The Haunted Toy Chestcopyright © 2012 by Johnathan Rand

Chapter 15I shuddered as I thought about what Hannah had told meabout the old home, how everyone who’d lived thereeither went crazy or moved away. Hannah had said thatthe owners of the home had disappeared without a trace,then the house began to vanish a little at a time, and amysterious fire burned it to the ground around the turn ofthe century.

But we’ve gone back in time before it burned, Ithought. That’s why it’s still standing.

“What do you think he’s doing here?” Robbie asked.Hannah still had a firm grip on my wrist, and she was

backing away, pulling me with her. “I don’t want to beanywhere near this place,” she said. “It’s even scarierthan the pictures.”

I had a bad feeling about the place, too. It was aweird sensation that something was wrong, much likewhen the man had walked through me.

But I had to know. The man was up to something,and I had to know what.

On the porch, the man placed the lantern on therailing, and we could only catch a few glimpses of hismurky form as he moved about. We heard a loudsqueaking sound, like something being pulled. Severalloud bangs on wood followed, and then there was a crash.The man came off the porch carrying a long piece ofwood siding from the house.

Suddenly, it all made sense.“Hannah!” I exclaimed. “Don’t you see what he’s

doing?”“He’s taking wood from the house,” Hannah said,

very matter-of-factly.“Right,” I said. “But what do you think he’s going to

do with the wood?”There was a pause, and then suddenly both Robbie

and Hannah gasped.“He’s building toy chests with wood from the

haunted house!” Robbie blurted.“Yes!” I said. “That means that the toy chest in our

attic was probably built by wood from the Marley House!I’ll bet that’s why all of those strange things have beenhappening! Hannah, you said that long ago, peoplebelieved that everything about the house was haunted,right?”

“Yeah,” she replied.“I’ll bet the house is haunted right down to every last

little piece of wood!” I said.“I’ll bet you’re right!” Hannah replied.“But the man doesn’t seem to be afraid of the house,”

Robbie said.“That’s because he’s not going inside,” Hannah said.

“He’s probably safe if he stays outside.”In the darkness, we listened and watched as the man

continued to peel away large pieces of wood siding fromthe house and haul them to the carriage. In a short amount

of time, he’d loaded the carriage with numerous, longpieces of lumber. Then, he returned his tools to the box,climbed aboard the carriage, and sat.

“Hurry, before we get left behind,” I said, and thethree of us dashed to the back of the carriage and leapt in,just as the horses had started to move. The lumber meantthat we didn’t have a lot of room, but we managed tosquish together in the tight space that was available.

“So,” Hannah began, “now we know why the toychest is haunted.”

“Because it was built with haunted wood,” Robbiesaid.

We were silent as the horse-drawn carriage retracedits route through town, over the bridge, and back to thetoy chest factory in the field. When we arrived, the mangot out of the carriage. He carried the lantern and hung itnear the door, then returned to the carriage and picked upseveral long pieces of wood. In the light of the blue moonand the yellowish lantern, he carried the wood into thefactory. Several times, he nearly brushed up against us. Icringed. I didn’t like being so close to him, not after theway I’d felt when he stepped through me.

When all of the lumber was unloaded, he plucked thelantern from the wall and carried it inside.

“Let’s see what he’s up to,” I said, and we climbeddown from the carriage and hurried to the door. Inside,the man had already lit several more lanterns and placedthem around his workbench in the corner.

“Doesn’t he ever sleep?” Robbie asked.“I’m sure he does,” I replied. “But maybe he works

late into the night and sleeps during the day.”We approached the workbench and watched the man.

He began measuring and sawing and stacking pieces oflumber at one end of the table. Then, he began to piecethem together. I was surprised at how few nails he used.I was also surprised at the short amount of time it tookhim to assemble the toy chest. He was very skilled at hiswork. He finished by affixing a latch to the lid of thechest and trying it out a few times. When he was satisfied,he picked up the toy chest and then placed it on the floor.

“Wait a minute,” I said, approaching the toy chest.“This isn’t just any toy chest! This is our toy chest! Thisis the very chest that is in our attic!”

“But how can that be?” Robbie asked. “It can’t betwo places at once.”

“You forget that we traveled back in time,” I replied.“Take a look. It’s the very same toy chest. I recognize thepatterns in the wood.”

Robbie and Hannah approached the toy chest as theman came out from around his workbench, and the threeof us had to move away so he didn’t walk through one ofus. He continued until he reached a shelf that containednumerous tools on the opposite side of the building.

