We drowned here.
We vanished. Like the others.
28
Around me, the water bubbled. It chugged like steam. Wave after powerful wave beat against me.
My chest began to burn. I knew I had only seconds left.
The water tossed me hard against a rock. I gazed up at the churning surface—miles above me.
I shut my eyes.
Waited…waited for the water to fill my lungs…
Waited…
And felt myself lifted.
Felt a powerful force raising me, pushing me up through the tossing water.
I opened my eyes and gazed around.
No one. No one there.
But it felt as if strong arms were lifting me, raising me to the surface.
And in my mind, I heard a voice. A low, soft voice whispering to me: “You saved our land from fire. Now we shall rescue you and your friends.”
The spirits?
I burst up to the surface. Gasping and choking. My lungs burning. My chest ready to explode.
And felt the powerful force lift me…lift me over the water.
I was flying. Flying above the tossing, slapping waves.
Still gasping, still struggling to catch my breath, I landed gently on the shore. I turned and saw the others, flying above the river, carried by powerful, invisible arms.
Spirit arms.
And then, soaked and shivering, we were hugging each other. And shouting. Shouting to prove we were alive. Shouting over the roar of the falls that we had defeated, over the steady drumbeats, the heartbeat of the forest.
Back to camp.
A herd of campers stampeding toward us. They greeted us with a thousand questions.
“How are you? Are you okay?”
“How did you get back?”
“How was Forbidden Falls?”
“We’re going next year. What was it like?”
I glanced at my friends, then turned back to the eager faces.
“Forbidden Falls? It’s nothing,” I said. “Really. A piece of cake.”
Take a look at what’s ahead in
THE NIGHTMARE ROOM
Thrillogy #1
Fear Games
The sun had gone down, but the air was still steamy and hot. Insects chittered in the trees. A tiny sliver of a moon floated just above the swaying palm trees.
April met her teammates after dinner in front of the meeting hall. Backpacks bulged on their backs. Kristen tilted a bottle of water to her mouth.
Anthony raised the beam of light from his flashlight to April’s face. “You ready?”
April nodded. She tugged her flashlight from her backpack. She gazed around the empty camp. The other two teams had gathered near the ocean.
“I have to tell you something,” April whispered. “I think Marks did something to Josh.”
Anthony rolled his eyes. “Here she goes again,” he muttered.
“April, what are you talking about?” Kristen asked sharply.
“Josh and I had a plan,” April replied, glancing around again to make sure Marks wasn’t around to hear her. “To go exploring. Because we both thought there is something strange on this island. Maybe someone else living here.”
“Maybe the island is haunted!” Anthony sneered. He let out an evil movie laugh.
Marlin shook his head. “You’re definitely weird,” he told April.
“I’m not making this up,” April insisted. “Marks overheard Josh and me making our plan. And today, Josh is gone. Just like that.”
“Josh got sick last night,” Marlin said. “They announced it at breakfast. Stop trying to cause trouble, April.”
“Yeah. We have to get behind these Life Games. Maybe you don’t care about it, but we all want to win the competitions,” Kristen said.
“And the money,” Anthony added. “And we don’t need you messing up our chances.”
“Okay, okay. Let’s all lighten up on April,” Marlin said. He turned to her. “No more crazy talk, okay? Are you ready to start the night hike?”
April saw that they weren’t going to believe her. They didn’t care. All three of them cared only about winning the competition.
They began walking away from the camp, following the sandy path that led into the forest. Under the low trees, the pale moonlight disappeared. The only light came from the beams of their flashlights ahead of them on the forest floor.
“This path leads to the rock caves near the shore,” Marlin said. He and Anthony walked side by side, bumping each other as they walked. Kristen followed them, swinging her light over the smooth tree trunks.
April walked a few yards behind Kristen. She felt alert, excited. Over the steady chirping of insects, she heard the low warble of birds in the trees.
If only she could stop thinking about Josh…
“I don’t know if the path goes all the way to the other side of the island,” Marlin said. “We’ll have to see when we get there.”
“Well, we can’t follow the shore. It’s too rocky,” Kristen said. “We have to reach Rick and Abby at the little dock by going through the trees.”
“Finding our way back will be the hard part,” Anthony added. “We’ll be completely on the other side of the island.”
“No problem!” Marlin exclaimed. April watched him tug something from his pack. A long, silvery blade glinted in the light of Kristen’s flashlight.
“A machete!” Anthony exclaimed.
“That’s pretty scary looking, Marlin. What are you going to do with that?” Kristen demanded.
Marlin grinned. He made wide chopping motions with the big knife. “Kung Fu Warrior!” he cried.
“Hey—watch out!” Kristen stepped back.
Marlin lowered the machete. “This will help us find our way back,” he said. “I’m going to mark the path.”
He stepped up to the narrow trunk of a palm tree. He pulled the machete back, then swung the blade hard into the soft wood. Choppp.
April stepped up beside her teammates and squinted into the light to examine the trunk. The machete blade had sliced a narrow groove, about an inch deep.
Marlin led the way deeper into the forest. Every few paces he stopped and swung the machete. Choppp. Another slice mark in the side of a tree.
