A Bad Case of Ghosts by Kenneth Oppel Read Free Book Online

Chapter 1
Spooked
    Giles Barnes couldn’t sleep.
    He sat up in bed, hugging a pillow to his chest, and looked around the dark room. There was hardly anything in it. The moving van had arrived very late and there hadn’t been much time to unpack. Apart from his bed, the only other things in the room were cardboard crates and bits of furniture pushed against the walls. Pale light from the street seeped through the grimy window and cast weird, dinosaur-shaped shadows across the empty room.
    He didn’t like this new house of theirs. From the moment he’d set foot inside, he felt there was something dark and sad about it. Plaster was flaking off the ceilings in big patches, the wallpaper was droopy, the doors hungcrookedly on their hinges, and the creaky wood floors had splinters in them. There was a funny smell to the house, too, which reminded him of his Grandma’s root cellar, dark and unfriendly.
    “It’s a great old house,” his father had said enthusiastically when they arrived. “It’s just been shut tight for a long time. All it needs is a good airing out. And a little fixing up.”
    “And a lot of fixing up,” said his mother, showing him the doorknob which had just pulled off in her hand.
    “I wish we were back in our old place,” Giles grumbled to himself in bed. He’d had to say good-bye to Jim and David, his best friends, and now there was a whole summer to get through without knowing anyone. He didn’t understand why they’d had to move at all. What was wrong with their old house? It was a lot better than this ancient thing—he’d be surprised if it didn’t fall to pieces before the end of the week!
    A shadow shaped like a Triceratops moved across the wall and Giles shuddered. It’s just a car going by outside, he told himself. You have an overactive imagination. Mom’s always saying so.
    But a sudden creak sent a little ripple of electricity up and down his neck.
    “It’s just the floors,” he told himself, trying to sound sensible like his mother. “Old houses make lots of strange noises. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
    The radiator clanked and Giles jumped.
    “This is ridiculous,” he said. “I’m going to sleep.”
    But his eyes were closed for only a few seconds before he heard a strange, rustling sound in the room. He popped open his eyes. It was coming from the corner by the window. No, it was closer to the door…no, it was up near the ceiling, then away to the right of the bed. This weird, whispery fluttering noise seemed to be moving!
    Giles was starting to get freaked out. He’d had it with moving shadows and strange noises. He jumped out of bed and switched on the light. The noise stopped. All the monstrous shadows evaporated. It was just like his mother was always telling him. Turn on the lights, the noises always stop. Giles took a good look around his room, then flicked off the light, dived back into bed, and pulled the covers up to his ears.
    There was some more creaking, but he didn’t let it bother him. Besides, he was getting too drowsy to care anymore. Soon he was fast asleep.

Chapter 2
The Quarks
    The next morning, Giles started unpacking his things. First he set up his desk and shelves. That helped—already the room was beginning to look a little nicer, more like home. He wasn’t crazy about the wallpaper, which was a dingy, greyish colour with a faded pattern of vines and ivy leaves. He stuck up some of his favourite posters with putty.
    The window was so dirty he could barely see out. He asked Dad for a cloth and some cleaning liquid and gave the glass a good scrub. It was a sunny summer day, and there were lots of people on the sidewalks. He could see an old man, leaning on a walker, making his way slowly past their house.
    Across the street was a small park. Giles squinted. Weird!
    Perched on the monkey bars were a boy and a girl. That wasn’t weird. It was what they were wearing. They both wore enormous sets of headphones which were plugged into a