Party Summer

  He seemed displeased by her remark. He made an unpleasant face and, tapping the rifle noisily against the floor, stepped up to the foot of her ladder.

  Suddenly frightened, Cari held her breath. She had the feeling he was going to climb up after her. Or grab her legs.

  But he stopped a foot away and stared up at the molding.

  Chill out, Cari told herself. You’re losing it, kid. Edward is a little weird, but that’s no reason to start imagining such crazy things.

  He removed a handkerchief from one of the bulging pockets in his safari jacket and blew his nose loudly. Then he wiped his mustache, balled up the handkerchief, and shoved it into another pocket.

  “Do a good job,” he said, turning back to her.

  “Yes. Uh … we will,” Cari said, not sure how to reply to that remark.

  “You see my brother?” he asked, his eyes taking in the empty dining room.

  “No. Not this morning. He wasn’t at breakfast,” Cari said.

  “I must see him,” Edward said thoughtfully. His mind seemed to drift away to other matters.

  “I’ll tell him you’re looking for him if he comes in here,” Cari said.

  “Do a good job,” he repeated. And then, before she could reply, he quickly added, “I hope you and your friends will be here for the party.”

  The party?

  Cari felt a sudden feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. Edward’s words made her remember the woman she had heard in Simon’s room, the woman pleading, “Please—no party.” The woman had sounded so desperate, so frightened.

  “Please—no party!”

  “What party?” Cari asked Edward.

  “I insist you stay for the party. Make no plans to leave,” he said, and walked from the room.

  Am I doing the right thing? Cari asked herself.

  When Eric asked her to go for a late-night walk on the beach, she hesitated. They had been friends for so long, she wasn’t sure she wanted anything more to develop.

  A summer romance.

  That wasn’t the idea of coming to Piney Island. All four of them had agreed. Well, they hadn’t actually said it out loud. It was just sort of understood.

  They were coming to meet new kids.

  But there are no new kids, Cari thought. And Eric looks so cute. His face is already tanned. His long hair smells so clean, like the sea air. He looks like a real beach bum, she thought, in his sleeveless blue T-shirt, faded denim cutoffs, and sandals.

  “Where are Jan and Craig?” she asked, trying to decide whether or not to go with him. She wanted to go, but she was just trying to figure out if there were any major compelling reasons not to.

  “They’re both completely wrecked,” he said, smiling. “They went to their rooms.”

  “Everyone seemed really exhausted at dinner,” Cari said. “Simon too. He barely said three words.”

  “And where was his brother Edward?” Eric asked. “So far, Cari, you’re the only one who’s seen him. Weird!”

  “I know,” Cari said. “Jan, of course, thinks Edward is a ghost.”

  “Jan thinks I’m a ghost!” Eric cracked.

  “Well, she has an excuse for acting weird—she’s really worried about her aunt,” Cari said. “Jan tried calling at Aileen’s all day. But the phone just rings and rings. Nobody answers. Rose should have been here by now. Where is she? And why doesn’t she call?”

  “Weird,” Eric repeated. “So, how about this walk? You and me. What do you say?”

  He was so cute. How could she resist?

  Besides, what was wrong with a nice walk before bedtime on a beautiful, moonlit beach?

  And the beach truly was beautiful. Holding Eric’s hand, she stared out at the reflection of the full moon rippling in the rolling, dark bay waters. “It’s so bright,” she said. “Everything is so clear.”

  “Yeah. I like the way wet sand feels on my toes,” Eric said. “You know—that cold, soggy feeling.”

  “You’re very poetic tonight,” Cari cracked.

  They had stopped at the water’s edge, but he hadn’t let go of her hand.

  Cari turned to look up at the hotel. A soft wind was blowing the tall weeds that climbed the sloping dune. The weeds seemed to bend in waves. Everything seemed so soft, so liquid. The quiet waves, the shadowy sand, the bending weeds.

  It was as if the pale moonlight had softened everything, even the darkness.

  Eric kissed her, catching her by surprise.

  His lips felt hard against hers.

  No, she thought.

