Party Summer Page 8

  “Oh!” Eric cried as the light from his flashlight fell on an object on top of the table.

  It was a skull, a human skull.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Craig said, sounding genuinely scared.

  Jan bravely reached out and lifted the skull off the table. “It’s real,” she said.

  “Hope it isn’t someone we know,” Eric cracked.

  Jan replaced the skull. “Hey—my fingers. Look.” She held out her hand for the others to see. Eric shone his light onto it.

  “What’s that sticky stuff?” he asked.

  “It’s protoplasm. Left by a ghost,” Jan said, and she couldn’t keep a triumphant smile from crossing her face.

  “You mean—?” For the first time, Eric had lost his skepticism.

  “Maybe now you’ll all believe me,” Jan said, examining her sticky fingers. “This is a well-known supernatural phenomenon. A ghost has materialized in this room. Recently.”

  The skull suddenly rolled backward on the tabletop, the sunken eyes staring up at them.

  “I’m outta here!” Eric yelled.

  The other three were already heading for the door.

  Once out in the dark tunnel, they didn’t stop. They began running, the light from their flashlights darting wildly over the walls and floor.

  They didn’t stop running until they reached the door leading to the dining room. Breathing hard, Cari eagerly reached for the door and pushed.

  It didn’t move.

  “Hey!”

  She pushed again—harder.

  Again the door didn’t budge.

  “It’s stuck or something,” she told the others.

  “Let me try,” Eric said.

  Cari stepped back. Eric had no more success than she had had.

  “Weird,” he said, concerned.

  He tried again. Then Craig moved beside him and they both pushed against the door.

  “It’s been jammed shut or something,” Eric said, looking very alarmed in the harsh yellow light from the flashlight. “We’re trapped in here.”

  Chapter 13

  LOST FOREVER

  “Let us out!” Cari screamed. She began pounding on the solid wood door with both fists. “Somebody—can you hear me? Let us out!”

  Eric moved quickly to help, pounding on the door with his fists.

  “Let us out! Let us out!” all four of them chanted.

  They stopped to listen.

  Silence greeted them from the other side of the door.

  No one was out there.

  “Did someone lock us in?” Jan asked suddenly, her voice unsteady, frightened.

  Eric turned away from the door. “There’s got to be another way out of here,” he said. “Let’s go back and follow the tunnel till we find it.”

  “No,” Cari said, her fear speaking for her.

  “Cari, we don’t really have a choice,” Eric said softly. “We can’t get out this door. There’s got to be another way out. Let’s go find it.”

  Cari was outvoted three to one, so she reluctantly agreed. Huddling together, walking quickly behind the sweep of the flashlights, they turned away from the door and walked back through the narrow tunnel.

  This time, when they reached the part where the tunnel divided in two, they took the passageway to the left.

  “What was that?” Cari cried, feeling something scamper over her feet.

  Or had she just imagined it?

  Cari felt herself gripped with panic. She realized she was gasping for air. Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest, it hurt.

  “Stop!” she cried.

  Startled by the panic in her voice, the other three stopped. They drew close together. Craig and Eric kept the flashlights aimed at the ceiling so that light reflected down on them. In the dim light, Cari could see the same panic, the same fear, her panic, her fear, reflected on the shadowy faces of her friends.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ll force myself to calm down. We’ll find a way out of here. I know we will.”

  Eric put an arm around her shoulders. They walked quickly, the light darting at their feet.

  Again, the passageway divided.

  “Let’s go this way,” Jan said, heading right.

  They turned into another tunnel, then into another that seemed to follow a wide curve. Water dripped from the ceiling. Ping ping ping against the concrete floor.

  They made another choice, this time to the left, then turned into a passageway filled with spiders and spiderwebs.

  “It doesn’t seem to be leading us anywhere,” Cari said dispiritedly.

  “There should be an opening or a doorway or something,” Craig said, his voice a frightened whisper.

