Off the Wall by P.J. Night Read Free Book Online Page A

be fun for me unless you come.”
    â€œAll right.” Jane rolled over and sat up. On Lucy’s other side, Daria was already sitting up.
    â€œWait!” whispered Lucy. “I need to get my flashlight.”
    â€œWhat is this obsession with all the flashlights?” said Daria impatiently. “There are real lights all over the museum!”
    â€œI’m not wandering around this building without a flashlight,” Lucy said. She burrowed through her backpack until she found it. “Okay, let’s go.”
    Slowly, the three girls stood up. Good so far, Jane thought. No one around them had moved. She pointedat the nearest exit. That one? she mouthed.
    Lucy shook her head. THAT one, she mouthed back, jerking her head toward the north doorway.
    Jane’s heart sank. The door Lucy wanted was all the way across the Great Hall! They would have to make their way around so many people, and they would have to pass the leaders. But she could hardly start arguing now. She took a deep breath and began tiptoeing behind Lucy and Daria.
    All around them, girls lay sound asleep. Grace was lying on her back, halfway out of her sleeping bag. Cailyn was rolled into a ball with one hand sticking out. She was still holding that licorice, Jane noticed.
    Oh, if only Lucy and Daria hadn’t gotten into that argument! If only she had never mentioned the stupid mummy. Everyone looked so cozy here. I hope we see the mummy fast and get it over with, thought Jane. But wait—that wasn’t the thing to wish for. She didn’t want to see a mummy.
    On the other hand, at least if they did see a mummy, they’d be able to go back to bed.
    On the other hand, what if they saw a mummy and it attacked them?
    On the other hand, if a real mummy was actually roaming around, wasn’t it better to be awake? What would prevent the mummy from coming into the Great Hall and doing whatever it was mummies did to their victims? Did mummies have victims? What exactly did mummies do besides shuffle around and groan?
    While she’d been worrying about all this, Jane hadn’t noticed how far she and the other two girls were advancing. They were almost at the north doorway now. Another thirty feet or so, and they’d be safe. Maybe this wouldn’t be so—
    At that moment Lucy gasped. Jane turned to see what she was looking at—and stopped in her tracks.
    Willow was sitting up. And she was staring straight at them!

CHAPTER 5
    The three girls froze in midstep. Jane’s heart was pounding so hard she could barely breathe.
    As they watched, breathless, Willow raised one hand and pointed at them.
    â€œYou.”
    Then—
    â€œYou left it at the store,” Willow said in a blurry voice thick with sleep. And she lay down again.
    Lucy let out a long breath. “She must be dreaming,” she whispered. “Let’s get out of here.”
    Jane glanced around, but no one seemed to have woken up. Silently the girls tiptoed out of the Great Hall. In the corridor they broke into a run. When theywere safely out of range, Lucy doubled over with quiet laughter.
    â€œÂ â€˜You left it at the store,’ ” she said. “Don’t you wish we could ask her what ‘it’ was?”
    But Jane felt too rattled to laugh. “We could have gotten out of the Great Hall in two seconds if we’d used the closest door. Why did you make us walk all the way across the room like that?” she asked.
    â€œTo give us more of an adventure!” said Lucy. “And you have to admit, it was more exciting my way. Now come on, let’s get started on our hunt.”
    â€œGet started how?” said Jane. “What are we supposed to do—just wander around the museum hoping to see a mummy?”
    â€œWe’ll go back to the Egyptian exhibit, of course,” said Lucy. “Where else would a mummy hang around?”
    â€œNo.” Daria’s voice was firm. “If there is