A New Fear Read online

  A New Fear

  R.L. STINE

  POCKET BOOKS

  Have you read the latest

  books?

  WHAT HOLLY HEARD

  THE FACE

  SECRET ADMIRER

  THE PERFECT DATE

  THE CONFESSION

  THE BOY NEXT DOOR

  NIGHT GAMES

  RUNAWAY

  KILLER’S KISS

  ALL-NIGHT PARTY

  THE RICH GIRL

  CAT

  By R.L. SINE

  Available from Archway Paperbacks

  Published by Pocket Books

  The Secrets of the Fear Family …

  The history of the Fear family is a dark and strange one, filled with death, madness, tragic love, and revenge.

  No one can escape the curse of the Fear family. Simon Fear tried. He changed the spelling of his family name from Firer to Fear and tried to start a new life. But he could not hide from his destiny—the Fear curse destroyed his entire family.

  Except one. Nicholas Fear. The child of Daniel Fear and Nora Goode.

  Will this new Fear be the one to break the curse? Or will he suffer the fate of his doomed family?

  Books by R.L. Sine

  FEAR STREET

  THE NEW GIRL

  THE SURPRISE PARTY

  THE OVERNIGHT

  MISSING

  THE WRONG NUMBER

  THE SLEEPWALKER

  HAUNTED

  HALLO WEEN PARTY

  THE STEPSISTER

  SKI WEEKEND

  THE FIRE GAME

  LIGHTS OUT

  THE SECRET BEDROOM

  THE KNIFE

  PROM QUEEN

  FIRST DATE

  THE BEST FRIEND

  THE CHEATER

  SUNBURN

  THE NEW BOY

  THE DARE

  BAD DREAMS

  DOUBLE DATE

  THE THRILL CLUB

  ONE EVIL SUMMER

  THE MIND READER

  WRONG NUMBER 2

  TRUTH OR DARE

  DEAD END

  FINAL GRADE

  SWITCHED

  COLLEGE WEEKEND

  THE STEPSISTER 2

  WHAT HOLLY HEARD

  THE FACE

  SECRET ADMIRER

  THE PERFECT DATE

  THE CONFESSION

  THE BOY NEXT DOOR

  NIGHT GAMES

  FEAR STREET SUPER CHILLERS

  PARTY SUMMER

  SILENT NIGHT

  GOOD NIGHT KISS

  BROKEN HEARTS

  SILENT NIGHT 2

  THE DEAD LIFEGUARD

  CHEERLEADER’S: THE NEW EVIL

  BAD MOONLIGHT

  THE NEW YEAR’S PARTY

  GOOD NIGHT KISS 2

  THE FEAR STREET SAGA

  THE BETRAYAL

  THE SECRET

  THE BURNING

  FEAR STREET SAGA COLLECTOR’S EDITION

  FEAR STREET CHEERLEADER’S

  THE FIRST EVIL

  THE SECOND EVIL

  THE THIRD EVIL

  99 FEAR STREET: THE HOUSE OF EVIL

  THE FIRST HORROR

  THE SECOND HORROR

  THE THIRD HORROR

  THE CATALUNA CHRONICLES

  THE EVIL MOON

  THE DARK SECRET

  THE DEADLY FIRE

  FEAR STREET SAGAS

  A NEW FEAR

  HOUSE OF WHISPERS

  FORBIDDEN SECRETS

  FEAR PARK

  THE FIRST SCREAM

  THE LOUDEST SCREAM

  THE LAST SCREAM

  Available from ARCHWAY Paperbacks

  For orders other than by individual consumers, Pocket Books grants a discount on the purchase of 10 or more copies of single titles for special markets or premium use. For further details, please write to the Vice-President of Special Markets, Pocket Books, 1633 Broadway, New York, NY 10019-6785, 8th Floor.

  For information on how individual consumers can place orders, please write to Mail Order Department, Simon & Schuster Inc., 200 Old Tappan Road, Old Tappan, NJ 07675.

