Leif grabbed her arm.
Eliza passed the jar to her free hand and thrust it through the window.
“Let go of me,” she shouted, “or I’ll drop this jar and smash it on the street!”
“Give me the jar,” Leif said softly back, “or I’ll push you straight out this window.”
Terror froze the fire inside her. She had calculated wrong. Now she was pressed against the windowsill, half her body already leaning through it, with Leif blocking her only escape. There was nowhere to go. Nowhere except…
Before she could think twice, Eliza wriggled out the window.
Cool, dewy air swirled around her. It wasn’t a windy night, but somehow the height made every breeze seem strong enough to shove her off her feet. She balanced on the narrow ledge, leaning back against the cold metal of the turret. The jar trembled in her hand.
“Now what?” asked Leif. “You going to sprout wings?”
Eliza scanned the street—the very distant street—below. No one was on the sidewalks. Businesses were dark and closed. She screamed anyway. “Help!” Wind ripped her voice away. “Somebody help!”
Leif put one leg through the window. “Give me that jar, and maybe I’ll help you back inside. Otherwise I’ll climb out there after you.”
Eliza glanced back at Leif’s pale eyes. Then she sidled out of his reach. Every motion made her stomach flip. Any tiny mistake, any slip, any twitch, and she would plunge straight over the edge.
Leif sighed. “All right, then.” He pulled his other leg through the window. “But I warn you: I’ve lived on a boat. I can balance on a wet two-inch rail.”
Eliza shuffled sideways. One heel hit a dent in the ledge, and for a second, she swayed, her body wavering, her knees jerking with panic, before she managed to lean back and catch herself on the turret again.
Leif had moved out onto the ledge. “Only one of us is coming back through this window,” he said, inching closer. “And it’s going to be—”
But he stopped there.
His body jerked as though something had grabbed him from behind. He glanced over his shoulder.
Eliza heard a growl. Two growls.
Leif flew backward through the window.
There was a scuffling sound. More growls. A sharp CRACK.
Eliza threw out her arms, wobbling in place. The night air whipped through her hair.
A shaggy brown head popped through the window.
“Here!” The dog thrust out a paw. “Hold on!”
Gripping the jar with her other hand, Eliza grabbed hold. The dog tugged her through the open window and onto the attic floor, where Moggie was guarding Leif’s unconscious form. A broken ceramic planter—one that Tommy must have clobbered him with—lay nearby.
Eliza flopped onto the floorboards. Moggie flung herself into Eliza’s lap and covered her face with kisses.
“How did you know?” Eliza gasped, between slobbers. “Did you smell him or something?”
“It was Moggie,” said Tommy. “She jumped onto my bed and nosed me until I got up. I guess she sensed that you needed a friend. Or two of them.”
Eliza threw her arms around Moggie, who panted happily in her ear. Then she threw her arms around Tommy, who stiffened up like an ironing board, but who couldn’t help wagging his tail.
* * *
They decided to save time on explanations by getting them all over with at once.
After binding Leif with so many ropes that he looked like a huge cocoon, they woke Eliza’s mother, trooped down to the Carrolls’ apartment, and got the Carrolls out of bed. The Carrolls had drawn thick curtains over the windows, so they were already in human form, but they all waited while Tommy shut himself in the bathroom to change shape and pull some clothes on. Then Tommy and Eliza sat down on the couch, with Moggie stretched protectively across their feet, and told the whole story.
Mrs. Carroll was horrified. Mr. Carroll was furious. Eliza’s mother got so distraught that Eliza had to coach her through a round of full-body stretches.
After they had burned the berries in a metal pan until nothing was left but some oily soot, Eliza’s mother went to call the police. Mr. Carroll headed to the attic to guard Leif until they arrived. Mrs. Carroll fluttered away to brew herbal tea.
Eliza and Tommy and Moggie were left alone in the leafy living room. Moggie yawned and stretched herself across their ankles. Eliza felt tired, too. Tired and—finally—safe.