  This wasn’t the idea.

  This wasn’t what was supposed to happen.

  Yes, she thought.

  Yes, it’s okay.

  She kissed him back.

  He had his hands on her bare shoulders. His hands felt so warm, so safe.

  The kiss lasted a long, long time.

  A shuffling noise from the rocks near the dock made her pull away.

  “What was that?”

  Was someone watching them?

  “I think it was just water hitting the rock,” Eric said, his face still close to hers.

  She could still taste his lips on hers. Salty.

  “Let’s go back inside,” she said, suddenly chilled.

  “Sure.”

  He took her hand and they made their way up to the hotel. Cari stopped halfway up the dune to check out the rocks. No one there.

  The only sound now was the steady splash of the low waves against the shore and the whisper of the wind blowing through the beach grass. So why did she have the frightening feeling that she and Eric weren’t alone?

  Ghosts, she thought.

  They’re everywhere.

  Still holding Eric’s hand, she ran the rest of the way, not looking back once. She didn’t feel safe until she was back in her room with the door securely locked.

  Chapter 11

  A DARK SECRET

  “Let’s get to work,” Eric said, standing up from the dining-room table and stretching. He studied the sky beyond the windows. “At least it won’t be too hot today with the sun behind those clouds.”

  Cari took a last bite of blueberry muffin, then followed them to the back of the room. She bent down to open the tool chest on the floor beside the scaffolding Martin and Eric had rigged up. “Come on, guys,” she said. “Who’s going to get up there first?” She raised her eyes to their unfinished work. They had managed to remove the paint from one ten-foot section of ceiling molding. But there were still two large sections to be done on that one side.

  “There’s only room for two on the scaffold,” Eric said. “Why don’t Craig and I start, and then you and Jan can take over when our arms get tired. Or one of you can use the ladder.”

  Cari nodded her agreement. She helped Eric lift the heavy electrical sander up to the scaffold floor. Their hands touched. He gazed into her eyes. She thought for a brief second that he was going to kiss her. She knew they were both thinking of their walk along the beach the past night. Thinking of their kiss.

  Eric’s face reddened and he backed away, turning to Craig. “Okay, man, let’s get to work.” He climbed up onto the scaffold and helped Craig up after him.

  “This thing is kinda wobbly,” Craig said, glancing down at Cari.

  “No, it isn’t. You’re kinda wobbly!” Eric said. He hoisted up the sander and began to raise it to the molding. “Hey, it’s broken.”

  “It isn’t plugged in,” Craig said, staring at the plug, which was lying beside the outlet on the floor.

  “Hi, guys.” Jan came up behind Cari, a worried look on her face.

  “Did you reach your aunt?”

  “No. No answer,” Jan told her, making a face. “It rang and rang, but no one picked up. I just don’t understand it.”

  “Is Simon going to Provincetown to see what the story is?”

  Jan shrugged. “I don’t know. I searched for him when I got off the phone, but couldn’t find him.” She said something else, but Cari couldn’t hear
it. Eric had started up the sander, and its deafening whine as it whirred against the molding drowned out Jan’s words.

  Both Jan and Cari took a step back. Paint dust filled the air. Cari reached into the tool chest for two protective masks. She started to hold one out to Jan when Craig screamed.

  “Whoa! Look out!”

  Startled, she raised her head in time to see the scaffold sway, first to the right, then to the left.

  Then, as both boys screamed, it collapsed with a loud cracking sound.

  It all happened so fast, Cari wasn’t sure it was really falling. Eric, his mouth open in shock, held tightly onto the loud, whirring sander. Craig, screaming at the top of his lungs, grabbed at the wall as if trying to hold himself up.

  The scaffolding and the two boys hit the floor with a loud crash.

  Eric toppled onto his back, the sander leaping from his hand. It bounced once, then stopped at Cari’s feet.

  Craig somehow managed to stay on his feet. “Oh, wow!” He was obviously stunned though. He had pulled off a section of the flowered wallpaper as he fell.

  “Are you okay?” Cari and Jan both screamed.

