The Terror of Black Eagle Tavern

by Megan Atwood

  Text copyright © 2012 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

  All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

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  Cover and interior photographs © RDImages/Epics/Getty Images (tavern); © iStockphoto.com/appletat (silhouette).

  Main body text set in Janson Text LT Std 12/17.5.

  Typeface provided by Adobe Systems.

  Library of Congress

  Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Atwood, Megan.

  The terror of Black Eagle Tavern / by Megan Atwood.

  p. cm. — (The paranormalists ; case #02)

  Summary: Todd, a quarterback and popular senior, asks Jinx and Jackson to investigate a haunting at his family’s tavern, where glasses move on their own and voices whisper horrible things each time Todd and his brother are fighting.

  ISBN 978–0–7613–8333–8 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper)

  [1. Haunted places—Fiction. 2. Taverns (Inns)—Fiction. 3. Supernatural—Fiction. 4. Brothers—Fiction. 5. Drug abuse—Fiction. 6. Best friends—Fiction. 7. Friendship—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.A8952Ter 2012

  [Fic]—dc23 2011046443

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  1 – PP –7/15/12

  eISBN: 978-1-4677-0038-2 (pdf)

  eISBN: 978-1-4677-7080-4 (ePub)

  eISBN: 978-1-4677-3079-2 (mobi)

  PARANORMALISTS BLOG—

  INVESTIGATION #01:

  FALCON’S PERCH APARTMENTS

  Time for an update, Paranormalist Fans. Our first official case turned out to be a bleep-storm. A quick recap of what the investigation team did at Falcon’s Perch Apartments:

  Subject came to us and said her apartment was trying to kill her. Subject displayed cuts and bruises, complained of disembodied voices, and talked of objects moving of their own accord. In other words, subject had a crapload of paranormal activity to report.

  Enter us, the investigation team. We stayed one night, equipped with both the EVP and EMF meters. Also, a stealth cam was set up—and thank goodness, because what came back on video was evidence of a HOAX! That’s right, subject tried to fool the investigation team using the familiar look-over-here-while-subject’s-partner-in-crime-perpetrates-the-hoax routine. Needless to say, we were disappointed by the outcome.

  But I wasn’t surprised. This is a tricky business, and people will try to fool you.

  The story doesn’t end there, though. Oh no. Although the subject’s paranormal dilemma did prove to be a hoax, something much more interesting turned up on the EVP. And both yours truly and the other investigator felt a for-real temperature drop! The EMF showed activity, too. So although hoaxers will hoax, it turns out the Falcon‘s Perch Apartment building DOES have some paranormal activity.

  The Rundown on Falcon’s Perch Apartment 101 (hoax data discounted)

  Electronic Voice Phenomena: Voices detected, said “GET OUT”

  Electromotive Force: Slight activity, movement on the meter

  Stealth Cam Activity: Nothing

  Temperature Fluctuations: Dropped 10 degrees

  Verdict: HAUNTED

  So, on to our next adventure, PFs! What do you think the otherworld has in store for us? Comments welcome below, and as always, remember that the Paranormalists “SEEK THE TRUTH AND FIND THE CAUSE!”

  –Jinx

  W

  homp! Jackson’s body hit the ground, the fall knocking the breath right out of his lungs. He felt person after person pile on top of him. For a second, he panicked. Every part of him was pinned down. He couldn’t breathe.

  And then, little by little, sun began to shine through his teammates’ legs as they got off of him.

  Free, he jumped up while Coach yelled, “Showers!” The other members of the football team took off their helmets. Jackson joined the line jogging to the locker room, shuffling his legs to get the tingles out.

  Todd McElvoy, the starting quarterback, slapped him on the back as the scents of the locker room wafted their way. The smell of hard work, Jackson thought.

  Todd said, “Hey, nice catch there. My aim was a little off.”

  A little off? Jackson thought. The pass almost had him backflipping through the air. And it wasn’t Todd’s only misfire. He had overthrown or underthrown his passes all practice.

