Banshee!
That night the wind howled and moaned, rattling the windows and bending tree branches. Everyone was inside, drinking hot cocoa and listening to some tapes Martika had brought. Paula Abdul's Opposites Attract was playing. Lucifer and Katrina were reading some books from the Tower library. The puppies and Chernobyl were playing with a Ouija Board. The jack-o-lantern flickered.
[Illustration: Pipsqueak, Chernobyl, Susie, and PeeWee using the Ouija board. They're seated at a table--you can see what looks to be a couch in the background. Pips is on the left, Choby's in the middle (facing the viewer), Susie (also facing ahead) is beside him, and PeeWee is on the right. The puppies are all staring at the Ouija board with some anxiety; only Chernobyl looks calm, smiling slightly and leaning his head on one hand. His other hand is out of sight beneath the table. The planchette on the Ouija board is moving, seemingly of its own volition.]
"This is strange!" Pips said. "The board says that there's a handsome cat named Chernobyl in the room."
PeeWee peeped under the table, then said, "Chernobyl, you're cheating! Stop using that magnet!"
"Aw, you have no sense of fun," Chernobyl teased. "I'm going to bed."
"About three others I know should be going to bed," Kat stated.
"Awwww," the puppies whined.
"Now," Kat said sharply.
The puppies jumped down and sulked [sic] away. They walked all the way to their room and crawled into bed. They laid [sic] there, shivering, for a while, wide awake while everyone went to bed. It would be pitch black except for the ghostly full moon shining in.
"I can't sleep," PeeWee whispered.
"Me neither," Pips quavered.
"Let's get a drink," Susie said.
They all crawled out as one and glided silently to the door.
"There's a light on in there," Susie said, pointing to the room they had left earlier. Curious, they went in. Chernobyl was still in the room, reading a book by the light of the dying fire.
"Choby, I thought you were goin' to bed," Pips whispered.
Chernobyl snapped out of his trance. "Oh, I can't sleep very well in strange towers."
The puppies laughed at Chernobyl's joke, and they sat down to warm themselves up. The curtains over the big picture window were open, showing the full moon outside. The wind had died down by now.
"Any good stories?" Pips asked.
"Ghosty things," Chernobyl, or Choby, answered. "This place is reputed to be the most haunted historic site on earth, I think."
"Wow," Pips said. "Anything in there about--"
He stopped.
Choby looked up. "What--"
"Shh, I hear some--one."
A faint moan was heard. It sounded like a woman, and it came from outside. The four looked out the picture window.
A pale, silvery form slowly appeared and took on the form of a red-haired woman. She moaned several times, and then began to fade--she completely vanished.
Choby howled with fright and ran out. The puppies watched him leave as Kat and Lucifer's brother, Damien, burst into the room. Damien was wearing a nightcap and gown and holding a candle holder. He and Kat looked like something straight out of an old Christmas book.
"We heard someone screaming like a banshee!" Damien exclaimed. "What's wrong?"
"We just saw a banshee!" Pips said. "Choby ran outside."
Meanwhile, Chernobyl and his pet cockatoo were streaming around the Tower Green. They went past the chopping block and dodged into the Bloody Tower, travelling up flight after flight of stone stairs. They jumped over several roofs, and crashed through a window, landing in an old fashioned [sic] hallway. Running past portraits and suits of armor, they eventually came out onto the Tower Green again, and still kept running!
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