by R. L. Stine
She scrubbed her mouth with her sleeve. Then a realization hit her.
The trees were bleeding!
Chapter
16
Jenna reeled away from the tree. Blood spattered her gown, her face, her arms. She wanted to scream. Instead, she pressed both hands over her mouth.
If she made a sound, someone … something might hear.
The air felt charged, as if lightning might strike at any moment.
But lightning could never charge the air with this eerie energy. Jenna knew it instinctively.
Something more gathered here. Something wicked and vile.
She could feel it watching her. Watching. And waiting. Its evil vibrations pulsed in the air.
Every moment, it grew stronger.
She tried to run, but her legs felt wooden. Lifeless.
She couldn’t move.
She noticed a faint movement on the front wall of the mausoleum. A crack. Even as her mind tried to make sense of that, the crack widened.
No, not widened, she realized. Darkened.
Something thick and red welled up from the crack. More cracks appeared. Drops became rivulets, which joined to become streams. Soon the walls were running wet with blood.
Blood. Blood dripping from the trees, blood running from the crypt to form a glistening black pool just in front of the door. The stone angel’s reflection shimmered in its depths.
Whirling, Jenna raced for the gate. She dodged through the headstones, slipping, sliding, clutching at anything she could to keep her balance.
Behind her, something rustled.
She cast a glance over her shoulder. The mist had risen higher, almost obscuring the headstones. Below it, running along the ground, was another kind of mist.
A black mist. Shadows.
They were coming after her. She could see dark tendrils coiling along the ground, swallowing her footprints.
A branch snagged her skirt and she stumbled. She hit the hard ground face first.
“No,” she gasped. “Please, no!”
She scrambled onto her hands and knees. With a quick glance she saw the black mist closing in on her. It came boiling over the top of a headstone just a few yards away. The putrid smell of rot and waste washed over her. She gagged and coughed, forcing herself to crawl forward. Inch by inch.
A few moments more, and it would reach her. Cover her. Consume her.
Jenna staggered to her feet. But the moment she tried to take a step, she found herself still caught by the branch. Bending, she groped to free herself.
But her fingertips didn’t feel a tree branch clinging to her skirt. She touched something cold and very smooth. Jenna felt the hair rise up on the nape of her neck.
She tugged at her skirt and finally looked down.
And saw the bony, white skeleton hand that held her in its grasp.
Chapter
17
Sobbing in terror, Jenna yanked hard on her skirt. Up ahead, she could see the black mist quickly oozing toward her.
Terror surged through her. With a gasp, she tore loose from the bony fingers and hurled herself backward.
Panting and clawing at the soft dirt, Jenna scrambled away on hands and knees. Then, leaping to her feet, she raced toward the cemetery gate. She didn’t know why, but she felt sure that if she could just get past that entrance, she would be safe.
The cemetery gate loomed up eerily in the fog. Moisture glistened on the iron curlicues and dripped from the arch. Jenna hurled herself toward it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a single thick tendril of black mist snake toward her.
To drag her back.
With a desperate lunge, she flung herself at the gate. The doors crashed open. She hurtled through, landing hard on the road beyond. Gasping, she leaped up and slammed the gate closed.
Just in time, she thought, as the squirming blackness reached the gate. Almost overwhelmed by the awful stench of it, she staggered backward.
The shadows oozed and squirmed against the gate. But they didn’t come past it. Some invisible barrier kept them imprisoned in the graveyard.
“I made it!” she gasped, hardly believing her luck.
Whirling around, she headed toward home.
She had to help Hallie.
♦ ♦ ♦
It started to rain again, a steady downpour that soaked Jenna to the skin. Lightning slashed across the clouds. She hurried toward the back of the Sheridans’ house, anxious to get inside before the next thunderstorm hit.
But even in the midst of the storm, everything looked so peaceful here. Normal. It seemed impossible to Jenna that horror thrived so near.
“Nothing seems to be impossible in Shadyside,” she muttered under her breath.
