Lock-In (Night Fall ™)

by Jonathan Mary-Todd

  “Are you all right, miss?” the sheriff asked.

  “Ready for bed,” I replied.

  23

  Pete and I sat on the hood of our station wagon, waiting for Mom or Dad to pick us up. He hadn’t lost his keys or anything during the night, but the police were insisting that parents or guardians come by for their kids. I pulled a little at the bandage around my neck, trying to loosen it.

  Paramedics in the parking lot loaded some kids into a couple of ambulances. They lifted Macy in on a stretcher and then helped up the poor girl from the poets’ society who go hit with a dictionary. Police officers sat in one of the ambulances, keeping watch over a few students in cuffs.

  Word spread around the lot that the sheriff’s department found Gwen and Mike banged up and knocked out (and human-shaped) inside the cafeteria kitchen. A bunch of lacrosse players too, either unconscious or woozy from the lumps they’d taken. I guess neither side made out too well.

  From the sound of it, Connor was missing— gone from the kitchen before any grown-ups got there. Maybe he had headed for the woods. But how far could he really get? It’s a long way back to Michigan. Anyway, I’m sure the police have tracking dogs for stuff like that. Not runaway werewolves specifically. But stuff-that-has-escaped. My stomach rumbled. I decided to stop worrying and think about hash browns. A mountain of hash browns.

  “Look,” Pete said, motioning toward the school’s front doors, “Todd’s coming out.”

  Todd Fry and Sheriff Brady walked down the stairs of the entryway, Todd in handcuffs. He looked bruised and tired in the light, but he was walking okay. Brady guided him into the back of a squad car.

  Francis trotted toward me and Pete, clutching some of the hot chocolate that a few worried parents were handing out in paper cups.

  “What do you think this means for next week’s lacrosse game?” he said.

  Pete rolled his eyes.

  “How long you gonna keep that tail on for, Francis?” I asked.

  Francis jerked his head and tried to look behind him. Like, literally almost started chasing his fake-fur tail. He grabbed around for the back of his belt and plucked the tail off.

  “Let’s pretend I never wore that.”

  “It’s on film,” I reminded him. “Check YouTube.”

  He pulled his phone out of his pocket and spent a second staring closely at its screen.

  “Just getting bigger and bigger,” he said. “I got so many re-tweets after I started talking about the big fight in the kitchen! I think I’m gonna start a video blog too. Maybe my own online magazine . . .”

  I noticed my dad in his car at the back of a long line of parents waiting to reach the Bridgewater High parking lot.

  “We can give you a ride if you need one,” I said. “You have anybody on the way?”

  “I think I’m probably sticking around here for a while,” he said. “I was with the wolves for a big part of last night.” He sighed. “I’m sure the police are going to want to talk to me eventually.”

  “But you didn’t do anything,” Pete replied.

  “I didn’t turn into a wolf and attack anybody,” Francis corrected him. “But—I don’t know. There’s a lot I didn’t do to help people, too. Whether I’m in trouble is up to the sheriff, I guess.”

  Dad honked from the side of the road and gestured for me and Pete to come his way. Francis waved good-bye and headed back toward the school. Pete and I began to walk across the stretch of grass that separates the street and the parking lot.

  “You think you and he are gonna start hanging out again?” Pete asked me.

  “Well, he’s probably done hanging around with the wolves. And I don’t think I’m going to spend much more time doing student council stuff,” I said. “I’m not sure we have a choice. We might be stuck with each other.”

  “You could help him build his website.”

  “I am not going to help him make a website.”

  We reached the car and climbed inside. I took the passenger’s seat, next to Dad.

  “Are you guys okay?” Dad said, bags under his eyes. “What the heck happened in there? Your mother and I got a recording from the school on our answering machine. Kids injured? Jackie, holy geez, your neck—”

  “We’re all right,” I said. “Just banged up. Last night—last night’s going to take a lot of explaining.”

  “I’ll let you tell it, Jack,” Pete said, nestling in the back. He drifted to sleep almost instantly, lying down across both seats.

  I looked back at him with a smile. He dragged his left arm over his face to block out sunlight from the car window.

  Sleep tight, big brother, I thought. You’ve earned it.

  I yawned, rubbed my eyes, and noticed a series of dots lining the side of Pete’s hand. Dark red and raw-looking. Like bite marks.

  Everything’s fine in Bridgewater. Really . . .

  Or is it?

  Look for all the titles from the

  Night Fall collection.

  THE CLUB

  Bored after school, Josh and his friends decide to try out an old board game. The group chuckles at Black Magic’s promises of good fortune. But when their luck starts skyrocketing—and horror strikes their enemies—the game stops being funny. How can Josh stop what he’s unleashed? Answers lie in an old diary—but ending the game may be deadlier than any curse.

  THE COMBINATION

  Dante only thinks about football. Miranda’s worried about applying to college. Neither one wants to worry about a locker combination too. But they’ll have to learn their combos fast—if they want to survive. Dante discovers that an insane architect designed St. Philomena High, and he’s made the school into a doomsday machine. If too many kids miss their combinations, no one gets out alive.

  FOUL

  Rhino is one of Bridgewater best basketball players— except when it comes to making free throws. It’s not a big deal, until he begins receiving strange threats. If Rhino can’t make his shots at the free throw line, someone will start hurting the people around him. Everyone’s a suspect: a college recruiter, Rhino’s jealous best friend, and the father Rhino never knew—who recently escaped from prison.

