Battle of the Beasts. Ned Vizzini

faces in the portraits glanced at one another.

      “That’s right! Nixon, how do you think an unattractive dolt like you with a lousy personality, foul breath and yellow socks could ever be elected president? Because of the Lorekeepers!”

      Nixon reached down and pulled at the bottom of his cuffed trousers, trying to hide his yellow socks.

      “And Eisenhower?” shouted Kristoff. “Who do you think is really responsible for all of your military victories?”

      “The Lorekeepers,” muttered an embarrassed Eisenhower.

      “And Teddy Roosevelt?” barked Kristoff. “Do you think it’s just a coincidence that a mean-spirited lush like you won the Nobel Prize? Now, as a fellow Lorekeeper, I implore you … help me find my daughter. Help me find out if she’s alive or dead.”

      “Never,” said Herbert Hoover. “Not after the way you spoke to us.”

      “Usually, when we’re disturbed,” said Teddy Roosevelt, “it’s an extremely serious situation. An event that threatens the Bohemian Club itself.”

      “And I don’t know about you fellas, but I don’t appreciate these insults,” said Nixon. “If I wanted to be treated like this, I’d move back into the White House. I’m going back to being dead.” Nixon began to return to his frame.

      “No!” Kristoff grabbed Hayes’s hand and cranked up the record player. He began pulling Hayes in a circle, repeating their earlier movements, chanting “Diablo tan-TUN-ka!”

      “Will you stop that?” Teddy Roosevelt said.

      Kristoff ignored them all and bellowed, “Spirits of San Francisco! Come do what the Lorekeepers cannot! Show yourselves in our time of need!”

      Up on the balcony, a plink hit Eleanor’s back. It was as if a drawing pin had fallen on her. She turned to look up – but Brendan held her still, trying to keep her quiet. She looked to her side and saw a human tooth on the ground! Eleanor couldn’t believe it, but before she could grab it—

      Kerrrrrash! – the skylight above the portraits shattered into a million tiny pieces!

      Hayes and Kristoff were dusted with falling glass. As they shook themselves off, there was an otherworldly whoosh …

      And a horde of ghosts entered the Bohemian Club.

      

      Eleanor had never seen ghosts before, but she knew what she was looking at. Their bodies were long and made of mist. They had howling faces with mouths that stretched into distorted ovals. They flew around like a tornado, streaking past Kristoff and Hayes and swirling on the balcony. They seemed to fly through Eleanor, Brendan and Will, who clutched one another in terror.

      The room was overrun with spirits.

      “I’m looking for Dahlia Kristoff!” Denver yelled to the ghosts. “Dahlia, if you are among the spirits … reveal yourself to me!”

      Now Eleanor could see the ghosts more closely. Their colourless hair floated behind them as if they were underwater. Some wore bonnets and dresses from the nineteenth century; others had snazzy three-piece suits with wide lapels from the eighties.