Midnight Games (6 page)

I could see he liked me teasing him like that, coming on to him. Did I have a crush on him already? My mind was spinning.

Stay away from him, Dana. Ada already hates you. Don't make it worse.

“So? What's up?” I asked. I started walking to my locker.

He hurried after me. “These guys . . . uh . . . they're having a skating party Saturday night. On Fear Lake.”

Fear Lake. I hadn't thought about that lake on the other side of the woods since I was a kid. My family used to have picnics on the shore. And my dad would drag a canoe there and we'd paddle around for hours.

The memories rushed back to me. Fun times. Before we moved away. Before it all turned bad . . . .

“Is the lake frozen already?” I asked.

Nate nodded. “Yeah. It's been so cold this fall.”

“I'm not a great ice-skater,” I said. “Weak ankles.”

He raised his eyes to mine. “You're probably better than me. The last time Shark and I went skating, I fell on top of a six-year-old girl. It was totally embarrassing.”

I laughed. I stopped at my locker. I stared at the lock, trying to remember the combination.

“So . . . you want to go?” Nate asked. “You know. With me?”

I turned back to him. “What about Ada?”

His smile faded. “I
told
you. She doesn't own me.” He pulled down the neck of his T-shirt. “See? No leash.”

I pictured Ada and Whitney staring at me so coldly. “Well . . . ”

“I like you,” Nate blurted out. “You're interesting.”

“Thanks for the compliment,” I said. “Okay. I'll go.”

That brought the smile back to his face. But I immediately regretted it.

What did he mean, I was
interesting
?

Was Nate interested in
me
? Or was he interested because he thought I could tell him stories about the Fear family?

I had to talk to Jamie.

I needed advice on what to do about Ada. And I needed advice about Nate.

My first day at Shadyside High, and already I felt in the middle of something. Maybe Nate was someone I could really be into. Maybe he was someone I could trust, someone to rely on.

Or was he someone I should stay away from?

Jamie would tell me.

I hurried home. The sun had already lowered behind the trees. I hate winter. I hate when it gets dark so early.

I looked for Jamie in her room. I saw her backpack and her bag tossed on the floor by her bed, so I knew she was home. But no sign of her.

Jamie's mom—my aunt Audra—was in the den. She looks like an older version of Jamie, with wavy, black hair and creamy, white skin. She had classical music on the stereo. She was lying on the couch, doing a crossword puzzle.

“Jamie is in her studio,” she told me. “You know. In the garage. Ever since the accident, that's where she spends her time. Doing pottery she never lets me see.”

Did I detect a little bitterness there?

I thanked her and headed to the back of the house.

“Dana, how was your first day?” Aunt Audra called after me.

“Great!” I shouted back. No sense getting into it.

I closed the kitchen door behind me and stepped onto the driveway. A gusting wind had come up, shaking the bare trees in the backyard. A shutter rattled at the side of the house.

I was still wearing my down jacket from school. I pulled up the collar as I trotted to the garage.

The single, pull-down door was shut. The door had no window, but I could see yellow light pouring out at the side of the garage.

“Hey, Jamie!” I shouted, cupping my hands around my mouth. “It's me!” I listened hard. No reply. “Hey—Jamie?”

I bent down, grabbed the garage door handle, and started to hoist up the heavy door.

I had it raised a foot or so from the driveway when I heard the loud shriek from inside:

“Stay OUT! I mean it! STAY OUT!”

14

“Jamie, it's me,” I called. “Are you okay?”

I heard running footsteps. The garage door rolled up a few feet. Jamie slid outside and pushed the door down behind her.

Her face was red, and she was breathing hard.

I jumped back. “Sorry. Why did you scream like that? You . . . you scared me.”

She had a towel in one hand, covered with brown and red stains. She used it to wipe a spot of clay off one cheek.

“I'm sorry too,” she said. “I didn't mean to scream. It's just . . . well . . . I don't allow anyone in my sculpture studio.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Excuse me?”