“We’ll follow the cuts home,” Marlin said. “We’ll be back at the village while the other two teams are wandering around lost, calling for their mommies.” He laughed and swung the blade.
Choppp.
“Cool!” Anthony declared. “Totally cool.”
The path curved toward the shore. April could hear the waves washing against the rocks. They all stopped as a lizard was caught in the circle of light from Anthony’s flashlight.
The lizard froze and stared up at them, its round, black eyes reflecting the light.
“Ugly little guy,” Anthony said. He raised his boot. “Should I crush him?”
“No way!” Kristen cried, pulling Anthony back. “Let him go!”
“I don’t think he’s ugly. I think he’s cute,” April said.
“Takes one to know one!” Anthony replied nastily.
“Be careful, Anthony,” Kristen warned. “Or April will use her powers and turn you into a lizard!”
“That’s not funny!” April cried angrily. “Stop joking about that, Kristen. I told you, I don’t have any powers!”
The lizard suddenly came to its senses and scampered into some thick fern leaves. The path ended at the edge of the trees. Marlin made one more chop mark, then led the way out of the forest, toward the rock caves.
April suddenly felt a chill run down her back. Josh and I were going to explore those caves this morning, she thought. Did Marks really drag Josh away in the middle of the night?
What is Marks afraid of?
The blue rocks—so cold, so eerily cold all the time—were creepy during the daytime. At night, they glowed softly under the moonlight.
As April approached them, the shimmering light made them
appear to pulse, to throb—as if they were alive!
She blinked. Stop thinking crazy thoughts, she scolded herself. She hurried across the wet, sandy ground to catch up to the others.
“Wait up,” she called. And then, as she stepped up beside them, April let out a cry.
A shudder of fear shook her body. She grabbed Marlin’s arm. “Stop!” she uttered, her voice shrill with terror. “Stop! Do you hear it? Voices!”
April pointed. “Voices! From that cave!”
The others stopped. Kristen gasped. The flashlight slipped from Anthony’s hand. Listening hard, he made no attempt to pick it up.
Marlin was the first to laugh.
“April, you jerk,” he muttered.
April realized she was gripping his arm. She let go and backed away. “Huh?”
“Of course you hear voices,” Marlin said, rolling his eyes. “It’s the kids on the other team.”
April let out a long whoosh of air. “Oh, wow. Sorry.”
She recognized Dolores from her long, blond hair. Dolores was climbing on a sloping rock hill with her three teammates.
April took a deep breath. Get it together, she instructed herself. Get it together—now.
I’m letting my imagination run away with me, April decided. I’ve got to shape up. I’ve got to relax and try to enjoy my two weeks here.
I’ve got to show my teammates that I’m not crazy.
The three teams were not supposed to explore together. So Marlin turned away from the caves, and led the way back into the trees.
Kristen and Anthony were talking together, still laughing about April’s voices. “Listen, guys—I said I was sorry,” April said. “I’ll shut up. I promise. I won’t say another word the rest of the night.”
“That’s okay,” Marlin said. “Come on, everyone. Let’s try to be a real team. It’s going to be a long night. Let’s have some fun!”
He swung the machete—choppp—and made another slice mark in the smooth trunk of a tree.
“Hey, let me try that!” Anthony said. He grabbed the big knife from Marlin’s hands.
“Watch out—” Marlin cried.
Anthony swung the blade into a tree. Choppp. “Cool!” he cried. He pulled the blade back—and swung again. This time, he made an even deeper cut below the first cut.
“Hey—you’re hurting the tree!” Kristen protested.
She grabbed the handle of the machete and tried to tug it away from Anthony. The two of them wrestled with it until Marlin stepped up and took it away from them.
“Just one cut in a tree,” Marlin said. “It’s not for fun. It’s so we can get back.”
“Where are we?” April asked.
The leaves overhead had grown thicker until they blocked the sky from view. The pale moonlight couldn’t break through the thick tangle of trees.
It’s much darker here, April realized. And quiet. The insects had suddenly stopped chirping. April listened for the wash of the ocean waves on the shore. Silence.
“We must be somewhere in the middle of the island,” Marlin said. “If we just keep going straight…”
“But the path ends here,” Kristen said. She swept her flashlight over the trees. “Which way is straight?”
“We have to keep going north,” Marlin said. He pulled off his baseball cap and wiped his forehead with his hand. “Man, it’s hot tonight. Wish we could go for a swim.”
“Which way is the ocean?” April asked. “I—I’m all turned around.”
“I brought a compass,” Anthony said, pulling off his pack. “It’s supposed to point towards the north, right?” He squatted down and unzipped the pack.
Kristen leaned over Anthony and held her light on the pack while he searched through it. He pulled out a water bottle and took a long drink.
“Take your time,” Marlin said sarcastically. “We’re only lost here in the middle of the island.”
“Don’t worry. The other teams are probably even more lost,” Anthony said. “Hey—here it is.”
He pulled out a round object on a leather strap. “My grandfather gave me this compass when he came back from Alaska. He was a gold prospector in the Yukon and—”
“Save the family history for later,” Kristen said. She shone her light on the compass. “Well? Which way do we go? Which way is north?”