  “No worries. I caught it,” Jackson replied. He took off his heavy shoulder pads and threw them in his locker, followed by his soaked undershirt. After a beat, he asked, “Everything OK, man?”

  Todd closed his locker and leaned against it, still in his practice pants. He seemed to be debating something in his head.

  Jackson didn’t push as he got dressed. He’d shower at his house—he wanted to get home and make dinner for his mom. He knew it would be a hard day for her: the date of her wedding anniversary. He got sad just thinking about it. After all this time, he still missed his dad so much. And so did his mom, he knew.

  Todd seemed to snap out of his trance and said, “Yeah, I’m OK.”

  Jackson shrugged. “Everyone has an off day. Tomorrow’s gonna be better.”

  Todd nodded and turned away.

  Jackson grabbed his bag and began walking to his car, thinking about the type of food he’d prepare. Maybe steak? His mom loved a good steak. He would normally ask Jinx, since she knew his mom about as well as he did, but he was still mad at her from their last fight. He’d figure it out. Jinx could hang out by herself.

  A pang ran through him. He didn’t want to admit it, but he missed his friend. After two weeks of not hanging out, Jackson felt like he was missing an arm.

  He reached his car and had just stuck his keys in the door of the old Chevy Impala when Todd ran up to him.

  Jackson looked up in surprise. “Hey. What’s up?”

  Todd jangled his keys and was quiet for a second. “So, you do, like . . . that website with that one weird girl, right?”

  Jackson’s expression immediately hardened. He knew Todd was a nice guy, but he was clearly not very tactful. “You mean Jinx.”

  Todd blushed. “Yeah, sorry. I know you’re good friends.”

  Jackson shrugged and didn’t say anything.

  Todd went on and stammered, “It’s just . . . I think . . . I may have something for you guys to . . . We’re having problems . . .”

  His face went pale, and Jackson relaxed a little bit. He noticed for the first time the dark circles under Todd’s eyes and the trembling of his hands. No wonder he couldn’t throw straight.

  “What’s up, Todd?” He leaned in and whispered, “Do you have a ghost or something?”

  Todd looked up and let out a shaky laugh. “It feels so stupid to say out loud. But . . . yeah. I think we’re being haunted.”

  “At your house? What’s happening?”

  Todd shook his head. “No, at my parents’ bar, the Black Eagle Tavern. It’s driving customers away.” He glanced away and said, so softly Jackson could barely hear him, “We’re almost broke.”

  Jackson nodded. “Well, you came to the right person,” he said, unlocking his car door. “We’ll see if we can’t get rid of your ghosts. I’ll call later.”

  Jackson saw the relief wash over Todd’s face as he drove away, and f
or the first time in a couple weeks, he felt great.

  T

  he whole car ride home, Jackson thought about how he’d get Jinx on board. First, he’d have to bridge the huge two-week gap during which he hadn’t been talking to her. And he knew that wouldn’t be easy—she wasn’t the forgiving type. Even though she’d been the one in the wrong. During their last paranormal investigation, she’d hidden a camera without telling Jackson, after he’d explicitly asked her to trust him. Trust wasn’t Jinx’s strong suit, but still, Jackson had thought she’d at least do him the one favor. She didn’t, and Jackson had decided he needed to think for a while.

  Shaking his head, he tried to put Jinx and Todd out of his mind. Tonight was his mom’s night. She needed to be distracted—then he’d worry about talking to Jinx, getting her to help Todd, and banishing ghosts. Tonight was about steak.

  When he got to his house, he found he couldn’t park in the driveway—two cars blocked the way. He smiled huge—Grant and Hamilton were home. They knew about the anniversary too, and they must have come home from college to distract his mom. For all the times they’d given him a noogie or a snakebite, they were pretty OK brothers.

  After parking, he opened the front door to the most wonderful smell ever. Meat cooking. Something with bacon. And he was pretty sure he detected potatoes.