“Um…,” said Tommy softly, at last. “I think I might be done studying plants for a while. Botany is dangerous.”
Eliza nodded. “I’ve always said it: The natural world is a messy, terrifying place. The supernatural world is much safer.”
Tommy nodded back. “It sure sounds super.”
It was just the kind of stupid joke Mr. Carroll would have made. Eliza giggled. Tommy snorted. Then they both laughed out loud, cracking each other up again. Finally, exhausted, they flopped back against the cushions.
“Maybe I’ll try that instead,” said Tommy. “Paranormal research, I mean. If you don’t mind.”
“No,” said Eliza quickly. “I wouldn’t mind at all. It would be really nice to have someone to talk to about it.”
“Okay then.” Tommy smiled down at the floor. “Good.”
There was another moment of quiet.
“So…um…,” Tommy spoke up again. “What are some of your favorite ghost stories?”
Eliza wriggled back into the cushions. “Have you heard of the Woman in Black?”
She told that story and then another and another, while the moon outside the curtains dissolved into the brightening sky, and Moggie, snoring deeply, drooled onto their socks.
Turn to this page.
THE ISLAND HAD THREE things: darkness, solitude, and quiet.
One old wooden boat bobbed in its cove. On shore, there was no sign of life at all—nothing but a single dark figure gliding up a slope, away from the water. It paused to lift a hand to the boat. Then it turned, pulling its cloak of shadows around itself, and stepped into the trees. In moments it was out of sight.
The figure walked on, through woods where strange birds called to each other, where trees no one else had ever seen shushed and rustled, until it reached a grove of golden leaves and gleaming red berries.
There the figure crouched and scraped a hole in the soil. It pulled a slightly battered seedling out of its coat and set it inside. It patted the soil gently around its roots.
It was just rising to its feet again when, from beyond the next hill, there came a howl. That howl was joined by another and another and another, a chorus of happy, haunting voices singing a song without words. Welcoming him home.
The figure smiled. His lengthening teeth glittered in the moonlight. Then he dropped to all fours and raced off over the hill, his own howl joining in the song.
Turn to this page.
MYSTERY CREATION ZONE SHORTCUTS
Can You Keep a Secret?
How Does the Mystery Creation Zone Work?
THE BEGINNING: SETTING THE SCENE
Detective’s Notebook: Mysterious Prologue
Mystery Writer Challenge: Suspenseful Similes
Detective’s Notebook: Mystery Setting
MYSTERY WRITER CHALLENGE: SETTING THE SCENE
IDEA STORM: CREATE A MYSTERY SETTING
Mystery Writer Challenge: Keeping the Reader in Suspense
Detective’s Notebook: The Mystery
MYSTERY WRITER CHALLENGE: MAKING UP A MYSTERY
IDEA STORM: MAKE UP A MYSTERY
Detective’s Notebook: The Detective
IDEA STORM: CREATE A DETECTIVE
DETECTIVE’S NOTEBOOK: WHODUNIT?
IDEA STORM: CREATE A CULPRIT
THE MIDDLE: THE INVESTIGATION
Detective’s Notebook: The Investigation (Keeping Track of Clues)
MYSTER
Y WRITER CHALLENGE: THE RIGHT CLUES FOR YOU
IDEA STORM: PLAN THE INVESTIGATION
Detective’s Notebook: Snooping Around
IDEA STORM: MAKE THE DETECTIVE SNOOP AROUND
Detective’s Notebook: Watch Out for Suspicious Behavior
MYSTERY WRITER CHALLENGE: STUDYING SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOR
IDEA STORM: MAKE A CHARACTER DO SOMETHING SUSPICIOUS
DETECTIVE’S NOTEBOOK: IDENTIFY THE SUSPECTS
IDEA STORM: CREATE SOME SUSPECTS
Detective’s Notebook: The Culprit Strikes Again!
