“I may have found something,” she said, pulling a thick book out of one of the shelves. “This book has a green sticker on the spine—the Game Master’s signature color. And the title is High-Tech Gadgets of Old. And—” She flipped open to the table of contents. “It looks like there’s an entire section of things used for music!”

Everybody rushed over as Becca skimmed through the chapter. “Record player,” she said when she finally found the correct entry. “It says here that earlier versions included turntables, phonographs, and . . . the Victrola!”

“Victrola,” Kylie repeated. “I think I’ve heard about those before. My aunt used to have one that she found at an antique store, I’m pretty sure.”

“This book says that the Victrola was an advancement in the phonograph,” Becca went on. “Word for word, just like the clue. I bet the missing word is Victrola!”

They rushed over and filled in the blank. “Great job, Becca!” Matt said. “Now we just have to figure out the rest of the missing spaces.”

The other words seemed to be a mixture of things either taken from a book in the library’s collection, or straight from the blueprint itself. The group slowly made their way through the various terms, like pantry and typewriter and compost bin, while also learning about the strange and sometimes downright unsettling habits of the supposed ghosts that lived in the house. Matt tried to tell himself it wasn’t too scary, but anytime the house settled or made a noise, he jumped.

“Clearly the Game Master made all of this up about the ghosts,” Frankie said, almost as though they were trying to convince themselves over their friends. “But if the Victrola starts playing music all by itself, I might scream.”

Me too, Matt thought, clearing his throat and hoping he didn’t look as spooked as he felt.

“We’re almost finished,” Kylie said, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. “There’s only one blank left.”

But over all the other places in the house, the end of the mad lib read, the ghosts especially loved to hang out in one special place. A room that was above all the others, even higher than the second floor. This room, of course, was the _____.

It was the only line in the mad lib that was underlined in green.

“A room above all the others,” Frankie read out loud. “Do you think it’s talking about an attic?”

“There’s an attic here?” Matt asked. “Does this house ever end?” He imagined what an attic in a house like this might look like. He was starting to feel seriously claustrophobic, like the walls of the house were made of stone, trapping them all inside forever without fresh air or sunlight.