  The boys slowly nodded. “Yeah. Fine, I guess,” Eric said, getting to his feet, testing his right shoulder.

  “Yeah. I’m okay too. But look at this,” Craig said, the wallpaper still gripped tightly in his hand.

  Where the wallpaper had been stood a wooden door.

  “Somebody wallpapered right over a door!” Craig exclaimed, finally dropping the wallpaper.

  “I guess that big picture covered it up. Weird,” Eric muttered, still working his shoulder muscles. He moved up to the door and pulled away more of the wallpaper.

  “Why would anyone do that?” Cari asked, stepping closer.

  “Get away from it,” Jan said, surprising everyone with the urgency of her words. “It had to be covered for a reason. A good reason.”

  “Give us a break, Jan,” Eric said, rolling his eyes.

  “Don’t touch the door. I’m warning you,” Jan said, very pale and frightened. “It’s evil. I can feel it.”

  Eric laughed. Craig laughed too, but uncertainly. He took a step back.

  Cari put a hand on Jan’s shoulder. “If Jan feels so strongly about it, maybe we should just forget about the door,” she told the boys.

  “Yeah, maybe,” Craig agreed.

  But Eric ignored them all. He began tearing away the remaining wallpaper. In a few seconds the entire door was exposed. The wood was smooth and shiny, almost new looking, probably because it hadn’t been exposed to the air.

  “Let’s see what’s behind Door Number One!” Eric exclaimed.

  There was no doorknob. Just a small hole where a knob had once been attached. Turning to grin back at Cari, Eric reached his fingers into the hole and pulled.

  “No—don’t!” Jan warned.

  Eric ignored her.

  The door pulled open easily.

  “Eric—please!” Jan wailed.

  “There’s some kind of passageway back there,” Eric said, poking his head into the open doorway.

  “Huh? Passageway?”

  The other three stepped forward to peer into the dark tunnel.

  And with a hideous ear-shattering screech, something leaped out of the darkness at them.

  Chapter 12

  TRAPPED

  “Help! It’s a bat!”

  All four of them screamed and dodged away. Cari heard the flapping of its wings and felt a cold whoosh of air against her cheek before she saw it swoop out of the doorway, narrowly missing her.

  She screamed again and hit the floor.

  “It’s okay. It flew out the window,” Craig shouted, sounding very relieved.

  All four of them regrouped at the doorway, breathing hard.

  “I hate bats!” Cari declared. “Bats and spiders.” She shuddered.

  “There may be more bats in there,” Jan said, her skin very pale. “Let’s just close the door and pretend it doesn’t exist.”

  “Oh, come on, Jan,” Cari said impatiently. “This is kind of nifty, don’t you think? A hidden door. A secret passageway. This is your kind of thing, isn’t it?”

  Jan didn’t reply. She just stared into the darkness beyond the open door.

  “This isn’t like you,” Cari continued. “You should be the one urging us on to explore the hidden passageway.”

  Smiling, Eric gestured with both hands, as if to say, “After you.”

  “I just have a bad feeling about this,” Jan said, shaking her head. “A premonition. Don’t you ever have premonitions?” She gripped the ivory skull on the chain around her neck and squeezed it hard.

  “Sometimes,” Cari said. “But, come on. This could be fun. Maybe we’ll find where the ghost lives, Jan.”

  “Maybe you’ll find a room full of ghosts, my child,” Eric said, doing a terrible Count Dracula impersonation.

  “And ghouls,” Craig added. “Don’t forget the ghouls.”

  “Come on, boys and ghouls. Let’s check it out,” Cari urged. “How often do you find secret hallways hidden behind the wallpaper?”

  “This is the first one I’ve found in days!” Eric joked.

  Cari pushed past him and peered into the passageway. It was a low, narrow tunnel. The walls appeared to be made of plaster—the floor concrete. Dim yellow light came from somewhere at the far end, around a corner, maybe. “There are two flashlights in the tool chest,” Cari told Eric. “I think we’re going to need them.”

  Craig pulled the flashlights from the chest and handed one to Cari. “What if Simon comes in?” he asked.

