Ghost Town (12 page)

Katani checked her watch. The twins had been fielding questions and signing autographs for quite some time, and they were starting to look tired.

“Nik and Sam,” she called out. “Time to go! Sorry, guys,” Katani held out a hand to the crowd that clearly meant STOP. “Nik and Sam are late for an appointment. Maybe you can catch them later. Come on, girls,” she motioned for Nik and Sam to follow her as she grabbed Isabel's arm. “We gotta get a move on.”

Outside the game room, Nik smiled gratefully, then slapped a hand on Katani's shoulder. “Thanks for rescuing us, Katani!”

“Yeah! You should be a band manager or something.
You're really good at getting people to listen,” Sam said, slapping her hand on Katani's other shoulder.

Katani smiled. Band manager. She liked the sound of that. As long as the band manager could design costumes and do all that creative stuff, too.

When the girls reached their floor, Nik whipped out her key and unlocked the door to the twins' suite.

“What's this?” Sam asked when she saw how the room had been transformed.

There, in front of the huge window that overlooked the resort lawn and the fabulous backdrop of Lone Mountain, were four sleeping bags with four fluffy pillows.

“Hi, girls,” said Nik and Sam's mom. “
This
is a slumber party, Big Sky Resort style. I got the resort concierge to rustle up some sleeping bags to make it more like the real thing.”

“A slumber party with a major view!” Isabel exclaimed. She couldn't take her eyes off the majestic, snowy mountain framed by the glow of the moon.

It was fairly dark, but the girls could still see that the snow was swirling and whirling in the darkness between the window and the mountains.

“I hope Mr. Ramsey and the girls are safe,” Isabel whispered softly, folding her arms in front of her and shivering a bit.

“Don't worry, Isabel.” Nik slung an arm around Isabel's shoulder. “I bet there are a ton of motels and restaurants off the interstate for them to get out of the storm.”

Isabel gazed over at Nik's guitar in the corner. Nik followed her gaze. “Do you play the guitar?” she asked
Isabel, jumping at the chance to take Isabel's mind off her worries.

“I've always wanted to take guitar lessons,” Isabel admitted. “I can only play a little bit, though—just a few chords.”

“Well, there's no time like the present.” Sam pushed the guitar in her direction.

“Really?”

“Why not? We only started playing a couple of years ago,” Nik said.

She handed Isabel the guitar and picked up the mandolin. Sam began strumming softly on her banjo. Nik patiently showed Isabel some basic chords and then went to get her backup guitar. As they strummed together, all three began to hum sweetly. Sam and Isabel strummed a chord, and Nik broke out in her lonesome, melodic voice, “There's a little girl with a barrette in her hair bouncing on her daddy's knee . . .”

Isabel joined Nik and Sam in the ballad's refrain:

Hold on and don't let go

Put one step forward, two steps back.

No one ever learned to dance without getting just a little off track.

When your feet get tangled up,

you feel just like a fool

Remember I'll be there taking every little step with you.

“Hey, Katani. Join in!” Sam invited as Nik started in on the second verse.

Katani shook her head and clamped her mouth shut.

“Come on, Katani,” Sam tried to convince her. “What's the problem? Just sing along!”

Katani shook her head again and pressed her lips together. She locked eyes with Isabel and the two broke into uncontrollable giggles.

Nik put down her guitar and stared at the two giggling girls. “Is there something weird going on here?” she asked.

Isabel choked back another giggle and shrugged.

“What?” Nik asked.

“WHAT?!” Sam demanded.

“Well, it's just that Katani isn't . . .” Isabel hesitated.

“Isn't what?” Sam pressed.

Katani and Isabel looked at each other and let the giggles flow again.

“Katani is known for her organizational skills,
not
her singing skills,” Isabel finally managed to spit out.

“That's putting it mildly!” Katani blurted. “I can't even sing ‘Happy Birthday' without making every dog in the neighborhood howl!”

“Come on! You can't be that bad,” Sam said.

“Believe me . . . I'm pretty much tone deaf,” Katani admitted, shaking her head.

“Well, you didn't think you could play pool, and look how that turned out,” Nik reasoned. “Give it a try. You don't have to be a Grammy contender to have a little fun.”

“Join in,” Sam insisted.

The twins stopped begging and continued to play and
sing, nodding encouragingly at Katani every now and then.

What do I have to lose?
Katani thought. She started humming softly at first, then she sang louder and louder, and really let go at the chorus, “Hold on and don't let go. Put one step forward, two steps back. No one ever learned to dance without getting just a little off track.”

Five songs later, Katani was belting out the refrain of the twins' foot-stomping jam “Old Enough.” Katani knew her voice was terrible and her harmony was way off, but suddenly she didn't care! She sang loudly and proudly, pouring all her emotions into the awesome lyrics.

Isabel and Katani hooted and hollered wildly for Nik and Sam when they finished the song.

“Thank you, everyone, for coming out tonight,” Sam spoke to the fake audience.

“We'd like to thank our guest musicians, the talented and beautiful duo, Isabel Martinez and Katani Summers. We couldn't have done it without them both!” Nik added.

By now the light had completely drained from the sky and they could no longer see the white peak of Lone Mountain. There was a knock at the door and a waiter rolled in a cart filled with pizza rolls, buffalo chicken wings, cheese and crackers, a huge bowl of fruit, a plate of cookies, and all sorts of other goodies. The girls put their instruments down and started digging in.

“I might not have a career as a singer,” Isabel giggled in between bites of pizza, “but Katani Summers is going to be a
famous
fashion designer someday.”

“Really?” Nik asked.

