Halloween Party (Fear Street Book 8)

It’s another trick, Terry told himself.

Please. Oh, please—let it be another trick.

But the silver costume was real. And the blood continued to drip as he watched.

Drip, drip, drip.

A steady rhythm he knew he’d remember for the rest of his life.

He was still staring at the bent form of his friend, trying to get the strength to go for someone, when he heard a voice behind him. “Whatcha got—oh, no!”

It was David, horror on his face.

“I just found him,” Terry said, his voice and hands shaking. “Maybe it’s another trick.”

“I don’t think so,” said David. “Don’t touch him. I’ll go for help.”

“I’m coming with you.” Terry didn’t want to spend another second with Alex’s corpse.

On the way down the stairs they ran into Ricky, Trisha, and Les. Quickly David told them what Terry had found.

“We’ve got to call an ambulance!” said Trisha. “Maybe he’s only hurt.”

“It’s more than that,” said David. “You didn’t see him. His neck—all the blood . . . ”

Terry shuddered, remembering the ruined costume. He had had his problems with Alex, sure, but no one deserved to have something so terrible happen to him.

“At least call the police!” said Les.

“First let’s tell Justine and her uncle what happened,” said David. “They’ll know what to do.”

Justine and her uncle were sitting in front of the fireplace, talking together in low tones. When the frightened guests burst into the living room and explained what had happened, Justine jumped up at once, concern radiating from her lovely face.

“You call the police,” Philip told Justine. “I’ll see what the situation is.”

“Wait, Uncle Philip!” said Justine. “No police—yet.” Philip nodded and together with the others they ran up the two flights of stairs to the attic.

“It’s in here,” said Terry, leading the others to the closet. He braced himself for what he knew he was going to see and pulled open the door.

There was nothing at all inside the closet.

“I don’t believe this!” he cried.

“Where is he?” asked David at the same moment.

“Very funny,” said Trisha angrily. “For your information, Terry, you’re not supposed to pull tricks on members of your own team!”

“It’s not a trick!” Terry protested. “I saw him—we both did!”

“He was here,” David added. “And blood was dripping.” He bent down and touched the closet floor. “It’s dry,” he said, sounding astonished.

“I guess I’m not the only one who prepares ‘surprises,’ ” said Justine with a little smile. “Come on, Uncle Philip, let’s go back downstairs.”

The others were about to follow them when Niki came into the room.

“Has anyone seen Terry?” she asked. Then she spotted him. “What’s going on? What are all of you doing in here?”

Quickly the others explained what had happened. “So we get up here,” Les finished, “and there’s not only no body, the closet’s completely empty. Obviously, they made the whole thing up.”

“Did you make it up?” Niki asked Terry, her dark eyes searching his face.

“No,” Terry repeated. “I saw the body. It was real. I don’t know where it is now, but it was here.”

“Come to think of it,” said Ricky, starting to sound worried, “I haven’t seen Alex for quite a while. Has anyone?”

“Maybe you just thought you saw something,” said Niki. “There are a lot of shadows in here.”

“What we saw was real,” said David. “It was Alex.”

“Then if he was—like you say— We’ve got to find him!” said Niki. “Come on, Terry, let’s look in the rest of the rooms.”

No one felt like searching alone, so the six of them—Terry, Niki, Les, David, Ricky, and Trisha—carefully checked behind the boxes in the attic, then crept down the stairs and began to go through the rooms on the second floor.

“This is Justine’s room,” said Niki, opening the door. “Maybe he just—” She broke off with a shriek.

The others crowded closer. Lying on Justine’s bed was the Silver Prince.

But as soon as they got near, it became clear it wasn’t Alex.

Ricky approached the bed first. “Hey!” he said. “This is just—”

“A dummy!” Terry finished for him. The object lying on the bed was Alex’s silver costume, stuffed full of rags. The “blood” Terry and David had seen was streamers of red cellophane that had moved slightly to resemble dripping. In that light it was hard for Terry to believe he had been fooled so badly.

It had been so real that he even imagined the sound of the blood dripping onto the floor. What an idiot he had been!

“Gotcha!” Alex jumped out of the bathroom, dressed in a blue robe, laughing so hard he could hardly breathe.

“Are you all right?” Niki asked, wide-eyed.

“He’s fine!” said Terry in disgust. His voice was shaking again, but not from fear, from anger. “That was a rotten trick!” he told Alex. “We thought something had really happened to you!”

