It was two hours later. I was finally discharged from the miserable place known as the Forlot hospital. In case that it was not obvious, I do not like hospitals. They creep me out. But not as much as Fright Train.

Speaking of Fright Train, Marisa and I learned more about the haunted train. We went to my house and read the books that I bought yesterday. Actually, I was not reading. I was skimming the paragraphs and only taking in the information that we would need later.

"Sorry, Mike," Marisa apologized.

I lowered the book and looked at her. "What are you apologizing for now, Marisa?"

She hesitated. "...for taking the longest time to read. You are already on your fourth book, and I am not even halfway through my first."

I closed my book and laid it next to the others. "You do not have to apologize for being slow."

"Like a snail, Mike. I am as slow as a snail."

"Do not put yourself down, Marisa. Are you familiar with the story of the cheetah and the snail?"

"Do you not mean the hare and the tortoise?"

I shook my head. "No. The cheetah and the snail. It is about a cheetah who bullies a snail."

"Do the snail and cheetah have a race?"

"Yep. And the only rule to this particular race is that they had to build their own car and drive it."

Marisa tucked a hair strand behind her ear. "I have never heard this version before." She furrowed her eyebrows. "Version."

"Marisa? You alright?"

Marisa flipped back a couple pages. "Is it okay with you if I make a mark in your book?"

"Yeah. Sure. These books do not belong to the store anymore."

She held out an open hand. "May I please borrow a highlighter?"

"Sure. Does it matter which color?"

"Surprise me."

I grabbed my pencil box that had been on my desk, opened it, and took out a yellow highlighter. I closed my pencil box, tossed it on the bed, and handed the highlighter to her. She thanked me and highlighted a sentence. Then two. Then an entire paragraph.

"Are you highlighting information that can help us take down Fright Train?" I asked.

"Oh, it is not helpful information," Marisa answered. "It is super helpful!" She soon finished and gave me the book. "Read only what I highlighted."

I did as I was instructed and read out loud. When I read the last sentence, I laid the open book in my lap and raised my head with a questionable look on my face.

"The paragraph mentioned some special glasses," I said. "What special glasses, Marisa?"

"You are lucky that we met," Marisa said. "Not only do I know what is contained in the glasses, but I also know where they are."

"What do the glasses do?"

She jumped to her feet and squealed. "These glasses are super cool. I bet that you would not believe me."

I gave her a smirk. "Prove it."

Did she just blush?

"The glasses are super advanced, Mike. Nothing like the world has seen. They were invented by a wanted scientist named Dr. Maxwell."

"Never heard of him. And why is he wanted? Did he do something that he was not supposed to do?"

"Duh. That is literally what being wanted means."

"So what happened to the glasses?"

"Dr. Maxwell sold the glasses Julian Harvey."

"The same Julian Harvey that I met at the hospital today?"

"The one and only." She played with her hair. "It is a shame that Julian has the glasses. It will be difficult to break into his mansion."

My eyes bulged from their sockets. "W-who said that we will break into his mansion?"

"I did, Mike. You and I will sneak into the home and snatch the glasses. Once we have the glasses, we will move on to step two."

"There are steps to this plan?"

She smiled and patted the top of my head. "You will not have to worry. I promise you that we will not be caught."

Famous last words. 'Cause we were caught.

Fast forward to the afternoon. Marisa and I were in front of the Harvey Mansion. We were dressed in all black. I had on a black hat, and Marisa was putting up her hair. The lights were out in the mansion, and nobody was home.

"I cannot believe that you talked me into this," I said. "If we get caught...if my parents find out..."

Marisa patted my shoulder. "You want to put an end to Fright Train, right?"

"Yeah."

"How badly do you want the nightmare to end?"

"Very badly."

"Then we need to have those glasses. The three of us have no choice but to search the mansion."

"'The three of us'?"

"Hey, Mike!"

"Shh!" Marisa put a finger to her lips. "You need to keep it down, Carlos."

"Carlos?!"

"You too, Mike. Julian and Jackie may be absent for the afternoon, but the neighbors are still watching."

Carlos ran towards us and was out of breath when he skidded to a stop. He was also dressed in black and wore a black hat like mine. He bent over, placing his hands on his knees.

"Thanks...thanks for letting me join," Carlos choked out.

"Did you invite Carlos, Marisa?" I asked.

"You told me that Carlos believes in Fright Train, so I decided to invite him to our little break-in."

I looked at Carlos with wide eyes. "You want to break into a mansion that you will easily get lost in?"

"I had nothing to do after school and did not want to go home just yet, so here I am."

Marisa picked up her black bag. "Come on. We have work to do."

We hurried to the back of the mansion. Marisa set her bag on the green grass and unzipped it. As she was going through it, we heard someone.

"What are you kids doing?"