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your money! That guy cheats!” but without a voice, all he could do was feel sorry for the girls.
    When they reached the 4-H complex, Mrs. Warren said, “We’ll look in the show arena but if your sister isn’t there, we can’t traipse all around hunting for her.”
    Corey was relieved to see Ellen and Caitlin sitting in the top row of the show arena. Corey nudged Mrs. Warren and pointed at the girls. Mrs. Warren waved at Ellen.
    Ellen waved back.
    “What happened to your brother’s face?” Caitlin asked.
    “He got cut when he fell off the monkey bars at the park,” Ellen said. “It’s healed now except for a scab across his cheek but he insists on wearing that stupid Batman bandage.”
    “Nicholas and I will wait here,” Mrs. Warren said, “while you go up and ask Ellen if it’s all right for you to stay and go home with her.”
    Before Corey could do so, Nicholas bolted toward one of the trash cans that stood just inside the door. He leaned intothe trash can and threw up. Mrs. Warren handed him a tissue to wipe his mouth, then turned to Corey. “Stay with your sister,” she said.
    “I will.”
    Mrs. Warren put her arm around Nicholas and pushed open the door.
    Corey wished Nicholas wasn’t sick. It wouldn’t be half as much fun to scream on the scary rides alone. Ellen never wanted to ride anything except the merry-go-round. He sighed and turned toward the steps to join Ellen and Caitlin.
    “Sorry,” said a voice at his elbow. “No food is allowed in the stands.
    Corey went outside to finish his curly fries. As he emerged, he heard someone crying loudly. Looking toward the noise, he saw the same boy who had been near the bottle-throw booth. Once again, the boy was crying and pointing at an ice-cream cone on the ground while his mother tried to calm him. That kid, thought Corey, should buy ice cream in a cup and eat it with a spoon.
    “Hey!!”
    Corey looked at the gray-haired man who had shouted.
    “Someone took my wallet!” the man yelled. “Everyone stay where you are! Call the police!”
    Corey could hardly believe his ears.
Another
pickpocket? He quickly scanned the crowd of people, most of whom reacted to the man’s shouts by clutching their own wallets and purses.
    There he was!
    The man in the dark shirt with the MADE IN THE U.S.A. shopping bag was easing past the people who had stopped to stare at the shouter.
    Corey tried to yell, “That’s him! He’s the thief!” but hecould not make a sound. Corey watched as the man moved quickly through the crowd, shaking his head at the other people as if to say,
How terrible.
    Corey couldn’t let the man get away. Forgetting his promise to stay with Ellen, he took off across the fairgrounds after the thief.

CHAPTER
6
    “ I’M GOING to go talk to The Great Sybil again,” Ellen said.
    “Now?” said Caitlin. “The 4-H kids are bringing their sheep in. We’ll miss Ben.”
    “You can stay and watch the sheep show. I’ll come back here when I’m finished.”
    “Are you sure you want to go back there?” Caitlin said. “All this talk about danger and spirits and messages from dead people makes me nervous.”
    “I want to ask The Great Sybil some questions,” Ellen said, “and I won’t get to the fair again without my parents.”
    Caitlin nodded sympathetically. “Say no more,” she said. “My mom would never let me visit The Great Sybil, either. Do you want me to tell Corey anything if he shows up? Should I ask him to stay here until you come back?”
    “I doubt he’ll be back. He and Nicholas planned to ride on every ride and eat something from every food booth. Corey’sbeen saving his allowance for weeks so he could blow it all at the fair.”
    “Maybe the great danger is that he’ll get sick from eating too much junk food at the fair,” Caitlin said.
    “Not when he’s with Mrs. Warren. She’s really careful about good nutrition. Whenever Nicholas comes to our house, he always wants candy because he never gets it at home;