“It's kinda my own private space,” she said, balling up the towel between her hands. “It's
my therapy. After the accident . . . after I fell into that excavation hole last year, I was home for months. I needed a lot of rehab time. I turned this studio into my own private world.”

I still didn't understand why I couldn't come in and see what she was doing. But no point in arguing with her. She had a rough year, after all. She's entitled to her own space.

She studied me for a moment. “Dana, how was your first day at our lovely school?”

“Just
lovely
,” I said. I grabbed the sleeve of her sweatshirt. “Can I talk to you for a minute or two?”

She nodded. “Sure. Give me a sec to clean up. I'll meet you in the kitchen.”

When she joined me at the kitchen table a few minutes later, she still had a spot of red clay on one cheek. She dropped down across from me and rolled up her sweatshirt sleeves.

“You're sweating,” I said.

“It's hot in there,” she said, mopping her forehead with the back of her hand. “It's the kiln. Dad went a little crazy. He got me the biggest kiln they make, I think. It's like a blast furnace.”

She jumped up, jogged to the fridge, and came back with a bottle of water. After downing half the bottle, she turned to me. “So? What's up? Your first day at Shadyside High. Details, please.”

I told her about being lost and a little overwhelmed by the size of the place. And I told her about a couple of cute guys I met in the library.

She stuck her finger down her throat and made gagging sounds. “I know those guys. They're not cute once you get to know them.”

I laughed. “Yeah, I know they're not the clean-cut, straight-arrow type like Lewis. But I like punky guys.”

She shrugged. “Whatever.” She brushed her wavy, dark hair off one eye. “So what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Well, I found out something kinda bad after school,” I began. I told her about running into Ada and Whitney on my way to my audition with Ms. Watson. And I told her how I'd applied for the Collingsworth Prize.

“Uh-oh,” Jamie muttered, squeezing the plastic water bottle in her hand. “Ada and Whitney applied too.”

“You got it,” I said.

Jamie took another long slug of water, keeping her eyes on me. “Ada has to be furious,” she said. “She thinks she has that scholarship prize aced.”

“I know,” I said. “That's strike two for me with your friend Ada.”

Jamie frowned. “Or maybe strike three,” she said. “Ada looks like a little mouse, but she has an awesome temper. Red hair, you know.”

“I got off to a
horrible
start with Ada,” I said. “I know she's your good friend. I don't want her to hate me. But I
have
to win that prize, Jamie.”

Her mouth dropped open. I guess I was a little intense.

“Don't you understand? If I don't win that prize,” I said, “I'll have to go to work. I won't be able to go to college.”

Jamie nodded. “Yeah, I know, Dana.”

“I feel bad for Ada,” I said. “But I'll do
anything
to win.”

Jamie stared hard at me. “Anything?”

“Well . . . ,” I replied. “Yeah. Anything.”

15

I guess I had a few beers. I was feeling
pretty good. I mean, there I was at a table full of guys. It was about one
A. M
. on Wednesday night, and none of the other girls had come into Nights yet.

I was kicking back, having a nice time, flirting with all of them. Nate had an arm draped over my shoulder. Shark kept pulling out his cell, calling that girl Nikki, asking why she wasn't coming tonight. Lewis and Galen kept tossing popcorn in the air, trying to see who could catch the most in their mouths.

“Who started this idea of sneaking out late at night?” I asked.

“Is it night?” Shark joked. “No wonder it's so dark!” He'd had more beers than I had.

“Jamie and I started it,” Lewis said. He was
the only one drinking Diet Cokes. “We called ourselves the Night People.”

“Clever name,” Galen said. “Did you think of that all by yourself?”

Lewis ignored him. “Jamie and I started sneaking out before this bar was built. We used to meet inside the old Fear Mansion, right on this spot.”

Galen rolled his eyes. “Tell us something we
don't
know.” He slid out of the booth and walked up to the front to get another beer from Ryland O'Connor.

“Pretty soon these copycats started sneaking out too,” Lewis told me. “Jamie and I can't get any privacy.”

