The Starving Ghost: An Up2U Mystery Adventure - Up2U Adventures Set 3 Read online

  in it, a glass of juice, and a note telling her to go

  to the barn when she was done.

  The bowl of porridge turned out to be

  delicious. It was sweet and creamy and smooth,

  almost like warm cinnamon pudding. Shay ate

  hungrily then wandered out of the house.

  21

  This was Shay’s first good look at the farm.

  The main building was a sturdy two-story house

  made from gray stones of different shapes and

  sizes. The doors and windows were painted bright

  red. A short stone fence surrounded the building

  on all four sides. The house stood on top of a low,

  grassy hill. More hills dipped and rose behind the

  house. Each hill was dotted with groups of sheep.

  Shay found Uncle Sean working inside the

  barn. He was using a large, metal rake to scoop

  piles of hay into a wheelbarrow. Every time he

  moved a pile of hay, Shay smelled a new wave

  of mold and manure. She wrinkled her nose and

  resisted the urge to cover her face with her sleeve.

  “Shay!” Sean’s face lit up when he saw her.

  She wondered if he thought she wouldn’t come.

  “Ready for some work?”

  “Sure,” she said, sounding not sure at all. Shay

  tried to smile in return, but it came out like a

  crooked grimace.

  22

  “Let’s start you with something a little easier,”

  he said.

  “Farm chores for beginners?” Shay asked.

  “You got it,” he said. His eyes darted around

  the barn. They finally landed on a large rectangle

  of leather with handles on either end. “Wood!”

  he said, and got the carrier for Shay. “Why don’t

  you gather the wood I chopped yesterday. It’s just

  on the other side of that hill, near the woods.”

  Shay was relieved that she wasn’t going to

  be doing anything with the soiled hay in the

  wheelbarrow. She took the wood carrier and

  walked off in the direction Sean had indicated.

  She found the wood after about ten minutes

  of walking. She was in the clearing at the edge

  of a small forest. Near the edge of the woods,

  there were many roughly cut logs strewn around

  a tree trunk and an ax. Uncle Sean had obviously

  chopped the wood and left the logs wherever

  they fell.

  23

  Shay had never gathered wood before. “But how hard could it be?” she said aloud. She bent

  to pick up her first log.

  “Pretty hard,” said a girl’s voice, “if you don’t

  know how to use a carrier.”

  Shay snapped to attention. A few feet behind

  her stood a girl about her own age. The girl had

  long, blond hair that was tied into a braid. She

  wore a dirty, white cotton dress. The plain dress

  seemed old-fashioned, like something from a

  costume trunk.

  But, Shay thought, maybe that’s what people in the village wore.

  The girl was very thin. And though she smiled

  at Shay, the smile didn’t quite reach her sad green

  eyes. If Shay didn’t know better, she’d say the girl

  looked like—but no, that was impossible.

  “Have you piled wood before?” The girl had

  a thick Irish accent. Her vowel sounds stretched

  long and she rolled the “r” in “before.”

  24

  “No, but there’s a first time for everything,”

  Shay said. Uncle Sean’s positive attitude was

  growing on her. “I’m Shay. I’m staying here with

  Uncle Sean for the summer.”

  Shay didn’t know who this girl was, but she

  knew that she’d have a better time this summer

  if she could make a friend. She waited for the girl

  to say her name. The girl just continued to smile

  a little sadly.

  Finally, Shay asked, “Who are you?”

  The girl shook her head slightly as though she

  was snapping herself out of a trance. “Me?” she

  asked. “I’m Bridget. I’m . . .” She looked off into

  the distance behind Shay. She shook her head

  slightly and put a bigger smile on her face before

  meeting Shay’s eyes. “I’m just Bridget.”

  “Hi,” said Shay. She was feeling nervous, and

  when she got nervous she talked. “Do you know

  how to pile this properly? It’s my first ever farm

  chore.” She started to move logs onto the carrier.

  25

  “My little sister’s with our aunt in California,”

  Shay continued. “I’ll bet the only chore she’s

  doing is filling up her lemonade glass.”

  Shay had piled four logs on the carrier. She

  tried to lift it by the handles. She couldn’t add

  any more without dropping the ones she already

  had. “Hey, Bridget, do you think you could put

  this last one on top?”

  Shay kicked a log at Bridget and sent it rolling

  down the hill toward her.

  “No, I don’t think I . . .” Bridget began. But it

  was too late.

  The log rolled right through Bridget’s feet!

  27

  Chapter

  4

  4GD#NSS@FD

  Shay shrieked and dropped the logs she was

  carrying. All three logs followed the first one.

  They rolled right through Bridget’s feet. Shay

  started to back away quickly up the hill.

  “Wait!” shouted Bridget.

  Shay stopped. Bridget took a few steps toward

  her until the two girls were standing eye to eye.

