The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh Read Free Book Online Page A

“So you think this map is a clue?”
    “It’s our only one,” announced Euri, handing it back to him. “We need to find out more about it.”
    “How are we going to do that?”
    “My friend Professor Schmitt. He would have been alive when this map was made. He may be able to tell us more.”
    The shrill barking of a dog startled Jack. Beneath him, he spotted a little yellow terrier looking up and barking furiously. A living man bundled up in a sheepskin jacket was tugging on the dog’s leash. “Come on, Abbie!”
    “He’ll see us!” Jack whispered.
    But Euri just laughed. “He can’t see us or hear us, either. We’re invisible. That’s another ghost thing. And anyway, he’s a New Yorker. He probably won’t even look up.”
    Just as Euri predicted, the man continued to peer absently down at the snow while yanking the little dog. “Shush, Abbie!” he murmured. “Shush! There’s nothing there.”
    “Quiet!” Euri shouted. The little dog whimpered and stopped barking. Euri turned to Jack. “We’ll watch the end of the sunset,” she said. “And then we’ll go.”
    As though a giant valve were slowly closing, the stream of ghosts that issued from the fountain slowed to a trickle. The man and his dog left the fountain and disappeared. The park began to grow dark. One by one, lights twinkled on. Euri seemed lost in thought. With his free hand, Jack replaced the map and pulled the cell phone out of his backpack. It was still dead. He couldn’t help feeling relieved—he didn’t relish the prospect of explaining to his father that he was still in New York and had missed the train, not to mention that he was flying around with a ghost.
    Euri finally pointed to the city lights, sparkling on the east side of the park. “Ready to go?”
    Jack nodded and with a shake of Euri’s ponytail, they flew toward the tall buildings on Fifth Avenue.

XI | The Haunted Penthouse
    In the beginning, they flew low enough for Jack to touch the tops of the trees with his feet. But as they neared the edge of the park, Euri began to steer them higher and higher. “The best views of the city are aerial ones,” she explained. Jack’s stomach dropped as the wind whipped against his face. “Look down!” Euri shouted. “Isn’t this fun?”
    Fifteen stories below, Fifth Avenue was a dizzying sight. Tiny taxis honked and toy-size buses rumbled. People the size of dolls dashed across the street as hundreds of ghosts flew over their heads. “Pretty cool,” Jack admitted. “But are you sure I won’t fall?”
    Euri chuckled. “Of course not!”
    Jack clutched her hand tighter. They sailed across Fifth Avenue and skirted the side of an elegant apartment building with stone garlands and cornucopias carved into its facade. Through windows where the drapes were open, Jack could see apartments decorated with oil paintings, chandeliers, and heavy, dark furniture. A number of ghosts floated just outside the windows, watching the people inside. “Haunters,” Euri explained.
    “Don’t you haunt?” Jack asked.
    Euri made a face. “Nah.”
    Jack watched a balding ghost in a tailored suit gaze longingly at someone inside an apartment. He thought about his mom. “They must miss the people they haunt,” he said.
    Euri scowled. “Maybe. But I bet the living aren’t even thinking about them.”
    “I’m sure they think about them a lot,” Jack said defensively. Hardly a day went by when he didn’t think about his mother. Euri didn’t give the living any credit. “Why did you start talking to me, anyway, in Grand Central?”
    Euri gave him a funny look. “I wasn’t trying to contact you in particular. You were just the first person who could hear me.”
    “But why were you trying to talk to living people? That’s haunting, isn’t it? Don’t you have any dead friends to talk to?” Jack realized that he was being rude, but he couldn’t stop himself. “I mean, aren’t there better things to do than hang out in Grand