Stage Fright, page 7
Only then did Avery dare peek at the rear of the auditorium, convinced the hangers were ready to shoot at them out of the gloom. Fortunately, only the dust motes churned through the air, disturbed by the kids’ frantic rush through the theater.
“Are we safe now?” Paige was out of breath.
“We’d better be,” Jaylen said, for once not clowning around. A new sheen of sweat glistened on his forehead. He cupped his hand to his mouth and raised his head toward the catwalk. “Hey, Maddie, we’re trapped, okay? Give us a break.”
“Stop talking to her!” Paige whacked his arm. “That’s what made her come out in the first place.”
Jaylen scowled. “Says the person who kept begging her to talk.”
“How was I supposed to know she’d get so mad?” Paige said.
“Let’s stay calm,” Tyler broke in.
Paige turned on him. “You keep saying that, but it’s hard to be calm with a ghost on the loose.”
“A ghost who wants to ‘play,’ ” Avery added. “Whatever that means.”
“I don’t think it’s talking about Monopoly,” Jaylen said.
Avery shuddered. “What if she’s hiding in the shadows, watching us?”
“If?” Paige sputtered. “Of course she is!”
“All right then, let’s get rid of the shadows,” Tyler said matter-of-factly. He regarded the large stage lights hanging above them. “Like you said, Paige, the ghost light works. So one of those should, too, right?”
“You’d think,” Jaylen muttered, one eye on the skull.
“There’s gotta be a control box backstage,” Tyler said.
“How about over there?” Paige pointed into the wings opposite from where the basement staircase was. “Let’s go check it out. I need to do something! I’m not going to sit around here waiting for her—it—to attack.”
She grabbed Tyler’s hand and pulled him toward the unexplored side of the stage. He stumbled along behind her. Jaylen, now laser-focused on the skull, ignored them. Avery stayed put. If Jaylen wasn’t going anywhere, she wasn’t, either. She couldn’t leave him alone.
Who are you fooling, Avery? The truth was, she was too chicken to leave the ghost light. The creepy voice on the phone still rang in her ears. She shakily unzipped her backpack, got out her water bottle, and took a swig. It barely dampened her parched throat. If only Paige hadn’t finished all her own water back at the treehouse.
Jaylen edged closer to the skull. “Is that thing in the same place I left it?”
“What?” Avery choked on her water. When they’d left the auditorium, the skull had been glaring directly at her. Somehow it still did, even though she now faced it from a completely different angle. It must have rotated. But how? She wiped her hand across her mouth. Maybe skulls were like the subjects in portrait paintings—the eyes always followed you, no matter where you moved. That had to be it.
Still, a heavy blanket of dread settled over her.
“You guys!” Paige called. “We found a bunch of switches and a fuse box!”
A series of clicks came from offstage. Avery crossed her fingers and eagerly watched the lights above. But they remained dark.
Jaylen squatted next to the skull, tilting his head to be at the same angle it was. “This thing is totally real. Tyler doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
The ghost light flickered. Avery nervously eyed the damaged cord. If that light gave out, they’d be in huge trouble.
Jaylen picked up the skull and lifted it close to his face.
Suddenly the light died and the world went completely black. Muffled exclamations erupted offstage. An icy wind slithered around Avery.
Something breathed in her ear. “Get—”
Snap! The ghost light flashed on. The wind evaporated. Avery spun around, temporarily blinded. Who was behind her?
“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” Paige called. “Some of the switches are labeled, but most of them are too faded to read.” The clicking started again.
Avery blinked rapidly, searching the stage. There was no sign of the ghost. Jaylen, still locked in a staring contest with the skull, acted unbothered. But the chills running up and down her body couldn’t be denied. It must have been the ghost whispering to her.
“J-Jay…Did you hear that?”
“Huh?” Jaylen shook himself out of his trance and lowered the skull away from his face. “Oh, yeah. Paige flipped the wrong switch.”
“No, I mean…” Avery wavered. Was her mind playing tricks on her?
Paige and Tyler shuffled out from the wings.
“Nothing works,” Paige said dejectedly.
The skull slipped from Jaylen’s grasp and dropped to the floor with a dull thud. He lumbered upright and backed away from it, wiping his hands on his shorts. “Why is it slimy?”
“Ewww, why did you touch it?” Pagie said.
Avery had had enough. “You know what?” She charged to the drop cloth, picked it up, and tossed it over the skull. “I can’t stand that thing staring at me.”
Tyler scratched the back of his head. “It could be that the fuses are blown. We might find another electrical box in the basement—”
“No!” Jaylen yelled. He flung his palms up. “No, no, no! I’m not going down there with the rats.”
They all stared at him in astonishment. He heaved in big gulps of air, as if he’d just come off the basketball court. Avery stepped toward him and touched his arm lightly. “That’s all right, we won’t make you.”
“More lights don’t really matter right now,” Tyler said. “We should concentrate on getting out of here.”
Paige hugged herself. “True.”
“Everyone, check your battery power,” Tyler said. “What percent are you at?”
Avery fished her cell out of her back pocket. “Fifty-three.”
“I’m at forty-four,” said Paige.
“Seventy-nine,” Tyler said.
Jaylen squinted out at the auditorium, his face troubled.
Avery nudged him. “Hello?”
“What? Oh.” He glanced at his screen. “Three percent.”
“Seriously?” Paige said.