“This is our toy chest,” I said. “I’m sure of it.” Ireached down, flipped the latch, and lifted the lid.Without warning, a hurricane-force wind pulled the threeof us violently into the toy chest and into the blackness ofspace.

next: Chapter 16

The Haunted Toy ChestCopyright 2012 by Johnathan Rand

CHAPTER FIFTEEN QUESTIONS

1. Hannah has told Rayna that the Marley House burned to the ground. Why is it still standing inchapter 15?

A) It’s not the “real” Marley HouseB) Hannah made a mistake. It never really burned the groundC) The trio traveled back to a time before the house burnedD) All of the above

2. What did Hannah say about the Marley House?

A) “It’s even scarier than the pictures.”B) “It doesn’t look scary at all.”C) “Let’s go inside!”D) “It smells funny.”

3. The first time the man came back from the Marley house, what was he carrying?

A) A television setB) A stuffed animalC) A lanternD) A long piece of wood siding

4. Rayna, Robbie, and Hannah realized that:

A) The man was building toy chests from wood that belonged to a haunted houseB) The man was building toy chests from wood that belonged to the Marley HouseC) The man was probably a very good chefD) Both A and B

5. Why wasn’t the man afraid of the house?

A) This is a trick question. He was terrified of the house.B) He didn’t go insideC) He never went near the houseD) He wore garlic around his neck

6. On the return journey to the toy factory, why didn’t the children have a lot of room in thecarriage?

A) There was a big television set in itB) the man had piled all of his tools in the backC) It was filled with lumber from the Marley HouseD) They had to sit next to a giant bunny rabbit

7. What was the first thing the man did when they returned to the toy factory?

A) Ate a bag of potato chipsB) Got out of the carriageC) Built a toy chestD) Sneezed

8. What did Rayna recognize in the toy factory?

A) The toy chest from her houseB) The lanternC) The evil clown dollD) A picture of George Washington

9. When the man finished working on the toy chest, where did he place it?

A) On his workbenchB) On a shelfC) On the floorD) On his head

10. At the end of the chapter, who opened the toy chest?

A) RaynaB) RobbieC) HannahD) No one opened the toy chest

copyright © 2012 AudioCraft Publishing, Inc.

The Haunted Toy Chestcopyright 2012 by Johnathan Rand

Create a Sentence

Below are five sentences from Chapter Fifteen of The Haunted Toy Chest, by Johnathan Rand. Create three of your ownunique sentences using the underlined word.

Hannah had said that the owners of the home had disappeared without a trace, then the house began to vanish a little at a time, and amysterious fire burned it to the ground around the turn of the century.

1.________________________________________________________________________________________

2.________________________________________________________________________________________

3.________________________________________________________________________________________

Hannah had said that the owners of the home had disappeared without a trace, then the house began to vanish a little at a time, and amysterious fire burned it to the ground around the turn of the century.

1.________________________________________________________________________________________

2.________________________________________________________________________________________

3.________________________________________________________________________________________

On the porch, the man placed the lantern on the railing, and we could only catch a few glimpses of his murky form as he moved about.

1.________________________________________________________________________________________

2.________________________________________________________________________________________

3.________________________________________________________________________________________

I cringed.

1.________________________________________________________________________________________

2.________________________________________________________________________________________

3.________________________________________________________________________________________

I was also surprised at the short amount of time it took him to assemble the toy chest.

1.________________________________________________________________________________________

2.________________________________________________________________________________________

3.________________________________________________________________________________________

copyright © 2012 AudioCraft Publishing, Inc

The Haunted Toy Chestcopyright 2012 by Johnathan Rand

Scrambled Sentence

Below is a scrambled sentence from Chapter Fifteen of The Haunted Toy Chest by JohnathanRand. How fast can you unscramble the letters to form real words and a complete sentence?Write the correct word beneath the scrambled word.

eh nhisefid yb ixinfafg a tclah ot het dli fo het eshtc dan gyitrn ti uot a

wfe metis.

Johnathan Rand Trivia:

A self-confessed animal lover, dogs aren’t the only animals that Johnathan Rand has hadas pets. As a boy, his pets included toads, frogs, a lizard, several snakes, salamanders,a parakeet, two gerbils, a painted turtle, a snapping turtle, and a box turtle. “I had a veryunderstanding parents,” says Rand. “It seems like every day I was bringing home somefurry creature, reptile, or amphibian. My parents allowed me to keep them for a short periodof time before returning them to the wild. To this day, every time I pass a pond or a swamp,I look at it and wonder how many turtles, toads, frogs, or snakes are in there, just waitingfor me to catch them.”

copyright © 2012 by AudioCraft Publishing, Inc