  The sale of this book without its cover is unauthorized. If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that it was reported to the publisher as “unsold and destroyed.” Neither the author nor the publisher has received payment for the sale of this “stripped book.”

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  AN ARCHWAY PAPERBACKOriginal

  An Archway Paperback published by

  POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  Copyright © 1996 by Parachute Press, Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

  For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  ISBN: 0-671-52952-8

  ISBN 13: 978-0-671-52952-9

  eISBN 13: 978-1-439-12071-2

  First Archway Paperback printing March 1996

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4

  FEAR STREET is a registered trademark of Parachute Press, Inc.

  AN ARCHWAY PAPERBACK and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc.

  Cover art by Lisa Falkenstern

  Printed in the U.S.A.

  IL 7+

  R. L. Sine wishes to thank Brandon Alexander for his contributions and efforts on this manuscript.

  Prologue

  The Village of Shadyside

  1900

  Nora Goode Fear bowed her head. Tired, so very tired. She had been sitting in this cold room most of the night, answering questions. Describing everything she had witnessed at the Fear mansion.

  Not once.

  Not twice.

  But three times now.

  And still they held her prisoner here. In this room without windows. In this room that held more darkness than light.

  The flame of a solitary candle flickered. The shadows shifted.

  Nora lifted her gaze to the man sitting behind the desk. He alone would determine her fate. He had the authority to set her free. He had the power to lock her away.

  The man sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair. He scattered papers before him. Papers containing his questions and her answers.

  Nora wiped the tears from her eyes and straightened her spine. She tried to swallow, but her throat was too dry. Her back ached. She was hungry and tired. She wanted to slide out of the chair, curl up on the floor, and go to sleep.

  She wanted to dream of Daniel, her husband of one day. Of the happy times they shared before his family’s curse brought them death and destruction.

  “All right, Nora,” the man said sternly. “Tell me again what happened.”

  Again? Nora’s shoulders slumped forward. If I am not insane now, she thought wearily, I soon will be. How can I keep telling this tale of horror over and over? I want to forget all that happened, but he forces me to remember.

  Impatiently, the man rapped on the desk with his knuckles. “Tell me the truth about what happened at the Fear mansion. Tell me the truth and you shall be released.”

  I must be strong, Nora thought. Strong for my baby. Daniel’s and mine.

  Nora knew she carried Daniel Fear’s child. Knew it in her heart. She would do anything to protect their baby. Anything.

  She swallowed hard and forced herself to answer calmly. “Daniel’s grandfather, Simon Fear, was celebrating his seventy-fifth birthday. All the candles on the cake were burning. Daniel announced that
Nora Goode Fear was his new wife. His grandfather screamed—”

  “Liar!” the man cried. “You were never married. Everyone in Shadyside knows that.”

  “We were married!” Nora protested. How could she convince the man to believe her?

  “Our marriage was a secret,” Nora explained. “We did not want to tell our families until after the ceremony. We were afraid they would try to stop us—because of the feud between the Fears and the Goodes.”

  The man shook his head, his lips pressed together in a thin line. “Go on,” he said impatiently.

  “Daniel and I eloped. We did not even take the time to choose wedding rings. Daniel gave me this instead.” Nora lifted the chain of the amulet she wore around her neck.

  “That night was Daniel’s grandfather’s seventyfifth birthday. Someone brought in a cake with all the candles lit. Then Daniel announced our marriage. His grandfather screamed and rose from his wheelchair—”

  “Impossible!” the man barked. “Simon Fear was a weak old man. He could not rise from his wheelchair.”

  Nora flinched at his harsh tone. “But he did,” Nora insisted. “Then he fell and crashed onto the table. The cake toppled off. The flames from the candles started the fire.”

  “You expect me to believe that the tiny candles on a birthday cake burned an enormous mansion to the ground?’

