beautifulgollum [moderator]
I wouldn’t call it whining, YCIC. She seems like a smart girl to me. And it’s great to have someone with the show blogging about this stuff!
spicychai [member]
too bad she’ll be gone after the second episode. along with her dad.
I scrolled down the thread, then hopped over to my blog. Maytrix and AntiSimon had left comments on my last post: “wow, thanks for sharing!” and “great posts, keep ’em coming!” Grandma commented, too—“Love it! Have you asked Sam about the messages? (And where are my pics??)”
I clicked back over to the forums, relieved I hadn’t described the video in detail in my post. I just said it was extra footage they never used. It wasn’t my fault the video had started playing, but I kind of didn’t want the rest of the crew to know I’d seen the lighthouse séance. After my chat with Mi Jin, I couldn’t help wondering what the fans would think if I posted about what really happened during the dead air.
Watching the fans talk about me was bizarre, too. Most of them were nice, but the “some kid whining about a broken laptop” comment was pretty irritating. I didn’t say it was broken, I said it started playing a random video before turning itself off. And I so did not whine about it. But that wasn’t the comment that bothered me the most.
Too bad she’ll be gone after the second episode. I pictured how stressed Dad had been on the phone just now. Roland said they did their best to make things entertaining—were they going to fire my dad as part of a publicity stunt?
At four o’clock, I leaned back and rubbed my eyes. I’d been poring over the P2P forums, looking for anything I could find about the curse and the former hosts. There was a lot. These fans were seriously chatty. I’d just clicked on yet another thread about Sam and Emily when I remembered Thomas Cooper had probably arrived.
A minute later, I stepped off the elevator and froze when someone shouted my name.
“Kat!” A round-faced girl ran toward me, her curly brown ponytail bouncing. “I’m Hailey Cooper and oh my God I think it’s so cool that you started that blog about the show and is it really true that a ghost printed out a message for you and what did it say?”
Without waiting for a response, she threw her arms around me in a giant hug. Bewildered, I stared over her shoulder. Everyone in the lobby was watching.
“Everyone” included Dad, the entire crew, Oscar, a stern-looking man in a rumpled suit, and a boy my age with curly brown hair just like the girl currently wrapped around me like a spider monkey.
I cleared my throat. “Um . . . hi.”
“Mr. Cooper, this is my daughter, Kat.” Dad stepped forward, motioning me over. “Kat, apparently Hailey here is a fan of your blog.”
“No kidding,” I said dryly. Hailey giggled, pulling away so I could shake Mr. Cooper’s hand.
“She’s been blogging about the show for friends and family back home,” Dad told Mr. Cooper, who nodded with this expression like he couldn’t care less.
“That’s nice,” he said without giving me so much as a second glance. “Lidia, can we—”
“A bunch of fans found it, though!” Hailey interrupted, beaming at her father. “They love it!”
“It’s true,” her brother chimed in. “They linked it on the P2P boards.”
Roland groaned. “Did they really?” I saw him and Jess exchange a look.
“They did, and a couple of them commented on her post!” Hailey informed him before turning back to me. “Seriously, though, what was the message? The first one, with the printer?”
“Um . . .” I could feel Oscar’s eyes on me. I still wasn’t entirely positive the printer hadn’t been another one of his pranks. “Nothing, really. Just . . . gibberish.”
“Oh.” Hailey’s face fell. “Still, though, it sounded so creepy, plus the camera thing—Mi Jin, did it really have thirteen Xs?”
Mi Jin grinned. “It totally did.”
“Awesome! Are you bringing the Ouija board to Crimptown tonight?” Hailey plowed on without pausing for breath. “Can we try it before you guys start filming? Did you tell Kat and Oscar about that time Jamie contacted that dead lady in the hotel in London? Jamie is so good at Ouija, Kat. You’ve got to see it. It’s amazing.”
Stifling a laugh, I glanced at her brother. “It’s true,” he agreed, his expression as serious as Hailey’s. “I’m the Ouija master.” Then he smiled at me.
