What Scares You the Most? Read online

  The Nightmare Room Thrillogy 2

  What Scares You the Most?

  R.L. Stine

  Contents

  Prologue

  April Powers watched as her teammates, Kristen, Anthony, and Marlin,…

  Part One

  A Tropical Island This Spring

  1

  Hugging herself tightly, April Powers stared out at the tossing…

  2

  The beam of light from Anthony’s flashlight trembled over the…

  3

  And in that instant, the world turned upside down. The…

  4

  April kept staring out at the ocean. Was that Marlin’s…

  5

  They sloshed through the puddled sand to their cabins. April…

  6

  April pulled the blanket up to her chin. Why is…

  7

  April raised her head from the pillow and listened.

  8

  April opened her eyes and gazed up at the woman.

  9

  “I have waited a long time for this moment. I…

  10

  “The contest is over!” Donald Marks called. “You’re the winners!”

  Part Two

  The Year 1680 Ravenswoode, a Tiny English Village

  11

  Deborah Andersen lay on her bed, staring at a black…

  12

  Deborah found her mother, Katherine, huddled on all fours in…

  13

  The wooden farm wagon bounced over the rutted dirt road.

  14

  The cabin door closed. Deborah heard the bolt drop into…

  15

  As the blind sailors screamed and wailed in terror, Deborah…

  16

  Deborah watched her mother splash into the gentle waves. The…

  Part Three

  The Present September

  17

  “The island was wonderful,” April said. “It really was a…

  18

  After school the next day, April was interviewed by some…

  19

  “April—what is it? April—please stop!” Pam grabbed April by the…

  20

  It had rained all afternoon, and the street was puddled…

  21

  And then she was back on the island.

  22

  The woman’s voice lingered in April’s ears.

  23

  “THERE SHE IS! THERE SHE IS!” April shrieked into the…

  24

  Kristen had an ice cream sundae in front of her.

  25

  “Wow,” April murmured. “Are you serious?”

  26

  April had just enough money to take a taxi home.

  27

  “What’s going on in here?” a voice called.

  About the Author

  Other Books by R.L. Stine

  Credits

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  Welcome…

  Hello, I’m R.L. Stine. Welcome to part two of a very special Nightmare Room story.

  It’s about a girl named April Powers who joins eleven other kids on a tropical island. The kids are there to play survival games—for a prize of $100,000. But they soon discover that someone else is on the island, someone who doesn’t want them to survive!

  When I started to write this story, I realized that it was too big and too frightening to tell in one book. April’s story had to be told in three books instead of one.

  And so the THRILLOGY was born.

  Welcome to my special nightmare…

  PROLOGUE

  April Powers watched as her teammates, Kristen, Anthony, and Marlin, ran to the end of the weathered wooden pier. Its gray pilings creaked and groaned with the pull of the tide.

  “I can’t believe this!” April shouted over the crashing waves. “They left us here!”

  She had watched the boat pull away, the boat that had carried the twelve kids to this tropical island two weeks earlier.

  “They took everything!” Marlin cried. “We’re alone here! And there’s no way home!”

  “But they’ll come back for us,” Anthony said. “It’s all a game, right? They wouldn’t really leave us here all alone—would they?”

  April shivered. Hugging herself, she turned and gazed down the beach to the eerie, blue rocks. The rocks glowed, even in the darkness.

  We’re not alone, she thought.

  Something else lives here. Something evil.

  She could feel it even now…watching her…waiting…

  Waiting for the right moment to strike.

  “We have to find a way out of here,” April said. “We’ve got to get off this island—before it’s too late.”

  Part One

  A Tropical Island This Spring

  1

  Hugging herself tightly, April Powers stared out at the tossing ocean waves. A bolt of jagged lightning flashed on the horizon. In the sudden light, the water flared green, bright as day.

  Thunder crackled in the distance. Lightning flickered, closer this time.

  Shivering, April turned to her three friends. “That storm is heading this way,” she muttered.

  “Perfect,” Kristen Wood said, shaking her head bitterly. “We’re abandoned on this empty island. And now we’re going to be washed away.”

  “Marks will come back for us,” Anthony Thomas said. He pulled a beetle from his red hair and crushed it between his fingers. “He has to come back. This is probably some kind of test.”

  “I don’t see any boats in the water,” April replied, shivering again. She felt a heavy raindrop on her shoulder. Another one on the top of her head. “They took the boats and left us here. They’re not coming back.”

  “It’s a survival game,” Anthony insisted. “Marks is the director of The Academy. He’s a businessman, right? He’s not going to abandon four kids on an island.”

  “But…what if something went terribly wrong?” April asked. “What if it was some kind of emergency? And he gathered up everyone he could—and split?”

  Marlin Davis had been silent this whole time. He was hunched beside the others on the small dock, watching the waves grow higher, watching them crash onto the rocky shore.

