Read R. L. Stine_Mostly Ghostly 03 for Free Online

have tried everything.”
    “We’re feeling weak,” Nicky said. “We keep appearing and disappearing. We can’t control it.”
    “And we really miss them,” Tara said, her voice breaking. She tugged at one of the dangling red earrings she always wore. She always did that when she was really upset. “I’m so worried about them, Max. Where could they be?”
    I gazed back at her. I didn’t know what to say. I felt so bad for them.
    “We have a new clue,” Tara said. “Lulu said something, but we don’t understand what it means. She said, ‘
Colder than the grave
.’ That's all. ‘Colder than the grave.’”
    I shook my head. What could that mean?
    “We need a plan,” Nicky said. “You’ve got to help us—”
    “Whoa.” I jumped up when I glimpsed the clock. “I can’t help you right now, guys,” I said. “Can we talk about it later?”
    Tara narrowed her eyes at me. “Later?”
    “I have to get ready. I have a five o’clock study date with Traci Wayne. She’ll be here any second,” I said, feeling my heart start to pound.
    I don’t know if I’m in love with Traci or just have a major crush or what. But every time I see her, my heart starts to beat a hip-hop rhythm, my skin starts to tingle and break out in a rash, and my tongue ties itself into knots and hangs down to my chin.
    Is that true love, do you think?
    Traci is blond and pretty, not in a stuck-up way. She is in the totally cool group at school. And I am in the fungus life group.
    So when she came up to me in school and asked to come over, you can imagine my shock. But I played it cool. I only did
two
backward cartwheels.
    I hurried to my mirror. I tried to brush down my hair. But it's thick and curly, and it always pops right back up. Colin says it looks like I’m wearing a small brown poodle on my head.
    Nice guy.
    “Don’t be nervous, Max,” Tara said. She stood behind me, but she had no reflection in the mirror.
    “Don’t be nervous?” I cried. “This is Traci Wayne!”
    “But we’ll be right there to help you,” Nicky said.
    “No way!” I cried. “I don’t want your help. We’ll talk later. Okay?”
    I changed into my coolest T-shirt—dark gray, with the words WHUSSUP, DAWG? in red. Then I hurried downstairs. “Hey, Mom,” I said to her in the kitchen.
    She was sliding a tray of cookies from the oven. I took a long, deep breath. Wow.
    “Toll House. Your favorite,” she said, setting the tray on the counter. “I thought you might need milk and cookies for your study date.”
    “You’re the best, Mom,” I said. It always makes her smile when I say something like that. Mom usually looks kinda sad and tense. Maybe it's because she's a tiny quiet person and she's married to a big loud elephant.
    That could make you kinda tense, don’t you think?
    Dad and Colin came up from the basement, sweaty and red-faced. Dad said he was going out to shovel the driveway.
    Colin stepped up to me with a big grin on hisface. He opened his mouth and spit a Ping-Pong ball at me.
    “Hey!” It bounced off my forehead.
    “One to nothing, my favor,” Colin said.
    “Leave Maxie alone,” Mom told him. “He has a study date. And I don’t want you playing your usual tricks and trying to embarrass Max when his friend is here.”
    “No problem,” Colin said. But I didn’t believe him. He's always de-pantsing me or something when my friends come over.
    “Yo! Cookies!” he cried.
    “Those are for Max and Traci,” Mom said.
    “Yeah, sure,” Colin said. He grabbed two steaming cookies off the tray and stuffed them into his mouth.
    Colin chewed for a few seconds—and then his eyes bulged. “Hot!” he gasped. “H-hot!” He opened his mouth and the cookies came spewing out—all down the front of my new T-shirt.
    “Stop picking on Maxie,” Mom said.
    The doorbell rang.
    Traci!
    The coolest girl in school in
my
house!
    My heart did a flip-flop. I felt sweat pop out all over my forehead. I hurried to the front door and