  LAST DESSERTS

  Ella loves to practice designs for the bakery she’ll someday own. She’s also one of the few people not to try the cookies and cakes made by a mysterious new baker. Soon the people who ate the baker’s treats start acting oddly, and Ella wonders if the cookies are to blame. Can her baking skills help her save her best friend—and herself?

  THE LATE BUS

  Lamar takes the “late bus” home from school after practice each day. After the bus’s beloved driver passes away, Lamar begins to see strange things—demonic fgures, preparing to attack the bus. Soon he learns the demons are after Mr. Rumble, the freaky new bus driver. Can Lamar rescue his fellow passengers, or will Rumble’s past come back to destroy them all?

  LOCK-IN

  The Fresh Start Lock-In was supposed to bring the students of Bridgewater closer together. Jackie didn’t think it would work, but she didn’t think she’d have to fight for her life, either. A group of outsider kids who like to play werewolf might not be playing anymore. Will Jackie and her brother escape Bridgewater High before morning? Or will a pack of crazed students take them down?

  MESSAGES FROM BEYOND

  Some guy named Ethan has been texting Cassie. He seems to know all about her—but she can’t place him. Cassie thinks one of her friends is punking her. But she can’t ignore how Ethan looks just like the guy in her nightmares. The search for Ethan draws her into a struggle for her life. Will Cassie be able to break free from her mysterious stalker?

  THE PRANK

  Pranks make Jordan nervous. But when a group of popular kids invite her along on a series of practical jokes, she doesn’t turn them down. As the pranks begin to go horribly wrong, Jordan and her crush Charlie work to discover the cause of the accidents. Is the spirit of a prank victim who died twenty years earlier to blame? And can Jo
rdan stop the fnal prank, or will the haunting continue?

  THE PROTECTORS

  Luke’s life has never been “normal.” His mother holds séances and his crazy stepfather works as Bridgewater’s mortician. But living in a funeral home never bothered Luke—until his mom’s accident. Then the bodies in the funeral home start delivering messages to him, and Luke is certain he’s going nuts. When they start offering clues to his mother’s death, he has no choice but to listen.

  SKIN

  It looks like a pizza exploded on Nick Barry’s face. But a bad rash is the least of his problems. Something sinister is living underneath Nick’s skin. Where did it come from? What does it want? With the help of a dead kid’s diary, Nick slowly learns the answers. But there’s still one question he must face: how do you destroy an evil that’s inside you?

  THAW

  A storm caused a major power outage in Bridgewater. Now a project at the Institute for Cryogenic Experimentation is ruined, and the thawed-out bodies of twenty-seven federal inmates are missing. At frst, Dani didn’t think much of the news. Then her best friend Jake disappeared. To get him back, Dani must enter a dangerous alternate reality where a defrosted inmate is beginning to act like a god.

  UNTHINKABLE

  Omar Phillips is Bridgewater High’s favorite local teen author. His Facebook fans can’t wait for his next horror story. But lately Omar’s imagination has turned against him. Horrifying visions of death and destruction come at him with wide-screen intensity. The only way to stop the visions is to write them down. Until they start coming true . . .

  BAd DEAl

  Fish hates taking his ADHD meds. They help him concentrate, but they also make him feel weird. When a cute girl needs a boost to study for tests, Fish offers her a pill. Soon more kids want pills, and Fish likes the profits. To keep from running out, Fish finds a doctor who sells phony prescriptions. After the doctor is arrested, Fish decides to tell the truth. But will that cost him his friends?

  BEAtEN

  Paige is a cheerleader. Ty’s a football star. They seem like the perfect couple. But when they have their first fight, Ty scares Paige with his anger. Then after losing a game, Ty goes ballistic and hits Paige. Ty is arrested for assault, but Paige still secretly meets up with him. What’s worse—flinching every time your boyfriend gets angry, or being alone?

  BENito RUNS

  Benito’s father has been in Iraq for over a year. When he returns, Benito’s family life is not the same. Dad suffers from PTSD—post-traumatic stress disorder—and yells constantly. Benito can’t handle seeing his dad so crazy, so he decides to run away. Will Benny find a new life? Or will he learn how to deal with his dad—through good times and bad?

  PlAN B

  Lucy has her life planned: she’ll graduate high school and join her boyfriend at college in Austin. She’ll become a Spanish teacher and of course they’ll get married. So there’s no reason to wait to sleep together, right? They try to be careful, but Lucy gets pregnant. Lucy’s plan is gone. How will she make the most difficult decision of her life?

  REcRUitEd

  Kadeem is Southside High’s star quarterback. College scouts are seeking him out. One recruiter even introduces him to a college cheerleader and gives him money to have a good time. But then officials start to investigate illegal recruiting. Will Kadeem decide to help their investigation, though it means the end of the good times? What will it do to his chances of playing in college?

  ShAttEREd StAR

  Cassie is the best singer at Southside. She dreams of being famous. Cassie skips school to try out for a national talent competition. But her hopes sink when she sees the line. Then a talent agent shows up and tells Cassie she has “the look” he wants. Soon she is lying and missing glee club rehearsal to meet with him. And he’s asking her for more each time. How far will Cassie go for her shot at fame?