“Boo!”

Rally leaped out from behind the newel post. Luke jumped so high, he lost his balance and teetered on the edge of the stairs. Rally reached out, and Luke thought, See, he’s not so bad. He’s going to catch me. But Rally pushed instead. Luke fell backwards. He might have: umbled down all the stairs, except that Rally’s push was crooked, and Luke landed on the railing. Pain shot hrough his back.

Rally laughed.

“Got you good, didn’t I?” he said.

Then, strangely, he grabbed Luke’s bag and took off own the hall.

Luke was afraid he was stealing it. He galloped after Rally.

Rolly screamed with laughter, maniacally.

This was not what Luke had expected.

Rally dodged around a corner and Luke followed him. Rolly discovered a secret about Luke’s bag that Luke had missed — it was on wheels. So Rally could run at full-speed with the bag rolling behind him. He careened this way and that, the bag zigzagging from side to side. Luke got close enough to tackle it if he wanted, but he hesitated. If the bag had been full of his own clothes, all the hand-me-down jeans and flannel shirts he’d gotten after Matthew and Mark outgrew them, he would have leaped. But the bag held Baron clothes, stiff shirts and shiny pants that were supposed to make him look like Lee Grant, instead of Luke Garner. He couldn’t risk ruining them. He focused on Rally instead. Instinctively, Luke dove over the bag to catch Rally’s legs. It was like playing football. Rally fell to the ground with a crash.

“Just what is the meaning of this?” a man~s voice boomed above them.

Rally was instantly on his feet.

“He attacked me, sir,” Rally said. “I was showing the new boy his room and he attacked me.”

Luke opened his mouth to protest, but nothing came out He’d learned that from Matthew and Marlc Don’t tattle.

The man looked dismissively from Rally to Luke.