My heart pounding, I stared down into the gaping black hole where I had fallen. A hole where an old staircase once stood. Now rotted away with age.
I let out a long sigh. “I’ll get you for this, Clark,” I cried out loud. “I told you I didn’t want to play.”
I hurried down the hall, searching for my stepbrother. Searching quickly. To get this dumb game over with.
And then I stopped.
And stared—at the door at the end of the hall.
A door with a shiny metal lock.
I moved slowly toward the door. A tarnished silver key rested in the keyhole.
What is inside there? I wondered. Why is it locked?
I stepped closer.
Why don’t Grandma and Grandpa want us in that room?
They said it was a supply room.
Practically every room in this weird old house is a storage room, I thought. Why don’t they want us to open that door?
I stood in front of the door.
I reached out my hand.
And wrapped my fingers around the silver key.
No.
I pulled my hand away from the doorknob.
I have to find Clark, I decided. I’m tired of playing this stupid game. I’m tired of being It.
Then I had a great idea.
I’ll hide! I’ll trick Clark into being It!
I’ll hide and Clark will get bored waiting for me to find him. He’ll have to look for me!
Perfect! I thought. Now … where shall I hide?
I searched the rest of the rooms on the third floor—scouting out a good hiding place. But the rooms up here were all empty. Nothing to slip behind.
Nothing to crawl under.
I returned to the little room with the player piano. Maybe I can figure out a way to hide behind that, I thought.
I tried to push the piano away from the wall. Just enough so I could squeeze behind it. But it was way too heavy. I couldn’t budge it.
I made my way back to the door with the silver key—the locked room.
I peered up and down the dim hall. Had I searched everywhere? Did I miss a room?
That’s when I spotted it.
A small door. A door in the wall.
A door I hadn’t noticed before.
A door to a dumbwaiter.
I’d seen dumbwaiters in the movies. In big, old houses like this one. They were little elevators that carried food and dishes from one floor to another. Pretty cool.
A dumbwaiter! I thought. A perfect place to hide! I turned and started toward it—when I heard a crash. A crash—like the sound of a plate dropping.
A crash coming from the other side of the door with the silver key.
I pressed my ear against the door. I heard footsteps.
So that’s where Clark is hiding! I realized. He is such a cheater! He hid in the one place he knew I wouldn’t look!
He hid in the room Grandma and Grandpa told us to stay out of.
Well, Clark, I thought. Too bad for you. I found you!