  “We’ll tell him we took a break to go exploring,” Cari said. “I wonder if he knows about this secret passageway. I wonder if Martin knows. He’s the one who told us to start in this corner, remember.” She turned to Jan, who had stepped cautiously through the doorway and was standing right behind her. “You okay?”

  “Yeah. Fine,” Jan said dryly.

  “You still have a premonition?” Cari asked.

  “Yeah. But I’m starting to get into this,” Jan said. “This is my kind of thing, after all.” She forced a smile to her face.

  The two flashlights threw down bright cones of light as they began to walk down the dark, empty tunnel. The concrete floor felt hard under their sneakers. It was cool and very damp. Cari reached out and felt the wall. It was wet.

  “What’s that?” Eric cried.

  Something walked into the wavering spotlight of Craig’s flashlight.

  “Yuck!” Cari cried. “That’s the biggest bug I’ve ever seen. What is it?”

  “It’s as big as a tarantula,” Craig said, almost in awe.

  “Squish it,” Eric said, his voice a whisper.

  “You squish it!” Craig replied. He kept his light on it. The enormous beetlelike bug disappeared around a corner.

  “It wasn’t a spider—was it?” Cari asked in a tiny, frightened voice.

  “It was some other kind of giant bug,” Eric said, not very reassuringly.

  “I … I want to go back,” Cari said, suddenly overcome with fear.

  “Huh?” Eric cried, taking her flashlight from her. “Come on, Cari. We just started.” He took her hand and led her forward.

  After a while the tunnel curved to the right, and then sloped down. They walked slowly, cautiously, keeping the two cones of light steady in front of them. After a few minutes they came to a fork. Two passageways led from the first in different directions.

  “We’re going down,” Eric said. “I’ll bet one of these tunnels leads down through the dunes to the water.”

  “Wonder why it was built,” Craig said, keeping close to Eric as they followed the passageway to the right.

  “Probably for escape,” Eric said.

  “Escape from what?” Cari asked.

  “Actually, there used to be a lot of smuggling in this area,” Jan told them. “This tunnel may be an old smugglers’ tunnel. The smugglers could sneak their cargo right
from the beach into the inn without being seen. They designed them like mazes with lots of twists and turns in case they were followed.”

  They followed the curve of the tunnel, which branched off into two other tunnels. “Which way, Captain Kidd?” Craig asked Jan.

  “Let’s take the one on the right,” Jan said.

  They turned right and walked a few hundred yards more.

  Suddenly Cari uttered a soft cry.

  “Cari, what’s wrong?” Jan asked. All four of them had stopped.

  “Those … webs!” Cari pointed up.

  They pointed the two flashlights to the ceiling where giant cobwebs were strung so thick the light couldn’t penetrate them.

  Cari gasped aloud, then felt her breath catch in her throat.

  “Where there are cobwebs there are bound to be spiders,” Eric said, shining the flashlight up at the webs.

  “And if there are spiders,” Jan added, “there has to be a way for them to get in here. I’ll bet I’m right. I’ll bet this tunnel leads to the beach.”

  Sure enough, enormous, pale spiders, the size of grapes, hovered just above their heads. The spiders swayed to and fro, as if blown by an invisible air current. As they swayed, their slender legs curled and uncurled in the light of the flashlights, as if beckoning to the four intruders.

  With Jan in the lead, the four friends began to run past them. They continued to follow the twisting tunnel until they came to a wooden doorway, set into the plaster wall.

  It was open a few inches, pitch black inside.

  “Anybody home?”

  Jan knocked on the door.

  The sound of the knock echoed eerily down the empty passageway.

  “Anybody in there?” Jan called again.

  “What are you waiting for?” Cari asked impatiently. She stepped in front of Jan and impulsively pushed the door open.

  It creaked noisily, as if in protest.

  Cari peered into the room behind the doorway. “I don’t believe this!”

  It was a small room, just big enough for the four of them to squeeze in, bare except for a small wooden table with benches in the center. The walls were dark, red in the light of the flashlights, as if blood had dripped down them.