Halloween Party (15 page)

She did know she was in mortal danger, that all of them were.

The smoke coming in under the door was growing
thicker. Niki knew that they didn't have much time. She pressed her palm to the door. It was already hot.

Somehow, they had to find a way out. Maybe if they all worked together, they could break down the door, or bend back the grating.

She touched Terry's shoulder. “Terry!” she said. “We've got to do something!”

He just stared at her, his eyes full of pain and confusion. He couldn't hear anything she was saying, and he obviously couldn't think straight.

She tried Alex next, but like Terry he couldn't hear her. He turned away and went back to pulling on the grating with Murphy. “Has everyone lost their minds?” she said out loud. And realized that, in a way, they all had. Trisha and Angela were huddled together in a corner, sobbing, and Ricky was standing in front of the door, his eyes closed tightly, screaming.

None of her friends would be able to help her, Niki realized.

Maybe David would come soon with the police, but he'd been gone a long time. So many things could have happened to him that she knew she couldn't count on him now.

It was up to her.

Trying not to panic, and trying to ignore the growing clouds of smoke, she forced herself to think logically.

The door was too heavy to break through. She went over to the window and pushed in between Murphy and Alex. The grating was thick and immovable.

She stepped back and forced herself to take two or three deep breaths of the clear air coming in from the window. By now the smoke in the room had become
thick as fog, and her friends were completely lost in their hysteria.

Justine had planned her revenge well.

If only there were another way out. If only there were a skylight, or a heating vent, or— Her eyes fell on a handle set in the wall. A small spark of hope jumped within her. It might be just a cupboard. But maybe . . .

She opened the small door and almost cried with relief.

It was part of the old dumbwaiter system that Justine had talked about. The dumbwaiter basket appeared to be much too small to hold a person, but Niki was slender, and besides, Justine had said that was how she'd gotten her into the basement.

With a sinking feeling Niki realized she wouldn't be able to lower the basket herself. It was designed to be lowered manually by someone pulling on a rope attached to a pulley. She would have to find help. But could she break through to any of her friends?

Terry was still sitting with his hands pressed tightly over his ears. She shook him, roughly. When he turned at her, she shouted as loud as she could. “Terry! You've got to help me!” He continued to stare at her blankly.

“Terry!” she called again. “Please! It's up to us!”

She searched his face, willing him to understand. Terry blinked and then suddenly his eyes cleared. He looked at her with understanding.

“Funny Face,” he said.

The tape was much too loud for him to hear her. She pulled on his arm and led him over to the dumbwaiter. She pointed to herself, then to the basket,
and pantomimed pulling on a rope. By now Alex had come over, too, and both boys were staring at her as if she had lost her mind.

“You can't!” Terry said. “It's too dangerous!”

Niki read his lips easily, but shrugged off his warning. She pointed to the dining-room door, where smoke was pouring in thicker and thicker.

“She's right!” Alex shouted. “It's our only chance!”

Reluctantly Terry nodded his agreement.

Good, Niki thought with relief. But would it work?

Together, Alex and Terry boosted her up to the entrance to the dumbwaiter. She took a deep breath and crawled into the basket. It was a tight fit, but by keeping her knees tucked up under her chin she was able to sit almost comfortably.

“Ready!” she shouted, her heart pounding furiously.

Alex began to operate the pulley. She could feel the ancient mechanism creaking and groaning under her weight. Would it hold her?

Suddenly the dumbwaiter basket caught on something. Looking up, she could see Alex and Terry pulling on the ropes, trying to free it.

It wouldn't budge.

The air in the shaft was hot and smelled of smoke. The fire was spreading quickly. If the basket didn't begin moving soon she would smother there inside the walls of the old house.

Knowing it was risky, she began to rock back and forth. She knew that it would either free her or cause the basket to fall the rest of the way to the basement.

With a sudden, sickening lurch, the basket dropped several inches.

Niki felt as if her heart had stopped, then she relaxed as the basket resumed its steady progress downward. At the bottom she pushed hard on the inside of the cupboard door and scrambled out.

The air was much cleaner there, and for a moment she just breathed. Then she switched on her flashlight and shone it around the dark, musty room.

The basement was shaped irregularly, and contained what seemed to be dozens of nooks and cupboards. How had Terry ever found her down there?

At last the flashlight showed the basement stairs, and she quickly ran up them, only to find that the door was scorching hot. If she opened it, she'd be incinerated.

There had to be another way out. There had to be!

Again she shone the flashlight around. Something dark and furry skittered off to one side, and Niki jumped. At last she saw the outlines of a window, and rushed over to it. Her heart sank in dismay.

It was boarded up.

Niki wanted to cry. After everything that had happened, to be trapped there, to die there . . .

Stop it! she told herself. Don't give up now.

Her friends were all depending on her. Terry was depending on her. Somehow, she had to find a way out.

She propped the flashlight so it shone on the boards over the window and began pulling at them, her fingernails all breaking. Finally one of the boards began to work loose, and she could see the dark shape of an overgrown bush outside.

She pulled harder and harder. At last the board came free.

The space wasn't quite big enough for her to escape
through, but if she could get one or two more boards loose, she might be able to wriggle out and go for help.

She began pulling on the next board, trying not to think about how long it was taking.

She had nearly pulled it free when she felt a hand squeeze her ankle.