  “I think we’ve been here already,” Jan said, her dark eyes wide with fright. “I remember that weird crack in the wall. I think maybe we’re walking in circles.”

  “We’re lost,” Eric said glumly, lowering his flashlight in despair.

  “Lost forever,” Craig muttered to himself.

  “Maybe this whole thing is a trap,” Jan said.

  “That’s it, Jan. Look on the bright side,” Eric cracked bitterly.

  “Maybe it isn’t a trap,” Jan said. “But it’s as good as a trap. These tunnels all look alike, and just keep winding forever. We’ll never find our way out.”.

  Chapter 14

  THE VISITOR

  “We have no choice. We have to keep walking till we find a way out,” Cari said, wrapping her arms around herself, trying to warm herself from the cool dampness of the passageway. “We’ll find it eventually.”

  Who blocked the dining-room door? Who locked us in? she wondered. Who could it have been?

  There’s no time to think about that now, she scolded herself.

  They turned a corner and entered another long branch of the tunnel that sloped sharply up.

  Have we been here before? Cari wondered.

  She couldn’t tell.

  She could feel her panic start to rise, choking her. Her heart was thudding in her chest. She was suddenly aware of every breath she took and had the feeling that if she didn’t concentrate on every breath, she would stop breathing.

  “It must be lunchtime,” Craig said in the shadowy, shifting light from his flashlight. “Martin will be looking for us.”

  “Maybe he could deliver our lunch to us here,” Eric said.

  “You’re not funny,” Cari muttered.

  “Just trying to keep it light,” Eric said.

  As he said this, the tunnel suddenly brightened. Two narrow slits of daylight appeared in front of them.

  “Yaay!” Eric cried. All four of them began running toward the bright light.

  Cari quickly saw that it was a small hatch doorway. She was the first one to push the door open and scramble out of the tunnel. Blinking in the intense daylight, she had to cup a hand over her eyes to look around.

  “We’re on the beach!” Jan cried happily. “I was right!”

  The tunnel opening was dug into one of the steep dunes along the bay beach. The opening faced away, at an angle that couldn’t be seen by sunbathers on the beach.

  “Doesn’t the fresh air smell great!” Cari exclaimed.

  “I was never so happy to see real sunlight,” Craig said, stretching luxuriously, turning his face up to the sun.

  “We can’t stand out here sunbathing,” Eric said. “We’d better get back to the hotel.”

  Laughing and joking, they made their way up the beach, crossed the terrace beside the deserted swimming pool, and reentered through the sliding glass dining-room doors.

  The laughing stopped when they stepped into the dining room and up to the tunnel entrance.

  “The scaffold … look!” Craig said.

  They didn’t need to have it pointed out to them. The others were all staring at it already.

  The scaffolding, they saw immediately, had been moved. It had been pushed in front of the doorway.

  This was why the door wouldn’t open.
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  Someone had deliberately trapped them inside the tunnel.

  The four of them spent the afternoon at the beach trying to relax, but they were unable to put the tunnel and the fact that someone had deliberately blocked their exit out of their minds.

  Who had it been? Edward? Martin?

  “We’ve got to tell Simon everything at dinner tonight,” Cari said. They all agreed.

  Unfortunately, Simon did not appear at dinner. As Cari set her chowder bowl to one side and passed the tray of crabmeat salad to Eric, seated at the dining-room table beside her, Edward limped noisily into the room.

  He was leaning on his hunting rifle, as before, using it as a cane. His face was red, angry red, ringed by his long white hair, which was unruly and unbrushed. He was wearing the same safari jacket Cari had seen him in during their first encounter. It was open, revealing a pale yellow sport shirt underneath with two buttons missing.

  “Uh … Edward, I don’t think you’ve met my friends,” Can said awkwardly, feeling her face redden.

  Edward stared at her as if he didn’t know her either. Cari introduced Jan, Eric, and Craig.

