Free The Final Nightmare by Rodman Philbrick

home where so many happy memories have become painful. Mrs. Wood said Miss Everett would be staying on as caretaker of the house .
    â€œWow!” said Lucy, wide-eyed. “The witch is the nanny!”
    I nodded. “That’s what I suspected, but this proves it. But why would the nanny kill Bobby?”
    â€œMaybe Bobby knew what happened to the ruby and she didn’t want him to tell,” Steve suggested.
    Lucy clapped her hands together. “Yes!” she exclaimed. “It’s finally starting to make sense.”
    â€œCould be,” I said. “The witch-thing is the ghost of the nanny, Alice Everett. She lived in this house for years after Bobby died. And when she died, she became a ghost, too.”
    Steve shook his head in disbelief. “I wonder if the old lady knew Bobby was haunting the house before she died.”
    â€œMaybe Bobby hid the ruby,” said Lucy excitedly. “That’s why the old lady was so mean and never went anywhere.”
    â€œOr she just hid the ruby herself out of meanness,” said Steve.
    I nodded at them solemnly. “I think the ruby is still in the house,” I said. “And you guys are going to help me find it!”

29
    â€œYou know where we have to look first, don’t you?” said Lucy, chewing anxiously on the end of her ponytail.
    â€œNot the cellar!” Steve protested.
    I nodded—Lucy was right. “That’s where the witch hangs out,” I said. “There must be a good reason.”
    â€œThe nanny-ghost-witch doesn’t want us to find the ruby,” said Lucy. “That’s why it’s so scary down there.”
    Steve picked up my baseball bat and hefted it. “This time will be different,” he vowed. “If that old beast comes after me, I’ll swing for the bleachers. Pow!”
    He took a cut with the bat that made the air whistle.
    â€œOkay,” he said. “Let’s do it.”
    Mom had sent Sally off to some play group so we only had to lie low until my parents had shut themselves in their office.
    â€œEverybody be as quiet as possible,” I whispered as we gathered in the kitchen.
    We roped ourselves together like mountain climbers, just like the last time we made an expedition into the cellar.
    â€œIt may look silly,” said Lucy, double-knotting the rope at her waist, “but it sure worked.”
    Lucy and Steve both had baseball bats as weapons. A sudden inspiration made me take the fire extinguisher from the kitchen wall.
    â€œHere goes nothing,” I whispered, opening the basement door.
    We all clicked on our flashlights and the beams sprang into the darkness.
    I started down, the extinguisher held out in front of me like a machine gun. Let the old witch come for me! I’d blast her into smithereens.
    The basement was as silent as a tomb.
    â€œWe’ll have to look in every box, every toe of every shoe,” I said, dumping a boxful of old boots onto the floor. “If that stolen ruby is here, we’ll find it.”
    â€œThat’s right,” said Lucy, a little more loudly than necessary. “And we’ll just stay right here until we do find it.”
    â€œWhat if it’s not here?” Steve said, alarmed, but Lucy and I didn’t answer.
    Lucy was sure we’d find the ruby. And I was sure the witch-nanny couldn’t bear for us to be messing in her things.
    We searched in silence for a few minutes, our ears tensed for any sound.
    â€œHey, Jason, get a load of this,” teased Steve, pulling a battered straw hat from a box. “Just your size. You’ll have to wear it on our next expedition.”
    I looked up and a movement behind Steve caught my eye.
    But before I could get a better look there was a flash of light, a loud POP! and the sharp tinkle of shattering glass.
    We were plunged into blackness.

30
    â€œThe lightbulb exploded,” said Lucy in a tense whisper. She blended into the