Nancy Drew: 2 . The Hidden Staircase

Finally Getting to Experiment

Izzy nodded. "Will do."

"Good, thank you." Nancy glanced at her watch and waited a few seconds before placing her feet firmly on the floor above where she assumed the chandelier was hanging and began to sway from foot to foot.

"Oh! It's working!" shouted Emily. Nancy immediately stopped moving. Ida and Izzy waited a second before dashing to their hiding spots. Nancy quickly walked towards the far side of the room, where the fireplace was. Next to it was Flora's vanity with a few shelves within reach for her to keep her things organized, and on the other side was a bookcase. There was about a foot on either side of the fireplace. Nancy furrowed her brow. Was there a secret panel there?

Emily and Helen burst into the room. "Aw, Nancy, you didn't have time to hide?" asked Helen.

Nancy merely turned and grinned, leaning against the vanity. "No, but Izzy and Ida apparently did. How about you find them?" The two searched the room and found Izzy fairly quickly. She had completely eliminated that route. Nancy then realized that she should have told Ida to move somewhere else after Emily and Helen had entered the room, but it was too late for that now. All she could do was to tell Emily and Helen that Ida wasn't in Flora's room. They found her, manicuring her fingernails in the room she and Izzy were sharing.

She grinned at Nancy's surprised face. "I figured you would have wanted me to move around, so I did," she said with a shrug. "Was just trying to think like the ghost."

Nancy hugged her. "You're an absolute doll!" She turned to Emily and Helen. "Did you hear us moving around up here?"

They shook their heads. "The only clue we might have had that you were up here was the chandelier swinging," said Emily.

"Well, besides already knowing you were up here," said Helen with a smirk.

Nancy chuckled. "Yes, besides that." She became silent and thoughtful. So technically the ghost could wander the halls with everyone on the first floor not knowing about it. And if that were the case, then there might not be a hidden passage in Flora's room. It could be any room, heck, even the attic! "The attic!"

Her friends looked at her in surprise. Ida jumped up from the bed. "Oh, why didn't I think of that!"

Nancy patted her shoulder. "You thought of moving around before I did, we'll call it even. But let's check out the attic!" Her friends answered in the positive, and Nancy led them up to the attic. Helen switched on the light.

"Well, would you look at that, this attic has a pretty good light!" said Ida.

Helen let out a soft breath. "Well, there's a reason for that." She pointed to the right side of the attic. There, along the wall, was an open trunk full of clothes with a photo album propped up against the lid and a small box of photos on top. A couple of candles were set on either side.

"Is that a shrine?" asked Izzy.

Helen nodded as the group walked towards it. "It's for Grandpa Joe and Uncle Jed. They come up here from time to time to reminisce."

Emily knelt by the trunk and pulled out a jacket. "This was Grandpa's." She gasped as a shirt came untangled from the jacket and fell to the floor. "Why, this was one of Mom's!" She picked it up, and tears began to fill her eyes. She covered her face in her hands. "I miss her so much!" The other four crowded around her, hugging her tight as she shook with sobs.

"Would you rather wait with your grandma?" asked Nancy softly.

Emily nodded. "P-please."

"I'll take her down," said Ida.