Chapter 22
SOMETHING WEIRD
“Kimmy?” Corky called weakly, feeling dread in her chest. She crossed the room to Kimmy’s bed. “Kimmy?”
Kimmy finally stirred. “Huh? Corky—what time is it?” she asked in a sleep-choked whisper.
“I—I don’t know,” Corky stammered. “But something weird is going on. Wake up. Ivy just sneaked out the window.”
Kimmy sat up and lowered her feet to the floor. “She what?”
Corky grabbed Kimmy’s hands and pulled her to her feet. “Hurry. Get dressed. We’ve got to follow her.”
Kimmy shook her head as if trying to shake away her sleepiness. “I don’t believe this,” she muttered. She clicked on the bedside lamp and began pulling on the jeans and sweatshirt she had tossed on the chair.
A few seconds later both girls were dressed with their jackets on. Corky led the way out the window.
Under the glare of the neon sign, she could see two parked vans and a small car. No cars or trucks moved on the highway. Nothing.
No sign of Ivy.
“This is crazy,” Kimmy murmured, pulling her jacket closed as she stepped up beside Corky. “Maybe she’s just meeting some guy.” Her breath steamed up in front of her as she spoke.
“I don’t think so,” Corky whispered, her eyes searching the darkness. “Ivy’s not very good at keeping secrets. She would’ve told us.”
Corky shivered. Such a cold night, she thought. She found a wool hat in the pocket of her jacket and pulled it on.
Keeping to the deep shadows, she led the way around to the far side of the motel. She stopped and pressed her back to the wall, when she heard voices up ahead.
Familiar voices.
Kimmy grabbed on to Corky’s coat sleeve. “Who is it?”
They both leaned forward, squinting into the parking lot.
Corky recognized Ivy first. She stood in front of a black Jeep, pulling her long hair back over the collar of her coat with both hands.
She was talking excitedly to Heather and Lauren.
Corky felt a chill that made her entire body shudder. Even in the darkness of the parking lot, she could see the strange expressions on their faces. Eager, excited faces.
Excited about what?
If some kind of secret meeting was planned, why weren’t Kimmy and I invited? Corky wondered.
Then she saw figures moving at the side of the Jeep. Alex and Jay stepped into view, followed by six other players on the team.
“They’re all here,” Corky whispered, hanging back in the shadows. “The whole team.”
The players greeted the three cheerleaders. All of them seemed to be talking at once. Corky strained to hear what they were saying. But their hushed voices didn’t carry on the still night air.
“They all seem really pumped,” Kimmy whispered.
“This is so weird,” Corky replied. She saw Alex slap Jay a high-five. One of the guys playfully tugged Ivy’s hair. Heather and Lauren were moving their arms in unison. They seemed to be performing a whispered cheer. Two of the players were wrestling with a third.
Then, as if they had been given a signal, they all stopped talking and kidding around. Corky watched their expressions become solemn. They all turned and made their way off the parking lot and into the woods beyond it.
“Should we follow them?” Kimmy asked, still whispering even though the others had left.
Corky hesitated. Where could they be going?
“Those woods lead down to a lake,” Kimmy said, stepping away from the building, her eyes narrowed on the black trees beyond the parking lot. “Do you think that’s where they’re going? Do you think they’re having some kind of party, and they didn’t invite us because we’re the captains?”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Corky replied. “Maybe you and I should—”
She stopped when she heard rapid footsteps on the pavement behind them.
She gasped. “Kimmy—someone is coming!”
They both spun around.
Chapter 23
THE EVIL IS REVEALED
“Debra” Corky cried.
Debra came trotting up to them, her breath rising in rapid puffs, her cold blue eyes locked on Corky. Her down vest was open, over a dark purple sweater that came down nearly to the knees of her jeans. Her normally perfect blond hair was unbrushed.
“Debra—what are you doing here?” Kimmy demanded shrilly.
“Are you going with them?” Corky pointed toward the woods.