She started to open the door. What would she tell the Sheridans? she wondered. They must be frantic, wondering where she’d disappeared to.
As she hesitated in the doorway, she caught sight of a pale figure, flitting through the trees behind the house. Her heart stopped.
For a moment, she expected to see the stone angel come flapping out of the woods, all fangs and claws and staring, empty eyes.
Lightning flashed, and Jenna glimpsed a mass of blond curls around the figure’s head.
Hallie.
Clad only in her nightgown, she stumbled around the yard in the storm.
Jenna ran toward her. “Hallie!” she called.
Maybe she’s walking in her sleep, Jenna thought. But an even worse thought lanced through her mind: Or maybe the Fears are calling her.
The other girl flashed a glance over her shoulder. Then she started to run. Dressed in only the long white gown, Jenna thought she looked like a ghost flitting through the trees.
“Hallie!” Jenna cried again. “Wait for me!”
The rain pelted down hard now, almost blinding Jenna. She pushed herself to keep up with Hallie’s swiftly moving shape. Sick with horror, she realized where Hallie was going.
The cemetery.
“No, Hallie!” she shouted. “You can’t go there. Stop! Listen to me. Hallieeee!”
The wind caught Jenna’s words and tossed them back at her. Hallie swiftly flew ahead of her, as though she’d become part of the storm.
Jenna heard a huge bolt of lightning crackle overhead and in the sudden flash of light, she caught a glimpse of the cemetery gates. The misty shadows were gone. But Jenna knew they still waited. Watched and waited, there in the graveyard.
For Hallie, and for her.
“No!” she cried.
Hallie reached the gate. Grasping the latch, she started to open it. Jenna pushed herself to catch up. She hurled her body against the gate, slamming it closed again.
The other girl spun toward her. Jenna saw no spark of recognition in Hallie’s blank eyes. And not a single spark of emotion.
Jenna faced her. “Hallie,” she panted. “Can you hear me?”
Hallie stared at Jenna, her blue eyes huge and glassy.
“Hallie?” Jenna whispered. Jenna saw her blink. Had she heard her? Was she coming back to her senses?
Then Hallie swiftly raised her arms and lunged at her. Sinking one hand deep into Jenna’s hair, she dragged her back to the gate. Jenna fought desperately, kicking and struggling.
But Hallie’s strength overpowered her. Hallie was too strong.
She dragged Jenna to the gates and then through.
Jenna screamed and called out her friend’s name.
Hallie never made a sound or changed expression. It was unreal. Horrible. Worse than anything that had gone before, because this was her friend. Jenna felt as if she’d stepped into a nightmare.
Steadily, relentlessly, Hallie dragged her toward the mausoleum. The blood had disappeared, but the crypt still glowed with that ugly, unearthly light.
With a cry, Jenna tore free. But she was off balance, and couldn’t stop herself from falling. She landed flat on her back. Stunned, she gasped for breath. Hallie bent and hauled her to her feet.
“Leav
e me alone!” Jenna screamed. She grabbed Hallie’s nightgown and shoved her away.
Hallie’s nightgown tore. Jenna’s mind went numb when she saw what had happened to her friend.
No, her mind shrieked, frozen with disbelief. No, no, no, nononononono!
The locket had sunk right into Hallie’s chest … and the skin had grown over it.
Beneath the thin covering of skin, the gold heart pulsed with an unearthly light all its own.
Chapter
18
With an odd, jerky movement, Hallie turned and stared at Jenna with vacant blue eyes.
“Hallie, it’s me, Jenna,” she shouted desperately, running backward from her friend. If only she could break Hallie’s awful trance. “You know me. I’m your best friend.”
Hallie’s eyes remained vacant. Blank. Cold and lifeless.
“Hallie, please listen to me. Don’t you remember your mother and father? Don’t you remember anyone?”
Hallie might have been a wooden doll. No, Jenna thought, her skin crawling with horror, a puppet. Arms and legs controlled by some other power.
