Party Games

  “You said you sent for someone?” Spider asked.

  Geena said, “We’re not totally stranded here—are we?”

  “Can anyone here handle the yacht?” Eric said.

  “I sent one of the workers in a speedboat back to town,” Brendan said. “My family has another pilot we use in the summer. I told the worker to find him and bring him back.”

  “But that could be hours!” April protested.

  “What if he doesn’t find the pilot?”

  “You mean we’re trapped?”

  Brendan waved both hands. “Calm down, everyone. I’m sure the new boat pilot is on his way. As soon as he gets here—”

  Spider jumped to his feet. “Let’s go now. We can figure out how to pilot the boat. How hard can it be? You turn on the engine and steer it to town.”

  Before anyone could move, the lights flickered, then went out.

  I blinked. I stared into the glare of light that lingered. It faded. The darkness was so deep, I couldn’t see Kerry sitting next to me.

  Kids screamed.

  I held my breath, thinking maybe the lights would flash back on.

  Cries of panic rang out all around me.

  “Brendan? I can’t see you.”

  “Who turned off the lights?”

  “Was it the killer?”

  “Did someone just come in the room?”

  “Can’t anyone turn them back on?”

  “Did someone cut the electricity? Brendan—help us!”

  I jumped to my feet. I was too frightened just to sit there. My legs felt shaky. I forced myself to move, to get away from the chairs.

  But someone grabbed my arm and started to pull me back. “Kerry?” I screamed. “Kerry? Is that you?”

  Or is it the killer?

  18.

  IN THE DARK

  “Yes, it’s me,” Kerry said in a whisper. “Rachel, please don’t leave me. Where were you going?”

  “I … I just wanted to get away.”

  My eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness. I could see Kerry holding onto me, so frightened he didn’t realize how hard he was gripping my arm. I saw other kids up on their feet.

  Chairs squeaked and scraped. Frightened cries rang off the ballroom walls. I sat back down beside Kerry. He was so messed up about Patti, he couldn’t move. His whole body was trembling.

  Someone bumped me on the other side. Startled, I turned and found Eric beside me. He leaned close. “Are you as scared as I am?”

  “Yes,” I said. “I think we’re all scared out of our minds.”

  “It’s like living in a horror movie,” Eric said, his voice tight and hoarse. “I’ve seen this movie. Some crazed killer plans to kill us all.”

  “Stop it. Shut up,” I said. “Don’t make it worse.”

  “Worse? How can I make it worse?” Eric cried. “Our friend Patti is lying dead upstairs. We’re sitting ducks here in the dark and … and—”

  “Quiet, everyone! Quiet!” Brendan shouted. “Please—everyone stop talking.”

  It took a while for everyone to stop voicing their panic. A few kids returned to their chairs. Squinting into the heavy blackness, I could see some kids standing at the sides of the rows of seats.

  “We don’t know for sure that someone cut the lights. It may just be a generator down,” Brendan said. “We get these blackouts here all the time.”

  “We have to get out of this house.” I recognized April’s voice, even though I couldn’t see her. “We can’t just stay here, Brendan.”

  Shouts of agreement. It took Brendan a while to get everyone quiet again. “We’ll get some light,” he said. “It’ll make it easier. We have flashlights. My family keeps a cabinet full of flashlights for power failures like this.”

  “Let’s get them. Let’s go.” Eric said.

  “The cabinet is in the next room,” Brendan said. “There should be a flashlight for everyone. I’ll lead the way. Keep close. Keep together. It isn’t far. It’s a supply closet only three doors down the hall.”

  Chairs scraped again. Kerry stood up and led the way out of our row. He stopped to let someone move past, and Eric bumped me hard from behind.

  “Oh. Sorry, Rachel.”

  Normally, I’d think he was doing his usual clowning. But not now.

  We moved in groups of two or three toward the ballroom doorway. We had to walk slowly. The room had no windows, so the darkness was complete.

