Now, Frank and Joe made their way to the Harris place carrying decorating supplies in the van since Vanessa was on the decorating committee and volunteered their services to help.

Pulling up to the house, Frank parked the van and looked at the structure. He wondered how the house looked before it was left unattended for so many years.

"Come on, Frank," Joe said getting his attention. "I don’t want to carry all this stuff myself."

"All right." Frank climbed out and moved to the sliding passenger door. He grabbed a couple boxes and followed Joe inside.

Once they stepped over the threshold, they saw several of their classmates were already hard at work. In the entranceway, black plastic was being hung on the walls. Other students were handing streamers along the walls and filling up balloons.

Frank and Joe moved into the main room and saw more people working there. They moved over to the tables that were set up and put the boxes down.

"I wonder where Vanessa is?" Joe asked looking around.

"She’s probably around here somewhere," Frank said. "Come on. Let’s get the rest of the boxes out of the van."

"All right."

About ten minutes later, all the boxes were inside and slowing being unloaded.

"There you are," a voice said behind them. Turning, Frank and Joe saw Vanessa hurrying toward them. Vanessa moved to Joe and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Oh, Joe."

Frank stared at Joe and saw he was also confused by Vanessa’s behavior. Joe wrapped his arm around her and held onto her. "Van, are you all right? You’re trembling."

"Oh, Joe," Vanessa said tightening her hold on him.

"Van, what’s going on?" Frank asked.

She leaned back from Joe and they could see her face was pale. "I don’t like it here."

"Why?" Joe asked as he brushed the hair back from her face.

Vanessa took a deep breath. "This place is scary."

"There’s nothing here to be scared of," Frank said.

"That’s what people want you to think, then they take you to a haunted house and the ghosts come."

"What are you talking about?" Joe asked.

Vanessa took another deep breath. "I was in the kitchen bringing in some supplies from the cars out back. Suddenly, the door slammed shut. I looked around, but no one was there. And don’t you say it was the wind because there isn’t one. I heard the weather report."

"What do you think it was?" Frank asked.

"I don’t know," Vanessa said wrapping her arm around Joe’s waist and holding him tight. "I’m just not comfortable here."

"Why don’t we take a look," Joe suggested.

"Yeah," Frank said. "It’s probably someone’s idea of a joke."

"I don’t think it was funny," Vanessa said.

The three of them made their way to the kitchen. Vanessa stayed by the door as Frank and Joe moved further into the room. Frank scanned the room as Joe moved to the door. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Dust covered everything.

As Joe opened the door, Frank caught something out of the corner of his eye. Moving to the door, he saw a fishline ran from the door through hooks under the cupboard lip. Frank followed the line to a closed door. He reached for the knob and pulled it open in one quick motion. Out tumbled two students.

"Here are your pranksters," Frank said.

As the two students got to their feet, Frank recognized them as Damon Goran and Nyssa Smith, juniors at Bayport High.

"Why did you do it?" Vanessa demanded. "It wasn’t funny."

Nyssa smiled. "I think it was. It made you think this place was haunted."

"I can’t believe you," Vanessa said as Joe got to his feet and moved toward her.

"How did you figure it out?" Damon asked.

"It was easy to figure out when I saw the fishline. They light bounced off it and I just followed it to you."

"I can’t believe you two are playing pranks when we’re supposed to be getting ready for the party," Vanessa said angrily. "There’s a lot of work that still needs to be done."

"Sorry, Van," Nyssa said. "We were only just trying to have some fun." Nyssa looked at Damon. "Come on. Let’s go help."

"We are sorry," Damon said.

Vanessa let out a breath. "It’s all right."

As Nyssa and Damon left the kitchen, Joe put his arm around her shoulder. She looked at Joe. "I’m sorry for overreacting."

"It’s all right," Joe said. "It’s better we found out now. Besides, if this happened at the party, more than likely it would scare the wrong person."

"You’re probably right," Vanessa said.

"Come on, let’s go help decorate," Joe said.

As Joe and Vanessa led the way out of the kitchen, Frank stopped and looked around. He had a feeling the pranks at the party were going to be worse than what they had seen in the previous days.