touch the floor. She slipped out of her shoes so she could feel the floor. “Let’s follow these wet spots,” Jessie whispered. “Somebody must have come up here from the outside. If we follow these footprints, maybe we can figure out where the person went.”
“Good thinking,” Henry said to Jessie. “Lead the way.”
Jessie and Soo Lee tracked the wet footprints to the third-floor hallway.
When the footprints stopped, so did the Aldens. They found themselves directly under the ceiling panel they had discovered the morning before.
Henry aimed his flashlight upward. “Who wants a boost up on my shoulders?” Henry whispered. “I need Soo Lee or Benny to tug the knob.”
Before Benny or Soo Lee could decide, the children heard a creak coming from the ceiling. The panel started to open right where the Aldens were standing!
Jessie motioned to the nearby bathroom and opened the door. The other children squeezed in behind her. They climbed into the claw-footed tub and hid themselves behind an old shower curtain. Jessie put her finger up to her lips so no one would speak.
A couple of minutes later, the children heard a springy sound, followed by a faint thud, then another springy sound. Some footsteps came close to the bathroom where the children were hiding. The door opened. A dim light swept over the bathroom.
The Aldens could barely breathe. What if the person found them huddled behind the shower curtain? The children stood as still as statues. Eventually they heard footsteps going downstairs. They waited in the tub for several minutes. Finally they felt safe enough to climb out.
“I think whoever that was is gone now,” Henry whispered. He stuck his head out and checked the dark hallway. “Which way, guys? Follow the person down the regular staircase or go up the disappearing staircase?”
The other children looked at one another.
“We might not get another chance to go up there alone,” Jessie pointed out.
Violet looked up at the staircase panel in the ceiling. “Maybe my music box is up there.”
“And who knows what else we might find?” Henry said. “After we get a look around, we can keep a watch out for anyone else we find up here.”
“Let’s go,” Benny said, following the beam of Henry’s flashlight down the dark hall. |