Jenna felt desperate. “Do you remember our Sister Oath? We were six. We’d climbed into that big maple tree in my backyard, as high up as we could get. We swore to always protect each other, to watch out for each other. Please remember. Please!”
For a moment, she thought a flicker of light shone in Hallie’s eyes.
But that flicker soon died. And Jenna’s last hope with it.
Hallie slid forward, moving with an eerie, unnatural grace. The breeze lashed her wet hair into wild tendrils around her face and neck.
And beneath her skin, the locket beat like a second heart.
Jenna backed away. If Hallie caught her again, they would both be lost. If she ever hoped to save Hallie, she had to get away now.
With terrifying quickness, Hallie lunged at her. Jenna lost her balance. Hallie sat on Jenna’s stomach, grabbing her by the throat.
Jenna couldn’t breathe. She needed air! She clawed frantically at Hallie’s hands.
But Hallie didn’t let up. She kept squeezing and squeezing, and there was nothing Jenna could do to stop her. A huge bolt of lightning cracked open the sky. The searing illumination cast a silver halo around Hallie’s pale hair.
Black spots swam across Jenna’s vision. She felt her lungs about to burst.
I’m going to die, Jenna thought.
Here. Now.
“Enough.”
A voice rolled like thunder out of the night.
Simon Fear.
Instantly, Hallie released her. She leaped to her feet and stood still.
Coughing, Jenna rolled onto her side.
“Hello, Jenna,” Simon called.
It took every bit of Jenna’s courage to get to her feet and turn toward that voice.
The Fears. Simon and Angelica.
They stood in front of the mausoleum, smiling.
Angelica wore the same white dress and shawl Jenna had seen her in that afternoon. She looks like an angel, Jenna thought.
Beside her, Simon stood tall and straight. His long, thin face looked even more haggard and sharper-edged. His lips curled in a grin that was more like a snarl. Light glinted off his teeth. To Jenna, he looked like an animal that had learned to walk like a man.
At that moment, Jenna would have thrown herself off a cliff to escape them. But she could only stand, watching. And waiting.
She wanted so badly to run. But felt frozen with terror.
“You won’t get away with this!” Jenna cried.
Angelica’s smile widened. Her eyes glittered like green stones. “But, my dear, we already have.”
Shadows came oozing out of the open door of the mausoleum. Thick, black tendrils coiled around the Fears. Swirling. Stroking. They seemed to blend with Angelica’s raven hair—and Simon’s night-dark eyes. Something lurked just inside the doorway of the crypt. Something that watched. Something that waited. Something …
“You belong to us.” Simon’s voice was only a whisper, but it shook her right down to her soul. “Julia.”
“I’m Jenna!” she cried. “Jenna!”
Simon flung his head back and laughed.
Jenna stepped back and stared at the statue.
The heavy wings shivered. Then lifted.
It opened its eyes and stared straight at Jenna.
“No!” Jenna gasped. She stumbled backward, throwing up her arm to ward off that terrible, inhuman stare.
CRACK! The angel pulled one arm free, then another. Then it straightened. Now, Jenna could see that its legs bent backward, like an insect’s.
Wings flapped above Jenna’s head and she cried out in despair. A gust of air knocked her to her knees. The angel hovered over her, its neck scaly and curved like a snake’s.
She felt a chill as a cold, dark shadow swept over her.
Jenna dared to look up. The angel smiled. Angelica’s smile. With horrible swiftness, it dropped toward her.
The dark wings enclosed her, surrounded her.
Smothered her.
The blackness swallowed her.
Chapter
19
Light seeped through Jenna’s closed lids. She opened her eyes and saw a dank, windowless room. Chunks of mold and thick gray cobwebs clung to the stone walls and ceiling. The rough stone floor under her felt gritty and damp. A single lantern hung from a hook on the far wall. Its meager light left pockets of shadows in the corners.
This has to be the Fears’ mansion, she thought. Down in the basement. A band of icy-cold dread squeezed her heart.
