so.
Three fat hours. I was going to be in great shape today.
It didn’t matter. I had work to do. Lots of it.
I was dressed in seconds. Quietly I opened my door and heard my mom’s snores from her room. I tiptoed downstairs and punched Ariana’s number on the kitchen phone.
She picked up in the middle of the first ring. She was sobbing. “I’m sorry! Oh, I’m so glad you called. I … I love you so much. Please come over. Please!”
“Sure, Ariana,” I replied softly. “I’ll be right there.”
“David?”
“Uh-huh.”
She groaned. “I thought you were Stephen! Ohhhh, I feel like such an idiot ! Why did you do that to me?”
“Uh, Ariana, you didn’t even wait to hear my voice.”
“Okay, okay. What do you want?”
“I need to talk to you. I know who George Derbin is.”
“Really? Who?”
“Reggie Borden.”
The phone fell silent. “Ariana,” I continued, “are you still there?”
“Yeah. I must be half-asleep, though, because I thought I heard you say George Derbin was Reggie Borden. Silly me.”
“That is what I said. The names are anagrams of each other. Derbin was young, thin, black, and incredibly tall — just like Reggie. The photos of Reggie look a lot like the guy I saw with Jason — except George Derbin had those growths on his face.”
“Oh, this is too weird. I’m not hearing this.”
“Ariana, remember in Chief Hayes’s office, when you suggested that Jason had been led into the basement?”
“Yeah, I suggested George Derbin had led him. What are you saying? That Reggie Borden actually hibernated underground all these years, like Rip Van Winkle?”
“If he did, he’d be Chief Hayes’s age.”
“Oh! He’s been in suspended animation! Okay, that explains it. Whew, for a minute I was confused.”
I ignored Ariana’s sarcasm. “Just listen to me. One of the voices used fifties slang, and he sounded our age. I know it seems farfetched, but — ”
“You think one of the voices was Reggie’s? He brought Jason down and then hopped back in the hole with two ghost buddies?”
“Jason was desperate to get us George Derbin’s business card. He must have been trying to warn us.”
Ariana didn’t answer.
“You can’t deny what you saw, Ariana! Is my theory any less believable than a crack in the earth that spits out smoke and slime monsters?”
“No, I guess not. Go on.”
“Okay. The voices said they were delivering a message. From whom?”
“The slime monster,” Ariana said dryly.
“Must be. And this thing takes people, roto-roots them from the inside — ”
“Gross, David.”
“Sorry. It wasted no time gobbling up Rick, John, and Jason — but it spares others. It hasn’t touched the Delphic Club members, who hold their meetings practically on top of it. It didn’t do anything to Chief Hayes in 1950, or to you and me. I dove into its hole — and even then it didn’t want me. It gave me back.”
“Because you were too early — that’s what you said it said,” Ariana reminded me. “Maybe it’s going through the whole school in some strange order.”
“The voices want me to find out who they are,” I barged on. “They’re testing me.”
“Why?”
“I’m not sure, but I have an idea.” I took a deep breath. “In 1950, the same time Reggie disappeared, three other kids showed up dead. Reggie was never found … until now.”
“The thing kept him,” Ariana said.
“And I think it wants to keep me — make me into a fourth … voice.”
“Oh, great. So this is some kind of aptitude test for admission to zombieland? They think you’re stupid enough to want to join them — ”
“I am.”
“What? Stupid?”
“No! Don’t you see? I have to do it. If I find out about them, I might find out about the monster. This whole thing might come together — the earthquake, the murders, everything.”
“I was wrong. You’re not stupid. You’re insane.”
“What’s the alternative? Staying ignorant and letting more
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