  I kept close to Kerry and Eric. The hallway was just as dark as the ballroom. We turned to the left and shuffled along the carpet, following Brendan. It was like walking blindfolded.

  A hush had fallen over everyone. There was nothing more to say. We were all in the same horrible situation. We were all having the same thoughts. We all had the same frantic desire to get away from this house and this island.

  To escape to safety.

  As we slowly moved through the hall, I thought about Patti again. She had such big plans. She was already accepted at Northwestern. She was going to be an Education major. She wanted to learn how to teach deaf children because her sister Ashlee is deaf.

  Patti would have been a good teacher. She was kind and patient and very tuned in to people. And, she and Kerry planned to stay together, even though he would be at Penn, where he got a basketball scholarship.

  A sob escaped my throat. I couldn’t help it. I felt so much sadness, so much fear, I felt I might either explode or collapse.

  Walking beside me, Eric must have sensed it. “It’s okay, Rachel,” he said in a low voice. “We’re getting out of here. For sure.”

  Suddenly, I bumped into the kids in front of me. Everyone came to a sharp stop.

  “I’m at the supply cabinet, everyone,” Brendan announced. “I know most of you can’t see me. But I have my hand on the cabinet door. And I’m opening it now. So … hang on…”

  Silence. Followed by an even heavier silence.

  “Whoa! What’s up with this?” Brendan’s startled cry. “Someone took them all. The flashlights are gone!”

  19.

  “THE KILLER IS PLAYING WITH US”

  I held my breath. The fluttery feeling in my chest wouldn’t fade.

  This time, there were no cries of panic, no shouts or gasps or screams.

  The only sound was the thud of Brendan slamming the cabinet door shut. And his murmured words: “I don’t believe this.”

  We all knew the truth now. Someone had killed Patti. Someone had us trapped. No lights. No phones. No Internet. No one to take us home.

  We were all trapped on this island and trapped inside our own thoughts, our own fears.

  In horror movies, victims always scream and shriek their heads off. But I was quickly learning that panic is a private thing. You don’t want to share it. You don’t want others to know how terrified you are.

  All your energy goes to keeping it together. Keeping yourself moving. Keeping yourself alert. But how do you decide what to do next? How can you possibly think straight when all your energy is being used to hold yourself in, to keep yourself from flying apart in a million pieces?

  Delia’s voice broke the tense silence. “We have to get outside. Brendan, show us the way. The sun hasn’t gone down yet. When we’re outside, we’ll be able to see.”

  “But what if the killer is waiting for us outside?” Kenny Fear asked.

  “Yes. This whole thing could be a trap,” Spider said. “He turns off the lights and waits for us to come running out of the house.”

  “We can’t just stay in here,” I said. My voice came out tight and shrill. “We can’t just stand around in the dark, waiting to see which of us is the next victim.”

  “We can try one of the back doors,” Brendan said. “The back of the house leads into the woods. We’ll be safer in the woods.”

  “But then what?” Eric demanded. “We just hide in the woods—till when?”

  “It was getting ready to storm outside,” Spider said. “We’ll be soaked.”

  ?
??Soaked is better than dead,” Brendan said. “We can hide till the other boat pilot comes from town.”

  “What if he doesn’t come?”

  “How will he find us if we’re hiding in the woods?”

  “Brendan, are you sure Randy can’t take us back?” Eric asked.

  “Trust me,” Brendan said after a pause. “Randy can’t help us.”

  “Is he dead? Tell us the truth,” Eric insisted.

  Brendan didn’t answer.

  This started everyone talking at once. Voices were tense and hushed. I realized I was gasping for breath. The darkness suddenly felt heavy, as if someone had tossed a black wool blanket over me.

  “Hey—!”

  I was stunned as the hall lights flashed on. I blinked in the sudden brightness and rubbed my eyes, eager for them to adjust. Eric and I slapped a high five. Some kids cheered. Everyone started talking at once. What a relief to be able to see again.