  He pulled off his baseball cap and scratched his head. “They did leave in an awful hurry,” he said softly.

  “But they took everything with them,” Anthony said. “That means their escape was planned.”

  He brushed a raindrop off his forehead. “I’m telling you, guys, it’s a game. Part of the Life Games. This is the bravery competition. So…don’t panic.”

  “Don’t panic?” April’s words came out shriller than she had planned. “Don’t panic? We have no food. No phones. No way to contact anybody.”

  Kristen placed a hand on April’s trembling shoulder. “Are you sure there’s no food?” she asked.

  A deafening boom of thunder made all four of them jump. The rain came down harder, pattering noisily on the planks of the dock.

  Marlin jumped to his feet. “Let’s go check. Let’s see what they left us.”

  Ducking their heads against the pouring rain, April and her friends ran off the dock, across the shore, and to the cabins and huts of The Academy Village. By the time they burst through the open mess hall door, they were soaked.

  Marlin tried the light switch. He clicked it several times. “They must have turned off the generator,” he said.

  “Oh, great,” April moaned. “No power at all.”

  Lightning flickered outside the window. April could see that the tables had been pushed against the wall. The chairs were all overturned.

  “Did they leave anything in the kitchen?” Kristen
asked. She was already halfway there, her wet sneakers sliding on the wooden floor.

  April shook out her short brown hair as she trotted after her friend. This isn’t happening, she thought.

  It’s the middle of the night. And I’m having a nightmare. I’m dreaming that Donald Marks took his assistants and the other kids and roared away on the only two boats.

  Wake up, April, she urged herself. Please—wake up!

  But no. She joined the others in the dark kitchen. Anthony had found a flashlight and was sending a darting circle of light around the room.

  “Oh, wow. The shelves are bare,” Kristen murmured.

  “Try the fridge,” Marlin said.

  April pulled open the heavy metal door. Anthony beamed his light into the big refrigerator.

  “Oh, gross!” April screamed. “I’m going to be sick!”

  2

  The beam of light from Anthony’s flashlight trembled over the fat mouse, dead on its back on the bottom refrigerator shelf.

  The creature’s stomach had been clawed open—probably by a cat or a large bird. Red and yellow guts puddled around it. One tiny black eye dangled from its socket.

  “At least we have dessert!” Marlin grinned.

  “Shut the door,” April moaned, hiding her eyes.

  “Who would do that?” Kristen asked. “Someone had to pick up that dead mouse and drop it in the fridge.”

  “It’s all a test,” Anthony insisted. “Bravery, remember?”

  “But what are we supposed to eat?” Kristen cried. “Are we supposed to pick berries? Are we supposed to catch fish with our hands?”

  Her shoulders heaved up and down. She was shivering so hard, her voice quivered.

  “Let’s stay calm,” Marlin said softly. “We’re the best team—right? We’re the survivors. We’ll figure this out.”

  Marlin had been the team leader ever since the kids had arrived on the island. An African American, tall and athletic, with a great smile and a funny sense of humor, Marlin had been the one to keep the team together.

  April felt really close to Marlin. When the others were putting her down, he stuck with her. She knew her teammates were still suspicious of her. A strange incident in the mess hall one morning had convinced them that April had evil powers.

  Of all the crazy things, she thought.

  The others had wanted to shut her out entirely. But Marlin stayed her friend. And now the four of them were alone on this island.

  We have no choice now, April told herself. We really have to stick together.

  “I think we’ll all be able to think more clearly in the morning,” Marlin said. “Let’s head back to our cabins and—”

  “And sleep?” Kristen cried shrilly. “How can we sleep when we know we’re all alone here?”

  “Marlin is right,” April said. “We’re soaked and we’re exhausted. At least, if we go to our beds, we can get dry and warm up.”

  Jagged lightning crackled outside the window. The empty room exploded in light.

  “Whoa. That was close!” April exclaimed.

  “Maybe the storm will be over by morning,” Marlin said, shaking his head. “Then we can make a plan.”

  “Yeah. A plan,” Anthony repeated.

  He had been insisting this was all a game. And now he was trying to sound brave. But April could hear the fear in his voice.

  I’m frightened too, she thought. I don’t think this is a game. I think something is very wrong here.

  April was sure she would lie awake all night. But she fell asleep nearly as soon as her head hit the pillow.

  She dreamed about home. Mom and Dad were at the dinner table with April’s friend Pam. Pam sat in April’s chair.

  They were laughing and laughing. April was nowhere to be seen. “Pam, you’re the best!” April’s mom kept saying. “You’re the best! Better than April. Better than April in every way!”

  April awoke, feeling disturbed. The unhappy dream lingered in her mind.