“Huh? Going where?” Debra was confused. “I don’t get it. You and Kimmy—why are you out here?”
“I asked you first!” Kimmy replied sharply.
“I heard Heather and Lauren get up,” Debra explained. “They got dressed and sneaked out. I could see they were trying not to wake me. After they left, I decided to follow them.”
She grabbed Corky’s arm. “What’s going on? Tell me!”
“We don’t know!” Corky replied.
“We really don’t!” Kimmy said. “Ivy sneaked out too. The three of them met up with the basketball players. All of them. It’s like they had it all planned or something.”
“Well, why weren’t we invited?” Debra demanded.
Corky shrugged. “We don’t know.” She pointed to the dark trees. “They all walked off that way.” She pointed.
“There’s a lake down there. Do you think that’s where they’re heading?” Debra asked.
“Maybe. Who knows? It’s just so weird,” Corky replied.
“Come on. We have to follow them,” Kimmy urged.
Debra turned to Corky. “Was Alex with them?”
Corky nodded. “Yeah. He was there. Jay too. The whole team.”
“And Alex didn’t tell you anything about a late-night party at the lake? He didn’t invite you?” Debra asked.
“No,” Corky replied quietly. “He never said a word about it.”
“Let’s go,” Kimmy urged. “If they get too far ahead, we’ll lose them.”
Debra shivered. “It’s so cold.”
“Come on,” Corky said, making her way across the lot. “It’ll be warmer if we move.”
A low concrete divider separated the parking lot from the woods. Corky and her friends stepped over it and began to follow a narrow, winding dirt path through the trees.
Their shoes scuffed softly on the hard ground. Pale light from a half moon filtered down through the bare trees, lighting the carpet of dead leaves at their feet.
Nothing is moving, Corky realized, pushing a tall clump of dead weeds out of her way. Not a branch. Not a twig. So eerily still. As if the trees are frozen in place.
To their left, Corky could see the dark outline of the tall cliffs that rose up over the water. The dirt path curved in the other direction, leading them down to the lake.
“Stay back in the trees,” Debra warned. “Don’t let them see us.”
“If they’re having a party, we should crash it!” Kimmy declared.
Something scampered through the dead leaves near Corky’s feet. Startled, she stumbled. She grabbed on to a slender tree trunk to steady herself.
“What was that?” she managed to cry out, holding a hand over her pounding heart.
“Probably a chipmunk or a field mouse or something,” Debra replied. “We are out in the woods, you know!”
“We should go back to bed,” Corky muttered. “This is crazy! If the others all want to freeze to death, I don’t see why we . . .” Her voice trailed off as the lake came into view up ahead.
Through the trees, she saw Lauren and Jay on the frozen water. They were moving in slow motion, dipping their heads and raising their arms awkwardly.
Corky took a few steps closer, staying in the darkness of the woods. Alex and Gary Brandt and Heather also moved in slow motion, side by side, holding hands, raising and lowering their arms as they moved.
They were all out on the lake, Corky saw. They were forming a circle. Their knees bent and their feet sliding slo
wly over the ice.
The moonlight washed over them, making their faces pale, making their blue shadows tilt and bend over the ice.
And their eyes! Corky felt fear stab her chest as she noticed their eyes. So wide, so vacant. Empty eyes. Unblinking. Staring unfocused like the glass eyes on dolls.
Around and around they danced in slow motion, their heads tilting one way, then another. They held hands and were facing out now, not looking at one another but moving in strange slow unison, as if all part of a single machine.
“What are they doing? What is that dance?” Kimmy whispered, bringing her face so close to Corky that she could feel the warmth of Kimmy’s breath on the side of her face.
Debra stirred beside them. Her eyes fixed coldly on the dancing figures, dancing so slowly, so robotlike, in complete silence.
The only sound, Corky realized, was that of the soft shuffle of shoes over ice.
Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.
“What are they doing?” Kimmy repeated shrilly.
