Eldritch Manor Read Free

because they were rolling uphill . She quickly put out a foot to stop them.
    The three coins abruptly stopped and executed a smart right hand turn, curving around her foot and continuing on their way up the sidewalk.

Chapter Two
    Wherein Willa follows the money to an even bigger mystery
    A s Willa pedalled home, she was no longer thinking about her scraped knees or stinging hands, or even about the boys who’d laughed at her. Normally when she did something embarrassing in front of people, she ran it over and over in her head until she wanted to scream. Not this time. All she could think about were the coins jingling in her pocket.
    She wasn’t even thinking about the stern look on Aunt Hattie’s face when she told her aunt that she hadn’t sold any subscriptions. Willa had decided to keep those wacky old ladies and their coins to herself.
    â€œMaybe you’re just not cut out for sales,” Hattie had said. Willa couldn’t agree more.
    About a block from home she stopped and pulled out the whole fistful of change. It looked like a normal jumble of coins — none of them were covered in runes or anything, just the regular queen heads, beavers, sailboats, and elk. She was just wondering if she had hallucinated the whole thing when the coins began to jump in her hand. She slapped her other hand over them and they wriggled beneath it, tickling her palm and making her shiver. When they calmed down again she shoved them back in her pocket, all but one, which she placed on the sidewalk. She watched closely as it hopped up on its edge, slowly spun around a couple of times, and rolled off down the street.
    Fifteen minutes later the coin slowed and made a sharp turn up the walkway of the big house. Well, that makes sense, thought Willa. It’s heading back to where it came from. The porch was empty. The coin reached the bottom of the stairs and paused for a moment before leaping onto the first step. Willa stared as it jumped up all the stairs, then rolled right up and banged into the front door with a faint ping! In her pocket the rest of the coins suddenly went crazy, jumping and jiggling. She pulled them out and they fairly flew from her hands, thwacking themselves into the door over and over again.
    Inside the house there was movement, footsteps, a cat’s meow. Then the door swung open and the coins dropped lifeless at the feet of Miss Trang. She glared at Willa with dark, glittering eyes.
    â€œWhat do you want?”
    Willa froze under her cold stare. She had been so focussed on the coins she hadn’t even considered what she would say once she got there. Baz peeked out from behind the woman’s left shoulder, covering her mouth and laughing silently. Miss Trang glanced down at the coins and rolled her eyes.
    â€œBelle!” she barked over her shoulder, sending Baz scampering away down the dark hall. Miss Trang turned back to Willa.
    â€œBelle gave you some money. She probably wanted you to take her to the ocean, am I right?” Willa didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to tell on anyone, so she kept quiet. Miss Trang continued. “And her money started acting strangely and here you are. You think the coins are magic . You want to solve the mystery. ” She was speaking very quickly and sharply. Willa backed away, feeling small and foolish. Miss Trang paused, her voice softening just a little, little bit.
    â€œWell, there is no magic and there is no mystery. Belle was just playing a little trick with magnets. Nothing more.” A teeny smile crawled across her face, but it wasn’t reassuring ... it just made her look scary.
    â€œAnd we don’t want any newspapers. Goodbye.” The last word was so firm and final that Willa could do nothing but turn and go down the steps. At the bottom she looked back to see Baz picking up the coins as Miss Trang held the door open.
    As she reached the sidewalk she heard the door slam shut behind her. She glanced