  Glancing across the cabin, she saw that Kristen had already left. She dragged herself up, washed her face in the sink against the wall, pulled on khaki shorts, a green midriff T, and her sneakers. And hurried to the mess hall.

  The rain had stopped, but gray clouds still covered the sky. The morning air felt cool and damp. The cabins, the grass, the dirt path to the beach—everything shimmered wetly.

  The storm had really messed up the ocean, April noticed. She watched wave after foamy wave pound the shore. Her stomach grumbled hungrily as she made her way to the mess hall.

  “‘Morning,” she muttered as she stepped inside. Her three friends had pulled a table into the center of the room and sat around it.

  Kristen looked nearly as bedraggled as the night before. She hadn’t bothered to brush her blond-brown hair, which fell in limp tangles around her face.

  Anthony and Marlin were excitingly discussing something. “The boat has to be there,” Marlin said. “I know they didn’t take it.”

  “No way. I’ll bet it’s gone,” Anthony said.

  “What boat?” April asked, joining them.

  “Remember the little red motorboat?” Marlin replied. “The one Marks’s assistants used to go around the island?”

  “Yes!” April cried. “Of course. It’s tied up by the rocks, right?”

  “It’s not that far from here to the main island,” Marlin said. “That little boat is pretty speedy. It can take us there easily. And I think there is a radio on it.”

  “If we need to, we can radio for help!” Kristen said, smiling for the first time.

  “Very cool. What are we waiting for?” April asked.

  They found the boat on its side on the outcropping of blue rocks. Marlin grabbed it and tilted it upright.

  “Is it wrecked?” Anthony asked. He grabbed the side of the boat and rocked it. “Seems okay.”

  “No damage as far as I can tell,” Marlin said.

  “Excellent!” Kristen cried, pumping her fist in the air.

  Marlin opened the cap on the outboard motor and gazed inside. “Guess what? A full tank of gas!”

  April and the others cheered. “Maybe our luck is changing,” she said.

  She grabbed the microphone and turned the dial on the radio. “Hello? Hello?” She let out a disappointed cry. “It’s silent.”

  “Maybe the batteries got wet,” Marlin said. “We don’t need it. Let’s get in the water.”

  “Yeah. Before it starts to pour,” Kristen said, frowning up at the clouds.

  The four of them dragged the boat down to the shore. The outboard motor bounced heavily behind it.

  Tall waves swept over the rocks as they pulled the boat into the water. They could feel the strong current pulling away from the shore.

  “The ocean is so rough,” Anthony said, biting his bottom lip. “Think this little boat can make it?”

  “It should be calmer once we get past the breaking waves,” Marlin replied. “But if anyone wants to stay back…”

  “No way!” April cried.

  They scrambled into the boat. It was a tight squeeze, but they just fit.

  The boat rocked wildly on the tossing waves. April felt her stomach lurch. “Whoa—!” she cried out as the boat tipped almost straight up.

  Then it dropped down with a hard slap on the water.

  At the back of the bobbing boat, Marlin turned to the motor. “Here comes the big test!” he shouted over the roar of the waves. “Will it start?”

  April crossed her fingers on both hands. Please work, she prayed. Please!

  The boat rocked hard again and spun against the onrushing waves. Marlin pressed the ignition button.

  The engine coughed. A low rumble. And then it kicked in, roaring over the rush of the waves.

  “Yes!” Marlin shouted, pumping his fist in the air. “We have liftoff!”

  April and the others cheered. They held on tight as Marlin turned the boat away from the shore.

  Wave after wave battered them.


  It’s like they’re trying to push us back, April thought.

  The motor coughed, then roared again. The boat bounced high over the waves.

  “Yes! Yes! We’re OUTTA here!” April cheered.

  “Hold on!” Marlin yelled, his hand bouncing on the control. “Hold on tight!”

  The boat struggled to leap over the roaring waves.

  April shut her eyes and gripped the sides of the boat as a powerful force spun the boat around.

  Suddenly, they began to spin crazily…faster…faster…. Whirling helplessly…. Picking up speed as if caught in a spinning whirlpool.

  “Why is it doing this?” April cried.

  “I—I can’t control it!” Marlin screamed.

  Dizziness swept over April. This is crazy! she thought. The waves aren’t spinning us around. The waves are rolling straight to shore.

  What kind of a current are we caught in? Why is the boat spinning like this?

  And then she saw the tall blue rocks loom above them.

  “NOOOOO!” Another scream tore from her throat as the boat spun hard—and crashed against the rocks. April heard a shattering craaaack as the boat splintered apart.

  She threw her hands up, as if reaching for something to hold on to. But her hands grabbed only air. And she flew from the boat, screaming. Screaming…

  3

  And in that instant, the world turned upside down. The sky stretched beneath her feet now.

  Tossed by the force of the crash, April plunged beneath the water. The shock paralyzed her. She let the force of her fall carry her down.