  With the smile still on his face, he turned the corner and walked into the kitchen to find his brothers slaving over dinner. Grant stood by the stove, stirring gravy, while Hamilton sliced bread on the kitchen counter.

  But Jackson’s eyes were drawn to the girl with the pink-tipped bleached-blonde hair sitting on the counter by the refrigerator. She chewed on a Twizzler and then pointed it at Hamilton.

  “You know, if you cut that diagonally, it can hold more butter,” she said to him.

  Without saying a word, Hamilton turned on the water in the sink, wet his fingers, and flicked the water at the girl.

  “Jinx,” he said good-naturedly, “if you want to cut the bread, then get your butt over here and do it. Or make yourself useful some other way. Like putting the salad together.” Hamilton turned to Jackson. “She’s like a cat. You just need to throw some water at her and she’ll behave.” Then he ducked as a refrigerator magnet flew at his head.

  Jackson couldn’t help himself—he smiled broadly at her. Jinx smiled back and walked over to him. “So...we’re good?”

  Jackson nodded. Nothing could have touched his heart more than to see everyone rallying to help his mom. He should have known that no matter how mad the two of them got at each other, Jinx would never miss this day. She was family, plain and simple.

  “Good. Because we need to get another case going. If we want actual followers, we should have some more actual cases. My last blog post got a hundred hits. We need to keep that going.”

  Jackson started, “Funny you should say that...”

  He was cut off by the sound of the front door opening. “Well, holy schmolies!” his mom called out. “The smell in here is to die for!”

  She walked into the kitchen, and Jackson saw her eyes moisten. “The gang’s all here,” she said lightly, then looked away and wiped her eyes. Turning around, she hugged every one of them. Jackson hugged her back extra hard.

  She patted his back and then looked around. “When do we get to eat?”

  The next day, Jinx and Jackson were in their usual haunt, sitting in Jinx’s basement and watching Ghost Hunters.

  Jackson started, “So, we need an actual case, right?”

  Jinx nodded distractedly as she checked her EVP equipment for the thousandth time. Jackson thought she was a little obsessed. Then again, he wanted to bring his dead father back as a ghost, so who was he to talk?

  Jinx said, “Yeah, I’ve been researching haunted places in Portland and—”

  Jackson cut her off. “I have one.”

  Jinx looked at him like he was crazy. “You have a Portland?”

  “I have a case.”

  Her eyes narrowed. Jackson knew she was wondering if it was a classmate. She owed him one, though, so maybe she’d go for it. Except for the fact that she hated every single classmate except for him. He steeled himself for the fight.

  “Todd McElvoy—”

  “No.” Jinx cut him off and looked back down at her equipment.

  “You didn’t even let me say anything!”

  “You’ve said enough. I’m not helping that Neanderthal.”

  Jackson sighed. “You don’t even know him. He’s a pretty nice guy.”

  She looked up from her equipment. “Really. Does he know my name?”

  Jackson thought about their conversation earlier. Saying “that weird girl” was like knowing her name, right?

  He cleared his throat. “Yes! And he even asked for you.”

  Jinx went back to her equipment. “You’re the worst liar. Never play poker, Jackson. Your left eyebrow twitches when you lie.”

  His arm shot up to his eyebrow. He massaged it and went for the truth. “Well, he called you ‘that weird girl.’”

  Jackson watched the subtle shift in her posture. She loved being the “weird” one at school. Most people meant it as an insult, but he knew Jinx thought it was great. Anything to get her out of the hole of nobodysville that she’d been stuck in in middle school. The minute she’d started the Paranormalists website, plain Jane was banished and Jinx was born. And she’d loved the notoriety ever since. In fact, Jackson thought she was a little addicted to it.

  She raised her eyebrows, “Well, what is this case?”

  Jackson smiled to himself and went on. “Evidently, his parents’ bar is haunted.”

  “Haunted how?”

  Jackson shrugged. “I don’t know, we didn’t get that far. We need to meet with him and talk.”

