The Haunting of Spook House Read online

  ‘The readings … as you were climbing over …’ he pants. ‘The portal was too weak. If you were to go through, only a shadow of yourself would have made it. You would have been a ghost in another time.’

  Josiah unhooks the plastic hose from his belt and points it at the window. He thumbs a switch on its side, and the ghost vacuum cleaner springs into life. Light spills out over the window, and there is a high-pitched humming.

  A ghostly image of the window is sucked through the tube.

  ‘Now,’ says Josiah, ‘onto the next paranormal hotspot.’

  But you shake your head. You’ve had enough ghostly activity for one day. You say goodbye to Josiah and head off.

  As you’re walking home, the right side of your body begins to tingle. Your right side? Wasn’t that the side that went through the portal before Josiah rescued you?

  You hold up your hand and look at it. Is it just a little less substantial? Could it be fading away into the past? Or is it just your imagination?

  You lift the wooden box out of the cabinet.

  There is a key underneath it. So you pick that up as well.

  The box is about the size of a bread loaf, with intricate carvings across the lid. You turn it around in your hands and realise there’s something inside.

  ‘Place the box on the floor and step back,’ instructs Josiah.

  You know you should do what Josiah asks, but you’re also curious about what’s inside.

  If you want to put the box down, go here.

  But if you want to use the key to open the box, go here.

  You place the box on the floor, with the key on top of it, and step back.

  Josiah flicks the switch on the side of the hose and the containment unit hums into life. Light streams from the hose to the box, and a ghostly figure is slowly drawn out of it. It is an elongated and distorted image of a man in a trench coat.

  ‘KABOOM!’ shouts the ghost. ‘I must have my KABOOM!’

  Quickly, it is sucked up and you wonder what the ghost was shouting about.

  ‘Well, that was easy,’ says Josiah, turning off the unit. ‘Next!’

  You’re feeling confident now. You saunter over to the cabinet to select the next object.

  If you want to pick up the Egyptian statue, go here.

  If you want to go for the dog tags, go here.

  You grab the dog tags from the cabinet. They’re hot!

  You drop them to the floor, where they sizzle and smoulder, burning a hole.

  As the dog tags fall through the scorched floorboards, Josiah aims his containment unit. But he’s not fast enough.

  Ghostly dogs leap from the hole, flames licking their heels. They have blazing eyes, smoking nostrils and rancid breath. Are they the hounds of hell?

  You back up against the desk and remember the swords hanging on the wall. You quickly snatch one off the wall and hold it up defensively.

  One of the hounds stops before you, glaring at you with its fiery eyes. The others set upon poor Josiah, jaws closing upon his arms and legs, and drag him screaming into the flaming hole.

  The remaining dog snarls at you, baring its teeth, then it too disappears into the hole.

  You drop the sword and run – out of the house and back home.

  You never speak of your experience with anyone. And from that day on …

  You will always be scared of dogs!

  You grab the statue from the cabinet. But it’s made of stone and heavier than you expect. It slips out of your hands and cracks in half as it hits the floor.

  The entire room shimmers.

  Two ghostly figures appear – tall and burly, with dark skin and bulging muscles. They wear golden loincloths and headdresses. One of them grabs you, pinning an arm behind your back. The other restrains Josiah before he can activate his containment unit.

  The room continues to shimmer.

  Two stone altars appear. Between them is another ghostly figure. Although shorter than the other two, he wears a jackal headpiece that makes him appear taller. He has a bowl of smouldering incense in one hand and a hook in the other.

  You think back to what you’ve read about ancient Egypt. Didn’t they pull people’s brains out through their noses prior to mummification? Is that what they’re going to do to you?

  You struggle … but it’s no use. Your ghost-guard is too strong. You watch as the jackal-headed man waves the bowl of incense under Josiah’s nose. His eyes roll up and he collapses into the arms of his guard, who places him onto one of the altars.

  You’re next.