“Aww, we sort of hoped you'd become our manager!” Sam made a funny face.

Katani laughed. “That sounds like fun, but I've always wanted to be a fashion designer. I've already started a scarf-making business, and it's going great. I'm saving all my pennies and dimes and hopefully, by the time I finish college, I'll be all set to launch my fashion empire.”

“That's awesome!” Nik and Sam said simultaneously.

“So how did you get interested in music?” Isabel asked.

“We used to go to concerts with our parents where there were guitar pickers. Our dad would always play with them. That's how we started to love music,” Nik explained.

“Our dad inspired us first,” Sam said, “but I loved Emily Robison, the banjo player from the Dixie Chicks, so I just
had
to learn the banjo. And Nikki learned the guitar so she could accompany me.”

“Doing concerts is great, but we'd love to get into acting, too,” Sam told them.

Nik nodded in agreement.

“Really?” Katani asked. “Wow, you guys have some big dreams!”

“Tell me about it,” Sam laughed. “Someday . . . we want to do a movie too.”

“You sound just like Maeve! It would be cool if the three of you were in a movie together,” Isabel told them.

“Yeah! Maybe Charlotte can even write the script,” Katani suggested.

“Charlotte? Is she a writer?” Nik asked.

“She's a great writer,” Isabel reported. “She always has her journal out, and she even writes feature articles for our school newspaper, the
Sentinel
.”

“What about you, Isabel?” Sam asked. “What kinds of stuff are you into?”

Isabel looked shyly at the floor and shrugged.

“Come on!” Nik encouraged. “I know you're the creative type.”

“Spill it,” Sam nudged Isabel.

“Isabel is an artist,” Katani bragged.

“Really? Cool!” Sam exclaimed.

“What kind of art?” Nik wanted to know.

“Well, right now birds are my favorite,” Isabel said.

“Birds?” Nik and Sam asked in unison.

“Isabel draws these really cool bird cartoons,” Katani explained. “She has her own cartoon corner in the
Sentinel
, too.”

“You want to be a cartoonist when you're older?” Nik asked, impressed.

“I think I might, but I like other kinds of art, too. I can't decide just yet.”

“What other kind of art?” Nik wondered.

“Maybe murals, maybe fabric design with Katani . . . maybe even performance art,” Isabel said.

“Performance art! Cool!” Nik exclaimed.

“You don't even know what performance art is!” Sam teased her sister.

“I
do
so know. It's like when an artist is onstage and takes a big balloon full of paint and chucks it at a canvas— sorta like this.” Nik picked up the big throw pillow from
the couch and lobbed it at her sister, knocking Sam back onto her sleeping bag.

The pillow fight was on.

The fire snapped, and Maeve's eyes popped open again. She rolled over and glanced bleary-eyed at her pink watch with the rhinestone-studded face. Only three minutes since the last time she woke up. This time the culprit was a shutter banging against the window upstairs. Even though Maeve was exhausted, every little creak of the old hotel startled her awake.
I am so not a camping kind of girl
, she shuddered.

Lissie and Mr. Ramsey were sleeping in chairs on either side of the fire. Maeve had claimed the old couch— the mouse-free zone—and Charlotte and Avery were sharing a king-size mattress in front of the fire.

Earlier in the evening sleeping on the couch seemed like a brilliant idea. After all, it was high above the floor and less likely to fall victim to a rodent attack. But now, in the middle of the night, Maeve was more worried about the wild animals she heard howling in the distance. Maybe she
would
be safer if she were closer to the fire. Besides, she was shivering in the nippy air.

She took her pillow and blanket and crawled onto the floor. Unfortunately, there wasn't much of a fire left at all. The flames had died down to a mere heap of glowing coals. Maeve maneuvered into the empty space on the mattress between Avery and Charlotte. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a movement in
the darkness across the room. Was it just her imagination, or was the front door to the hotel actually
opening
?

Maeve squeezed her eyes shut. Of course, it must be her imagination.
Can wolves or coyotes or whatever was making that howling noise open doors
? she wondered, as a shiver went up and down her spine.

Through the tiny slits of her eyelids she saw a dark shadow slowly take shape against the heavy snowfall beyond the open door. A big, scary, tall man with a cowboy hat entered the room.

Maeve clamped her hand over her mouth. If she screamed now, the ghost might swoop her away. She began to shake as the door closed noiselessly behind the silhouette.

As the dark shape began to creep toward her, Maeve reached over and poked Avery's shoulder. She opened her mouth to scream, but only a tiny gasp escaped from her mouth. She shook Avery hard, but Avery wasn't responding.

Suddenly, a howling sound echoed through the room. “Avery! AVERY!” Maeve scream-whispered into her friend's ear. “What IS that?”

“Dreaming. Just dreaming,” Avery mumbled and rolled over on her side. Maeve gulped and looked up. There was nothing there, just the grainy darkness. Maeve whipped the blanket over her head and burrowed under the covers.

“I will do my math homework. I will do my math homework. I will do . . .” Maeve repeated over and over again until she fell into a troubled sleep.

Mr. Ramsey put a finger to his lips to let Charlotte know everyone else was still asleep. “Good morning, honey,” he whispered.

Charlotte began her super cat stretch and almost immediately discovered she barely had any room to move. On her left, Maeve was sprawled across the previously empty part of the bed. Charlotte inched away from Maeve so she could lie on her back and prop herself up on her elbows without elbowing her friend in the face.

The inside of the old hotel was still dark, but the gray light in the window told Charlotte it was morning. The windowpanes were still.
At least the wind died down a little
, thought Charlotte. But she could still see blustery gusts of snow blowing past the window.