N
iki screamed and jumped away from the window. As she did, she tripped over something soft and went sprawling on the floor.

It's Justine, she thought.

Justine has found me and will kill me right now, right here.

But she won't do it without a fight.

Niki twisted and tried to pull away from the hand that held her.

But then, in the dim light from the flashlight, she saw that it wasn't Justine at all. It was Justine's uncle Philip. The hand that gripped her ankle was securely tied with rope to the other hand, and his ankles were tightly bound together. A large stain of dried blood showed on his white-and-blue polka-dot shirt.

Niki was so surprised that at first she didn't realize Philip was speaking to her. She squinted in the dim light and peered closely to see what he was saying.

“Help me,” he said, his sad clown's face distorted by the urgency of his words. “Please, please, you've got to help!”

“I will,” said Niki then. Philip stopped talking in surprise. “But you've got to help me too,” she added. “Me and my friends.”

She began to untie Philip's hands and feet, explaining as she did what Justine had done. When she told him about the fire, Philip's eyes widened in horror. “I thought I smelled smoke,” he said. “I never dreamed that even she . . . ”

Niki finished untying him. “Come on!” she said. “We've got to hurry!”

Philip scrambled to his feet and ran to a chest, returning with a thick crowbar. For such a frail-looking man he was surprisingly strong.

He pried the remaining boards off the window in only a few seconds. Then he lifted Niki onto the windowsill and scrambled after her.

Once outside, Niki greedily gulped in the fresh air.

But there was no time to waste. Niki and Philip ran around to the front of the house. Inside the windows they could see the glow of the fire. The other teens were all pressed against the window grate, struggling to breathe.

Philip pried at the grating with his crowbar.

No. No, it won't budge, thought Niki, the panic rising to her throat.

No. No.

Keep trying.

Yes!

At last Philip pulled off the grating.

Choking and gasping, the kids began to climb out,
their eyes red and streaming from the thick, acrid smoke.

Alex and Terry had helped the others out and were the last to emerge. An instant after they left, the door to the dining room burst into flames.

Niki and Philip led the choking, shocked kids out to the safety of the front yard, far from the house that was now in flames from the basement to the attic.

Once they had reached safety, Terry found Niki and hugged her tight, kissing her face and hair. “Funny Face,” he said over and over, “Funny Face.” Niki scarcely was able to believe he was all right. His face was streaked with soot and his eyebrows were slightly singed.

It had been close.

Very close.

Niki and Terry just stood there with their arms around each other, watching the burning house send up bright orange sparks into the sky.

To the east, faint streaks of light began to appear. Part of the roof suddenly caved in, sending a huge shower of sparks all over the lawn. Everyone moved back to the very edge of the yard. An instant later David stumbled out of the Fear Street woods.

“
S
o I guess Marty and Bobby were too drunk to know what they were doing,” David was explaining. “When I finally woke up, I was in a storage shed at the corner of the cemetery. I went over to the nearest house and called the police.”

David had a huge bruise on his forehead and patches of dried blood on his cheeks, but he seemed to be all right.

In fact, everyone was. Everyone but Les.

Trisha and Ricky both were sitting and watching the fire almost as if nothing had happened to them. Murphy and Angela were sitting in the tall grass, ignoring how wet it was, comforting each other.

Alex was standing off by himself, a sad look on his face, the beautiful silver costume ripped and streaked with soot.

Terry couldn't believe it. How could so much happen in so short a time? He had a feeling that everything that had happened in that house that night had changed all of them—forever.

The faint wail of a siren began to sound in the distance.

Philip stood in front of the group of them, and Terry was surprised to see there were tears in his eyes. “I'm so terribly, terribly sorry,” he told them. “I never meant anything like this to happen. You must believe me.”

“What do you mean?” said Alex angrily. “We were almost killed in there!”

“All I wanted,” said Philip, “was to frighten you. Nothing more.”

Terry thought he was beginning to understand, and the knowledge enraged him. “Are you saying this was your idea all along?” he demanded.

“Yes,” Philip said in a shamed voice. “You see, Justine's father was my older brother. He was the closest person to me in the world. After he died I vowed to raise Justine so he'd be proud of her. But I could never get over his death, and I guess through the years I must have communicated my bitterness to Justine. I see now I should have taught her forgiveness
and love. Instead I taught her hatred and—the desire for revenge.”

“Then you planned this all these years?” said Trisha, sounding horrified.

“No, not at all!” said Philip. He stopped and wiped his hand over his face. “Last year I became ill and decided to spend my last days in my brother's old home. I told everyone I was a distant cousin so they would leave me alone. But when Justine found out I was here, she left her boyfriend and career and moved in with me. She convinced me that I could never die in peace until I'd avenged my brother's death.”

Terry stared at Philip in horror. Everything he was saying sounded like someone's nightmare—yet it was all true.

“You know the rest,” Philip went on. “Justine enrolled in high school while I researched the original party and traced the sons and daughters of the teenagers involved in the accident. Then we sent the invitations.”

“How could you do it?” Alex asked. “How? None of us ever did a thing to you!”

“I know it,” said Philip. “And perhaps I
was
a little crazy to have carried a grudge for so long. But you must believe me! I never intended any real harm to come to you. I only wanted you to know terror, to know suffering for a while.”

“But Justine took your plan one step too far, didn't she?” said Niki. In contrast to Alex, Niki's face and voice showed nothing but sympathy.