Later, I found myself standing at the fence of the old cemetery peering into the forbidden gated area.  The cave was hard to see from where we were.  I had the feeling that Tess was about to take care of that.

          “Remember yesterday when we saw the light in the house?”  Tess said.

          “A flicker of light,” I exaggerated.  “Ooooooo!  Do you think it was him?” I teased.

          “Or her,” Tess corrected.

          Tess was serious.  My usually rational cousin really was beginning to believe.  I suppose I was too.  Maybe.  I didn’t really want to think about it.  If we were at home, or digging up river rocks like we were supposed to be, then I wouldn’t have to be thinking about it.  Here in the cemetery – it was hard to think of anything else.

          “No, really,” Tess urged, “you don’t believe at all?”

          “I don’t know.  Maybe.”  I said scanning the house.  “Look, no light, no flicker, full moon.  We are wasting our time.

          Tess moved towards the fence we had crossed yesterday for the first time in fourteen years.

          I took a deep breath and followed her over it and through the middle to the cemetery within.

          The cave came into view.  It stood quietly embedded into a mass of granite.  The air was still.  No breeze wrestled the leaves.  No wind whistled through the dry grass.

          I could smell the dampness as we moved close to the cave’s mouth.  Tess took a step in.  I almost bumped into her when she stopped – dead in her tracks.

          A yellow halo of light glowed from within.

          I stopped, frozen.  Waiting…but for what?  Listen…but to silence.

          I felt something move behind me, rub against me, but when I turned…there was nothing.

          When I turned back to the inner cave the light was gone.

          “Whoa,” I said.

          The light had vanished.  The damp smell began to get to me.

          “Let’s come back in the dark,” Tess said.  “I think there is a full moon tonight.”

          “Yeah,” I agreed, “good idea.”

          I’d say anything to not be there, but there was no way I was going to come back.

          As I lay in bet that night, I tried to use what Mrs. Annpin, my math teacher, calls my “higher level thinking” skills.  This is when you put together all of the facts that you have and you come up with a logical conclusion – operative word – logical!

          So I asked myself – exactly what I know.

          I know that I saw a light, a glowing, floating golden halo of light that was illuminating from deep inside the cave.  Then this light went out.

          Now, the logical conclusion.  Was it an optical illusion?  The moon reflecting off of some cave lake?  My imagination?  Miles?

          A dog began to bark in the distance.  That was odd.  No one in the Valley had a dog that I knew of.  That was sort of bizarre.  I had never thought of that before.  All of this country and no dogs.

          The barking grew louder, wilder.  It barking was getting closer.  It sounded like it was right outside on our back lawn.

          I bolted up!  Dogs recognize ghosts.  Ghosts kill dogs.

          Is that why the dog was barking so emotionally?  Is that why no one around here kept a dog?  Did the parents of the Valley know something that the children didn’t?

          I gathered all the courage I possessed, climbed out of bed and went to my window.

          I peered down to the ground – two stories below.

          No dog.  I listened.  No barking.

          Frogs croaked.  Trees wrestled with the wind.  But, no dog to be seen anywhere.  And the barking, the barking was replaced by an eerie silence.

          The next day found us down by the river loading rocks again.

          “So tell me again about this barking dog?”  Tess said.  “If it was that loud I should have heard it.  I had my window open.”

          Tess’ house rests in an orchard across the road.  Her window was in the back of her house and my window was in the back of my house…facing opposite directions.

          “Not necessarily,” I said.  “It was coming from behind our house.”

          “So, tell me more about it.”

          “There isn’t anything more to tell.”  I said.  “I heard it, but when I went to the window to investigate…it was gone.”

          “Oh brother,” Tess said.

          I looked up and saw what she meant.  Miles, Sarah and Luke were heading our way from up the river.

          “Isn’t it funny how we’ve never seem them before, but now they won’t go away?” I whispered.

          Miles was carrying a bucket and a couple of fishing poles.

          “Hi,” Sarah said.

          “Catch anything?” Tess asked.

          “We haven’t gone fishing yet.”  Miles said.

          “Then what’s in the bucket?”  I asked.

          “Bait,” Sarah said reaching in and pulling out little fish.

          “Why don’t you use worms?”  I asked.

          “These work better.  We get them in a little spot up stream and then take them back to the lake across the river on our side of the county.”  Miles said.

          “Want to come with us?”  Sarah asked.

          Tess looked at me. I shrugged.  Fishing sounded fun and I wanted information about the light.

          We followed them over the river, out of the ravine and across the county line to a large granite lake.

          “Wow, it’s beautiful here.”  Tess said.  “Look at all of the pretty rocks and trees.”

          “Not many people know about this place,” Sarah said.

          Miles stopped in a little cove.  “This is the best spot.” He announced.

          He grabbed a little fish out of the bucket and put it, squirming, onto the hook.  The fish wiggled and flipped back and forth.