“I’m touched by your concern,” said Alex with a pleased smirk. “Nice work, David.”

“It did look pretty real,” David said, also smirking.

“You mean you were in on it?” Terry asked David, furious.

“Sure he was,” said Alex. “How else could we convince you wimps to waste all that time searching for my body? While you were running around trying to find the Silver Prince, the rest of the jock team finished the treasure hunt. Too bad, guys, you lose again!”

Niki turned to Alex, angry now herself. “That was really mean, Alex!” she said. “I never thought you could do something so rotten!”

For a moment Alex looked hurt, then he smirked again. “Hey,” he said. “Don’t you know all’s fair in love and—Halloween tricks? Besides, Niki,” he added, “I gave you plenty of chances to join the winning team.”

“Come on, Terry,” said Niki, grabbing his hand. “Let’s go back to the party.”

“Why don’t you all clear out,” said Alex. “I’ve got to change back into my costume—so my team can collect the prize for the treasure hunt.”

As they walked back down to the living room, Terry’s head was swimming. He liked surprises. But Alex’s little trick had left him shaken.

I guess I still care about Alex, Terry thought. Otherwise I would have been able to think more clearly when I discovered that dummy in his costume hanging in the closet.

In the living room Murphy and Angela were dancing in the dim glow from the electric candles. The “treasures” were piled up on a table by the fireplace.

“Want some punch?” Terry asked Niki.

“Sounds great,” she said. “I’ll save you a seat. I need to talk to you.”

Terry brought two cups of punch and then settled in the loveseat next to Niki. She was every bit as beautiful as she had been at the beginning of the evening, but her dark eyes were now narrowed with concern.

“Still upset about what Alex did?” Terry asked her.

“Not really,” said Niki. “It’s something else. Remember when I told you what I saw Justine saying the other day?”

Terry stopped her in surprise. “You don’t still think she’s up to something?” he said. “Justine’s the only person at the party who hasn’t done anything weird.”

“Let me tell you what I found,” Niki went on. “And tell me what you think. While you were on the treasure hunt, I went into Justine’s room—”

“You were snooping in her room?”

“She didn’t say any part of the house was off-limits,” Niki reminded him. “Besides, I was curious. Terry, she doesn’t have any of the normal high school stuff in her room—”

“Well, why should she?” said Terry. “She only moved here a few months ago. Besides, she’s lived all over the world. She’s probably more interested in stuff she got in her travels than pennants or school colors.”

“She doesn’t have things from her travels either,” said Niki. “Her room is practically bare, except for one thing—”

She told Terry about the hidden closet and the clothes she’d found there, along with the picture of Justine and the older man.

“Right,” said Terry. “Well, there’s a simple explanation. Justine’s a CIA agent and the guy’s a Russian spy.”

“Will you be serious!” said Niki, but she was laughing too. “Look, I know it sounds crazy, but nothing I found in Justine’s room makes any sense. And I also found some prescription bottles made out to Enid Cameron.”

“That’s her CIA name,” said Terry. “And that’s why she’s having the party. She’s going to ask everyone on the guest list to be a spy.”

“Maybe you’re not so far off,” said Niki. “Terry, I really think Justine leads some kind of double life.”

“Well, maybe she does,” said Terry. “But so what? If you’re really that bugged about it, ask her. She’s a very nice girl, and I’m sure she wouldn’t want anybody to be suspicious of—”

He broke off as Justine rang her bell again. The dinging came from overhead, and all eyes turned to see Justine standing at the railing on the balcony above the living room, a gold foil-covered box on a table next to her.

“It’s time to award the prize for the treasure hunt,” she said. “And I’m so happy it was such a success. Even if”—she paused and smiled mischievously—“there was a surprise or two even I hadn’t planned on.”

Most of the kids applauded and cheered, and Justine made a small bow. “The prize is special chocolates from Paris,” she said. “Who would like to accept them for the winning team?”

“I will,” said Alex. He was back in costume, and handsome as ever as he slowly walked up the stairs to meet Justine.

“Perfect,” she said breathily. “Golden chocolates—for a Silver Prince.” She bent down to pick up the gold box, then staggered slightly and caught herself against the banister. Before she could hand the chocolates to Alex, the railing suddenly gave way—and with a bloodcurdling scream, Justine fell forward and plunged to the floor below!