  You can smell the sickly sweet odour as the jackal-man approaches. He moves the incense bowl in front of you and your mind fogs over, filling with indistinct images of mummies and brains in jars.

  You try to fight the fog. But it’s no use.

  Consciousness slips away and you close your eyes … in preparation for mummification.

  ‘I died whilst preparing my greatest endeavour … my biggest KABOOM.’ The ghost leans towards you in a conspiratorial way. ‘Slight miscalculation with the gunpowder ratios,’ he adds with a lowered voice before returning to normal volume. ‘I was intending to blow up my dear old Mumsie and her house. And now I’m out of that box, I can complete my mission. I’ll finally get my KABOOM! You see, I’m stuck here as a ghost unless I can finish off what I was trying to do when I died. Once I’ve done that, and my soul is at peace, I can cross over to the other side.’

  He thrusts out his hand towards the glass cabinet. Sparks shoot from his fingertips and the cabinet shatters.

  ‘And my ghostly powers will make things so much easier.’

  He sweeps his hand in an arc and books erupt from the shelves, bursting into flame as they hit the floor. ‘What do you think of that, Mumsie?’ he shouts at the ceiling.

  Then he grins your way.

  ‘Now then, my friend. Since you were kind enough to free me, I’ll grant you a few minutes to vacate the premises before I begin.’

  You stare at him.

  ‘Well, go!’ he shouts at you. ‘Shoo!

  Skedaddle! Or you’ll end up going KABOOM along with this house.’

  You don’t need further encouragement. You bolt from the room.

  In the entrance hall you hear a sound from above and glance up the stairs. You see a figure run across the landing. Someone’s up there!

  If you decide to go upstairs to warn whoever it is that the house is about to explode, go here.

  But if you’re more interested in saving yourself, go here.

  The police catch the criminals and confiscate the counterfeit products. The dolls were fake merchandise for the hottest boy-band on the planet – One-Way Street.

  The band is so grateful for your help that you get given all their albums, as well as tickets to their next concert. There’s even talk about you being in their next music video.

  How cool is that?

  Before you have time to change your mind, you step into the spot where the policeman is standing.

  You gasp! You are so cold that you are unable to breathe. Your blood feels like it has frozen in your veins.

  In your mind you picture the young boy calling for help. You picture the house and how to get to it.

  The policeman steps away, leaving you shivering and unable to move. With a determined expression, he marches out of the station.

  You still haven’t taken a breath. You’re still freezing. You’re still shivering.

  You close your eyes. Your legs collapse beneath you and you hit the ground.

  When you open your eyes, you see two policewomen staring down at you.

  You sit up to find yourself in the present-day police station.

  Moments later an ambulance arrives and you are taken to hospital. The doctors check you out and say that everything is fine.

  After your parents have brought you home, you go online and do a search for the ‘Nanny Murder’ of 1962. Nothing. It seems as if it never happened. So you do a search on the address of Spook Hous
e and finally find a newspaper article. The nanny did try to murder the boy. But a passing policeman had heard him screaming and burst into the house just in time to save him.

  So you really did go back in time!

  And you saved that boy’s life!

  You race to the lounge room, past the ghostly boy and to the window. You try to yank it open but it won’t budge.

  You suddenly realise that, unlike the front door, you’re able to touch the window. More than ever, you’re convinced that this is your way back to the present day.

  Despite your efforts, the window will not give.

  You look around the room for something with which to smash the glass. You pick up a little footstool and lift it up over your head.

  ‘Nooooooo!’ pleads the ghost boy.

  You throw the stool with all your might.

  It smashes through the glass.

  The boy screams and disappears. Everything around shifts and blurs.

  The room is old again – covered in dust and cobwebs; the furniture draped in old sheets.

  You approach the broken window and try it. It opens easily.

  You climb out of the window and head straight home. You never go near Spook House again.

  You scream and back away.

  You watch in disbelief as a transparent woman squeezes out through the hole. It’s a ghost! A real live ghost! Well, a real dead ghost!

