Jack, Chris and Brianna stared in disbelief at the long, dark corridor that lay before them.

"Can you believe this?" Chris asked, squinting his eyes, trying to make out what was ahead of them. "I can't see a thing. How does anyone expect us to find his hat?"

The three of them stepped inside cautiously. Brianna was about to turn around and go back when - SLAM! - the door closed behind them, leaving them in the dark.

"OK, guys, I'm scared now," Brianna said, nervously. "We definitely need some light."

Click!

"I found the light switch," Chris said. But Jack and Brianna didn't seem to hear him or even his silly laugh.

They all breathed a sigh of relief as the light illuminated about five feet in front of them; the rest of the hall was engulfed in shadows. The corridor was carpeted with a scarlet, rose-printed runner; two light bulbs were suspended from the ceiling. More portraits hung on the hallway walls. The paintings, framed in black, were covered with such a thick layer of dust the threesome could hardly make them out.

"Look," Jack said, dusting off one of the paintings, "it's the one of that screaming guy. Do you think this is a fake, too?"

Brianna remembered the painting from her art class. "That's 'Scream' by some Norwegian guy. It looks OK."

Jack said, "This place doesn't look like it's been used for ages. It smells like mildew and check out those spiders and cobwebs. Yuck."

Brianna looked in amazement at the paintings and noted, "Do you think we found the originals?"

Chris and Jack ventured off down the hall to investigate some more.

Elevator music began playing in the background. Brianna jumped at the sound, and a shiver ran down her spine. Something felt really wrong to her, like someone was watching from behind one of the paintings. She yelled to the boys, "Do you think it's safe for us to be down here?"

Chris said, "What are you? Chicken?"

Brianna gave him a dirty look and kept walking, scanning the portraits for moving eyes.

Jack said, "Let's go see what's at the end of the hall."

"No way," Brianna said. "I don't think that's a solid choice."

Jack grabbed Brianna's hand and they took off, looking for clues.

"Amazing, isn't it, Chris?" Jack asked. But there was no answer. "Hey, Chris, buddy, where are you?"

Again, there was a long silence.

"Boo!" yelled Chris, who was standing behind Brianna.

She screamed and ran closer to Jack.

Laughing, Chris said, "Check out all these different hallways. Let's see what's at the end of this one. There has to be another clue or a note somewhere."

The three of them wandered down Chris' corridor, not sure what they would find or even what they should be looking for.

They weren't sure all the way up until they found it.

"Look what I've found!" Jack hollered. Sitting on top of a stand was a glass case with a cowboy hat in it.

The other two came rushing in. Jack lifted the case and Brianna snatched the hat.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Louis L'Amour's hat, duh," Chris said, sarcastically. "This is what we've been looking for."

"No," Brianna said, exasperated. "This, you dummy." She had pulled a note out from inside the hat.

"Give it to me, Brianna," Jack and Chris said in unison, "so we can all read it."

My hat it seems you've found at last,

A magic treasure from the past.

But be wary of its powers, I do not jest,

Another victim, it's found the next.

- Louis L.

Ignoring the boys, Brianna placed the hat atop her head. "Wow," she said, dancing around in the hallway, "doesn't this look cute on me?"

The lights flickered. The music died.

And Brianna vanished.

(To be continued Oct. 29.)

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