Avalanche's e-mail

From: Avalanche Vitruvian = avalanchedownthemountain@gm.com
To: Edie Hastings = takemetoyourbeach@y.com
Sent: Friday, March 9, 2012 3:30 PM
Subject: You ok?

Hey Edie!

Guess what!? It turns out bringing spooky things through a Ouija board and destroying your room is the one thing my parents feel pretty strongly about, and they finally got mad at me about something! I can't believe it, I'm so excited! Of course, since it's my parents we're talking about, all that really happened was mom shook her head and said she was disappointed in my lack of respect and I got a strongly worded e-mail from my dad in Africa, but get this: Some of it was even in caps!

Anyway, back to business... How've things been going on your end? Is Maude still there, and have you been able to talk to her? What about the other thing that was causing all that damage? I'm pretty sure Maude didn't do all that. That thing really freaks me out, I hope you're ok!
I've been doing lots of research on our problem... I watched a whole marathon of Ghost Hunters yesterday, plus I flipped through a couple of my mom's books. I have some ideas we can try, but I have to be over there to try them.
Is there any way you can convince your mom to let me come over soon?

I honestly can't wait for spring break to be over, which is weird for me, but school is the only place I can see you!

TTYL!
Avalanche

Maude

Both Avalanche and I nearly jumped out of our skin when we heard the soft voice in the darkness, even though it didn't sound particularly threatening.

We knocked over our chairs as we jumped up and rushed to find the light switch. Unfortunatly, my bedroom isn't as tidy as it could be, and Avalanche tripped over some shoes and fell into my bookshelf. I don't think there was a book left on the shelf after that. With all the noise we were making, I was sure my mom would be in to investigate, but miraculously she never woke up.

I finally got the lights on and looked around the room, squinting in the sudden bright light. Avalanche was struggling to climb out of the bookcase with the shoulder of her shirt torn and her curls looking a little less bouncy than they had an hour ago.

"What was that?" I half-shrieked at her. "Please tell me that was you making funny voices!"

"No," said the soft voice from earlier, now coming from the opposite corner of the room. "It was me." Avalanche's mouth dropped open, and I whirled around to see a girl about my age standing there.

A transparent girl.

A ghost.

After my initial shock to have a freaking ghost girl in my bedroom, I noticed that she did indeed look like the girl in the photograph Avalanche had picked up earlier, and that she wasn't anything like what I expected a ghost to be like. She wasn't a hazy cloud that drifted around and she wasn't covered in a sheet with clanking chains. She was about my height with glossy, red hair that was tied back with a black ribbon. She was wearing what appeared to be a gray flannel dress, black tights and these weird, black boots with buttons up the sides, and her nose was covered with freckles. She looked a lot like me, actually. Only... did I mention she was totally see-through?

As weird as it sounded, she didn't seem threatening at all, and I sort of calmed down. Avalanche, on the other hand, did not.

"Wha-wha-wha!!!" was the only sound she seemed capable of making at the moment. Her mouth gaped open, and she kept pointing at the ghost girl.

"Who are you??" She finally forced out.

"I aready told you," the girl said impatiently. "My name is Maude. I heard your summon with the witchboard and drifted over to see what the ruckus was about, and when you broke the circle, you brought me in."

She appeared to think for a moment, then looked at me.

"You really should not have broken that circle, you know. You can let in all sorts of nasties that way."

I shivered and looked over at Avalanche.
'What does she mean when she said we broke the circle?" I asked. "What circle?"

I noticed Avalanche looked really pale, and she cringed. "You took your hands off the planchette as the lights went off. That's what opens the doors your mom talked about. I guess I forgot to tell you not to do that."

Maude nodded. "I do not wish you any harm, but I must warn you, I am not the only thing that got through."

Avalanche and I looked at each other in panic. "What else came through?" I asked. I was really regretting not listening to my mom at this point.

Just then, the lights in my bedroom flickered and two toy horses flew off of the shelf over my bed and hit the wall so hard, one of the legs of my favorite stallion shattered.

"That can't be a good sign," Avalanche said blankly.