We put our fingers on the planchette again and again, and Cody sneakily moves it to spell out other ghosts’ names and predictions. Does Betty ever show up? Nope. But we have a lot of fun. And maybe we need a little of fun right now.

One thing’s for sure: It’s nice not to think about real ghosts for a while.

Chapter Twelve

The next morning, Mom pulls into the Silver Screen Studios lot. She turns to give me a long, careful look.

“Are you sure about this, Hayley?” she asks.

I scrunch my fingers into Salmon’s fur. My cat sits on my lap during car rides, otherwise he gets sick. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Come on. That light falling from the ceiling. I’m worried about you getting hurt.” She bites her lip and stares at the big Silver Studios water tower that looms over us. “You’d think they’d take better care of this place, considering all the shows they shoot here.”

“It’s totally fine. Just a freak accident.” I pick up Salmon and push him into his cat carrier. Salmon wriggles his backside, fighting me all the way. He hates his carrier. I think he thinks he’s actually human and doesn’t understand why he has to be toted around like luggage. But he also likes to jump out of my arms, so it’s the safest thing.

I give Mom a confident smile and slam the door. I can’t let that falling light scare me. If someone is pretending to be a ghost, that’s exactly what they want to happen.

Actually, it’s probably what a real ghost wants to happen too.

Whatever, I tell myself. It isn’t a real ghost. I need to be on Team Cody—ghosts don’t exist.

I head into my trailer, set the cat carrier down on the couch, and unzip the front flap. Salmon darts out immediately and runs to his bowl, which one of the PAs has already filled with chopped tuna, his favorite food. (Even though I named him Salmon, he hates salmon!)

I notice that the PA has also left my lines for the day on the couch. I snatch them up, excited to read Sadie’s next steps in the mystery. Who could have stolen that book of magic pizza spells? Now, Sadie’s turning her attention to Maggie Hornsby, who entered a recipe in an online pizza-making contest. Sadie and her friends have snuck into Candlelight, a fancy restaurant in town. A bunch of townspeople are there too—cranky Mrs. Archer, the librarian who was on duty when the book of spells was stolen, Mr. Grimes, who owns a sandwich shop, and Maggie Hornsby, who’s eating with her husband. Sadie’s eager to see if Maggie has any magical pizza dust on her fingers.