  Both were thin. Both were tall. Both had long

  hair. If it weren’t for Bridget’s old-fashioned

  clothes, someone looking at them would have

  thought they were just two friends meeting on

  the farm.

  28

  “Are you a ghost?” Shay asked.

  Bridget looked down at her body. It wasn’t

  see-through. It didn’t shimmer. It looked solid.

  “I’m not alive,” Bridget replied slowly. She

  tried to pick up one of the fallen logs. Her fingers

  swept right through the wood. “I guess I am a

  ghost.”

  “What happened to you?” Shay had been

  ready for an adventure this summer. But she

  hadn’t expected to meet a ghost.

  Bridget shuffled uncomfortably. “I don’t know.

  I don’t remember what happened.” She looked

  wistfully at the land around them. “I know that I

  lived here,” she said.

  Shay looked around the rolling hills too. There

  were no houses anywhere. “Where?” she asked,

  confused.

  “Follow me! Come on!” Bridget started

  running down the opposite side of the hill. Her

  braid flew behind her.

  29

  Shay slowed to a stop in front of a broken

  down cottage. It was made from stones just like

  Sean’s house was. But these stones were covered

  in brown mold. Most of the roof was missing.

  Thick grass grew tall inside the house.

  Bridget waited outside of a doorway leading

  inside the abandoned cottage. Shay caught her

  31

  breath. Then Shay asked, “So this is where
you used to live? With who?”

  Bridget looked sadly at Shay. “I don’t

  remember anything.” Then, Bridget’s face lit up

  unexpectedly. “But maybe you know!”

  Shay laughed uncomfortably. It was strange;

  just now, Bridget seemed like a normal girl. Shay

  found that she truly wanted to help her. She

  answered slowly, “Maybe I can help you find out.”

  Bridget jumped up and down and clapped her

  hands. “Really?”

  “Sure!” said Shay. She looked expectantly at

  Bridget. “So, should we go in?”

  Shay stepped inside the cottage. Shay could

  see the whole cottage. It was simple, just two

  rooms. There was a large main room, and behind

  it was a second room with a loft above. The floors

  were made of tightly-packed dirt.

  “Where did you sleep?” Shay asked. She

  turned, but Bridget wasn’t behind her. She leaned

  32

  her head out of a window. But Bridget didn’t seem to be anywhere.

  Then she heard it. The sound of a child giggling.

  The hairs on the back of Shay’s neck stood up.

  A strong wind blew through the cottage. She

  whipped her head around.

  There it was again. A giggle. She was sure it

  was real. It was coming from the back room.

  “Bridget?” she called as she walked to the back

  of the cottage. Maybe there was a second door

  Bridget used?

  “Shay!” Shay felt so relieved to hear her friend’s

  voice. She looked around, but she couldn’t see

  Bridget.

  There it was, another giggle. And the sound of

  footsteps overhead.

  Bridget must be somewhere above her. Shay

  stopped and looked up at the lofted floor. A

  ladder leaned against the wood floor above her.

  Shay tested the first rung of the ladder. It seemed

  33

  sturdy enough. So she began to climb the ladder slowly, one rung at a time.

  She was almost to the top of the ladder. She

  reached her hand up to grab the lofted ceiling.

  Then, the rotting wood in the ladder collapsed.

  The rungs broke in half. Shay screamed, and the

  world went black.

  34

  Chapter

  5

  &@LHKX0GNSNR

  “Shay? Shay?”

  Uncle Sean was patting her cheek and saying

  her name. Shay opened her eyes.

  “Oh, thank goodness,” Uncle Sean said. He

  slumped back on his heels and put his hands on

  his face. “When you didn’t come back, I came

  looking for you. I saw you walk into the cottage.

  Next thing I know, there’s an almighty crash.

  And here you are on the floor.”

  Shay sat up. She blacked out for just a moment.

  Luckily the loft was short, and Shay only fell a

  few feet.

  35

  “First I lose you at the airport.” Sean shook his head. “And now this. I’ll bet you wished you had

  never come to Ireland.”

  Shay stood up. To her own surprise, she said,

  “You know, Uncle Sean, I’m glad I’m here.” There

  was a mystery to be solved. Shay couldn’t think

  of a bigger adventure than that.

  Bridget was nowhere to be found. Working

  slowly, Shay and Sean gathered her logs together.

  After lunch, Shay was feeling good enough to get

  back to work. That day, she learned how to feed

  the sheep and freshen hay. While they worked,

  Shay asked Uncle Sean what he knew about the

  ghost haunting his fields.

  “Sean, do you believe in ghosts?”

  “That’s a silly question,” he said, not meeting

  her eyes. “Why do you ask?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Shay said. “This is such an

  old farmhouse.” She trailed off, hoping that Sean

  would fill the silence with Bridget’s story.