It was one of those happy smiles that makes you smile back like a reflex. And not that I’d thought he was bad-looking before or anything, but his whole face kind of lit up, and . . .
. . . it was a nice smile, that’s all I’m saying.
“So, tonight maybe we can contact Sonja Hillebrandt!” Hailey exclaimed. “And Red Leer! See, I know the names and all about the history of Crimptown because—”
“Hailey,” Mr. Cooper said with a sigh.
“Hold that thought, sweetie.” Smiling, Jess ruffled Hailey’s hair. “Tom, we’ve got the conference room all ready—should we meet you there in ten minutes?”
“Sounds good. I’ll get our room key.” As Mr. Cooper headed over to the desk, the rest of the crew filed slowly across the lobby. I snuck a glance at Dad, but his inner anchor had taken over—he didn’t seem nervous at all. Everyone else looked a bit on edge, though. (Well, except for Sam, who wore his usual glazed “my mind is in the realm of the spirits” expression. He started wandering into the breakfast room until Roland grabbed his sleeve and led him down the hall.)
As soon as the adults were out of earshot, Oscar turned to me. “Why’d you lie?”
“Excuse me?”
“The message, the one that printed—you said it was a bunch of gibberish. It wasn’t.”
“So you did type it up, then,” I said triumphantly.
Oscar smirked. “Uh, no? You told me yesterday, right after the camera freaked out.”
“Oh, right.” Dang. I pressed my lips together, aware of Hailey and Jamie looking back and forth between us like this was a ping-pong match. “It’s nothing. I just didn’t want to bother Lidia and everyone else with it.”
“So there really was a message? What did it say?” Hailey asked, her eyes round. Glancing over to make sure their father was still preoccupied, I pulled the paper from my pocket and unfolded it. Hailey, Jamie, and Oscar huddled in to read.
“Keep her away from the medium,” Hailey whispered slowly, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. “Whoa. So it’s about Sam; he’s the medium . . . who’s the her?”
I shrugged. “No idea.”
“And it wasn’t on the screen? It just printed out?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s with thirteen Xs?” Jamie asked, and I gave Oscar a sidelong look. But either he was innocent or he had a killer poker face.
“Camera malfunction,” I said carefully. “It showed up on the viewfinder for a minute or two.”
“This is excellent!” Hailey clapped her hands in delight. “You should add this to your blog post, Kat. Like, take a picture of it or something. Oh, oh, oh, you should take a camera down to Crimptown tonight, too!” she cried, and I felt a pang of longing at the thought of all the potential eerie pictures. “I bet the fans would love to see photos before the episode comes on.”
I laughed. “Fans? Like, two people from the forums left comments, that’s it.”
“Yeah, but . . .” Hailey’s eyes darted over to her father.
Jamie cleared his throat. “We found your blog yesterday when they started talking about it in the forums, so we started hyping it up to Dad a little.”
“A lot,” Hailey corrected him. “Not that he listened. He never . . .” Jamie shot her a look and she fell silent, glowering.
“Why were you telling him about it in the first place?” I asked curiously.
“Well, because it could bring more fans in,
and that couldn’t hurt . . .” Jamie trailed off, looking uncomfortable.
Oscar shoved his hands in his pockets. “You think your dad’s going to cancel the show, don’t you.”
Jamie winced. “Well . . . maybe. Fright TV is talking about making the Halloween episode the last one. They’ve got some new series about vampires they want to put in P2P’s time slot.”
“But that’s the next episode,” I said, struggling to keep my voice low. “In Brussels.”
“It’s not definite yet,” Jamie assured me. “That’s what they’re meeting about. When Dad called to tell Lidia, she swore they’d figure out a way to improve the ratings. And he said they’d have to try something new, because what they’ve been doing isn’t working. So Hailey and I thought maybe your blog might be the ‘something new’ that saves the show.”
I laughed dryly. “Thanks, but doubtful. That blog’s really just for my grandma and a few friends.”
“Let’s go, kids!” Mr. Cooper was heading toward the elevator, pulling his suitcase behind him. “I promised your mom we’d call when we got in.”
Jamie picked up his suitcase. “See you tonight?” he asked, looking from me to Oscar.
