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Mrs. Food had a frozen expression on her face, and Mrs. Third Floor had started to whimper. Even Mr. Slick Hair looked shaken. He raised his arms a little higher.“SPIRITS! WE KNOW YOU’RE HERE.”

Butterbean raised her head to howl again, but as she opened her mouth, she caught Walt’s eye. Walt jerked her head in the direction of the living room. Butterbean nodded, apologetic.

She’d let herself get distracted by Oscar’s singing. She shook a little to get herself into character. (Her character was Dog Freaked Out by Ghost. She’d been practicing ever since she’d gotten the part a few hours ago. The white cat had given her a couple of pointers.) Taking a deep breath, she stared at a fixed point in the middle of the room and started to whine. (The fixed point she chose was a piece of fluff on the carpet. She would totally eat it later.)

“What is it, Bean?” Madison asked in a low voice. “What’s wrong with you?” Butterbean ignored her and whined again.

“I think the dog senses something,” Mrs. Third Floor said.

Mr. Slick Hair stared at Butterbean with a confused expression. She was not part of his plan.“Um. Yes, exactly.” He stared at her for a few seconds more and then shrugged. “GHOSTLY SPIRITS! EVEN THE DOG SENSES YOUR PRESENCE! MAKE YOURSELF KNOWN!” He looked around for the Bald Guy. “Gord!” he hissed.

The Bald Guy nodded.

Suddenly a low eerie noise filled the apartment. Walt swiveled her ears. It was coming from the Bald Guy’s jacket pocket. She glared at him.

“Look! Over there!” Mr. Slick Hair pointed down the hallway, his finger trembling. “THE GHOST IS APPEARING!”

Tendrils of vapor were gathering in the hallway near the bedroom. Mrs. Third Floor gasped and clutched Mrs. Food, who clutched Madison.

Officer Marlowe frowned.

There, in the hallway, a ghostly apparition appeared. It was transparent, but had a roughly human shape and hung suspended in the air, swaying slightly.

Butterbean yelped.

Mrs. Third Floor gave a shrill scream.

“WE HAVE ANGERED THE SPIRITS!” Mr. Slick Hair yelled. “IT’S COMING FOR YOU!” He pointed at Mrs. Third Floor.

Mrs. Third Floor was trembling so much that Walt felt like she was going to be sick. But suddenly, Mrs. Third Floor went still. She tilted her head and looked down the hallway, blinking.

Because just as suddenly as the ghost had appeared, it disappeared.

“Where did it…” She trailed off, looking around wildly and clutching Walt even tighter.

“It… uh…” Mr. Slick Hair shot a nasty look at the Bald Guy, who nodded in response. “IT IS DISPLEASED,” Mr. Slick Hair continued in a booming voice. The Bald Guy edged back toward the hallway, trying to look invisible. But before he got there, he stopped short.

Because the ghostly apparition they’d seen before had been replaced by something much more terrifying.

A huge shape loomed in the hallway, a shape with multiple arms that waved and reached out toward them.

“OH NO NO NO,” Mrs. Third Floor whimpered, and buried her face in Mrs. Food’s shoulder.

“PSST, Walt!” Butterbean hissed. “Am I still supposed to be looking at my fixed spot, or can I look at— WHAT THE HECK? IS THAT MR. WIGGLES?” Butterbean barked.

That’s when they heard the scream. It was the most bone-chilling sound any of them could ever remember hearing. And it was coming from Mr. Slick Hair.

He’d collapsed in a heap on the floor and was scrambling crab-style away from the thing in the hallway. “WHAT IS THAT?” he shrieked, pointing toward the flailing ghostly tendrils. “Gord, what have you done?”

“NOT ME!” the Bald Guy wailed, flattening himself against the wall. “I didn’t do anything like that thing! Mine was just gauze!”

A ghostly tentacle reached out in his direction, and he scrambled back into the kitchen. Then he screamed and pointed at the floor.“NOOOOO!”

Everyone peered into the kitchen. Tiny white footprints had appeared on the linoleum.“Those weren’t there before!” the Bald Guy screamed. “I SWEAR!”

A tentacle dangled down from the light fixture and gently touched Mr. Slick Hair on the back of the neck. (There were also some quiet giggling sounds, but no one noticed them over all the screaming.)

Mr. Slick Hair jumped away, screaming and slapping at his head.“IT TOUCHED ME! THE GHOST TOUCHED ME?”

“All right, what is this?” Officer Marlowe demanded. She’d seen just about enough.

“Don’t let it get me!” Mr. Slick Hair threw himself onto the floor, grabbing at her legs for protection. She shook him off and started walking carefully down the hallway toward the ghost.

As she reached for the light switch, she smacked into the piece of Plexiglas.“Interesting,” she said, smacking it again with her hand. The multi-armed ghost quickly pulled itself up and disappeared.

“Want to explain this?” She peered into the bedroom doorway. “Nice trick, guys.” She went into the room, emerging a few minutes later holding the wadded-up-fabric ghost figure. “I think I see what’s going on here.”