  Nora squeezed her eyes shut and nodded. She could see Daniel standing by her side and introducing her to his grandparents. The next moment, a wall of fire separated them—forever.

  “You did not try to put out the fire?” the man asked.

  “No one could put out the fire. Daniel tried, but it was like a living, breathing thing. A thing with a will of its own. So hot and bright.”

  Nora took a deep breath and forced herself to meet the man’s cold eyes. “And I saw faces—laughing, screaming faces—in the flames,” she said firmly.

  Nora felt more tears begin to flow down her cheeks. She dashed them away.

  “Enough!” The man pounded his fist on the table. “I gave you four opportunities to tell the truth. The events you describe are impossible.”

  He picked up a pen, dipped it in an inkwell, and scrawled his name across the paper. The candle flame wavered. Shadows danced across the man’s face.

  He lifted his eyes and captured her gaze. “I am sorry, Nora, but I have no choice. I must declare you insane and commit you to the insane asylum.”

  Nora opened her lips and uttered an anguished cry that echoed through the room.

  PART ONE

  Chapter 1

  The Village of Shadyside1901

  Nora hated the night.

  During the day, she heard a cry or two from down the hall. She heard a thump above her cell or a bump below.

  But at night, deep moans and screams reverberated off the walls of the asylum. Nora covered her ears, but she could still hear the cries of the other inmates.

  What do they see in their nightmares? Nora wondered. Can it be more horrible than what I see through my window?

  Nora peered through the black iron bars. Just as she had every night for ten long months now. The ten long months she had been locked in the asylum.

  Beyond the bars she could make out the remains of the Fear mansion against the full moon. How could any nightmare be more terrifying than that?

  Nora noticed the workers had made more progress on the road running through the Fear property.

  A road they would call Fear Street.

  Nora wrapped her arms around her body. She had tried to tell the doctors and nurses that the road was a bad idea. They would not listen.

  Why would they? They thought she was insane.

  But she knew the bad luck that surrounded the Fears had somehow seeped into their land. Tainted it.

  She turned from the window. The darkness always came too swiftly, wrapping shadows around the bed, the table, the chair.

  And the cradle.

  Bending, Nora lifted her son into her arms. Nicholas gazed at her with trusting brown eyes … his father’s eyes. Daniel Fear’s eyes.

  She returned to the window and sat on the wooden floor. Wind whistled through the cracked glass. Nora leaned forward and breathed deeply. The fresh night air reminded her of the world outside. The world she wanted Nicholas to know.

  But her son had been born in this place. He had never been outside the iron bars and locked doors of the insane asylum.

  Nora preferred to sleep leaning against the window, holding her son. Her mattress stank of stale perfume, blood, sweat, and death. She never used it.

  She rocked back and forth. Someone screamed—a high shrill sound. Her son cried softly. Looking at his innocent face, Nora brushed the brown hair away from his furrowed brow.

  “It is only the wind. Only the wind,” she whispered. ‘I will take care of you. Do not worry. I will always take care of you.”

  Nora felt the warmth of the sunlight on her eyelids. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

  Another day.

  Keys rattled as someone unlocked the door. Nicholas whimpered, and Nora picked him up and held him close.

  The door burst open. A large woman stood in the doorway. Martha, Nora’s nurse. Her body blocked the light from the hallway. “It is time for your bath, Nora.”

  Martha stepped aside. A young girl darted into the room. “Nancy will watch the babe,” Martha said.

  Nancy wore a coarse white cotton shift like Nora’s. It identified her as an inmate of the asylum. She waved her hands frantically before her, an empty smile frozen on her face. “Baby. I watch baby.”

  Nora hugged Nicholas tighter. “Could a nurse stay with him?”

  “Nancy is twelve. Certainly old enough to watch a baby,” Martha snapped.

  “Twelve,” Nancy repeated as she held out her arms.

  “He’s sleeping,” Nora lied as she placed Nicholas in the cradle.

  “Sleeping,” Nancy said. She sounded disappointed, but her smile remained.

