Terror stalks the halls of St. Wolcott School . . . When Daphne's sixth-grade teacher, Miss Vindez, plummets from the belfry of St. Wolcott School, Daphne and her friends Nick and Peach are plunged into a mystery that includes a long-ago fire that left behind twelve dead schoolchildren, tiny ghosts with nowhere to go, and an ancient evil just dying to break through into modern-day Moose Jaw. Miss Vindez survives her fall, but things just aren't the same-she's spouting gibberish, and both Principal Peterka and the school janitor are definitely not themselves at all any more. Determined to get to the bottom of what's going on, Daphne, Nick, and Peach dig up the troubled history of Grudstone, the school that used to stand where St. Wolcott is now. They uncover evidence of a crime so terrible it can hardly be believed. Worse, the terrifying perpetrator of that crime isn't done yet-he has more horrible plans in mind. And all that stands in his way are three Moose Jaw school kids.