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Henry Holt and Company

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from Chapter 6:

  She walked around to the other side of the 

building, where 513, the music room, was.  The 

shades were drawn, but she could see a light be-

hind them.  "All right!" she breathed, relieved.  

Someone was still there.  One window was partly 

open.  It had been stuck that way for weeks.  Mr. 

Benson hadn’t gotten around to repairing it yet.  

Through it she could hear the piano, muffled and 

hesitant, as though someone was trying to pick out 

a melody.

  Deal raised her hand to rap on the glass. But 

then she wavered.  The would-be piano player was 

weeping.  For a moment Deal weighed courtesy ver-

sus need.  Need won.  She knocked on the window.  

The piano plunking and the crying grew louder.  

She knocked again, and they were louder still.  

Concerned now, she tried to open the other win-

dows.  They were all locked.  Cursing loudly, she 

jerked roughly at the one that was stuck, and sud-

denly it slid up as smoothly as if it had been 

oiled.

  The piano was crashing and discordant now; the 

weeping had changed to wailing.  The sounds rat-

tled Deal’s teeth, rippled icily over her skin.  

She hesitated again, then bravely hoisted herself 

up onto the sill, raised the shade and jumped into 

the room.  She got just a hazy glimpse of the fig-

ure at the piano - a slight figure all in white 

bathed in a misty glow - before it vanished, 

plunging the room into darkness.







Copyright © 1997 by Marilyn Singer

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