Shark jabbed Lewis in the ribs. “And why do you need privacy?” he teased.

We all laughed.

“Well, this is so cool,” I gushed. “We have secret night lives no one knows about.”

Shark leaned into me. “Tell us some secrets, Dana.”

“No way,” I said, pushing him away.

“Come on. Give us a break. Tell us some dirty secrets.” He took a long pull from his beer bottle.

“Shark, you always act like this after half a beer?” I said.

Everyone laughed again, even Ryland from behind the bar.

Galen brought refills for everyone. Nate lowered his hand from my shoulder to take his beer. “So you didn't do this back home?” he asked.

I shook my head. “My parents would have
killed
me. I can't believe your parents haven't found out.”

“My parents are divorced,” Nate said. “That means I have only
one
parent to fool. And she works all day, so it would take a bomb blast to wake her up.”

“My parents drink themselves to sleep,” Shark said. “It's not much of a challenge to sneak out.”

“Lucky,” Galen said.

Lewis kept gazing at the front door. Maybe he was expecting Jamie to show.

Nate squeezed my hand. “So what did you do for laughs back home?”

I shoved his hand away. “None of your business. You're too young.”

The other guys hee-hawed at that one.

The five of us kidded around for a while. I could tell Nate was really into me. Just by the way he kept touching me and giving me looks.

I was attracted to him too. But one thing bummed me out—the way he kept getting serious, asking me questions about my life back home and what it was like being a Fear.

What was his
problem
, anyway?

Finally, he told me about some weird things that had happened to him in October. The stories were totally bizarre. He said one night at the bar, cockroaches started pouring out of his mouth. And then one day in school, both of his ears started spurting blood for no reason at all.

Yikes.

He said everyone believed Candy Shutt was using Angelica Fear's amulet to cast spells on him. But it turned out not to be true.

Was someone else doing these things to Nate?

Was there someone out there who knew how to put curses on people? Someone who really wanted to hurt Nate and his friends?

The whole idea sounded crazy to me.

“You're a Fear, right?” Nate said, squeezing my arm. “Do you know spells and sorcery and stuff? Do you know how to do things to people you hate?”

I just stared at him. My head was kinda buzzing from the beers I'd drunk. And my eyes weren't totally focusing.

But I could think straight enough to know that I didn't like his questions.

I shoved my beer bottle in front of him. “Drink some more,” I snapped. “Maybe you'll make more sense.”

“No. Really—,” he started.

“Nate, I don't know what you're talking about,” I told him. “How would I know anything about that? Just because I'm a Fear doesn't mean I'm interested in—”

“Sorry. Sorry,” he said. He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “Sorry. Really. Sorry. Umm, did I say I was sorry?”

Shark laughed. “Kiss her again, Nate.”

I glanced up—and saw Ada staring at us from the middle of the room.

Did she see Nate kiss me?

Yes. It was easy to tell from the angry scowl on her face.

“Hey, Ada—,” Nate started. “Scoot over, Shark. Make room—”

But before anyone could move, Ada grabbed Nate by the arm and pulled him from the booth. He had a goofy, confused look on his face. He half-stumbled, half-shuffled after her. I saw her pin him to the wall next to the bathrooms.

“Ada, want a beer?” Shark shouted. He grinned at me. The whole thing was a joke to him.

But I had this heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach. And my head started to buzz even louder.

The three guys at my table all started talking at once. But they didn't drown out Ada.

I could hear her getting into Nate's face. I couldn't hear her words because she was speaking in a loud whisper. But you didn't have to be a genius to figure out what she was saying.

And then I heard these words from Nate: “I'm just trying to be nice to her. It's tough being the new kid.”

Ow. That hurt.

And then I heard Ada's furious reply: “Don't be
too
nice to her. Hear me?”

Whoa.

After that, it got ugly. The two of them started shouting at each other. Ada no longer cared if I heard or not.

I jumped to my feet when I heard her scream, “She's trying to take my boyfriend
and
my scholarship!”