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Chapter 3
"It's unbelievable, dude. You can't tell me those aren't pictures of ghosts."
Josh shook his head and looked around their history class to make sure no one, especially Mr. Baxter, could hear them. "What if it was all a huge coincidence? The light bounced off everything just right, and it looks like ghosts because we want it to."
"You're grasping at straws. You know that place is haunted. Why can't you just admit it?"
As much as he wanted to argue, Josh couldn't. He felt it down in his bones, his soul, that the farm was haunted. Their pictures proved it. But he wouldn't give Zach the satisfaction. Not yet, anyway. "We need more proof."
They both feigned interest in their worksheet as Mr. Baxter looked at them. When he turned away, Zach whispered, "Fine, we'll go back. But when we find the same stuff, you have to promise to admit that I'm right."
Josh frowned but nodded. "Fine."
"Gentlemen, please see me after class."
Crap, Mr. Baxter had heard them. "Sorry, Mr. Baxter," Josh said. "We'll stop talking and work."
"I appreciate that, Mr. Hart, but I'd still like to see you after class."
"Yes, sir," they both said. Snickers came from their classmates. Mr. Baxter quieted everyone with a quick glance around the room. Zach rolled his eyes at Josh, and the two buckled down on their work.
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When the bell sounded, everyone but Josh and Zach hurried out. "Don't worry, I'll write you two notes excusing you from being tardy to your next class." He walked to the door, said something to a student outside, and closed it.
Josh tried to diffuse the situation. "Mr. Baxter, we're really sorry. We didn't mean to disrupt class or anything."
"Don't worry about it. I doubt anyone but me heard what you said."
"So why are we here?" Zach asked.
He pulled up a chair and faced them. "The farm. The abandoned one with the mysterious changing sign. You were there?"
"Yeah," Zach said. "We went yesterday after school to take pictures."
"Pictures? Did you get many? Did you find anything on them?"
Zach's face lit up. "Yeah, we got all kinds of weird things. Mysterious balls of light to partial and full apparitions. It was epic!"
Mr. Baxter's eyes went wide. "Really? I need to see those. What sort of cameras did you use?"
They both pulled their cell phones out of their pockets. Though it was against school rules to have them powered on during school hours, there was nothing wrong with carrying them.
"Cell phone cameras?" Mr. Baxter frowned. "Not ideal, but not a total loss. Can I see them? After school?"
Zach nodded, his grin widening by the second. "Sure. If you have the right cables for them, we can plug them right into your computer. We got some really cool stuff."
Josh shrugged. "Though a lot of it could be dust or tricks of the light."
"Not a believer, huh?" Mr. Baxter said. "I would have pegged you two the other way around, with Mr. Riley as the skeptic."
"Nope," Josh said. "Zach thinks there are ghosts everywhere."
"And you?"
"I've never seen anything that proves they are."
"I find that hard to believe."
Josh frowned. "Huh? Why?"
Mr. Baxter shook his head. "Never mind. So you'll be here after school? I have plenty of cables lying around. I'm sure we'll get a couple of them to work."
"Sure thing, Mr. B," Zach said. "You'll see how cool these pics are, and maybe you can talk some sense into this guy here. There's no way these things aren't legit."
Mr. Baxter nodded and stared at them both, as if he could see right through their eyes and into their brains, reading their thoughts. A shiver ran though Josh.
The tardy bell rang, and Mr. Baxter stood up. "Let me get you two notes. When you leave, let my next class know they can come in."
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