Anthony squinted hard at the compass dial. He turned it in his hand. Then he turned it again.
Suddenly, he jumped to his feet. “Whoa! I don’t believe this!”
He held the compass up so the others could see. April squeezed between Marlin and Kristen to get a good look at it.
Inside the dial, the arrow was spinning. Spinning rapidly, round and round.
“That’s impossible!” Anthony cried. “Why is it doing that?”
“Because it’s broken,” Marlin said, frowning.
“A compass can’t break,” Anthony cried. “It’s magnetic. That’s all. It’s just a magnet. What would make it spin like that?”
April stared at the spinning arrow. It looked like one of those crazy clocks in cartoons.
“Put it away,” Marlin muttered. He wiped sweat off his forehead again. “Ow!” He slapped his neck. “Did anyone bring mosquito spray?”
“What time is it?” Kristen asked.
Marlin shone his flashlight onto his wristwatch. He squinted at the watch for a long time. “You’re not going to believe this,” he whispered.
He shook his wrist hard and stared at the watch again. “It—it stopped,” he said. “It stopped at seven-oh-two.”
April raised her watch to the light—and let out a gasp. “Mine too!” she cried. “Look. It stopped at seven-oh-two.”
“Weird,” Kristen muttered. “First the compass, then the watches. That’s totally weird.”
“You’re starting to sound like April,” Anthony told her. “Maybe it was…WITCHCRAFT!” He gave his spooky, evil laugh again.
“Let’s find the ocean,” April suggested. “If we keep the ocean on our left, we’ll be heading in the right direction.”
“Then we have to go this way,” Marlin said. He turned to the left and made his way towards the trees.
“No—wait!” Anthony zipped up his pack, flung it onto his shoulder, and ran after Marlin. “You’re all turned around. We want to go that way!” He pointed to the right.
“I think Anthony is right,” Kristen said. “Because we came through those trees over there—remember?” She pointed behind her.
April swept her flashlight beam over the ground. “Where is the path? If we could see where the path ended…”
“No, that’s no help!” Kristen cried. “We came through those trees over there. I know we did.”
All four of them began talking at once.
“Whoa! Hold it! Hold it!” Marlin shouted finally. He raised the machete high over his head.
April and the other two grew silent. Marlin looked so menacing with that blade glimmering in his hand, April felt a chill.
“We left a trail, right?” Marlin asked, waving the machete over his head. “We left a trail to follow.”
“For when we want to go back,” Kristen said. “But we don’t want to go back.”
“Why not?” Marlin replied. “This isn’t a race. We’re not being judged by how fast we get to the other side and back.”
“That’s right,” Anthony agreed. “We have all night.”
Kristen squinted at Marlin. “What is your plan?”
Marlin pointed to the trees. “We find the chop marks and we follow them. Back to the blue rocks and the ocean.”
“We go back?” Kristen asked.
Marlin nodded. “Not all the way to the village. We’re not allowed there until dawn. Just to the rocks. That way, we’ll get our direction back.”
“Yes, that’s good,” April chimed in. “Then we can start through the forest again with the ocean on our left.”
Anthony scratched his face. “Go all the way back to the rocks?”
?
??Why not?” Marlin replied. He pointed to the trees. “We could pick a direction—any direction—and just go. But why take a chance? Besides, it’s not that far.”
“It’s a good plan,” April said. “Let’s stop arguing and do it.”
Marlin slapped her on the back. “Hey—a little team spirit! Now you’re cooking, April!”
Everyone laughed, even Anthony. It made April feel a little better.
Marlin headed to the trees. “Here’s the last chop mark we made,” he said. He shone his flashlight on the trunk in front of him.
The others started to follow him. But all four kids stopped when they heard a sound.
A loud choppp.
Nearby. To their right.
They turned toward the sound. “Who’s there?” Marlin called.
Silence.
Then another choppp.
The sound of a blade cutting into a tree trunk. This one up ahead.
“Hey—!” Anthony cried. “Is someone there? Who is it?”
Another choppp rang out through the trees. This one to their left, closer.
Marlin started running toward the sound. But he stopped at another sound of a blade slicing into a tree.
“Who is doing that?” he shouted.
“Who’s there?” Kristen cried.
April swept her flashlight beam around in a fast circle. She saw only trees and ferns and low shrubs.
No one there. No one.
Chop chop…choppp.
All around them now. Close and far. Behind them. Up ahead. And to both sides. The swipe of a blade through the air. And the chopping…chopping…
Faster. Slice-slice-slice…
“I don’t understand this!” Kristen said in a trembling voice. She pressed her hands to her ears, as if trying to shut out the chopping. The steady, horrible chopping…“Make it stop! Make it stop!” she wailed.
“We’ve got to get out of here!” Marlin cried.
Chop…chop…
“Let’s follow the path we made,” Anthony said, his eyes wide with fear. “Here’s the last chop mark.”
Choppp…choppp… The cutting continued, all around them.
“No. Here’s the last one,” Kristen said, grabbing a palm tree trunk.
“This one has a slice,” April said. “And this one. And look—” Her words caught in her throat.