  The woman is short, with cascades of frizzy sandy-coloured hair. She’s wearing blue jeans, a red cowboy shirt with gold tassels, and boots – bright red leather cowboy boots with gold and silver stars down the sides.

  Amazingly, this ghost woman has a ghost guitar slung on her back.

  ‘Well, hello there, ya’ll,’ she drawls in what sounds like a fake American accent. ‘My name’s Betsy-Lee Amber Howling.’

  You stare at her.

  ‘Ya’ll okay there?’ She looks at you. ‘Kitty-cat got your tongue? Well now, I know just how to cheer ya’ll up and bring a smile to that sad-sack face.’

  With a shake of her shoulders, she swings her guitar round to her front and starts strumming. It’s a sad, mournful tune. And then she starts singing …

  ‘Oh, I had a hard life, yes I did.

  My boyfriend dumped me and my doggy hid.

  My mommy died and my daddy ran,

  Then there came a flood that burst the dam.

  Oh-oh-oh,

  Woe is me!’

  Your eyes are wide with horror. Betsy-Lee Amber Howling is the ghost of a country-and-western singer. And not a very good one.

  You interrupt her singing to ask for help. You tell her about the criminals and their counterfeit boy-band merchandise.

  The mention of a boy-band sends Betsy-Lee into a frenzy. She streaks about the room, overturning boxes and smashing dolls as she screeches.

  ‘Don’t ya’ll talk to me about boy-bands. I hate boy-bands! I was number-one on the charts until that No Direction boy-band came along and stole my rightful place. And that’s when all my misfortunes began.’

  With a strum of her guitar, the boy-band dolls on the table begin to shake. With another strum, their heads explode.

  Betsy-Lee laughs like an insane banshee and continues strumming on her guitar. Box after box of merchandise explodes in an eruption of plastic and fake smiles. As country-and-western music fills the air, bricks shake loose from the walls and stairs. The door rattles and bursts off its hinges.

  You realise there’s no reasoning with the furious ghost of a hard-done-by country-and-western singer, so you race up the stairs and out of the house.

  On the street you spot your friends, Anna and Josh. You join them and watch as the house collapses in on itself amidst a crescendo of wailing guitar music.

  ‘What happened?’ asks Anna.

  You look from the rubble of the house to your friends and back to the rubble. You realise that they’ll never believe you.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  George Ivanoff is an author and stay-at-home dad residing in Melbourne. He has written over 70 books for kids and teens, including the Gamers trilogy. He has books on both the Victorian and NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge lists, and he has won a couple of awards that no one has heard of. As a kid he loved reading interactive books, where he got to make decisions about the direction of the story. Now he is ridiculously happy, having the opportunity to write that type of book. He has had more fun plotting and writing the You Choose books than pretty much anything else … and he hopes you have just as much fun reading them. George drinks too much coffee, eats too much chocolate and watches too much Doctor Who. If you’d like to find out more about George and his writing, check out his website: georgeivanoff.com.au

  BOOKS IN THE YOU CHOOSE SERIES

  You Choose 1: The Treasure of Dead Man’s Cove

  You Choose 2: Mayhem at Magic School

  You Choose 3: Maze of Doom

  You Choose 4: The Haunting of Spook House

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  Version 1.0

  You Choose 4: The Haunting of Spook House

  9780857985576

  Copyright © George Ivanoff 2014

  Illustration copyright © James Hart 2014

  The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted.

  A Random House Australia book

  Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd

  Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060

  www.randomhouse.com.au

  Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at http://www.randomhouse.com.au/about/contacts.aspx

  First published by Random House Australia in 2014

  National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry

  Author: Ivanoff, George, 1968–

  Title: The haunting of Spook House [electronic resource]

  ISBN: 978 0 85798 557 6 (ebook)

  Series: You choose; 4

  Target Audience: For primary school age

  Subjects: Plot-your-own stories

  Dewey Number: A823.3

  Cover and internal illustrations by James Hart

  Cover design by Christabella Designs

  Internal design by Midland Typesetters

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