  “Maybe it was just a generator failure,” Brendan’s cousin Morgan said.

  Brendan opened the empty flashlight cabinet again … as if he would have better luck finding the flashlights this time. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “No. It wasn’t a power failure. The killer is playing with us. I know it.”

  His words sent a chill down my back that tightened all my muscles. I wanted to run. Take off and run and not stop till I was somewhere safe.

  But we all stood there, blinking in the light, as if paralyzed, eyes on Brendan, waiting for some kind of cue, some kind of decision.

  Brendan sucked in a mouthful of air. “I just remembered something,” he said, eyes far away, talking more to himself than to us.

  “What? What did you remember?” April darted up to him. She shook his arm hard. “Can you get us out of here? Tell us!”

  She is nearly hysterical, I realized. She is going to totally lose it.

  “The security room,” Brendan said. He gently removed April’s hand from his arm. “We have security cameras. Front and back. I know they were turned on this morning before you all arrived.”

  “Are there security guards, too?” Spider asked.

  Brendan shook his head. “No. But the cameras may show us what’s going on here. Follow me.”

  20.

  PARTY CRASHERS

  We followed him down the long hall. The faces of the Fear ancestors on the wall portraits appeared to watch us as we passed. I walked between Kerry and Eric. We didn’t talk.

  It was strange seeing Eric so serious, not clowning. Beads of sweat had formed across his forehead. He kept mopping the sweat off with one hand, but then more would appear.

  As we turned into another hall, he frowned at me. “Are we having fun yet?”

  I shuddered. “People warned me not to come here. Maybe … I should have listened?”

  Mac’s angry face flashed into my mind. He was so determined to keep me from coming to the party. I could see his jaw clenched tight, and once again, I heard his frantic pleas. “Just don’t go, Rachel. I … I’ve heard things I shouldn’t.”

  What did that mean?

  I hadn’t even thought about it till now. Mac was jealous. He couldn’t stand the idea of me being with Brendan Fear. But what did he mean exactly? What had he heard?

  At the end of the hall, gray light poured in through the square window onto a dark-wood door. One of the back doors. Through the glass, I could see trees blowing in a strong wind. Dead brown leaves bounced off the window.

  Brendan opened the last door in the hall. It revealed a narrow room with a row of four TV monitors along a control panel with rows of dials and buttons and blinking lights.

  The room wasn’t big enough for us all to follow Brendan inside. We huddled in the doorway and watched as he sat down on a tall bench at the control panel.

  I raised my eyes to the four screens. The pictures were in black-and-white. I figured out that two cameras were posted at the front of the house and two at the back.

  “I’m going to rewind,” Brendan said, “and see if we can see anything going on.”

  He leaned over the panel and turned some dials. I heard a low whine, and then the pictures on the four screens immediately began to scan backward.

  I saw leaves blowing across the front walk. Birds landed and took off in the tall grass in the back. A squirrel raised its head as if staring into the camera. As the storm clouds hovered, the pictures darkened, then grew bright, then darkened again.

  “Oh, wow,” Brendan murmured. He stopped the video from rewinding. Leaning closer to the screen in front of him, he started it moving again. “Oh, wow. Oh, wow.”

  I grabbed Eric’s shoulder as I saw the two men on the screen. Two men striding up to the backdoor. They had black ski masks over their heads. And they each had a rifle on one arm.

  Hunting rifles.

  I screamed as one of them raised his rifle and swung the handle at the backdoor. I could see the window glass shatter. And I watched one of the masked intruders reach in through the broken window and push open the door.

  As they strode into the house, they disappeared from view.

  There was no sound. We didn’t need sound. We now knew exactly what was happening. Two masked men carrying hunting rifles had forced their way into Brendan’s house.

  They had killed Patti. But … why? Why were they here? What did they want? Were they on a hunting party to kill us all?

  A million questions flew through my mind. Questions none of us could answer.

  The masked men were here. They were somewhere in the house. And all we could do was try to get away from them.

