The Magician's Bird by Emily Fairlie

then she froze. “Oh, man, you guys,” she breathed. “You’re not going to believe this.”
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    First Thoughts When Peeking Through the Screen
by Laurie Madison, rising seventh grader
    No way, is that Walker LeFranco? What’s he doing in TUCKERNUCK HALL?
    ----
    First Thoughts When Peeking Through the Screen
by Bud Wallace, rising seventh grader
    Is that Reginald the Janitor? What’s he doing here? And who’s that other guy?
    ----
    First Thoughts When Peeking Through the Screen
by Misti Pinkerton, future ghost hunter
    Aw, crud, they’re alive!
----
    â€œWhat’s going on?” Bud didn’t understand who Reginald was talking to or why he looked so secretive about it. The guy Reginald was with looked familiar, but if he had to keep track of all the grown-ups in town, Bud wouldn’t have room in his brain for anything else.
    â€œLeFranco. That’s LeFranco,” Laurie whispered.
    â€œWayne LeFranco? The dead one?” Misti perked up hopefully.
    Laurie gave her a look. “No, Walker LeFranco. The alive one, Misti.”
    â€œCrud.” Misti slouched back down. That’s what she’d thought, but she figured it was worth asking.
    â€œThat doesn’t make sense. Why would LeFranco be here?” Bud wiped his nose and turned into snouty Bud. Laurie had to look away.
    â€œShut it for a second and maybe we’ll find out.”
    Bud snorted in irritation, but he shut his mouth.
    Reginald was the janitor at Tuckernuck Hall, and he was a real stickler about where you could bring your liquids and that kind of thing. He’d been pretty suspicious of Laurie and Misti ever since last September’s unfortunate orange juice incident. Laurie and Misti couldn’t see him in the halls without him doing that “I’m watching you” sign, where he pointed two fingers at his eyes and then pointed at them. It was getting old, to be honest.
    Laurie wasn’t the least bit surprised to see him in the school. But Walker LeFranco was another story. He hated everything about Tuckernuck Hall and had always sworn he’d never set foot in the place. (That wasn’t an exact quote. His version used lots of what Misti called“cuss jar words.”) But he definitely seemed to be setting foot in it now.
    â€œNow we’re all clear about tomorrow? You know what to do?” LeFranco paced in front of Reginald. “I don’t want to have to clean up your mess.”
    Reginald nodded. “Yes, sir, I know what to do.”
    â€œGood. You won’t need to say much, and if you run into any problems, just refer people to me. Might be good to take a few days off. Now have you been looking around here, like I said?”
    Reginald shifted his weight uncomfortably. “I have, but I haven’t located any of the things you asked about. No secret whatnots anywhere around here. I thought the back storage room might work for the story, though.”
    â€œNothing? What have you been doing all this time?” LeFranco barked angrily. “Well, if that’s what we’ve got, that’s what we’ll have to go with, but I think you should try to look a little harder, Reginald. I’m doing you a favor here. Don’t forget that.”
    â€œNo, sir, I won’t forget.” Reginald didn’t look anything like he usually looked at school. At school, he was always plowing through the hallways, ready to take down any juvenile offenders and smacking mouthy kids in the butt with his dust rag. He looked much smallertalking to LeFranco, somehow.
    Laurie turned away. “What’s going on? What are they talking about?”
    Bud shook his head. He didn’t like the look of this one bit. “I don’t know. But we’ll find out.”
    ----
    What We Know
by Laurie Madison, Bud Wallace, and Misti Pinkerton, rising seventh graders
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  1. Someone has found the secret