Halloween Party (Fear Street Book 8)

She fell so fast, no one could move.

Her scream echoed off the high ceiling.

She landed hard on one of the dark crushed-velvet sofas beneath the balcony and didn’t move.

Terry and the others ran to the sofa, too scared to speak.

Justine lay across the sofa, her eyes closed, her arm hooked crookedly over the sofa back.

Alex reached her before anyone else. “Justine!” he cried.

Her eyes opened and she slowly sat up.

“What happened?” she murmured, dazed.

Terry realized he’d been holding his breath. What can possibly happen next? he wondered.

“You fell,” Alex told Justine gently. “Are you all right?”

“I think so,” said Justine. “But how—”

“The banister—it just gave way,” Alex said.

“But how could it?” said Justine. “It’s solid—we had all the woodwork checked when we moved in here.” She leaned against the cushion and gave a little gasp of pain. “My wrist—” she said.

“It may be sprained,” said Alex, taking it in his hands. “Do you have an elastic bandage?”

While Trisha and Angela went for the bandage, the other kids started to climb the stairs to inspect the place where the banister had broken. But Philip was already up there, and despite his sad clown’s mask he looked furious.

“All right!” he said in a stronger voice than Terry had heard him use all evening. It stopped everyone cold. “Which one of you kids did this?”

“Did what?” asked Murphy. “The banister just—”

“It was sawed!” said Philip.

He held up one end of the broken railing, and everyone could see that it had been cleanly cut through.

“The jocks did it!” Ricky blurted out, backing down the stairs with everyone else. “We heard some of their tricks were going to be dangerous!”

“We didn’t do anything!” snarled Murphy. “Admit it was you guys—because you can’t stand to lose!”

“Are you totally crazy?” protested Les. “Why would we do such a stupid thing? In fact, why would anyone?”

“I can think of a reason,” said Alex, his face grim.

“Oh, yeah?” said Les. “What?”

“To make our team look bad,” he said, staring directly at Terry.

“Are you accusing me of something?” Terry asked. “If so, say so.”

“I’m not accusing anyone of anything,” said Alex. “I just think it’s funny that right after your team loses the treasure hunt, something bad happens.”

“That’s ridiculous!” said Terry. “When would we have had the time and privacy to do it? You’re probably just covering up for doing it yourself! Isn’t it enough that you had to cheat to win the treasure hunt? Do you want to kill someone too?”

Alex came down the last two stairs fast, breathing hard. “If you weren’t an old friend,” he said, “I’d—”

“Yeah?” said Terry, angry at himself for letting this dispute happen, but unable to back down. “You’d what?”

“Nothing,” muttered Alex, deciding he’d be the one to let things chill out.

“Stop it! Can’t you two stop it?” Niki was standing between them and shouting at both of them. “Something terrible has happened and all you two can do is fight about it!” She turned to Philip. “Mr. Cameron,” she said, “we all feel terrible about this. But I’m sure no one here could have done such a terrible thing.”

“Someone cut the banister,” said Philip, downstairs now, sitting beside his niece. “And nearly killed my niece.”

“Now, Uncle Philip,” Justine said placatingly. “Whoever it was couldn’t have known I’d be the one to lean on the railing—” She put an arm around her uncle’s shoulders. “I just feel so bad that it’s spoiled the party. All I ever wanted was for everyone to have a good time.”

Philip stood and stepped away, shaking his head.

“Hey, no problem.” Alex was at her side on the couch and slipped his arm around her. “Nothing’s spoiled. It’s a great party.”

“Honest,” chimed in Angela, wrapping Justine’s wrist. “None of the things that have gone wrong are your fault. We’re all having a good time.”

“Really?” Justine asked in a tiny voice. “Thank you for saying so.”

Now everyone else crowded around Justine, telling her what a great party it was. Justine turned her smile back on in full force.

“Thank you all so much,” she said. “Maybe we just need a few minutes to catch our breath and relax, and then we’ll get on with the party. After all, there are still plenty more surprises.” She paused and stood up, then glanced around. “I’m going upstairs for a few minutes to get myself together. I’ll see you guys soon.”

“Whatever you say,” Alex said. He had rested one hand lightly on the back of her neck and was looking at her as if no one else in the room existed. Justine whispered something in Alex’s ear. Alex laughed and whispered something back. Then Justine headed upstairs.

How can Justine be with Alex? Terry wondered. Alex was probably the one who cut the banister, or at least knew who did.

“Those two are headed for nothing but trouble,” Niki suddenly said. He saw that she, too, was watching Alex and Justine.

“I know what you mean,” he agreed. “Someone ought to warn her.”

“Warn her?” Niki’s eyes flashed. “Someone ought to warn him. You may think I’m wrong, but I just don’t trust her.”

“You just have some kind of silly hunch, that’s all,” Terry said, surprised at how much he felt like defending Justine. “You know what, Niki, you’re acting like you’re—” He stopped himself before he said something he’d regret.

“I’m acting like I’m what?” Niki put a hand on Terry’s cheek and pulled his face toward her. Her eyes were blazing—with anger and something else.

“Like you’re—well—jealous!” Terry let it out. “Now that Alex is paying more attention to Justine than to you, you seem to think Justine is the Wicked Witch of the West.”

For a moment Niki didn’t answer. Her face had gotten very pale. “Is that what you really think?” she said at last.

“Look, I know you don’t really care about Alex,” said Terry. “But how come you’re so down on Justine all of a sudden?”

“In the first place, I do care about Alex,” Niki said. “As a friend. And I don’t want to see him get hurt. In the second place, there’s something about Justine that just isn’t right. And if she didn’t have you on her string, you’d see it yourself. Some very strange things have been happening—”

“Oh, right,” said Terry, stung. “And I suppose you think Justine cut through the banister herself.”

“I didn’t say that,” said Niki. “I don’t know who cut through it. But that doesn’t change the fact that Justine is playing some kind of game with all of us, and especially Alex.”

“So now you’re going to protect Alex?” Terry couldn’t help saying it, even though he knew it would make things worse.

“What I’m going to do,” said Niki, her voice cold with anger, “is find out what’s going on. While there’s still time!”

She turned abruptly and walked away.

Terry watched her go. Justine had a wide-screen TV set up and Bride of Frankenstein was on. Terry had never seen it, so he watched for a while. He was actually getting caught up in it when a deafening thunderclap rattled the house.

A moment later the screen went black and all the lights went out.