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“Ooh, it smells so musty,” Erin said, moving past me and taking a few steps into the vast space.<br />
She took a deep breath. “I love that smell!”<br />
“You’re definitely weird,” I told her.<br />
Rain drummed loudly against the roof. The sound echoed through the low room, a steady roar. It<br />
sounded as if we were inside a waterfall.<br />
All four of us began walking around, exploring. Lefty kept tossing his softball up against the<br />
ceiling rafters, then catching it as it came down. I noticed that April stayed close to Erin. Whitey was<br />
sniffing furiously along the wall.<br />
“Think there are mice up here?” Lefty asked, a devilish grin crossing his face. I saw April’s eyes<br />
go wide. “Big fat mice who like to climb up girls’ legs?” Lefty teased.<br />
My kid brother has a great sense of humor.<br />
“Could we go now?” April asked impatiently. She started back toward the stairway.<br />
“Look at these old magazines,” Erin exclaimed, ignoring her. She picked one up and started<br />
flipping through it. “Check this out. The clothes these models are wearing are a riot!”<br />
“Hey—what’s Whitey doing?” Lefty asked suddenly.<br />
I followed his gaze to the far wall. Behind a tall stack of cartons, I could see Whitey’s tail<br />
wagging. And I could hear him scratching furiously at something.<br />
“Whitey—come!” I commanded.<br />
Of course he ignored me. He began scratching harder.<br />
“Whitey, what are you scratching at?”<br />
“Probably pulling a mouse apart,” Lefty suggested.<br />
“I’m outta here!” April exclaimed.<br />
“Whitey?” I called. Stepping around an old dining room table, I made my way across the<br />
cluttered attic. I quickly saw that he was scratching at the bottom of a door.<br />
“Hey, look,” I called to the others. “Whitey found a hidden door.”<br />
“Cool!” Erin cried, hurrying over. Lefty and April were right behind.<br />
“I didn’t know this was up here,” I said.<br />
“We’ve got to check it out,” Erin urged. “Let’s see what’s on the other side.”<br />
And that’s when the trouble all began.<br />
You can understand why I say it was all Whitey’s fault, right? If that dumb dog hadn’t started<br />
sniffing and scratching there, we might never have found the hidden attic room.<br />
And we never would have discovered the exciting—and frightening—secret behind that wooden<br />
door.
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