4 THE PORTAL

THE PORTAL Ivy was standing outside the bathroom door. She was staring at the ground. "Whatcha looking at?" asked Bean. "Portal," said Ivy, pointing to a whitish stain on the cement. "What?" "It's a portal. A door. To the underworld. This is where the ghost is coming in." Ivy kneeled down to touch the stain. Bean felt a little shiver on the back of her head A haunted bathroom was cool but a., door to the underworld was creepy. The stain did kind of look like a ghost. She didn't feel so excited about the ghost anymore. "Why would a ghost come to our bathroom, anyway?" she asked, kneeling beside Ivy.

"The school was probably built on top of graves," said Ivy. "When they do that, it disturbs the spirits, so they wander around, all sad and miserable, haunting whatever was built on top of them." "But it's not our fault. We didn't decide to build the school here." Ivy shook her head. "Ghosts don't care." Her voice got mysterious. "And now they will seek revenge on the intruders who ruined their graves." "Revenge," said Bean, staring at the

spot. She imagined cloudy shapes whirling down the breezeway toward Ms. ArubaTate's classroom. "They'll be pouring in," said Ivy. "An army of ghosts." "But there's just one now, right?" asked Bean quickly. Ivy jumped up. "Let's find out," she said, reaching for the door. An army of ghosts! No way Bean was going in that bathroom now. "Ms. Aruba- Tate said we had to come back ASAP" she, said. Ivy saw Bean's face. "Oh, okay," she said. "Let's go back." "Put up your chairs, boys and girls," said Ms. Aruba-Tate. She said it every afternoon when the bell rang, and every afternoon, half the class forgot. "Drew, please keep

your hands to yourself. MacAdam, you may not put the turtle in your backpack. Thank you." Emma and Zuzu were already on the field when Ivy and Bean got there. They weren't doing cartwheels. They were just waiting. "So?" said Emma. "Tell us." Ivy explained about the milky cloud, about the girl coming out of the bathroom shivering, about the moaning noise, and about the yellow eyes that shone like

flashlights. When she was done, Emma and Zuzu turned to look at the blue bathroom door. "No way," said Zuzu. "I don't see anything," said Emma. "That's okay. Some people just can't see them," said Ivy. "Bean can." Bean nodded. Some people couldn't see them, but she could. "But wait", said Emma. "If there's a ghost, I want to see it." She leaned forward, staring at the bathroom. "Keep your eyes open for a long time without blinking," Ivy suggested. Emma popped her eyes at the door. A girl ran down the breezeway and into the bathroom. As the door swung shut, Emma said, "I see a cloud! It's a milky cloud, like you said!" "Yeah. That's it," Ivy said, nodding.

Zuzu popped her eyes, too. "Is it glowing? I thought I saw something glowing." "That's the eyes," Bean said. "You must be seeing its eyes." She felt important, helping Zuzu to see the ghost. "What are you guys doing?" It was Leo, with a soccer ball under his arm. "Look!" said Ivy, pointing. The girl was coming out of the bathroom. "See how she's rubbing her hands? That's because she just walked through the cold mist. She's probably shivering, too!" Leo looked at Ivy. "What?" "There's a ghost in our bathroom," Bean