Slowly, she pushed herself to a sitting position. She reached up with shaking hands to massage her brow.
The soft sound of breathing made her turn. Hallie stood a few feet away, her expression blank. Her hair had dried into filthy clumps, and her muddy nightgown clung to her, stained and torn. She hardly looked human.
“Hallie,” Jenna whispered.
But the other girl remained as stiff and still as a block of wood. Her skin looked waxy, as though all the blood had been drained out of it. Jenna knew then that her friend had slipped still deeper under the Fears’ evil spell.
Still, she had to try.
“You have to wake up, Hallie,” she begged. “Please, I know you can hear me. Please try!”
Hallie didn’t even blink. Beneath the skin of her chest, the locket glowed. Hesitantly, Jenna reached for the chain. Was there some way to get it off her?
Hallie reacted swiftly. Her eyes narrowed, and her lips drew back in an animal’s snarl. She raised clawed hands to ward Jenna off.
“There has to be a way,” she muttered.
If there was, she couldn’t find it. Tears stung her eyes, tears she had no way of stopping. She was completely, totally alone. Even if the Sheridans tried to look for her, they’d never find her here.
Not in time anyway.
The Fears had plenty of time to carry out their awful plans.
She sat down beside Hallie. Drawing her knees up, she wrapped her arms around them. The other girl stood like a statue, not moving, hardly even breathing.
“I wish you were here,” Jenna murmured, glancing up at her. “Really here. I want my best friend back. We could fight them then!”
Hallie made no answer. Jenna rested her forehead on her knees and tried not to think.
The door rattled. Startled, she jerked her head up. Someone was coming!
Swiftly, she stretched out on her side, pretending to be unconscious. She watched the door from beneath the shelter of her arm. Something moved in the darkness beyond the window.
Her breath stopped as she heard the scrape of metal on metal. She saw the latch quiver, then begin to turn.
The door opened. But instead of Angelica and Simon, Rob stepped onto the first step.
“Rob!” she gasped.
He held one finger to his lips. Then he reached back through the doorway and grabbed a shovel. Closing the door softly behind him, he ran down
the stairs. Jenna sat up. He knelt beside her, but kept his gaze on the door.
“What are you doing here?” she whispered. “How did you find us?”
“I sneaked in the house to look around,” he told her, his voice as quiet as hers. “I saw them bring you in. But I couldn’t get past the Fears for a while. Finally, they went out, and I came for you.”
“You’ve put yourself in terrible danger—” she began.
“I told you once that I wouldn’t let anything happen to you,” he said. “Did you think I didn’t mean it?”
He took her by the hand and drew her to her feet. “Come on. We’ve got to get out of here.”
“Wait!” she hissed, tugging on him. “We can’t go without Hallie.”
Rob’s expression turned grim. “We can’t do anything for her, Jenna. She’s lost.”
“No!” Jenna insisted. “We have to take her.”
“Jenna, you don’t understand what’s going on here.”
She started to shake her head, but he grabbed her by the shoulders. “While I was hiding in the house, I heard Simon and Angelica talking. For years, he and Angelica have been trying to find a way to bring their daughters back to life.”
“What?” Jenna gasped.
“And now they’ve found a way.”
Jenna felt too afraid to ask. But she had to. “How, Rob? How do they plan to do it?”
“It takes another life. Another spirit. They take a living person’s spirit and put it in a dead person. And the corpse lives and breathes. That’s why they brought you and Hallie here.”
Jenna shook her head. Rejecting the absolute horror of what he’d said. They wanted her spirit. And Hallie’s.
“Even the names,” she moaned. “Jenna … Julia. Hallie … Hannah. And the Fears were so pleased that Hallie and I were as close as sisters.”
“That’s right,” Rob agreed. “Now, let’s go. Hallie is already lost in the evil. You can’t—”
He broke off abruptly, his head turning with a jerk. “Shh. I think someone is coming.”