  Again, I thought of the horror movies Beth and I used to watch. The blood would splatter and we’d laugh our heads off. Why did we think they were so much fun?

  I guess because when you watch a movie, you know there isn’t a chance you’re actually going to die.

  Brendan backed the security tape up and played it again. He squinted hard at the screen, studying the two men as they strode up to the house. He froze the picture just before one of them swung his rifle at the door.

  “Who are they?” he murmured. “Who…?”

  He left the picture frozen on the screen and turned to us in the doorway. “Wish I knew what to do next,” he said. His voice shook. He clasped his hands together to stop them from trembling. “I guess … I guess the main thing is not to panic.”

  “Not to panic?” Kenny cried. “Did you see those rifles?”

  “We have to panic,” Spider said. “We have to panic and get out of here!” He turned and started to the backdoor.

  “We can run the boat,” Kerry said. “How hard can it be? Let’s go. We’ll figure it out. It’s our only chance.”

  Other kids shouted agreement. I knew Kerry was right. The boat was sitting there at the dock, waiting to take us back to town. Some of us could figure out how to pilot it. It couldn’t be as dangerous as staying in this house with two masked killers.

  The others raced to the door at the end of the hall. I saw Brendan pull back. He didn’t climb off the stool at the control panel.

  “What are you waiting for?” I cried.

  He squinted at me. “Just thinking,” he said. “There’s a radio on the boat. We can call for help. Why didn’t I think of that before?”

  “Let’s go,” I said. I grabbed his hand and tugged him from the room. His hand was ice cold, and he staggered unsteadily as we ran.

  Brendan was as terrified as the rest of us. But I knew that once we were aboard the boat and could radio for help, we’d all feel a lot better.

  We burst outside, following the others into the backyard. Tall grass stretched the width of the house. Beyond the grass, I saw the bare trees of a thick, tangled woods.

  The sky was dark. Charcoal-colored clouds floated low overhead. The wind blew hard at us, as if trying to force us back.

  “This way,” Brendan said, motioning with one hand. The fresh air seemed to revive him, and he began to trot through the tall grass along the back of the house.
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  I struggled to keep up with him. Our shoes crackled the dead autumn leaves on the ground. We followed him into the deep shadow at the side of the house, making our way to the front. Before we reached the front, he motioned with both hands for us all to stop.

  We stopped, breathing hard. And listened.

  Were the gunmen waiting for us around the corner of the house? I could hear only the creak of tree limbs from the woods and the gusting wind whistling through the woods.

  Brendan peered around the side, then motioned for us to move again. All clear.

  We took off, following him down the path downhill through the trees. The dock stood at the end of the path. And the catamaran would be waiting for us at the dock.

  My shoes kicked up sand as I ran full speed along the path. I knew I wouldn’t feel safe until I was on that boat and speeding away from Fear Island.

  Eric stumbled over an upraised tree root. His arms flailed as he caught his balance, cursing under his breath. His round face was bright red and glistening with sweat.

  I ran up beside him. “Almost there,” I choked out. “Almost to the dock.”

  He grunted in reply, his shoes thudding on the soft path.

  “We’re going to make it,” I said. “I know we are.”

  And then the trees gave way to a broad open space. The path ended. The dark lake water came into view.

  And I let out a horrified cry as I turned to the dock. “The boat—!”

  The white catamaran bounced in the low waves as it roared away from the dock.

  “Noooooo!” Eric let out an animal howl. Kids groaned and cried out. Brendan sank to his knees with a long sigh.

  I ran up to the shore. I watched the boat send up a tall white-water wake behind it as it picked up speed. Squinting hard, I could see the black-uniformed workers. About a dozen of them. They sat in the benches along the rails. Some of them stood and peered straight ahead. They never looked back.

  Kerry came running to the water, shouting and waving his arms in front of him. “Stop! Come back! Come back! Stop! Can you hear me? Come back!”