Zachary put two carrot sticks under his top lip He grinned Be afraid he said Be very afraid Sydney looked at Abby She shook her head Poor Zachary he’s stuck in the wrong month He thinks it’s still Halloween I wish it was Halloween Zachary said That’s my favorite holiday I like Christmas better Abby said So do I said Sydney Christmas has sparkly lights and lots of decorations And I love cookies and hot cocoa Christmas presents are awesome Dakota said I asked for skis this year And I love snow said Abby She bit into her apple Snow is the best part of winter I hope you can use your skis We haven’t had one single flake yet Sydney patted her shoulder Mr Kim is going to let us cut out snowflakes 6
this afternoon she said We’ll make our own snow We can tape it on the windows He has a tree too Dakota said I saw the box in the hall And tomorrow night we get to trim the big tree at the library Abby said She and her friends liked to help out at Evergreen Public Library Mrs Mackenzie librarian called them Abby and the Book Bunch She always found fun jobs for them the children’s What time are you going to the library Dakota asked My mom is dropping Sydney and me off at five thirty Abby said The Christmas ornaments are in the library’s cellar We promised to carry them up Mrs Mackenzie said there were four big boxes Aren’t you afraid to go down in that cellar Dakota asked They say it’s haunted 7
Zachary grinned Hey that’s cool he said It is not haunted Abby protested Sydney leaned forward Who told you that Dakota she asked Dakota shrugged I don’t remember Somebody did It’s supposed to be haunted by some old librarian She walks around hunting for a lost book Sydney looked disgusted Dakota that is just stupid she said But Abby was worried Books do get lost at the library she pointed out But ghosts don’t come looking for them Sydney protested Don’t listen to him Abby He’s just trying to scare you Dakota sat back with a satisfied grin Wait until tomorrow night and we’ll see who’s right It gets dark very early this time of year Who knows what is waiting down in that creepy old cellar 8
Sydney threw a piece of bread at Dakota Go bother someone else she said Dakota laughed Why he asked Bothering you is so much fun Abby didn’t laugh She thought about the cellar at the library She had only been down there once It was dark and cold and it smelled funny Now she wasn’t sure she wanted to go down there 9