IDEA STORM: WILL YOUR CULPRIT STRIKE AGAIN?
Detective’s Notebook: Following a Lead
MYSTERY WRITER CHALLENGE: WHERE WILL THE CLUES LEAD?
IDEA STORM: LEAD YOUR DETECTIVE TO THE CLUE
Detective’s Notebook: Running into an Unexpected Obstacle
IDEA STORM: THROW DOWN AN OBSTACLE
Mystery Writer Challenge: Permission to Get Weird
Detective’s Notebook: Questioning a Witness
MYSTERY WRITER CHALLENGE: CATCHING A WITNESS IN A LIE
IDEA STORM: WHO WILL BE A WITNESS?
Detective’s Notebook: Sting Operation
IDEA STORM: MOUNT A STING OPERATION
DETECTIVE’S NOTEBOOK: WRAPPING UP THE INVESTIGATION
(THE END IS JUST THE BEGINNING!)
THE END: CRACKING THE CASE
Detective’s Notebook: Confession and Consequences
IDEA STORM: GET A CONFESSION, AND DECIDE ON THE CONSEQUENCES
Detective’s Notebook: Just When You Thought It Was Safe
IDEA STORM: WRITE ONE LAST SURPRISE
Detective’s Notebook: A Mysterious Prologue, Revisited
IDEA STORM: MYSTERIOUS PROLOGUE
Appendix: Phoebe’s Original Idea (With Spoilers!)
CLASSIFIED: Answer Key
CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET?
Secrets.
That’s the first word of this novel, which makes sense, because it’s a mystery story—and mystery stories are all about secrets. That’s probably why mysteries are so popular: People love to find out about what others are trying to hide. You might know the feeling. If a friend of yours is keeping a secret from you, sometimes you get to the point where you can’t stand it anymore. You have to find out what the answer is, even if you have to beg your friend to tell you.
The fun thing about writing a mystery is that it’s the author who knows the secret. Your readers want you to tell it to them, but you’re not going to…at least not right away. First, you give them little clues about your secret…then you tell them a bit more, and a bit more…until they’re begging to hear the rest! They start turning the pages faster and faster and can’t put the story down, until they finally discover what you’ve been hiding.
Mysteries can be about small secrets (someone is stealing candy) or huge secrets (the government is trying to hide the aliens who have come to Earth). Sometimes a mystery starts with one secret, but then more and more secrets get revealed along the way. (While trying to figure out who stole the candy, we accidentally discover secret aliens!) But it doesn’t matter if your secret is big or small. The trick to a good mystery is all in how you tell it to your reader. One…small…clue…at…a…time.
Like most stories, mysteries have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Usually, it goes something like this:
The Beginning: Setting the Scene
A mystery is discovered, and a character decides to solve it.
The Middle: The Investigation
The character tries to solve the mystery.
The End: Cracking the Case
The mystery is solved!
Ideas for a mystery might come from anywhere—hopefully you’ll get a few ideas while reading this book! If you have a good idea for a setting where the mystery takes place, or for a detective character to solve it, you can get started right away and see where your imagination takes you.
But before you get too far, there’s something else important to know. Something that makes writing mysteries different from writing other kinds of stories. Something…strange.
When you read a mystery story, you read it in order from beginning to end, just like any other story. But when you write a mystery story, you need to decide what the end is going to be while you’re still writing the beginning. Even though your reader won’t know the big secret behind your mystery until the end, you already have to know it when you’re just getting started. It’s only once you know the secret that you can start to give your reader tiny clues, surprise them with mysterious events, and plan out a satisfying story where all the pieces fit together and make sense.
Weird, right? So how do you actually do that? How do you come up with a mysterious secret and then keep the reader wondering what it is for a whole story? In the pages that follow, we’ll give you lots of advice for how to do exactly that, plus some games to help you practice before you start writing. For now the most important question to ask yourself is: Can you keep a secret?
If you can do that, then you can write a mystery!