  He scowled at them in greeting and muttered something that Cari couldn’t hear. Then, setting the rifle down on the floor beside him, he took Simon’s usual seat at the head of the table and began to slurp up his bowl of clam chowder noisily, rapidly, without glancing up once.

  All conversation stopped. Everyone just stared at Edward, who finished his chowder in less than a minute and, still scowling angrily, pulled his salad plate closer and began gobbling up chunks of salad.

  “Is … is Simon coming to dinner?” Cari finally managed to ask, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

  Edward chewed for a while, staring at her the whole time. “No,” he said finally. “Simon isn’t here.” He shoved another forkful of salad into his mouth.

  “He left the hotel?” Cari asked.

  Edward nodded and chewed noisily.

  How can he be such a slob, Cari thought, while his brother is so neat, so elegant?

  Edward seemed to be the opposite of Simon in every way. Simon was so outgoing, so jolly, so friendly and warm. Edward seemed cold, angry … depressed.

  “Simon went to the mainland,” Edward said in his gruff voice. “Provincetown.” He grunted something else that Cari couldn’t hear.

  “To check on my aunt?” Jan asked eagerly.

  Edward squinted his one good eye at her, as if seeing her for the first time. “Yeah. Your aunt.”

  He returned to his dinner. After he finished his salad, Martin served him a plate of roast chicken and mashed potatoes, a different dinner from everyone else’s. Edward finished the meal in silence, as did everyone else.

  It’s as if he’s brought a chill to the room, Cari thought. He’s not making the tiniest attempt to be friendly or pleasant. He’s just totally ignoring us.

  She breathed a sigh of relief when he abruptly stood up, picked up his hunting rifle, and stalked out without a word. The whole room seemed to brighten, and Cari found herself laughing for no reason at all, just relief.

  “He’s a load of laughs,” Eric said.

  “Simon said he was depressed,” Jan said thoughtfully.

  “Well, he sure depressed me!” Cari cracked.

  All four of them started to talk about Edward at once. Craig did a pretty good impression of Edward rapidly slurping his chowder.

  They were still laughing when Martin appeared from the kitchen, appearing even more unpleasant than usual.

  “You’ve got to listen to me!” Martin cried in a loud whisper. “There’s not much time. Please—you must get out!”

  “Huh? Get out of the dining room?” Eric blurted out.

  All four of them were confused by Martin’s statement.

  “You don’t understand,” Martin said, still whispering. He started to say something else, but stopped. His eyes grew wide as he stared at the doorway.

  Cari turned to see Edward leaning on his rifle, moving quickly back into the dining room. “Making a speech, Martin?” Edward said, more of a growl than a question.

  Martin seemed to shrivel up. He hunched his shoulders. His face seemed to disappear into his jacket. “No, sir.”

  Edward stared at Martin for what seemed an eternity before Martin cast his eyes down to the floor.

  Finally Edward broke the tense silence. “Perhaps you should return to your kitchen duties and stop disturbing Simon’s guests,” he said coldly. He shifted his weight, leaning down hard against the stock of the hunting rifle.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Martin turned quickly and scurried off to the kitchen like a frightened mouse.

  A pleased smile crossed Edward’s face, but only briefly. It was the first time Cari had seen him smile.

  He really enjoyed frightening Martin, Cari thought.

  And why is Martin so scared of Edward?

  It seemed to Cari that Martin was as hard and cold as Edward. He didn’t seem to be the type to play the humble servant and cower like a wimp at his master’s stern glance.

  But Martin had definitely cowered—and he had scampered away very frightened.

  I wish Simon was here, Cari thought, checking out Eric beside her. He seemed to be thinking the same thing.

  Edward’s satisfied smile lasted only a brief second. Then his face fell back into its hard scowl, and without a word to the four teenagers, he headed out of the dining room, the hunting rifle tapping loudly.

  “This is boring,” Cari groaned. They’d been playing Scrabble in the rec room for over an hour.

