Knock knock knock, the sound of you politely tapping on the door. The piano music cuts off, and you hear someone approach. The door opens, and a kindly old woman with gray hair and blue eyes looks down at you. "Oh hello children! I remember you from my old house, on Hollow Hill."
"Hi Mrs. Goosen," you say. You shift your feet. "This may seem really strange, but..." Not sure what else to do, you shove the box at her.
She takes it with a surprised grunt, and places it on the ground. She removes a single faded envelope and raises it to her bespectacled eyes.
She gasps.
"Where... how..." she almost looks like she's going to faint! Jake jumps forward and puts a comforting arm around her, and the three of you lead her inside. You enter a room with a piano and help her into a cushioned chair.
"Your husband wanted us to bring this box of letters to you," you explain. "He wanted us to tell you: 'I would still write Olivia every day if I could. Always remember that.'"
Mrs. Goosen reads the letter and a tear forms at the corner of her eye. "This is the most precious thing anyone has ever given me," she says. "How can I possibly repay you?"
"We already had an adventure," Jake says. "We don't need anything else. Honest."
But Mrs. Goosen shakes her head. "Wait here." She disappears in her back room, and comes back with an armful of items. "My husband left these for me to give out. He said I would know when it was time."
To Emma, she says, "This is an electric keyboard I used to practice on. You look like someone who can play!"
Emma takes the keyboard and beams.
To Jake, she hands a long wooden bat. "Be careful with this. That's a baseball bat from someone famous. Herman Babe, I think. His name is on the end."
Jake's mouth hangs open as he inspects it. "Babe Ruth? Oh man!"
Lastly, she smiles at you. "You must be Mike. My husband especially left this for you." She extends her fist and opens it, palm up.
Inside is a gold pocket watch. The very one Mr. Goosen had carried all his life. "Now you'll always know what time it is."
131
You don't know how to thank her. Instead, you run forward and embrace her. She hugs you back, warm and grateful.
As you let go, your eyes drift over to the piano in the room. "Actually, there's one more thing I would like."
Mrs. Goosen frowns. "What's that?"
"Can you give me piano lessons? The way you used to give lessons to your daughters?"
Mrs. Goosen smiles. "I'd love nothing more."
CONGRATULATIONS!
YOU HAVE REACHED THE ULTIMATE ENDING!
In recognition for taking up the gauntlet, let it be known to fellow adventurers that you are hereby granted the title of:
Hero of the Haunted Realm!
You may go here: www.ultimateendingbooks.com/extras.php and enter code
MH25655
for tons of extras, and to print out your Ultimate Ending Book Two certificate!
And for a special sneak peek of Ultimate Ending Book 3, TURN TO PAGE 154
132
Afraid to move much while you're alone, you wait for your friends to enter. Jake comes first, followed by Emma. By the time she squeezes through and falls to the floor it's pouring outside. "We might be here a while," she says, brushing herself off.
"I can't see anything..." Jake complains.
"Good thing I've got this!" Emma says, whipping out a flashlight. A cone of yellow light appears, blinding you momentarily. When your vision returns Jake lets out a big sigh.
"Boxes. More boxes. I'm sick of looking through crummy boxes of junk!"
You see that he's right. Occupying most of the attic, floor to ceiling, are cardboard boxes. Emma picks up the closest one--sending a swarm of small spiders scurrying from underneath--and drops it in between the three of you. "Well unless you want to go out in the rain," she says, "we might as well start looking!"
Investigate the boxes ON PAGE 111
133
You run up the stairs, taking the steps two at a time. "I wish I had paid more attention in Mr. Arrieta's class!" Emma cries as you reach the second floor.
You're in a wide open balcony area overlooking the first floor. The balcony is shaped like a square, with rooms running off of it at regular intervals. Everything is open and airy. Although the stairs were intact, the second floor balcony is not: one large section appears broken, as if a giant had smashed it through with a massive fist, leaving a five foot-wide gap.
The ghost is still making noise behind you, so you jump into the first room you see. The noise cuts off as you close the door behind you.
"I think this is an office," Emma says, looking around.
Check out the Office ON PAGE 60
134
You lift the pig over your head and smash it on the ground. With the sound of broken porcelain it blows up into a thousand tiny pieces.
The sound shocks Jake. "What'd you do that for?" he demands. "It's just dumb coins."
Emma's eyes widen. "No. Jake, look!"
Among the pink porcelain pieces are tiny, colorful objects. They look like skittles, until you lean forward and pick one up. It's blue, with at least a dozen smooth, flat surfaces. "It's a sapphire," you mutter.
"They're gemstones!" Emma cries.
The three of you pick up the sapphires and rubies, emeralds and topaz, exclaiming as you find larger and larger gems. You fill your pockets with them until they're overflowing and you have to carry the rest in your cupped hands.