  36

  Uncle Sean turned for the first time and looked her square in the eyes. “Ghosts are only

  real in stories, Shay.”

  After dinner, Shay headed straight upstairs.

  She told Uncle Sean that she was still tired from

  the time difference and the long day of farm

  work. But she really wanted to look through the

  photos in the hallway.

  Once upstairs, Shay looked at the pictures

  one at a time. About halfway down the hallway,

  she spotted what she was looking for. A photo of

  Bridget.

  Shay recognized her right away. The girl in

  the photo had the same sunken eyes and the long

  braid. She was even wearing the same dress.

  It was the picture that had captured Shay’s

  attention her first night. The portrait also

  contained four other people: an adult man and

  woman, a taller girl, and a boy shorter than

  Bridget.

  37

  “She had a family,” Shay said to the empty hallway. Seeing the family—the two parents

  side by side—made Shay feel a pain deep in her

  stomach that had nothing to do with her dinner.

  She grabbed the photo off the wall and

  brought it to her bedroom. Shay propped it up

  on the dusty dresser.

  “Bridget will be so happy to see you tomorrow,”

  she said to the framed picture. Then Shay

  changed into her pajamas and crawled in bed. She

  immediately fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

  CRASH!

  Once again, Shay jolted awake. She looked

  around, for a moment forgetting where she was.

  What had woken her up? Shay swung her legs

  out of bed. She stood and looked for the source

  of the big crash.

  She found it just outside of her room. A photo

  from the hallway had fallen to the floor. Shay

  picked it up. In it, there were four people.

  38

  She rushed to her room and picked up the

  photo of Bridget’s family. Shay’s heart sank when

  she realized the truth. The second photo was of

  Bridget’s family, but without Bridget.

  Head hung and heart heavy, Shay moved to

  put the frames back on the dresser. What would

  she say to Bridget now? She was about to set

  the pictures down, but stopped when she saw

  something strange. The thick layer of dust on the

  dresser had something written in it.

  The word was written in clear, bold letters.

  HUNGRY.

  Chapter

  6

  (TMFQX

  When Shay woke up the next morning, the

  first thing she did was check the dresser. There

  was nothing but dusty fingerprints on the surface.

  “You’re imagining things,” she told herself.

  She quickly got dressed for another day of

  farm work and headed downstairs. Uncle Sean

  sat at the table. But there was no breakfast, no

  pot of coffee bubbling on the counter.

  “Morning, Shay!” Uncle Sean said. “I was

  thinking this morning we could head into town.

  I’ll take you to my friend’s pub. We’ll have a real

  Irish breakfast.”

  40

  Shay was itching to get back to the cottage.

  She wanted to see Bridget. But it
was clear from

  Uncle Sean’s manner that he wouldn’t take “no”

  for an answer.

  “Sounds great!” she said.

  After just a few minutes in Uncle Sean’s truck,

  Shay found herself in front of yet another stone

  building. A simple wood sign outside told Shay

  that this was Mulligan’s Pub.

  Uncle Sean led her inside to a seat at the

  counter. They were immediately greeted by a

  woman around her mother’s age. She was wearing

  a cream-colored shirt and had brown curly hair

  tied back in a blue bandana. When she saw Shay,

  she smiled warmly and extended her hand.

  “Well, this must be the famous Siobhan

  Sullivan I’ve been hearing so much about. Sean’s

  been talking of nothing but you coming for

  weeks.” The woman winked at Uncle Sean. To

  Shay’s surprise, he blushed! “I’m Moira.”

  41

  “Shay,” Shay replied, shaking her hand.

  “Well, Shay, what’ll you be having this

  morning?” Moira asked.

  Uncle Sean answered for them both. “Two

  full Irishes, Moira, thanks.”

  Moira went back to the kitchen, then came

  back to Shay and Sean. She leaned her elbows on

  the bar like she was settling in for a long chat. “So

  Shay, how are you liking the old Sullivan farm?”

  Shay searched for the right words.

  “I like it!” she said. “It’s . . . old.”

  Both adults laughed. “That it is!” said Moira.

  “Moira’s a bit of an expert on the area,” said

  Uncle Sean. “You’ve been asking questions. I

  thought you two would get along.” Shay turned

  to Moira, eyes wide, ears ready.

  Moira began her story. “All the land the

  Sullivan farm is on now used to belong to many

  families,” she said. “They worked together to farm

  the land. Then, they shared the crops and profit.”

  42

  “So the old cottage I found . . .” began Shay.

  “Yes, another family owned it. But in the

  middle of the 1800s, most of the families left

  Ireland for one reason or another.”

  Moira and Sean glanced at each other at this.

  “And when they left on those giant boats,

  most could only afford to travel in steerage,”

  Moira continued. “They had to leave most of their

  things behind. That’s how Sean’s grandmammy

  ended up with all those photos.”

  “The furniture, too,” Sean added. “I replaced