          “Wanna throw it out?” He asked me.  I wondered why he was being so nice to me know.  Sarah must have said something to him.

          I threw the line out.  It went sideways instead of forward and got caught on a branch.

          Miles helped me pull it back in.  “Don’t worry,” he said.  “It takes a while to get used to the wiggly fish on the end.”

          I threw it again.  It soared perfectly over the water and landed with a small splash.

          This Miles was way different than the Miles from before.  Maybe it took him a while to warm up to people, I thought.

          I reeled in the pole slowly…no bites.  I cast it out again.

          Miles baited the other two poles while I tried to get a nibble.  Sarah and Louise took turns with one and Miles helped Luke with the other.

          Tess had a little trouble with the same branch I did – only she flipped the line back and her bait got loose and landed in her hair.  She screamed and thrashed.

          Everyone began laughing.  Miles laughed so hard he slipped off of the rock he was perched on and fell, splash, into the water.  This sent new roars of laughter over the lake.

          This seemed like the perfect time to bring up the cave.

          “Hey,” I started.  “Guess where we went last night?”

          “Where?”  Sarah asked, catching her breath.

          “We went back to the graveyard and went to the cave.  We saw the light you were talking about.”

          Sarah’s face whet white.  She looked at Miles and then at little Luke.  “You did what?”

          “We went to the cave,” Tess said.

          Miles stopped smiling and Sarah looked frightened.

          “Tell me you didn’t go in,” she pleaded.  “Please, tell me you did not go into that cave.”

          `”Ok,” I said, “we didn’t go into the cave.”

          “Yeah,” Tess said.  “Take it easy.  We only looked.”

          “It’s terribly dangerous,” Sarah said.  “You shouldn’t even go near there.”

          “There’s a reason that it’s fenced off the way it is.”  The nasty Miles returned.  His eyes stared into mine.  “It’s off limits you know.”

          I caught my cousin’s eye.  She was thinking what I was thinking.  That these three were scared…really, genuinely scared.  They didn’t want to admit it and they certainly didn’t want to talk about the cave.

          But why?

          I had to find out.

Chapter 11

          Tess and her parents joined us for dinner.  I took the opportunity to find out what each person knew about the ghost.

          “Dad,” I began, “I was wondering what you know about the cave in the older part of the cemetery?”

          Mom raised her eyebrow at Aunt Liz, Tess’ mom.  Dad cleared his throat.  And, I swear, Ben and Grace exchanged almost fearful glances.

          “What were you doing in that part of the graveyard?”  Dad asked.

          “You two know that behind the fence is complete off limits.”  Uncle Jim added.

          “Ok, off limits,” Tess said.  “But since we’ve already been there once,” she paused, “…maybe twice…what do you guys know about the cave.”

          “You didn’t go into the cave, now, did you?”  Grace asked sharply.

          “No,” I said.  Wow, even an outsider was afraid, I thought.  There really must be something to this.

          “You shouldn’t go anywhere near the cave,” she warned.  “It isn’t safe.”

          “That’s kinda what we wanted to talk about,” Tess continued.  Everybody had stopped eating.  All eyes were on her.  “Last night I went, we went, back to the old part of the cemetery because I thought I left my sweatshirt there and there was a light glowing and flickering inside the cave.”

          “Does anybody know what it was?” I added.

          Grace narrowed her eyes at me.  I thought it was sort of funny that she, an outsider, was so bothered by all of this.  “It much have been an optical illusion.”

          Safe answer, I thought.  Only, if it really was an optical illusion why was no one eating Dad’s famous barbeque.

          “It’s sort of like the northern lights,” Ben said.  “Certain times of the year bring electric charges.  The whole sky lights up in flashes and tails.”

          “Yes,” Tess said, “but this was inside the cave.”

          “Those mining caves are full of gasses,” Dad spoke up.  “You get the right concentration and you have a real show.”  He picked up his fork again.

          “Would you like some more pasta?” Mom passed me the bowl.

          “Sure,” I said, scooping out pesto covered noodles.

          I felt a foot-nudge under the table.  Tess didn’t believe them either.

          After dinner, Tess and I found ourselves outside of the cemetery gates once again.  We really hadn’t intended to go there.  The moon was full and the sky was dotted with fluffy puffs of clouds.

          “They’re hiding something,” I said.

          “Something big,” Tess answered.

          “Don’t you think it’s kind of strange how bothered Ben and Grace were about the whole cave thing?”  I said.

          “Bothered is putting it mildly!” Tess shook her head.

          “You know,” I lowered my voice as we walked towards the rear of the graveyard, “mom said that Grace’s parents were some of the first people to settle this valley.  She met Ben here and then they moved back to Massachusetts where our ancestors are from.”

          “Really!” Tess’ eyes lite up.  “That could explain a lot.”

          “Tess look…” I pointed to the cave.

          The glowing flicker was back!

          We reached the mouth of the cave.  The light floated in the beyond of the cave.  The moon disappeared behind a cloud.  The light glowed even brighter.

