bright red, dripping into the navy-blue night sky like …
Blood.
Chapter 13
“W HAT IS THAT?” ANDIE asked as Eve continued to sit quietly on the edge of her bed staring down at the book in her hands.
Mute, Eve held the book up so that Andie could see the cover.
“Oh, I know that book. My mother read it to me a couple of times when she was in a really good mood and felt like some mother-daughter bonding.” Andie laughed harshly. “Which means, not very often.” Then, “The cover looks different, though.”
Eve found her voice. “It is different.” She pointed out the two glaring violations.
“Oh, Eve, that’s gross!” Andie got up and came over to examine the cover. “Are you sure it’s supposed to be blood?” When she had studied the picture, she admitted, “It does look like it. I mean, the way it’s dripping, what else could it be?” Leaving the book in Eve’s hands, she returned to her own bed, sat on it with her knees drawn up and her arms encircling them. “That really is gross, Eve. It was under your pillow? How did it get there?”
A question Eve couldn’t answer. With an index finger, she scraped absentmindedly at the dripping red. It remained in place. Marker. Indelible marker, she thought, just like the one I used in the Mirror Maze. Someone else on campus has discovered how useful markers can be.
“Eve,” Andie said, her voice tense, “someone got in here while we were gone.” She glanced around the room uneasily. “I don’t like that. In fact, I hate it. If there’s one thing I really get crazed about, it’s my privacy. I made my father put a lock on my bedroom door when I was ten. Didn’t we lock ours when we left?”
“I don’t remember.” Did it make any difference? If someone really wanted to get in to leave this disgusting … thing under her pillow, would a locked door have kept him out?
Eve glanced out the window. The moon, almost full, was still there, shining down upon campus.
“This,” Eve said, waving the book and pulling her gaze away from the window to look at Andie, “has something to do with the moon.” She hastily told Andie about the voice at The Snake’s ticket booth. When she repeated how the voice had scolded Eve for being ‘contemptuous of the power of the moon,’ she desperately wanted Andie to laugh. She wanted Andie to point out how hilarious that was, how silly. If Andie would only dismiss it as nonsense, Eve could, too.
But Andie didn’t do that. Instead, her green eyes opened wider and her freckles stood out in detail as her skin went white. “Eve! That’s horrible! I thought maybe the book cover was just a stupid joke, but now … someone is really mad at you, Eve. Why didn’t you tell me? Aren’t you scared?”
Disappointed and unsettled by Andie’s reaction, Eve snapped, “No, of course not! It’s all just stupidity, that’s why! Only an idiot would take it seriously.” Liar, she thought. But she was so afraid that if she admitted her fear, it would become real. Then it would gain strength, become stronger than she. She’d fall apart. How could she fight back if she was in pieces, fragmented like the mirrors in the maze? “The power of the moon? Come on, Andie!”
Andie’s flush told Eve that she, at least, would most certainly have taken the voice seriously. “Well, that’s the second time today that you’ve called other people stupid,” she said coldly, flopping down on her bed to lie on her back staring up at the ceiling. “You said practically the same thing to Alfred in the food tent. I don’t blame him for getting mad, either.”
“If only I could make Alfred stay mad at me.”
Andie flipped over on her side, facing the wall, her back toward Eve. “If I were you, I’d take that message you found under your pillow seriously. It looks like some kind of warning to me. But then, you’re not me, are you? You’re not silly and stupid and gullible. You’re … you’re logical! Turn the light off, will
Blood.
Chapter 13
“W HAT IS THAT?” ANDIE asked as Eve continued to sit quietly on the edge of her bed staring down at the book in her hands.
Mute, Eve held the book up so that Andie could see the cover.
“Oh, I know that book. My mother read it to me a couple of times when she was in a really good mood and felt like some mother-daughter bonding.” Andie laughed harshly. “Which means, not very often.” Then, “The cover looks different, though.”
Eve found her voice. “It is different.” She pointed out the two glaring violations.
“Oh, Eve, that’s gross!” Andie got up and came over to examine the cover. “Are you sure it’s supposed to be blood?” When she had studied the picture, she admitted, “It does look like it. I mean, the way it’s dripping, what else could it be?” Leaving the book in Eve’s hands, she returned to her own bed, sat on it with her knees drawn up and her arms encircling them. “That really is gross, Eve. It was under your pillow? How did it get there?”
A question Eve couldn’t answer. With an index finger, she scraped absentmindedly at the dripping red. It remained in place. Marker. Indelible marker, she thought, just like the one I used in the Mirror Maze. Someone else on campus has discovered how useful markers can be.
“Eve,” Andie said, her voice tense, “someone got in here while we were gone.” She glanced around the room uneasily. “I don’t like that. In fact, I hate it. If there’s one thing I really get crazed about, it’s my privacy. I made my father put a lock on my bedroom door when I was ten. Didn’t we lock ours when we left?”
“I don’t remember.” Did it make any difference? If someone really wanted to get in to leave this disgusting … thing under her pillow, would a locked door have kept him out?
Eve glanced out the window. The moon, almost full, was still there, shining down upon campus.
“This,” Eve said, waving the book and pulling her gaze away from the window to look at Andie, “has something to do with the moon.” She hastily told Andie about the voice at The Snake’s ticket booth. When she repeated how the voice had scolded Eve for being ‘contemptuous of the power of the moon,’ she desperately wanted Andie to laugh. She wanted Andie to point out how hilarious that was, how silly. If Andie would only dismiss it as nonsense, Eve could, too.
But Andie didn’t do that. Instead, her green eyes opened wider and her freckles stood out in detail as her skin went white. “Eve! That’s horrible! I thought maybe the book cover was just a stupid joke, but now … someone is really mad at you, Eve. Why didn’t you tell me? Aren’t you scared?”
Disappointed and unsettled by Andie’s reaction, Eve snapped, “No, of course not! It’s all just stupidity, that’s why! Only an idiot would take it seriously.” Liar, she thought. But she was so afraid that if she admitted her fear, it would become real. Then it would gain strength, become stronger than she. She’d fall apart. How could she fight back if she was in pieces, fragmented like the mirrors in the maze? “The power of the moon? Come on, Andie!”
Andie’s flush told Eve that she, at least, would most certainly have taken the voice seriously. “Well, that’s the second time today that you’ve called other people stupid,” she said coldly, flopping down on her bed to lie on her back staring up at the ceiling. “You said practically the same thing to Alfred in the food tent. I don’t blame him for getting mad, either.”
“If only I could make Alfred stay mad at me.”
Andie flipped over on her side, facing the wall, her back toward Eve. “If I were you, I’d take that message you found under your pillow seriously. It looks like some kind of warning to me. But then, you’re not me, are you? You’re not silly and stupid and gullible. You’re … you’re logical! Turn the light off, will
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