  “What kind of a word is dis?” Jan demanded.

  “You know,” Eric said. “I dissed you. Edward really dissed Martin tonight.” He laughed.

  “Give me a break.” Jan tossed a handful of letters at Eric, who toppled off the hassock he’d been sitting on.

  All four of them were tossing letter squares at one another when a tall figure appeared in the doorway.

  “What a remarkable Scrabble game,” Simon said, chuckling.

  He stepped into the center of the room. He was dressed in white, as usual, a white, long-sleeved pullover and white linen trousers.

  Cari and the others stopped their free-for-all.

  “I’ve been to Provincetown,” Simon told Jan.

  “Yes. Edward told us,” Jan said, her face filling with concern. “Aunt Rose … is she—?”

  “She’s fine,” Simon said, smiling reassuringly. “I’m terribly sorry. It seems she did call. She spoke to Edward. When he told her what our situation was, Aileen convinced her to go to some kind of spa for a couple of days. I apologize for Edward. My poor brother forgets things these days.”

  “So she’s feeling okay?” Jan asked.

  “Yes, yes. As fit as a fiddle,” Simon said. And then he added, “I guess that expression really dates me.” He made a face. “Anyway, Rose will be here in a couple of days. She’s taking the launch from Provincetown on Thursday.”

  “Great,” Jan said, obviously very relieved. “It was so nice of you to go to all that trouble.”

  “No trouble,” Simon said, raising a hand in protest. “No trouble at all, my dear. I was worried about Rose too. But now there is nothing to worry about.”

  Yes, there are still things to worry about, Cari thought. There’s Martin. And Edward. And that secret tunnel with the weird room. And the ghost—Plenty of things to worry about.

  “Simon—” Cari started. She had to ask him. She had to tell him the things they had seen.

  “Simon—”

  But he had vanished from the room.

  Go away, world. Go away.

  Jan, her eyes shut tight, her face clenched in a grimace of concentration, sat in her silky green pajamas on the area rug at the foot of her bed. Chanting softly to herself, she leaned forward, her fingertips tracing the circle and star she had chalked on the floor.

  The room smelled of mothballs. She had opened the window wide to let in the fresh fragrant air. But now
the chirping of crickets and tree frogs, a deafening symphony, was invading her thoughts, spoiling her concentration.

  Go away, world. Go away.

  Rolling her fingertips over the ancient symbol, she let herself drift, allowed herself to float, away from the chirping insects, the rash of the night wind, away from the damp, musty smells of the old hotel room.

  She was floating through darkness now, soft and silent.

  And still she continued to trace the chalked pentacle, feeling her fingers grow warm, feeling the floor come alive beneath her fingers.

  Floating through the silent darkness.

  All alone.

  Alone and away.

  And then suddenly she knew she wasn’t alone.

  She could feel the ghostly presence. She knew it was nearby. She knew it was floating to her.

  I am drawn to the supernatural because I can sense it all around me. I have spirit powers, she thought, rubbing the pentacle, her hand throbbing with pain, with fire, with life.

  Come to me, she thought. Come to me.

  I can sense your presence. I know you’re there, spirit.

  “Reveal yourself!” she cried aloud.

  The loud knock on the door startled her to her feet, eyes open, heart thudding.

  Not with fear. But with anticipation.

  I know you’re there. I can feel it. I can sense it.

  Her hand throbbed. With power.

  The power coursed through her body, filled her with energy from the spirits all around.

  Without hesitating, she pulled open the door.

  “Oh!” she cried.

  Chapter 15

  THE FIRST SHOT

  Jan wasn’t at breakfast the next morning, but that wasn’t unusual. She liked to sleep in, skip breakfast, and join them after the work had started.

  “Good news about Jan’s aunt,” Craig said, helping himself to another plate of scrambled eggs and bacon. “Jan really was relieved.”

  “Yeah,” Cari agreed uneasily.