all of it.” I also couldn’t stop shaking. “Can you hear the wailing in the background?”
He listened a little longer. “I hear…something, I guess. But what does it think you can do?”
I totally didn’t want my mind to go there, but I couldn’t help thinking about Tim’s theory—that secret rituals were being held in the shower alcove, and that Coach Frucile was somehow involved.
“Maybe I’m next.”
“Next for what?”
“It was your idea in the first place. Maybe this thing wants me as the next sacrifice.”
For a long moment, we just stared at each other. I knew it was a ridiculous theory, but sometimes the what-ifs echo a lot louder in your mind than common sense.
“We can call the cops,” Tim said finally.
“And tell them what? The police won’t do anything based on some weird EMF readings and a tip from a couple of high school students.”
“If something as illegal as human sacrifice is going on—”
“Okay. Enough.” We were totally getting carried away. “We’re just being stupid. My gym coach is not slicing anddicing students in the shower alcove after hours. It’s just not happening, okay? Look, it’s already mid-October. I’ll keep wearing my gym clothes to school and changing in the bathroom until the semester ends, and then I’ll never go near the locker room again. Problem solved. Whatever’s in there can stay in there and fester; I don’t care.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” I didn’t know what else he expected me to do—pull a Ghostbusters jumpsuit out of my closet and strap some lights and sirens on Dad’s hearse, maybe? I did wish I had someone I could talk to about it, but I didn’t, and that was that. “It’s fine. Let’s just drop it.” To punctuate my ruling, I reached over and deleted the sound file. “We’re just hearing weird things in the static. So let’s talk about something else.”
Tim looked uncertain, but he did let it go. “Well…We could talk about Halloween, I guess.”
“What about Halloween?” It was still two weeks away, and I hadn’t even thought about it yet. Between getting settled with Dad and starting school and finding Mom’s stuff and investigating the locker-room entity, my mind had been on other stuff.
Tim continued. “It’s just that some of us were talking about going over to that cemetery on Longview, and, you know, hanging out, and Isobel was wonderingif maybe you’d come, too.” He spoke in such a practiced, nonchalant way that I knew he’d been dying to bring up the subject.
Hanging out in a cemetery on Halloween. It’s sad when you have to try that hard to be a little spooky. Besides, the Longview Road Cemetery was hardly scary. It didn’t even have interesting headstones; it was just row upon row of modern marble plaques set into the ground. I looked skeptically at Tim.
“Isobel was hoping we could, you know…”
“Spit it out, Timmy.”
He glared at me a little, but at least it stopped his stuttering. I loved calling him Timmy when he annoyed me, and when he managed to annoy me, it usually had something to do with the goths. Aside from the few times I’d passed them in the hall, I’d been avoiding Tim’s friends. Isobel just had too much of an attitude. Like I said, when you have to try that hard to be spooky…
“Isobel wants to have a séance in the cemetery,” he said. “She wants you to lead it.”
“No way, Tim!” Ugh, hadn’t he been paying any attention at all when we read about the Ramsay Court investigation? “This is exactly the kind of stupid crap that causes issues like the ones in the Ramsay Court house. Idiots fooling around with things they don’t understand.”
“But you’re not an idiot, and you do understand this stuff. You could keep it from getting dangerous.”
“I barely understand any of it. I don’t know anything about séances.”
“You wouldn’t need to. Just make them
think
you’re doing one. We’re all going either way, and…I’m kind
He listened a little longer. “I hear…something, I guess. But what does it think you can do?”
I totally didn’t want my mind to go there, but I couldn’t help thinking about Tim’s theory—that secret rituals were being held in the shower alcove, and that Coach Frucile was somehow involved.
“Maybe I’m next.”
“Next for what?”
“It was your idea in the first place. Maybe this thing wants me as the next sacrifice.”
For a long moment, we just stared at each other. I knew it was a ridiculous theory, but sometimes the what-ifs echo a lot louder in your mind than common sense.
“We can call the cops,” Tim said finally.
“And tell them what? The police won’t do anything based on some weird EMF readings and a tip from a couple of high school students.”
“If something as illegal as human sacrifice is going on—”
“Okay. Enough.” We were totally getting carried away. “We’re just being stupid. My gym coach is not slicing anddicing students in the shower alcove after hours. It’s just not happening, okay? Look, it’s already mid-October. I’ll keep wearing my gym clothes to school and changing in the bathroom until the semester ends, and then I’ll never go near the locker room again. Problem solved. Whatever’s in there can stay in there and fester; I don’t care.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” I didn’t know what else he expected me to do—pull a Ghostbusters jumpsuit out of my closet and strap some lights and sirens on Dad’s hearse, maybe? I did wish I had someone I could talk to about it, but I didn’t, and that was that. “It’s fine. Let’s just drop it.” To punctuate my ruling, I reached over and deleted the sound file. “We’re just hearing weird things in the static. So let’s talk about something else.”
Tim looked uncertain, but he did let it go. “Well…We could talk about Halloween, I guess.”
“What about Halloween?” It was still two weeks away, and I hadn’t even thought about it yet. Between getting settled with Dad and starting school and finding Mom’s stuff and investigating the locker-room entity, my mind had been on other stuff.
Tim continued. “It’s just that some of us were talking about going over to that cemetery on Longview, and, you know, hanging out, and Isobel was wonderingif maybe you’d come, too.” He spoke in such a practiced, nonchalant way that I knew he’d been dying to bring up the subject.
Hanging out in a cemetery on Halloween. It’s sad when you have to try that hard to be a little spooky. Besides, the Longview Road Cemetery was hardly scary. It didn’t even have interesting headstones; it was just row upon row of modern marble plaques set into the ground. I looked skeptically at Tim.
“Isobel was hoping we could, you know…”
“Spit it out, Timmy.”
He glared at me a little, but at least it stopped his stuttering. I loved calling him Timmy when he annoyed me, and when he managed to annoy me, it usually had something to do with the goths. Aside from the few times I’d passed them in the hall, I’d been avoiding Tim’s friends. Isobel just had too much of an attitude. Like I said, when you have to try that hard to be spooky…
“Isobel wants to have a séance in the cemetery,” he said. “She wants you to lead it.”
“No way, Tim!” Ugh, hadn’t he been paying any attention at all when we read about the Ramsay Court investigation? “This is exactly the kind of stupid crap that causes issues like the ones in the Ramsay Court house. Idiots fooling around with things they don’t understand.”
“But you’re not an idiot, and you do understand this stuff. You could keep it from getting dangerous.”
“I barely understand any of it. I don’t know anything about séances.”
“You wouldn’t need to. Just make them
think
you’re doing one. We’re all going either way, and…I’m kind
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