Chris Grabenstein: The Smoky Corridor

“The boy and the janitor ?”

“That’s right. We also feel a donation should be made to the Fund for Extraordinary Young Girls in New Orleans.”

“What?”

“Oh, it was one of Captain Pettimore’s favorite charities. The bulk of the treasure will, of course, be transferred to the Pettimore Trust so we might continue doing the good works we know the captain would want us to do.”

Zack nearly burst out laughing. That was the biggest fib of the night.

“I don’t like this, Jennings. Something smells funny.”

“Perhaps that’s sour milk you’re smelling, sir. Sour chocolate milk?”

That shut Crumpler up.

“Now, let’s go help them inventory the gold,” said Zack’s dad, leading the way to the cafeteria, where the bars were slowly being transferred from the treasure tunnels.

While the adults streamed out of the main building, Zack turned to Malik.

“Congratulations,” he said.

“Wow! They’re really gonna give me a reward so I can help my mom?”

“Sure sounds like it.”

“Thanks, Zack!”

“Hey, you earned it!”

“So,” Malik whispered, “can you really see ghosts?”

“Yeah. But don’t tell anybody, okay? My dad didn’t even know until today.”

They knocked knuckles on it.

“Hey, are there any ghosts in here now?”

Zack looked around the room. Didn’t see anybody.

Except … yes … stepping through the wall underneath the Pettimore portrait.

“Just one.”

“Really? Who is it?”

“A young guy. He used to fly with the Tuskegee Airmen.”

“My great-grandfather?”

“Yep. And you know what?”

“What?”

“He’s very proud of you, too!”

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK …

My fantastic wife, J.J., who got to spend her summer vacation watching me do rewrites.

My dad, the late Thomas A. Grabenstein, who used to take us to Civil War battlefields in the 1960s and let my four brothers and me re-create entire battles in our heads.

My mom, who just happens to be my biggest fan.

My nephews Timothy John and Samuel Justus Grabenstein, for making sure their uncle’s stories aren’t boring.

My agent, Eric Myers.

Emily Pourciau, Lisa McClatchey, Nicole de las Heras, and everyone at Random House.

Sarah Abercrombie from Greenwich Country Day School in Connecticut, who showed me around their incredible campus.

The folks at JOE and Starbucks, who let me write in their coffee shops.

All the Morkal-Williamses, who not only give me great early reader critiques but also let me turn their names into characters in my books.

Rachel Curcio, Kate and Mary John, Nora Kaye, Rodman John Myers, Riley Mack, Anna Bloomfield True, Jemma Glenn Wixson, and all the kids, students, teachers, and librarians who help me write these stories and then tell all their friends to read ’em.

Finally, Zipper would like to thank Fred, who helps me write the dog bits.

CHRIS GRABENSTEIN’sfirst book for younger readers, The Crossroads , won both the Anthony Award and the Agatha Award, received a starred review in Booklist , and has garnered critical acclaim from readers of all ages.

Chris was born in Buffalo, New York, and moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, when he was ten. After college, he moved to New York City with six suitcases and a typewriter to become an actor and writer. For five years, he did improvisational comedy in a Greenwich Village theater with some of the city’s funniest performers, including this one guy named Bruce Willis. Chris used to write TV and radio commercials and has written for the Muppets. He has also written several adult thrillers, including Tilt-a-Whirl, Mad Mouse , and Slay Ride .

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Text copyright © 2010 by Chris Grabenstein

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

www.randomhouse.com/kids

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Grabenstein, Chris.

The smoky corridor / Chris Grabenstein. — 1st ed.

p. cm.

Summary: Zack Jennings enlists his dog Zipper to try to find

a lost Confederate treasure, but first they must deal with a

brain-eating zombie that lives under Zack’s new school.

eISBN: 978-0-375-89600-2

[1. Ghosts—Fiction. 2. Haunted places—Fiction. 3. Schools—Fiction.

4. Family life—Connecticut—Fiction. 5. Connecticut—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.G7487 Smo 2010 [Fic]—dc22 2009050694

Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

v3.0