The Betrayal (16 page)

The manuscript ended there.

Ezra set it down gently.

The Goodes,
he thought.

The Goodes have destroyed my family. I will not rest until I find them. The Goodes must pay for their evil.

His heart pounding, Ezra took a step back.

The skeleton seated at the table suddenly creaked and toppled backward. In the dim light Ezra spied a strange object at its neck.

Holding the candle in front of him, Ezra leaned over the skeleton and lifted a round silver amulet from around the neck bone. He stared at the tiny three-toed claw in the center of the disk. Words were inscribed on the back of the medallion, but Ezra could not make them out in the dim light.

With a wistful sigh Ezra slipped the cord around his neck and adjusted the amulet over his chest. “My only inheritance,” he said bitterly.

A few moments later he was out of the cold, dark house, walking into the sunshine, thinking about the village of Wickham, thinking about the Goodes, driven by his bitterness toward the sweetness of revenge.

Nora Goode hunched over her writing paper, the candlelight flickering over the small desk. She lowered her pen and took a moment to stretch her aching fingers.

“So much to tell,” she said, staring into the yellow flame. “So much to write. This poor hand
must
hold out until my story is through.”

And the story was just beginning, Nora knew.

The Fiers would continue to pay dearly for their betrayal of the Goodes. Blood would flow. The blood of both families, through decades.

“Yes, my frightening story has just begun,” Nora whispered. “It is a long and bitter tale, and I must finish it before the night is over.”

Bending to her task, she picked up the pen, dipped it into the inkwell, and feverishly began to write again.

TO BE CONTINUED …

“Where do you get your ideas?”

That's the question that R.L. Stine is asked most often. “I don't know where my ideas come from,” he says. “But I do know that I have a lot more scary stories in my mind that I can't wait to write.”

So far, he has written over a hundred mysteries and thrillers for young people, all of them best-sellers.

Bob grew up in Columbus, Ohio. Today he lives in an apartment near Central Park in New York City with his wife, Jane.

THE NIGHTMARES NEVER END … WHEN YOU VISIT

Next…
THE FEAR STREET SAGA:
THE SECRET

The bloody feud continues. Jonathan Fier wants to marry a girl who could end the curse forever. But Jonathan knows she's hiding something. Is she telling the truth? Then two Fier sisters fall in love with the same man—a man named Goode—and their rivalry ends in death!

Dear Readers,

Welcome to
Fear Street
—where your worst nightmares live! It's a terrifying place for Shadyside High students—and for
YOU!

Did you know that the sun never shines on the old mansions of Pear Street? No birds chirp in the Fear Street woods. And at night, eerie moans and howls ring through the tangled trees.

I've written nearly a hundred Pear Street novels, and I am thrilled that millions of readers have enjoyed all the frights and chills in the books. Wherever I go, kids ask me when I'm going to write a new Fear Street trilogy.

Well, now I have some exciting news. I am writing a brand new Pear Street trilogy right now. The three new books are called
FEAR STREET NIGHTS.
The saga of Simon and Angelica Fear and the unspeakable evil they cast over the teenagers of Shadyside will continue in these new books. Yes, Simon and, Angelica Fear are back to bring terror to the teens of Shadyside.

The new
FEAR STREET NIGHTS
will be published Summer 2005. Don't miss it. I'm very excited to return to Fear Street—and I hope you will be there with me for all the good, scary fun!

Feel the Fear.

FEAR STREET® NIGHTS

A brand-new Fear Street trilogy by the master of horror

R.L. STINE

In Stores Now

Simon Pulse

Published by Simon & Schuster

F
EAR
S
TREET
is a registered trademark of Parachute Press, Inc.

FEAR STREET—

WHERE YOUR WORST NIGHTMARES LIVE

By bestselling author
R.L. STINE

Simon Pulse

Published by Simon & Schuster

F
EAR
S
TREET
is a registered trademark of Parachute Press, Inc.