“Definitely,” I said, and Oscar nodded. Jamie smiled, I smiled back—seriously, reflex—then he and Hailey followed their dad onto the elevator.
The doors slid closed, leaving Oscar and me alone in the lobby.
“It’s over,” he said, pulling an iPod out of his pocket. “Two episodes, then we’re going home.”
“Positive thinker, huh?”
“Just realistic.” Oscar plopped down on one of the armchairs. “Can’t run away from your mom forever.”
It was a few seconds before his words sank in.
“Excuse me?” I stared at him until he looked up. “What do you know about my mother?”
Oscar shrugged. “Yesterday you said your mom left, and you seemed pretty bitter about it. If you go home, you’ll have to deal with her getting . . .”
I crossed my arms. “Getting what?”
For a second, I could have sworn I saw a flicker of guilt in his expression. Then he rolled his eyes. “I don’t know. Getting on your case about wearing all those stupid T-shirts?”
My mouth opened and closed a few times before I managed to speak. “How did you convince Lidia the reason you got expelled for fighting was because you were bullied?” I snapped. “Obviously it was the other way around.”
Without giving him a chance to respond, I crossed the lobby and jabbed the elevator buttons, fuming all the way back to my room.
CHAPTER TEN
FROM BEYOND THE OUIJA BOARD
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected], [email protected]
Subject: stuff
I’m spending the night in the “haunted” tunnels tonight, so I figured I should send you guys one last e-mail before Red Leer gets me.
Mark—sorry you got grounded. And I’m pretty sure there’s no way they’d let me actually be on the show. Trish—I haven’t gotten to see much of Rotterdam yet, but the waterfront is really pretty. The cast and crew are cool—especially Mi Jin. You’d both love her. (Mark, she brought a huge backpack filled with nothing but comic books; she’s totally obsessed. Maybe even more than you, if that’s possible.) Lidia’s nephew Oscar is with us, too. He’s our age, but he’s really annoying. Too bad.
The executive VP of Fright TV is here and he brought his kids—I just met them. Jamie’s thirteen and Hailey’s eleven, and they’re really nice. They’re both WAY into the show, and they found my blog. They think just because a few P2P fans from the forums like it, maybe the ratings will get better. Aaaand they said the network’s probably going to cancel the show after the Halloween episode. So. That’s not good.
So, you guys saw my mom out with Grandma the other night? That’s the third sighting since August. I bet she thadfewfwidskefaszaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
I woke up with my cheek pressed against Dad’s laptop. Blinking, I stared blearily at the screen. Apparently I’d ended up face-planting on the keyboard. Through my sleep haze, I noticed the sticky notes with the hotel’s logo printed along the bottom. On the top was a message in Dad’s neat script.
Heading down to Crimptown early. Everyone’s meeting in the theater lobby next door at nine—if you’d rather stay in tonight, call Lidia’s cell to let me know. The front desk can connect you. If you do come, bring your camera! Grandma would love to see some pics. :)
Stay in my room while everyone else spends the night in a haunted tunnel system beneath Rotterdam? Sorry, Dad, that’s not why I signed up for this adventure. I shot to my feet, staring at the clock—five to nine. Dad had placed the Elapse out on the dresser where I couldn’t miss it.
Mirror check: My hair was smashed flat on the right side, sticking up on the left side. My eyes were pink and glazed over. Sweet. Nothing in the tunnels could possibly look any scarier than me.
There was no time to shower, so I swiped on some deodorant and swapped Bates Motel for the least wrinkled T-shirt in my suitcase (Zombies Are People, Too!). Four minutes later, I burst through the theater’s front doors, still trying to smooth down my hair. Normally I’d just braid it, but that wasn’t exactly an option now that it didn’t even reach my shoulders. At some point I’d have to figure out another way to keep it out of my face.
Dad and the rest of the crew were deep in discussion with a guy I didn’t recognize, surrounded by tons of equipment. Not far from them, Oscar stood talking to Jamie and Hailey. He said something that made them laugh, and I felt a sudden flash of irritation. Did Oscar get along with everyone except me?
