The Mapmaker and the Ghost Read Free Page A

she could find) squishing against her temples and hurting her head without providing much protection from the glaring sun.
    â€œYou’re doing a great job, kiddo,” her dad called down with a huge grin. He was a slightly pudgy, dark-haired man and, at the moment, he was sweating profusely. “I feel safer already. Remember, two Morams are better than one.”
    â€œYup,” Goldenrod said as she imagined her perfect, detailed map embossed with a Legendary Adventurers logo (which, she realized, she would have to design). “You hungry, Dad?” she called up to him.
    â€œWhat’s the special today?” he called back down, hisface even more freckled than usual because of all the days working in the sun.
    â€œPeanut butter on whole wheat toast with strawberries and Cheerios. For extra crunch.” Goldenrod was an excellent sandwich-maker.
    â€œMmmm. I’ll have one of those.”
    Goldenrod nodded. “Birch!” she called to her little brother.
    â€œWhat?” he called back from inside.
    â€œCome take my place watching Dad for a sec.”
    â€œI’m about to beat Level Three!” he yelled back.
    â€œI’m making sandwiches,” Goldenrod said.
    She heard a beep and a few seconds later Birch was outside. “For me too?”
    â€œOf course,” Goldenrod said and then turned around to the direction of her mom, who was working in the farthest reaches of the front garden. “You want one, Mom?”
    There was no response. Her mother was digging.
    Goldenrod had to walk over to her and tap her on the shoulder before her mother heard a word she was saying.
    In the kitchen, as Goldenrod prepared the four sandwiches, she thought about her backpack. She thought about her map. She thought about leaving the Barriers. She thought about a new school without Ms. Barf. And, most of all, she thought about Charla. It wasn’t going to be quite the same, being Lewis without Clark. But still, she knew her friendwould be thrilled for her if Goldenrod really were able to become a Legendary Adventurer, make an extraordinary map, and hopefully find something no one even knew existed.
    Goldenrod smiled as she plated the sandwiches. When she was done, she rummaged through the kitchen drawers and found a box of frilly toothpicks. She put one on each of the two slices of her mother’s sandwich before putting all the plates on a tray and heading back outside. Sometimes, the littlest things could put parents in a good mood. And she needed her mom to be in the best mood possible.

3
THE EXPLORATION BEGINS
    It had taken a few days for Goldenrod to convince her mother to let her go through her impenetrable barriers. Eventually, she had had to pull the Charla card—telling her mother that the only way she could possibly make any new friends would be to leave the house and explore some new places. “Besides, it’ll be good for my sense of independence, Mom.”
    â€œIt’s true, Janine,” Mr. Moram had chirped from the roof. “Our girl’s got to learn to be self-sufficient sometime. Let’s face it, she’s a middle schooler now. She’s not going to find much adventure hanging around the backyard.” Goldenrod had smiled innocently, all the while giving herself a mental high five for planting those lines so perfectly in her dad’s head.
    On the Tuesday after her long, drawn-out grounding,she found herself at the end of her driveway, looking around with an exhilarating sense of freedom. Her green Backpack of Adventure, which now, needless to say, also contained a cell phone programmed to call her house and 911 with the touch of a button, hung heavy on her back with the promise of great things.
    In between scheming about how to get on her mother’s best side, Goldenrod had spent a great deal of time mapping out her mapping intentions. She had decided that she would start, like Lewis and Clark, in the west (past the science