“Don’t you know?” Debra murmured in a low, cold voice. “Don’t you see what has happened?”
Alex danced by, staring wide-eyed out at the trees, his expression a blank. He danced between Lauren and Jay, grasped their hands in his, raised them high as he moved in the tight, silent circle.
Heather moved past, dancing between two other players, her coat open, her hair wild about her face, her head tilting from side to side, in perfect unison with the others.
Their shadows dipped and turned, dark blue against the gray ice. Slowly, the dancers moved, as silent as shadows.
And watching them, Corky suddenly knew what was going on.
She understood the dance. Understood their vacant gazes. Understood it all.
She turned to her two friends. And the expressions of horror locked on their faces revealed that they understood too.
“The skating party,” Corky murmured.
Debra nodded solemnly. Kimmy let out a low cry.
“Remember? When we called up the spirit?” Corky continued in a trembling voice. “When we accidentally called up the evil from the river bottom?”
“We were pushed back,” Kimmy remembered, pressing her hands against her cheeks. “The three of us—we were knocked back over the ice, out of the way.”
“But the black smoke poured over them,” Debra continued, returning her eyes to the dancing figures on the lake. “We watched it. We watched it rise up from the river and pour out over the cheerleaders and the basketball players. And now—”
Debra stopped. Her expression changed as she squinted toward the lake.
Ferocious growls had broken the eerie silence.
Animal growls.
The dance ended. The circle of dancers broke apart.
The angry snarling grew louder. Closer.
And Corky saw an enormous black dog lumber onto the ice. Glaring at the dancers, it pulled back its lips, revealing a mouthful of long, sharp teeth. Its tail rose stiffly behind it.
The dog uttered a furious howl. Then it tensed its entire body, preparing to attack.
Without realizing it, Corky and her two friends drew closer, eager to see. “See?” Debra whispered. “The dog senses it. The dog senses that they’re evil! That’s why it’s attacking.”
The teens on the ice remained silent. They stared back at the raging dog with blank eyes, their faces as devoid of expression as during the slow dance.
No one retreated. No one took a step back.
The dog arched its back. Its black fur on end. It let out a snarl of fury. White spittle poured from its mouth as its jaws flew open.
It leaned back, preparing to pounce.
Suddenly, without signaling to each other, Jay and Ivy stepped forward.
As the ferocious dog leapt to attack, they caught it in midair. Jay grabbed the snarling dog’s front legs. Ivy wrapped her hands around the dog’s lower trunk.
The dog’s head snapped back. Frantically, it jabbed its snout forward, tried to clamp its teeth on Ivy’s arm. But the animal wasn’t quick enough.
Ivy and Jay heaved it up, straight up.
Corky gasped as the dog sailed high into the air. Higher than the dark trees on the shore.
Higher than any human could throw an enormous dog.
The animal disappeared against the blackness of the sky.
Then it came sailing back down onto the hard ice with a sickening crack.
The dazed creature uttered a weak cry. Hobbled to its legs and limped off the ice, its head lowered, tail tucked between its legs, whimpering as it dragged its bruised body away.
Jay and Ivy smiled at each other, a smile of triumph. The others watched without any emotion at all as the dog limped to the trees.
The animal’s low whimpers still floated on the air as the teens joined hands and began their dance again. Corky watched the circle of familiar faces, suddenly so unfamiliar, so strange.
So evil.
“They’re all possessed by the evil,” she whispered to Kimmy and Debra.
Debra nodded grimly, her eyes on the silent dancers. “Yes. It’s inside every one of them,” she murmured with a shudder. “Every one of them.”
“What are we going to do?” Kimmy demanded shrilly.
Corky replied with a low moan. She gaped in horror at the circle of dancers.
“Corky?” Kimmy cried. “Corky?”
But Corky didn’t answer.
She was staring straight ahead at the dancers. The dancers, who had suddenly stopped.
“They—they see us!” Corky stammered. “They’re coming for us!”