HOW DOES THE MYSTERY CREATION ZONE WORK?
In the Mystery Creation Zone, we’ll explain the basics of how to build a mystery, and give you tips for keeping the audience on the edge of their seat. As you read through, you’ll see three different kinds of entries:
Detective’s Notebook. When you write a mystery, you’re creating a puzzle for the reader, and the Detective’s Notebook entries are there to help you keep track of all the pieces. You’ll learn about choosing a setting and characters, how to invent a mystery of your own, and how the detective will dig up clues to finally crack the case.
Mystery Writer Challenge. The mind of a mystery writer works a little differently from other people’s. A mystery writer needs to practice looking at the mysterious side of life, where clues and conspiracies might be lurking around every corner, and learn how to tell secrets in the most suspenseful way possible. Each Mystery Writer Challenge will offer tips, games, and activities to try at home to help you think and write like an experienced mystery writer.
Idea Storm. This is where you create a mysterious puzzle of your own! We’ll give you tips to brainstorm ideas and build your own mystery story.
* * *
—
Besides that, we want you to keep in mind two big things:
First, your story is not going to start out perfect. No mystery has ever been written perfectly on a first draft. Ever. You might not come up with your best idea for a clue until you’re almost done, and you’ll have to go back and add it to the middle of the story. Or maybe it’s not until the fourth time you’ve read a paragraph that you realize the perfect way to make the setting sound mysterious and exciting. That’s great! Go back and make it as good as it can be!
All writers go back and rewrite their work—especially mystery writers. When Jacqueline West was building Digging Up Danger out of Phoebe’s idea, she totally rewrote the last five chapters over and over again until the ending was as exciting as possible.
If you’re writing with a pencil and paper, one way to make this easier for yourself is to skip lines so there’s room on the page to cross things out and add new ideas. For example, if you wrote some sentences you think sound a little boring, add new details to make them more interesting (and mysterious):
Jacqueline West always writes her first draft by hand in a journal for this very reason!
Second, give yourself PERMISSION TO GET WEIRD. Maybe you’ve read a lot of mystery books, watched tons of mystery shows on TV, and have a pretty good idea of how they usually go. It’s worth remembering that the most memorable, shocking, amazing mysteries are WEIRD. The secrets in them are so WEIRD the audience never sees them coming. In fact, the whole idea of a “mystery” used to be WEIRD. Nobody had ever written a real mystery story until a guy named Edgar Allan Poe came along and wrote th
e first ones ever. They were unlike anything that had been written before (a whole story about a detective looking for clues and trying to find out a secret?), but soon mysteries were one of the most popular kinds of stories in the world. Sometimes the very best ideas sound WEIRD…at first.
And sure, maybe you’ll write down a WEIRD idea and then decide, “Nah. That one’s too strange. I don’t like it.” That’s fine, too! You can always cross it out, erase it, or delete it. But you’ll never know for sure how it sounds until you try writing it, no matter how WEIRD.
If you got here by flipping forward from this page, flip back and keep reading!
THE BEGINNING: SETTING THE SCENE
DETECTIVE’S NOTEBOOK: MYSTERIOUS PROLOGUE
Secrets love three things…
How puzzling! What was happening in that chapter? Who were those mysterious people? What was up with that one shadow sneaking into the night?
If you can get your reader asking these kinds of questions right at the beginning of a mystery story, you’re off to a great start. Already, you’ve got them begging to know the secret you’re hiding.
This kind of beginning is called a mysterious prologue: You give your readers hints about some secrets that are going to be in the book, in order to get them excited for your mystery. How do you write a mysterious prologue like this in your story? Well, this is one of those cases where you have to decide what the end is going to be before you can write the beginning. So we’re going to have to come back to this at the very end of this book.
Sorry to keep you in suspense! But just like in a mystery story, we can’t give away all the secrets right at the start.
If you got here by flipping forward from this page, flip back and keep reading!
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