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I'll inflate your floaties for you. You know you can't go in the water without them.”
    I was too sleepy to answer him.
    Mom did it for me. “Colin, why do you always put your brother down?”
    Colin shrugged. “Because it's
fun?”
    He poked me hard in the ribs with a chicken leg. I was so tired, I barely felt it.
    Mom and Dad were talking about the swim team. I heard Dad say something about Coach Freeley and how important it was to bring my phys ed grade up.
    But their voices faded into the distance. My eyelids felt heavier … heavier … too heavy to hold up.
    I heard rain outside. Rain drumming against the kitchen window.
    Their voices became water lapping … gentle waves brushing the shore.
    Rushhhh
…
rushhhhhhh
…
rushhhhh
… A soft sound in my ears.
    My head slumped onto my dinner plate. A heavy darkness washed over me.
    Rushhhh
…
rushhhhhhh
…
rushhhhh
…
    That gentle sound …
    And then it, too, faded away. Silence now. And a deep darkness.
    “Whoa!”
I let out a shout as I felt myself being shaken roughly.
    Colin! Colin had me by the shoulders and was shaking me awake.
    He laughed. “Maxie fainted!” he exclaimed. “Did you see that, Dad? Little Maxie fainted because he's scared of trying out for the swim team!”
    Dad laughed so hard that mashed potatoes came out his nose.
    “Stop it, you two,” Mom said, shaking her head. “Give Maxie a break.”
    Mom always sticks up for me. But Dad and Colin never pay attention.
    Colin was showing Dad how my head had hit the mashed potatoes. They started laughing all over again.
    I didn't care. I suddenly had an idea.
    I thought I knew what Mr. Park, the old storyteller at the library, had been talking about.
    “Uh … I have to make a phone call,” I said. I jumped up from the table. I rushed to my room. I found Nicky and Tara doing ghost research at my computer.
    “I think I've got it!” I cried. “I think I know what we have to do.”
    They both spun around. “Tell us,” Tara said.
    I yawned. How many hours had I been awake? I didn't want to count.
    “Look outside,” I said, pointing to my bedroom window. “It's raining real hard, right? No moon or stars.”
    “The darkest night,” Nicky said.
    “Yes,” I agreed. “The darkest night. I think I know how to get rid of Inkweed!”

15
    I SATDOWNON my desk chair. I propped my hands on my knees. I listened to the rain pattering against the window and struggled to think clearly.
    “It's the darkest night,” I repeated. “So we just have to find a place even darker.”
    “Yes!” Tara agreed, pumping her fists in the air. “You're right, Brainimon! You've figured it out.”
    Then Nicky said something. And Tara said something else.
    I heard the raindrops hit the windowpane. And I heard
rushhhh
…
rushhhhhhh
…
rushh-hhh…
    Dark now. The darkest night. I felt the darkness wrap around me.
    Voices somewhere in the room. But far, far away. And the rush of water against the shore.
    Then a deep silence.
    “Huh?” I was awakened by someone shaking me again. This time it was Nicky.
    His eyes were wide with fright. Tara stood next to him, shouting my name over and over.
    I glanced down. A puddle of black ink had spread over my rug. My face felt wet. I rubbed it and stared at the black ink that had come off onto my hand.
    “A close one,” Nicky said, sighing. “We couldn't get you awake.”
    “Inkweed started to pour out,” Tara said, shivering. “It was so awful.” She squeezed my hand. “Hang on, Max. Please. You've
got
to hang on—or all three of us are doomed.”
    “Okay,” I said, climbing shakily to my feet. “We have to act fast. I keep dozing off. I can feel him inside me. He's desperate to get out.”
    “We have to test your idea,” Tara said.
    “Yes.” I crossed the room and clicked off the lights. I closed my bedroom door. The only light came from the computer monitor. I shut it off too.
    Now the room was pitch black. So dark I couldn't see Nicky and Tara standing next to