Step Into the Dark — Bridget Crowley

The eerily-lit staircase seemed to hide not ghosts, but things and people that meant terrible harm. The balcony in the Hall seemed far away, like a beautiful dream he had to wake up from. Reality was home and getting up to the ninth floor unscathed. Whether he's alone at home (his mom is asleep, or not there) or working on the lighting in the balcony of the local Community Hall, threats of menace and danger surround Beetle. When he tries to protect Tamar, the beautiful young singer, he too becomes a target for the bullies' violent games. And then there's another problem: the girl in white, who vanishes as mysteriously as she appears. Could she be a ghost -- and if she is, why is she calling out to Beetle across the darkness?