PART THREE
GOOD-BYE TIME
Chapter 24
AN INVITATION FROM ALEX
Corky watched as all the vacant sets of eyes turned to her. Watched the circle break. The hands let go. The dancers stopped their slow-motion movements—and started walking slowly, steadily, across the ice to Kimmy, Debra, and her.
As they walked, they bent their heads back and opened their mouths to join in a single shrill wail. An inhuman wail. A terrifying howl of warning.
“Run!” Corky choked out.
She turned and saw Debra making her way through the trees, ducking under low branches, frantically shoving shrubs and brambles away with both hands.
Off to her side, she saw Kimmy slip and fall.
Corky leaned forward and ran along the path, her heart pounding. She could feel the vacant, evil eyes on her back as she forced herself forward through the tangle of brambles and trees.
Kimmy scrambled to her feet and started to run, her eyes wild with fright, her hands outstretched as if reaching for safety.
The evil howl rose through the woods. Like the howl of a hungry wolf.
The sound grew sharper, closer, louder—until Corky was forced to clamp her hands over her ears while she ran.
She saw Debra up ahead, ducking low, dodging the tangle of dark shrubs and weeds. And then she lost her. Couldn’t see her anymore. Couldn’t hear her shoes on the hard ground.
All she could hear was the wail, the animal wail, the wail of evil.
Gasping for breath, Corky ran. A twig scraped her cheek. Her shoe sank into something soft and mushy. But she didn’t slow.
Beyond the trees, the parking lot came into focus, and beyond that, the back of the motel. A sharp pain stabbed her side. She glanced all around. Debra? Kimmy?
She couldn’t see them.
But she could hear the sirenlike howl, hear the footsteps of the possessed teens nearing the edge of the woods.
Her shoes scuffed loudly against the asphalt of the parking lot. The pain in her side grew sharper, made her cry out.
The police! I’ve got to phone the police! she told herself.
The motel office lights were out. Corky burst up to the door, grabbed the knob. Pulled. Pulled harder.
Locked.
Closed and locked.
Got to call the police!
She sucked in a deep breath of frozen air. Even
though the air was cold, her lungs burned. Turning away from the office, she began to jog around the side of the building.
To the front. To the highway.
I’ll flag down a car. A passing truck. I’ll tell them my friends and I need help. I’ll tell them we need the police.
Holding her side, the evil howling still swirling in her ears, Corky made her way to the front. Stepped into the blur of pink and blue neon light. Looked to the highway.
Black and silent.
No cars or trucks.
“Oh!” With a frantic cry, she turned—and saw the glass phone booth on the corner of the lot.
Yes!
Ignoring the pain in her side and the burning in her lungs, she dove forward, grabbed the glass door, pushed it in. Fell into the phone booth. Leaned heavily on the glass as she lifted the receiver.
I don’t have a quarter!
Trying to clear her mind. Trying to think with the howls rising all around her, with her heart thumping almost as loudly as the howls.
I don’t need a quarter to call the police.
All I have to do is—
She lifted the receiver to her ear.
Silence.
She pushed O.
Silence.
She pushed 911.
Silence.
It’s broken, she realized. The phone is dead.
Dead.
I’ll be dead, unless I can get away. . . .
She turned and pulled in the glass door to make her escape—and found Alex blocking her way.
He grinned at her, his blue eyes burning into hers. His blond hair, unbrushed as always, fell over his forehead. He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving under his bulky gray sweater.
“Alex—let me go!” Corky shrieked, desperately tugging at the door.
But he raised his hands on the frame of the booth and stood in her path, blocking the door with his body.
“Alex—please!” she begged.
His eyes narrowed sympathetically at her, crinkling.
I used to find that so cute, so attractive, Corky thought, gasping for breath, staring back at him in horror.
“Corky, what’s wrong?” Alex asked softly.
“Just let me go!” she pleaded, trying to shove him out of the way with both hands.