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dangled on the curtain rod.
    â€œThe maids found these,” said Tyler. “They always check out the rooms once a week, even if no one has used them. Just to make sure everything is in place.”
    â€œSo no one is staying here?” Charlie asked.
    Ty shook his head. “Nope,” he said. “Get this,” he added. “None of these rooms has had a guest for over a week. They’ve been empty. And the cleaning people all swore the shower curtains were still there when they cleaned them.”
    â€œThey couldn’t have made a mistake?” asked Charlie.
    â€œNo way,” said Tyler. “The cleaning crew has a checklist for each room. If anything is missing, they have to report it. My mom’s a real stickler for being organized and clean.”
    â€œSix rooms without shower curtains,” said Charlie.
    â€œThere’s other stuff missing, too,” said Tyler. “Now we need to go downstairs.”
    â€œThere could be more than one ghost,” said Charlie.
    Suddenly, they both froze. A moan echoed through the dim hallway.
    â€œThere it is!” whispered Tyler. “The voice.”

A name was being called out over and over. “Mister Ken … Mister Ken …”
    The voice was soft, but clear. “See what I mean?” said Tyler quietly. He motioned for Charlie to walk down the corridor with him. Even as they tiptoed past door after door, the voice seemed to follow them.
    Charlie tapped Ty’s back and whispered, “Where’s it coming from?”
    Tyler shook his head. “I can’t tell. I’ve put my ears to the doors on this floor, but it isn’t coming from inside anywhere. It’s out here, in the hall.”
    â€œ Mister Ken … Mister Ken …”
    The voice sounded angry. When it wasn’t speaking the man’s name, it was merely moaning.
    â€œYou go down that hall,” said Tyler, pointing. “I’ll go down this way.”
    Charlie nodded and headed down the hallway. He wished he had a flashlight in his backpack. Even with a flash of lightning through the hall windows now and then, it was not easy to see his way down the hall.
    The ancient wallpaper was decorated with big black flowers.
    Lilies? wondered Charlie.
    The carpet was a deep green. The hall lamps were small and old-fashioned, covered with dim red shades.
    It reminded Charlie of walking through a funhouse. Or a creepy hotel in a scary movie. He half expected to see ghostly kids each time he turned a corner. But, except for Tyler, he was the only other person walking the halls.
    Neither of them saw a ghost or a moving shadow or a floating orb of light. They made a circuit of all the halls on the ninth floor. They passed the row of elevators twice (Mr. Brack was gone by then). And though the voice was equally clear throughout the hallways, they still couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
    For a while, Charlie thought that Ty was playing a trick on him. Firstly, Charlie didn’t believe in ghosts, so he had a hard time believing that the biggest bully in school did. Secondly, he could easily imagine Tyler telling his bully buddies how he had pranked Charlie and freaked him out.

    But after several minutes of prowling the halls, Charlie could tell that Ty was nervous too.
    Every time they passed each other, Tyler would ask, “Anything?”
    Charlie would shake his head and say, “You?”
    Tyler would shake his head. And the two would keep walking.
    Charlie did notice that the voice seemed to change volume as he walked. It would grow softer and then louder as he walked down a hall. If he retraced his steps to where the sound had been soft, it grew softer once more.
    Weird , thought Charlie.
    Charlie noticed something else. A second sound. It was softer than the mysterious voice, but always there in the background. A tinkling sound, like a tiny silver bell.
    Suddenly, the voice grew rougher, heavier. There was a loud