"Now we can get out of this house!" Jake says. None of you disagree.
As you exit out the front door you see Mr. Goosen standing there, waiting. "Ahh, the gems from my days in the mines of Svalbard!" he says when he sees what's in your hands. "What a prize. Just about the best thing you would have found..."
You thank him and hurry down the street; it's already getting dark. The gems are surely worth thousands of dollars. You can't wait to show your parents. Maybe now they'll let you and your brother go to space camp.
It was an exciting adventure, and the three of you never tell anyone about the strange things you saw in the House on Hollow Hill. Nobody would believe you, anyways. Excited about what the future brings, you accept that this is an exciting way to reach...
THE END
135
"I know this one," you say. "It's one of the most famous book lines in history. Moby Dick."
The little girl squeals with joy and does a spin in the air. "That's right! I knew you'd be good at this game."
Jake gives you a congratulatory pat on the back.
"QUESTION TWO!" the ghost says, holding up the peace sign. "What was Mark Twain's real name?"
Jake stares. "That is his real name."
"No," Emma says, "it was just a pen-name. Ugh, I just learned this! It's on the tip of my tongue..."
They both look at you.
If your answer is Samuel Beckett, TURN TO PAGE 141
If your answer is Samuel Clemens, FLIP TO 66
136
You recognize it immediately. "It's the code we found in her diary!"
"Hey, that's right!"
Careful to avoid the hole in the floor, you return to your friends and spread the scroll out on the floor so you can all read. "Just move each letter forward three places," Emma says. Each of you begins decoding it in your head, and soon the message is clear:
TO FIND THE ULTIMATE PRIZE, CLIMB OUT THE MASTER BEDROOM WINDOW
"Climb out the window?" Jake says.
"That's what it says..."
"Well?" you ask. "What are we waiting for?"
What are you waiting for? TURN TO PAGE 120
137
The little girl's face, so hopeful and smiling, immediately drains away. "You were so close," she whispers, eyes pale and wide. "I thought you would get it right. I thought you would free me."
Thinking fast, you say, "I'm sorry. I got confused. Give us another chance. Please?"
But the little girl is shaking her he
ad. "No. There are no second chances. We'll have to wait for the next group of kids to come inside."
Next group of kids? What does that mean?
Before you can ask, books begin flying off the shelves, spreading open and fluttering in the air. They crash all around you like a barrage, a constant torrent of paper and leather.
One book hits you in the head. You fall over and hold your temple, feeling dizzy.
Emma stands over you. She's shouting something, but you can't quite make out the words. Your ears feel filled with cotton. The room spins around you. Maybe I should read more, you think, wishing that this wasn't...
THE END
138
The passageway is actually a stone staircase leading underground, away from the house. It's dark, but a torch on the wall abruptly flares to life with fire.
The three of you look at one another. That's the least crazy thing that's happened to you tonight.
You lead the way down the stairs, holding the torch ahead of you. Shadows slide back and forth as the flame flickers. The air grows cold and damp.
The staircase ends, opening into a small room. There's a stone pedestal in the center of the floor, standing about waist-high. There's something large resting on top.
You approach cautiously. The object is square, and shining in a strange way. You hold the torch over it but can't see much.
Emma gasps. "That's a Gutenberg Bible!"
You can see she's right:
"What's that?" Jake asks.
"It's one of the most priceless items in the world," Emma says. "Less than 50 exist!"
Rather than take it out yourselves--you're afraid to touch it--you send Jake back to get his parents. Then it's a rush of authorities: first police, then museum curators and historians. The discovery makes national news, and you're all on TV. You even receive an enormous prize, which you split among you. Even Jake was happy, then.
All in all, it was quite the adventure. Sometimes you wonder what else you might have found in that house, but you can't think of anything more valuable than the Gutenberg Bible. "Maybe we'll find another haunted house to explore," you tell Emma one day. She laughs. "One is plenty."
You laugh, nodding. After everything you've been through, you're happy to say this is...
THE END
139
There's a low, hollow sound--like wind blowing through cracks in a window. You think it's getting louder. Is that the ghost? It's tough to be certain.
Jake whispers, "What was--" but he cuts off as you put a finger to your lips.
The howling wind sound grows louder. The only light comes from underneath the door, and even that is dim. You stare at it, waiting to see if the light changes at all. Which seems silly, since a ghost probably wouldn't dim the light at all if it passed in front. But the idea of ghosts seemed silly before you got here, so you stare anyways.
The sound seems to be inside the room, just on the other side of the door. You feel your heartbeat pounding, louder than anything else in the closet. You close your eyes and wait for the door to swing open, or the ghost to appear.
Then the howling sound begins to diminish. Slowly, like the volume is being turned down, the sound fades away.
Jake swallows. "What was that?"
"I think we all know what it was," Emma says. For once even she seems shaken.
