The Barking Ghost

25

I landed softly on my feet. I didn't even feel it.

Had we fallen into some kind of well? Or a tunnel dug deep under the shack?

I couldn't tell.

I took a deep breath and gazed around the heavy blackness. "Fergie — are you okay?" I called. My voice came out tiny and shrill.

"I — I guess," she replied after a few seconds. "Cooper — look!"

I started to reply that it was too dark to see anything. But then I glimpsed the two pairs of red eyes, glaring at us through the darkness.

I gasped.

"Don't move!" instructed a dry whisper of a voice.

"Who are you?" I managed to choke out. "What do you want?"

"Why did you dogs bring us here?" Fergie demanded.

"We are not dogs," the voice growled. "We are people."

"But — but — " I sputtered.

"Silence!" the voice commanded. "Silence while you are in the Changing Room."

"The what?" I cried.

The red eyes flared.

"Centuries ago, my friend and I had an evil spell cast upon us," the voice continued, ignoring my question. "The spell forced us to roam these woods as dogs. Ghost dogs."

"Too bad," I muttered. "But what do you want us for?"

The dogs snickered. It sounded more like dry coughing than laughter.

"You are in the Changing Room," the voice told us. "For nearly a hundred years, we have tried to get two people in here. And now we have succeeded."

"And -?" I demanded.

"We're going to change places with you," the voice said casually.

"Excuse me?" Fergie cried. "You're going to what?"

"We will take your places," the voice repeated. "And you shall take ours. You will be the ghost dogs. You will roam these woods as we did — forever!"

"No way!" I cried. I wanted to run.

But where?

I was surrounded by heavy blackness on all sides.

"Fergie — " I started.

But I heard her gasp. And then I began to feel warm. As if someone had covered me with a heavy blanket.

The warmth swept over my body.

Simmering heat. As if I were in an oven.

Warmer. Warmer. Until sweat dripped down my face, and I was panting in the heat.

I can't stand it anymore! I thought. I'm going to melt!

I opened my mouth to scream. But the sounds that escaped my throat weren't mine.

In fact, they didn't sound human at all.