Midnight

Flowers said calmly and poured them each a mug of tea.

Matt saw Meredith glance at him uneasily – but Meredith didn’t know Mrs. Flowers as well as he did.

"You don’t real y think it’s a ghost,"he said now.

"No, I don’t. Ma ma hasn’t said a word about it, and then it’s your house, Matt, dear. No gruesome murders or hideous secrets in its past, I should think. Let me see…"She shut her eyes and let Matt and Meredith go on with their tea. Then she opened her eyes and gave them a puzzled smile.

"Ma ma says ‘search the house for your ghost. Then listen well to what it has to say.’"

"Okay,"Matt said poker-faced. "Since it’s my house, I guess I’d better search for it. But when? Should I set an alarm?"

"I think the best way would be to arrange a watch rota," Mrs. Flowers said.

"Okay,"Meredith agreed promptly. "I’l take the middle watch, from midnight to four; Matt can have the first one; and Mrs.

Flowers, you can have the early-morning one, and get a nap in the afternoon if you want."

Matt felt uneasy. "Why don’t we just break it up into two watches and the two of you can share one? I’l take the other."

"Because, dear Matt,"Meredith said, "we don’t want to be treated like ‘ladies.’And don’t argue" – she hefted the fighting stave – "because I’m the one with the heavy equipment."

Something was shaking the room. Shaking Matt with it. Stillhalf-asleep, he put his hand under his pil ow and pul ed out the revolver. A hand grabbed it and he heard a voice.

"Matt! It’s me, Meredith! Wake up, wil you?"

Groggily, Matt reached for the lamp switch. Again, strong, slim cold fingers prevented him from doing what he wanted.

"No light,"Meredith whispered. "It’s very faint, but if you come with me quietly, you can hear it. The crying."

That woke Matt up the rest of the way. "Right now?"

"Right now."

Doing his best to walk quietly through the dark hal s, Matt fol owed Meredith to the downstairs living room.

"Sh!"Meredith warned. "Listen."

Matt listened. He could hear some sobbing All right, and maybe some words, but they didn’t sound al that ghostly to him. He put his ear to the wal and listened. The crying was louder.

"Do we have a flashlight?"Matt asked.

"I have two, my dears. But this is a very dangerous time of night."Mrs. Flowers was a shadow against darkness.

"Please give the flashlights to us,"said Matt. "I don’t think our ghost is very supernatural. What time is it, anyway?"

"About twelve forty A.M.,"Meredith answered. "But why do you think it isn’t supernatural?"

"Because I think it’s living in our basement,"Matt said. "I think it’s Cole Reece. The kid who ate his guinea pig."

Ten minutes later, with the stave, two flashlights, and Saber, they had caught their ghost.

"I didn’t mean anything bad,"Cole sobbed, when they had lured him upstairs with promises of candy and "magic"tea that would let him sleep.

"I didn’t hurt anything, honest,"he choked, wolfing down Hershey bar after Hershey bar from their emergency rations.

"I’m scared that he’s onto me. Because after you hit me with that sticky note, I haven’t been able to hear him in my head anymore. And then you came here" – he gestured around Matt’s house – "and you had amulets and I figured it would be better to stay inside them. Or it could be my Last Midnight too."

He was babbling. But something about the last words made Matt say, "What do you mean…’your Last Midnight too’?"

Cole looked at him in terror. The rim of melted Hershey bar around his lips made Matt remember the last time he’d seen the boy.

"You know, don’t you?"Cole faltered. "About the midnights?

The countdown? Twelve days til the Last Midnight? Eleven days til the Last Midnight? And now…tonight is one day til the Last Midnight…"He began to sob again, even while cramming chocolate into his mouth. It was clear that he was starving.

"But what happens on the Last Midnight?"Meredith asked.

"You know, don’t you? That that’s the time when… you know."Maddeningly Cole seemed to think they were testing him.

Matt put his hands on Cole’s shoulders, and to his horror felt bones under his fingers. The kid really was starving, he thought, forgiving him al the Hershey bars. His eyes met Mrs.

Flowers’s eyes and she immediately went to the kitchen.

But Cole wasn’t answering; he was mumbling incoherently.

Matt forced himself to apply pressure to those bony shoulders.

"Cole, talk louder! What’s this Last Midnight about?"

"You know. That’s when…al the kids… you know, they wait up and at midnight…they get knives or guns. You know. And we go into our parents’room while they’re asleep and…"Cole broke down again, but Matt noticed he had slipped into saying "we"and "our"by the end.

Meredith spoke in her calm, steady voice. "The children are going to kil their parents, is that right?"

"He showed us where to slash or stab. Or if there’s a gun – "

Matt had heard enough. "You can stay – in the basement,"he said. "And here are some amulets. Put them on you if you feel like you’re in danger."He gave Cole a whole packet of Post-it Notes.

"Just don’t be afraid,"Meredith added, as Mrs. Flowers came in with a plate of sausages and fried potatoes for Cole. At any other time the smel would have made Matt hungry.

"It’s just like that island in Japan,"he said. "Shinichi and Misao made it happen there, and they’re going to do it again."