"It was a little girl. Named Elizabeth." You tell them about the encounter down in the closet.
"We should get out of this house," Emma decides. "This is too much."
"But what about our prizes? I don't want to leave here empty-handed," Jake says, although his protest sounds weak.
They're both looking at you for a decision.
"Let's all calm down," you say. "The ghost is gone. And she didn't seem that scary. It was just a little girl." It feels weird pretending like seeing a ghost was no big deal.
"Then what's the plan?" Emma asks.
Stick around and explore the closet ON PAGE 53
Or, head back to the Master Bedroom ON PAGE 146
140
The piano shakes menacingly, causing the wires inside to make a cacophony of noise. The chaotic music fills the air, until a strange mist begins rising off the back of the piano.
You know what's going to happen by now. The mist forms into the figure of a little girl, wearing a faded white dress. And you can see straight through her into the ceiling beyond.
The girl is extremely unhappy. "No! It's wrong. All wrong!" She bobs up and down in the air. "Mom played it much better than that. She never made mistakes!"
She starts crying, a long, sorrowful wail. The sound causes a sharp pain deep within your ears. You cover your head with your hands but it doesn't help.
You fall to your knees in agony as the girl's cries intensify. You send one final look at Emma as darkness begins closing in all around you. "I'm sorry!" you try to tell her, right as you realize this is...
THE END
141
"Ohh!" you say before Emma can speak. "It's--"
"No, wait!"
"--Samuel Beckett," you finish with an emphatic stomp.
Emma sighs. "No, that's not it at all!"
"But Samuel Beckett sounds familiar."
"He was a different writer."
Jake tugs on your arm. "We've got problems here."
The ghost girl is bobbing up and down angrily, waving her arms. Wind picks up in the room even though the windows and door are closed.
Endure the girl's fury ON PAGE 76
142
Feeling strange for trusting a note you found under a doll that must have been made before World War Two, you enter the code. Clockwise to 1, counter-clockwise to 4, then clockwise back to 2. You take a deep breath before turning the handle.
It opens with a soft click.
Your friends cheer behind you, but you're too focused on the safe. As light enters, the object inside radiates color on your clothes and the floor. It's like a thousand rainbows shining. After the darkness of the house it's brilliantly bright. Your eyes adjust and the object comes into focus.
It's a small tiara of yellow gold, some parts spun so thin and intricately that it appears fragile. Multi-colored gems cover the face, ending at a green emerald at the pinnacle. Now this is some treasure!
"What is it?" your friends call.
You step out of the way so they can see. Emma gasps. Jake's mouth hangs open. Everyone is awestruck.
"What's that next to it?"
You turn back and see a small roll of parchment on the floor of the safe. It's six inches long and bound with a wax seal. "I guess it's a note, or scroll, or something."
"Bring them both over here!" Jake says impatiently.
You nearly grab the objects, but then remember Mr. Goosen's warning: only take one thing.
Which one do you grab?
If the tiara is your kind of treasure, GRAB PAGE 35
Or, indulge your curiosity by opening the scroll ON PAGE 144
143
You take a look at the rack of suits, which have both coat jackets and pants on the same hanger. Some of them are business suits, blue and grey and tan, with matching neckties. Others are tuxedos, black with shiny lapels and bow ties, and perfect creases down the pant legs.
Not sure what else to do, you begin patting down each suit. The first one has something soft inside the coat pocket, which ends up being a wadded up tissue. You toss it aside and wipe your hands on your shirt--better be more careful.
The next suit has some fancy cufflinks on arm. You make a mental note to come back to those. One jacket pocket is filled with quarters, while another has a faded valet ticket.
You're patting down the fourth or fifth suit when you feel something more solid inside a jacket pocket. It feels heavy, and is definitely not a used tissue.
Feeling cautious, you call your friends over. Jake pokes the outside of the jacket and squints in concentration. "I think it's shaped like a square."
"What is it?" Emma asks.
"Why would it be dangerous?"
It's a good question, but after all the other craziness of the house you still hesitate.
Reach inside the pocket ON PAGE 152
Or, leave the closet ON PAGE 146
144
Although the tiara is a wonderful prize, your curiosity nags at you. You've come this far, so you might as well go for broke!
You grab the scroll and turn back to your friends.
"Dude, what are you doing?" Jake asks.
"I've got a hunch," you say. With a dramatic gesture, you grip both ends of the scroll and open it in front of you.
The entire message is gibberish.
"What the..." you mutter. "I can't read any of this. It's nonsense."
"Read it out loud!" Emma says.
"No really, it's gibberish!" you insist. "The first line is:
'RQH WKLUWB-VLA'
Jake scrunches his face. "That makes no sense."
If you know the code, TURN TO THAT PAGE
The House on Hollow Hill (Ultimate Ending Book 2) Page 9