Read Online The Ghost in the Third Row by Bruce Coville - Free Book Online Page A

two doing here?”
    Gwendolyn! I couldn’t believe it. Didn’t the people in that theater have anything better to do than hang around and look for kids they could bother?
    â€œWe’ve been working with Paula,” said Chris quite honestly. “Just wait till you hear Nine’s song! By the way, do you know where Pop is?”
    I wished I could be cool like that. It was unbelievable. Chris stood right in front of Stone-face Gwendolyn Meyer and without blinking an eye convinced her to tell us what we wanted to know.
    Gwendolyn told us we would probably find Pop in the theater and also told us where his office was, in case we had to leave him a message.
    We headed for the theater. Sure enough, there was Pop, fixing a broken seat near the back.
    Suddenly it hit me that I had no idea what to do next. “What are we going to say to him?” I whispered to Chris.
    â€œNothing, dummy. We don’t want to talk to him at all. We’re heading for his office.”
    That didn’t stop her from waving and shouting a cheerful “Hi, Pop!” as we went strolling by. Pop looked up from the seat he was working on, scowled at us, and made a noise that may or may not have been a greeting. We continued on down the center aisle as if we owned the place.
    Behind the stage was the stairway that led up to the dressing rooms. There was also a down stairway. That was where Gwendolyn had told us we would find Pop’s office.
    We stood at the top of the stairs and looked down. Neither of us moved. I had a feeling we were each waiting for the other to go first.
    â€œDark down there,” said Chris after a while.
    â€œSure is,” I said. I was squinting down the steps, trying to make something out.
    â€œPerson might get hurt, stumbling around.”
    â€œSure could,” I said.
    â€œThey ought to keep it better lit.”
    â€œSure should,” I said, getting ready to turn around and leave.
    â€œWell, let’s get on with it,” said Chris. She started walking down the stairs.
    I couldn’t believe it! I thought she had been trying to talk herself out of going down there. The truth was, she had just been building up her courage.
    Now I had to build up mine!
    It helped to have Chris ahead of me. I started after her, sticking as close to her as I could.
    When we reached the bottom of the stairs, we were standing in a little hall. A large space opened off to the right. It wasn’t as dark as I had thought, because a few dim lights were on. We could see, but the lights also threw weird shadows all over the walls.
    It would have been spooky under the best of conditions. Knowing there was a ghost hanging around made it worse. It didn’t make any difference that I was convinced the ghost was friendly. The hairs on the back of my neck were slowly starting to stand up. I shook my head and shivered as a chill ran down my spine.
    We walked along the hall to the larger room. The concrete walls were damp and cool to the touch even though it was summer.
    The place was littered with old props and pieces of scenery. Seen up close, a lot of the ones that were supposed to be scary were kind of funny. But some of the funny ones were downright terrifying.
    There was one that I still see in my nightmares sometimes—a gigantic clown face that had been propped up against the far wall. It had to have been at least ten feet tall. I don’t have any idea what they used it for originally, but I imagined it looked wonderful and jolly when it was on the stage.
    But now it was standing in front of a light fixture, so light streamed out of its eyes and mouth. It looked evil. I stood in front of it for the longest time, fascinated by it, yet afraid at the same time.
    I rubbed my arms as if I were freezing and tried to turn away. But it was as though I were under a spell. I didn’t seem to be able to take my attention off the clown face until Chris called my name.
    â€œHey, Nine!” she