          “It is not gasses,” I whispered.

          Tess took a step into the cave.

          How deep was this cave.  I couldn’t tell.

          I took a step closer to the light.  This would be a better adventure in daylight, I thought.

          Tess moved close beside me.  Her eyes were big.  Fear was everywhere on her face.  “Well?” she asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

          “We have to go in,” I said.

Chapter 12

          My heart raced as we stepped deeper into the blackness.  The floor of the cave was slick.  The air was thick and musty.  The crisp outside air was replaced and was heavy and sour.  It was warmer inside.

          Tess grabbed my arm and pointed.  “Look, a tunnel,” she said.

          The light was dimmer, but still flickering.  It was coming from down the tunnel.

          The path narrowed from all sides.  The ceiling was inches above my head.

          Tess stopped.

          “Let’s go a little farther,” I urged.

          “It’s pretty freaky,” Tess stopped.

          A soft clicking sound startled us both.

          “Come on…we’re here now,” I whispered.

          “Yes, but…” Tess began.

          “But nothing,” I said.  “Really, Tess, this is our graveyard.  We’ve been playing here for years.  Nothing is going to happen,” I said.  I think I was trying to convince myself as much as my cousin.

          We followed the light.  The clicking was getting louder.

          “What’s that noise?”  She asked.

          The clicking was causing a wind.  I didn’t have time to answer.  The ceiling and walls came alive – dropping down on us.

          “Ahhhhh!”  I covered my head and dropped to the floor.

Chapter 13

          “Ahhhhhh!”

          I was yelling as I pulled Tess down beside me on the damp cave floor.

          “Cover your head!” I screamed as I covered mine with both hands.

          I waited breathlessly for the crushing pain of the thousands of tons of rocks I heard about caving in on the miners.  The wind grew stronger.

          I slowly lifted my head.  I saw bats!  Thousands of bats, swooping back and forth across the cave room.  Clicking and fluttering – swishing in and out of the cave.

          The ceiling was not caving in.  We had just disturbed some bats.

          Tess saw them too.  “I hate bats!”  Tess jumped to her feet and headed toward the way we came.  “Let’s get out of here!”

          “I bet this is what the Ben and Grace were so afraid of.  Bats!  Bats and rabies and lets go…”  I turned to leave too…but the light stopped me.  If we left now we would never know the mystery of the light.  If we found out now we’d never have to enter this horrifying cave again.

          I pulled Tess farther into the cave.

          “What are you doing?”  She screamed above the bats.

          I tugged her into another tunnel and the clicking faded.

          “We have to find out about the light,” I said.

          We ducked under the bats as we ran under them farther into the next chamber.

          The light grew brighter.

          We were closing in on it.

          This tunnel opened into a large chamber.  The light was now so bright that we had to shield our eyes as we headed to what appeared to be the entrance to its source.

          I let go of Tess’ hand and moved towards the door.

          That’s when I saw them.

          Lanterns…and candles.  Hundreds of green lanterns and white candles stuck on rocks and in the wall, on cave ledges and on the slick ground.

          All of them lighted and flickering wildly.

          “Woah!”  Tess was now behind me.

          “The source of the flickering,” I said.  “But why?”

          Then we saw him.  A ghost of a man sitting on a makeshift bench in the middle of the floor.

          He had a long, scraggly, white beard and a bump on the end of his nose.  He was hunched over and appeared to be sleeping…or dead.

          He was pale.  His skin hung off of him like a shirt two sizes too big.  Shadows danced over him so that he appeared to glow too.

          Was he part of the light?  Was he merely an illusion in this glowing chamber?

          Tess and I stared at him.

          “Is he alive,” she asked in a whisper.

          Was he a ghost?

          His eyes opened.  Large and transparent blue spheres…sunken back into the dark sockets of his skull.

          He saw us.  He pointed a long, bony finger then curled it in calling.  “Come here children.”  His voice was raspy and horse – dry in contrast to the musty cave air.

          He slowly got up and moved towards us.

Chapter 14

          I tried to run but my feet would not move.  It was like that horrible dream where your voice leaves you and your feet won’t move and the monster keeps coming at you and you are helpless to do anything…until it is too late.

          Tess screamed and grabbed my arm – nudging me from my paralysis.

          I glanced back to see the old figure following us.  His face was fixed with a strange grin.  His glowing eyes seemed to dance.

          We ran towards the entrance.  We didn’t even think about the bats.  Our feet slipping on the slick rocks beneath our feet, but we kept moving.

          My head hurt and my heart was pounding so loud it echoed off of the tunnel walls.

          “Run, run!  Faster!  Faster!”  I shouted, as if it would help us move faster.

          I turned back again.

          “He’s coming at us!”  I yelled.

          I lost my step and went flailing to the floor.

          I landed hard on my stomach.

          I spun around as fast as I could.

          The bony hands of the ghost reaching out for me…reaching out for my neck!