  “You mustnot hold him while he’s sleeping,” Nora said.

  “Mustnot hold him,” Nancy repeated as she stared into the cradle.

  “Just watch him and keep him safe,” Nora added softly.

  “Watch him and keep him safe,” Nancy mimicked. She began to rock the cradle and sing a lullaby.

  Reluctantly, Nora followed Martha from the room. Martha slammed the door shut and locked it. She wrapped a beefy hand around Nora’s arm and forced her down the stairs.

  When they entered the first floor, Nora saw a man banging his head against the wall. “It hurts,” he said. And banged his head again. “It hurts.”

  A woman sitting in a corner clawed at her face with her fingernails. Bright red blood covered her hands.

  Martha charged over to the woman, jerking Nora with her. She grabbed the woman’s wrist. “Stop it! Stop it, Charlotte!”

  “I need to get them off,” the woman whined.

  “Orderly! Tie this woman to her bed!” Martha shouted.

  “I have to get the spiders off. They are biting me. Biting my face,” the woman wailed.

  A young man rushed over and picked Charlotte up as if she were a child. He carried her down the hallway. “I need to get them off,” the woman cried again and again.

  Martha tightened her grip on Nora’s arm and stomped toward the stairway leading to the basement. Nora stumbled as Martha yanked her down the stairs.

  Martha opened the door and shoved Nora inside the dark, damp room. Nora pressed her back to the wall. She hated coming here.

  Martha pushed open another door. “Get inside.”

  Nora held her breath as she entered the room. The light was dim. A scrawny woman with loose skin hanging from her bones stepped out of the cast-iron bathtub. Open sores covered her shivering body. Her teeth chattered.

  Nora knew the water was cold. The water was always cold. And the room had no fire to warm it.

  An attendant wrapped a blanket around the thin woman and guided her out of the roo
m.

  Nora released her breath and the room’s foul odors rushed into her nose. Sweat, decay, mold. She always felt dirtier after a bath in this room.

  “Hurry along,” Martha instructed. “You do not want Nancy to play with your son too long.”

  Shivering after her bath, Nora followed Martha back to her room. She had dried off, but still she felt damp.

  Martha slipped her key into the lock, turned it, and shoved the door open. Nora rushed in.

  Nancy stood by the cradle, rocking it back and forth. “Say bye-bye,” she muttered. “Nancy say bye-bye to baby.”

  Nora studied her son. His eyes were closed. He slept peacefully.

  “Come along, Nancy,” Martha ordered from the doorway.

  “Come along,” Nancy repeated in a singsong voice.

  Nancy trotted toward the door. Then she spun back to face the cradle. “Nancy say bye-bye. Baby go to new home now. Baby go to new home.”

  “What?” Nora gasped. She clasped her hands together to keep them from trembling. “What, Nancy?”

  “Nancy say bye-bye to baby,” Nancy answered. She nodded her head up and down, up and down.

  Slowly Nora raised her eyes to meet Martha’s. “No,” she whispered.

  “Yes,” Martha answered firmly. “Nancy is correct. The baby cannot be raised in an insane asylum. He is almost old enough to leave you. They will take him soon.”

  Chapter 2

  “When?” Nora yelled. “When will they come for Nicholas?” She had to know. She needed to make plans. She would never allow anyone to take Nicholas from her.

  “Calm yourself,” Martha ordered. “They will come when they come. Screaming your throat raw will not change anything.”

  Nora grabbed Martha’s arm. “What will they do to him? Where will they take him? Please tell me. You must.”

  Martha pried Nora’s fingers off her arm. “That is enough,” she ordered. “I do not want to have you restrained.”

  Martha made her way to the door. “Wherever they take the baby, he will be better off,” she said over her shoulder.

  But he will not have me, Nora thought. He will not have his own mother. And no one else could love Nicholas the way I do.

  The moment Martha locked the door behind her, Nora reached under her mattress and pulled out the rope.