“What’s with the roar face?” Mi Jin appeared at my side, looping a cable around her arm into a neat coil.
I tore my eyes off Oscar and the Coopers. “What?”
“You look pretty ticked off.”
“Oh.” I shrugged. “It’s nothing.”
“Okay,” Mi Jin said easily. “So, are you excited about tonight? I brought the Ouija board!”
“Cool! Do you use it on the show?”
“Oh, no way,” she replied. “It’s just for you guys. You’ve got to stay off camera, you know. Figured I’d bring some entertainment in case you get bored.”
“Ah.” I glanced over at the Coopers again, and this time, Hailey spotted me.
“Over here, Kat!” she yelled, waving wildly. Jamie waved, too, and I found myself wishing I’d spent that extra minute putting a comb to good use.
“Well, go over there,” Mi Jin said, nudging my arm. “Don’t be shy.”
I snorted. “I’m not shy. I just figure I’m about to spend the whole night around Oscar—no reason to start any earlier than necessary.” Mi Jin pursed her lips together like she was trying not to smile, and I sighed. “What?”
“Well . . .” She finished looping the cable and carefully pulled the coil off her arm. “That’s pretty much what he said about you right before you got here.”
“What?” Turning, I glared at Oscar, but he was too busy blabbing away with Jamie and Hailey to notice. “See? I told you he was a jerk. I can’t—”
“Hang on there, Miss Hypocrite,” Mi Jin teased, zipping her camera bag closed. “You said the same thing, after all.”
“Who’s a hypocrite?” Roland appeared at Mi Jin’s side, sucker sticking out of his mouth. “This one?” He gave me a pointed look, and I scowled.
“Kat and Oscar got off to a bad start,” Mi Jin informed him. “They think they don’t like each other.” I opened my mouth, but Roland beat me to it.
“Wrong,” he said, taking the camera bag from Mi Jin. “They really don’t like each other.”
I blinked in surprise. “Yeah, we don’t.”
Mi Jin sighed. “But why not? You’re so much alike!”
“That’s ex
actly why.” Crunching his sucker, Roland grinned at me. “Something wrong?”
“Um . . . Oscar and I are not alike,” I said, vaguely aware that my voice had risen in both volume and pitch. “At all.”
Roland studied me for a moment. “I bet your last report card was all Bs.”
Taken aback, I glanced at Mi Jin. “Did you tell him that?” I asked, and she shook her head. Roland pulled the sucker out of his mouth and smiled.
“You’re smart but you don’t study,” he told me. “You figure why bother when you know you can at least pass, right? You usually take charge when you’re in a group—teachers like you because they think you’re a leader, but the real reason you do it is you’d rather delegate the work than actually do it yourself. You get along fine with almost everyone, but you have very few friends you really trust. And if someone betrays that trust, you’re done—no second chances.”
He smiled smugly before popping the sucker back in his mouth. Mi Jin let out a low whistle.
“How’d you know all that?” she asked Roland, clearly impressed. He shrugged.
“Back when I was a therapist, I could diagnose new patients before they finished introducing themselves,” he replied. “And everything I just said about her? Oscar’s exactly the same.”
Mi Jin’s eyes widened. “Seriously? Whoa.”
“Wait, just . . . hang on,” I sputtered, my face hot. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“Sure it does,” Roland replied. “It’s obvious you both have trust issues. You’re classic cases.”
“Not the trust thing. You said Oscar and I don’t like each other because we’re alike,” I said loudly. “And let’s just—let’s just pretend you got it all right, everything you said. Why wouldn’t I like someone who was just like me?”
Roland flashed his purple-toothed grin. “Aha. Now you’re thinking like a psychologist.”
“All right, guys, we’re moving!” Jess called. Roland winked at me before heading over to the rest of the crew, and once again I had no idea if he was mocking me.
Mi Jin thumped me on the back, laughing. “Look at you, all shell-shocked. Was that stuff really true?” I shoved my hands in my jacket pockets without responding, and her eyebrow ring shot up. “Well, I guess that answers that.”
Dead Air Page 7