  “His parents’ bar doesn’t happen to be the Black Eagle Tavern, does it?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  Jinx’s eyes sparkled. Jackson loved the look she got right before a case. “Because that bar’s come up in my research. There are tons of reports of weird things happening there.”

  Jackson breathed out. “Wow. Well, Todd says there are, too. And it’s driving people away. We should meet with him Monday and ask what’s going on.”

  Jinx grinned. “For once, Jackson, I totally agree. Let’s hear what he has to say. Even Neanderthals can be haunted.”

  Jackson sighed. It was the best he could hope for. “Tomorrow, then.”

  Jinx took out a Twizzler and snapped off the end with her teeth. “Tomorrow.”

  J

  inx ran a hand through her short, blonde hair and felt for any flyaways. Then she slammed her hand on the picnic table outside the school cafeteria in frustration. She shouldn’t care what Todd McElvoy thought, even if she couldn’t deny he was pretty good-looking. Still, it wouldn’t do for Jackson to see her primping or for Todd to think he was any more of a gift to girls than he already did. Neanderthal. She ruffled her hair until it stood straight up.

  Jackson opened the door from the cafeteria, munching on trail mix. With a full mouth he said, “Your hair’s sticking up.” He dropped down beside her, and Jinx felt the whole table move.

  “Yeah, well you’ve got chocolate on your nose.” He didn’t, but Jinx couldn’t help herself.

  Jackson rubbed his nose furiously. “Did I get it?” he asked. Jinx stifled a giggle and shook her head. Jackson rubbed some more until his nose was bright red. “You got it now.” She smiled big.

  “What?” he asked between munches.

  “Nothing.” She adored the boy, but he could be too trusting sometimes.

  Just then, Todd walked through the cafeteria door, backpack slung over his varsity jacket. His dark hair was tousled, and she could see his magnetic brown eyes from the picnic table. Jinx’s hand flew up of its own accord and smoothed her hair again. Jackson gave her a funny look until she rearranged her face to look mean. Todd headed toward the table, his steps hesitant.

  Jackson swallowed the r
est of his trail mix, then flashed Todd a welcoming smile. “Sit down, man,” he said. Todd put his backpack on the table and sat across from Jinx. His eyes met hers for a minute, and she narrowed them. Better for him to think she hated him than to know she thought he was cute.

  “Hey, man,” Todd said. “Hey, Jinx.”

  Jinx didn’t waste any time. “So you say your parents’ bar is haunted. Why should we believe you?”

  Jackson’s foot connected with her shin, and she yelped. She glared at him, and he glared back.

  “We had a little bit of a problem in our last case with our client lying to us,” he said to Todd.

  Todd nodded. “Travis told me about that afterwards.”

  Jinx rolled her eyes. Of course he did. Their type knew everything about each other because they were all pretty much the same person. Jocks were like an evil coral reef. “Did he tell you that our fee is five hundred dollars?”

  Jackson’s head whiplashed toward her. She continued. “If you have a problem with that much, talk to Emily and Travis—our time is valuable, and we have to protect against hoaxers.”

  “Where am I supposed to get that kind of money?”

  Jinx snorted. “Oh come on. Like you’re not rich.”

  Jackson shook his head, and Todd let out a loud bark of a laugh. “I wish. I need these hauntings to stop because I have to get a football scholarship in order to go to college. We’re not rich—my parents can barely afford to keep the bar running!” He flushed a bright red. Jinx squirmed in her seat. She’d just assumed that because he was good-looking and popular, he was rich, too. She didn’t wear guilt very well, so she changed the subject fast.

  Jinx cleared her throat and said, more harshly than she meant to, “Just tell us what’s happening, and maybe we can figure something out.” An idea popped into her head. “If you’ll give us a testimonial. And even record a video for our website!”

  A ray of hope seemed to light Todd’s face. “Yes! I’ll totally do those things.” He straightened his shoulders. “Well, it all started when...” Suddenly a horn sounded from the parking lot to their right.