Dead Voices

But maybe she was wrong, Ollie thought. Imagining things. What if she went down and told her dad what she was feeling, and he had no idea what she was talking about? She’d be so embarrassed. Maybe none of this was real, and she was anxious over nothing.

More than anything, Ollie wanted to talk to her own mom. She wondered if Mr. Voland knew how. She hoped he did. She was going to help him explore the lodge, talk to him, and when the time was right, she was going to ask him. Casually. About how you talked to ghosts.

At that moment, Ollie’s watch beeped.

She froze.

Ollie’s watch hadn’t changed or made a sound since those dangerous days when Ollie and her friends escaped the corn maze. But now the watch was beeping.

Ollie looked down at it.

Ever since October, there had been a single word, unchanged, on the digital display. LOVE, her watch had said. It was her mother’s final message, sent after Ollie and her friends were safe.

But now the word was gone from the display, as though it had sunk in a gray sea. In its place, a word was struggling to get out. Letters and numbers writhed across the screen. But they were a blur. An S? H? Ollie couldn’t read them.

“Mom?” she whispered. She looked around the room, but of course she was alone. Her heart was beating very fast. “Mom—are you there?” Maybe her mom was there to give her answers after all. If only Ollie could read . . . “What is it?”

For the briefest instant, a new word appeared on the watch face, then vanished as fast as it had come. The beeping stopped.

Ollie shook the watch. Tapped it. Nothing.

The word LOVE did not come back. Neither did the other word. The new word, which Ollie had barely glimpsed.

BEWARE.

Ollie was suddenly aware of the utter stillness of the room. The only sound was the moan of the wind outside. Where were Brian and Coco?

Her watch remained blank.

She waited. Nothing happened. Ollie started to shake. She couldn’t stand still.

She bolted out the door and down the stairs.

Beware what?

Her hand closed tight around the empty watch face.

There was no sign of Brian or Coco in the lobby. Mr. Voland was leaning on the wall by the double-sided fireplace, talking to Mrs. Wilson. She was still digging in the ashes. Her hands were sooty to the elbows, and the corners of her mouth turned down. There was water everywhere from melted snow, but no fire. The lights were still out.

Ollie stepped around the bearskin rug, spared a frown at the bear in the corner. Hadn’t it been on its hind legs before? Maybe Mr. Wilson had a lot of differently posed animals that he switched in and out?

“Oh,” Mrs. Wilson was saying to Mr. Voland, in the tone of someone who was being polite but really just wanted to get on with work. “I didn’t realize that a haunted lodge could be a tourist attraction.”

Mr. Voland laughed his big, warm laugh. “It certainly can,” he said cheerfully. “Give your lodge a haunted reputation, invent some bloodcurdling stories for a few of the rooms, and people will flock—absolutely flock—to stay here.”

“Wish they would flock today,” said Mrs. Wilson sourly, and then she caught sight of Ollie. “Hello, dear!” she called. “Enjoying yourself?”

“Doing just fine, Mrs. Wilson,” Ollie said. Still out of breath from running, she turned to Mr. Voland. “Could I talk to you a second, please?” she said.

Mr. Voland raised both eyebrows. “Ollie, wasn’t it? Certainly.” He walked over to a pair of cowskin chairs on the other side of the lobby and sat down on one. Ollie followed and took the other. She was almost quivering with impatience. The BEWARE on her mother’s watch seemed to be burned onto the backs of her eyelids. She was barely sitting down before she blurted out, “If a ghost wanted to talk to you, how would you talk back? Can you tell me?”

Mr. Voland looked surprised. He thought a moment. Then he said, “I’ll tell you what I know.” He was watching her narrowly. “If you’ll tell me why you’re so interested. If it’s just for fun, I’m afraid that talking to ghosts is not something one does for fun.”

“It’s not for fun!” Ollie burst out, more sharply than she’d meant. But Mr. Voland didn’t look annoyed. He just waited.

Ollie didn’t know what to say. Her watch was her precious secret, even now, when it had gone blank and she was afraid something had happened to it.

“I know ghosts are real,” Ollie said carefully. “You say you’ve seen them. Me ’n’ Brian ’n’ Coco have all seen them too. So I want to know how you talk to them. That’s all.”