Tyler’s mouth twisted with disapproval. “Dude, you never keep your phone charged.”
“I will from now on,” Jaylen said. “If we ever get out of here.”
Paige pushed him. “Stop joking.”
He didn’t respond.
Avery had a flash of inspiration. “Okay, hold on. Maybe we can get cell reception higher up in the building.”
Tyler’s eyes lit up. “We did find a ladder attached to the wall in the wings. It goes to—”
“Not the catwalk!” Paige said in alarm.
“No,” Avery reassured her. “There’s a window in the back wall above the balcony. I think it’s part of a control room for the lights and the microphones and stuff. If we go up there, maybe our phone will work.”
“And we can try to turn on more lights,” Tyler added.
“Do we have to get there through the lobby?” Jaylen toyed with one of his braids. “ ’Cause I don’t want to run into the ghost again.”
“There’s probably a way up there from the stage, too,” Tyler said, gearing into action. “Let’s see where that door by the podium leads. My phone has the most power, so let’s use my light. Everyone else turn their phone off.”
“Good idea,” Paige said.
Avery shouldered her backpack, and they all tromped to the podium side of the stage. She slowed before passing the staircase. What if the ghost lingered down there? It could fly right at her, its mouth spreading wider and wider, its wind pinning her to the wall so she couldn’t escape….
Knowing it was silly, she held her breath, like she did whenever traveling past a graveyard. Supposedly that prevented spirits from possessing your body. Avery scurried past the stairs and made it to the podium without anything horrible happening. Behind her, Jaylen also inhaled deeply and increased his pace.
Guess she wasn’t the only superstitious one.
The door beyond the podium opened to yet another hall with several doors, this one running from the back to the front of the building. At the closest end was the small exterior door Tyler had tried to open after hopping the fence.
“This is like the high school’s haunted house at Halloween,” Paige whispered. “All hallways and closed doors and who knows what behind them.”
“Did you have to say that, Paige?” Avery envisioned a bloody inmate in an orange jumpsuit leaping out at them with a chainsaw. A mad professor wielding a knife. A crazed clown yowling with laughter.
Or the ghost of a disturbed young girl ambushing them, mouth jerking as a shriek ripped from her throat—
“Let’s go.” Tyler’s words cut through Avery’s nightmarish thoughts. He headed toward the lobby.
The first door in the middle of the hall was actually ajar. Tyler paused in front of it. “Here we go.”
He pushed it open and leapt back, aiming his cell inside like a stunted lightsaber. Its beam landed on a low counter lined with two rows of severed heads.
Avery stifled a scream.
Tyler passed through the doorway. “This must be the dressing room.”
“But…” Avery’s voice trailed off. What had appeared to be severed heads was only a row of wig stands displayed in front of a makeup mirror. She adjusted her glasses on her nose. Either she needed a new prescription, or she couldn’t trust her own eyes.
Or she needed to get a grip.
Avery entered the room. To the right was a sink, some lockers, and two plaid couches. An open door to the left led to a toilet with no water in its bowl.
Tyler nodded toward the bathroom. “Anybody have to go?”
“I’ve sweated all the liquid out of my body,” Jaylen said.
“Gross.” Avery elbowed him, assuming he was joking. But his face was stony.
Paige patted the couch cushions. “I guess we could sleep in here, if we had to.”
“I mean, we could,” Jaylen said. “But it would just be prolonging the inevitable.”
Paige flinched. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Let’s stick with the plan,” Tyler said. “We need to get upstairs.”
They left the dressing room and continued along the hall, Jaylen lagging behind. Tyler cautiously cracked open the next door, revealing a stairwell with steps going up to the second floor.
“Bingo,” he said.
“Hold up.” Jaylen’s eyes darted around the hallway. “Do you hear that?”
“What?” Paige asked. They all froze and listened.
“That, like, scratching.” Jaylen’s face was tight with horror.
Avery’s blood ran cold. She listened, but all she could hear was her heart pounding in her ears.
“No,” said Tyler.
“Are you sure? It sounds like rats.” Jaylen rubbed his arms like he was freezing cold.
“Dude, quit thinking about the rats.” Tyler ran a hand through his hair impatiently. “Rats don’t attack people out of nowhere.”
“They do if they’re hungry enough.” Jaylen’s voice rose. “What do they have to eat here besides us?”
“What is going on with you?” Avery had never seen Jaylen so rattled. It was one thing for her to worry—that was normal. But sunny Jaylen acting frightened and defeated? That was almost more troubling to her than a ghost.
Jaylen backed away from the group. “You know what? I’m not going up there. I’m staying with the light.” He turned and retreated down the hall, shoulders hunched under his backpack.
“No, we have to stay together.” Avery lunged to grab his shirt, but he dodged her and continued toward the stage door.
“I’ll go with him,” Paige said. “Jaylen! Wait for me.”
He paused, shifting from one foot to the other like he was eager to make a break for it.
“I don’t think splitting up is a good plan,” Tyler said under his breath.
Paige handed Avery her phone. “Take this and check it for service up there.”
“What about Jaylen’s phone?” Avery asked.
“His is about to die, anyway,” Paige said. “We all have the same carrier. If ours don’t work, his won’t, either. We’ll only turn his light on if we need it, so we won’t waste the battery.”
As much as Avery longed to return to the ghost light, too, Paige had a point. No one should be alone. Plus, the way Jaylen was acting, he wouldn’t be any help anyway. “Let them go,” she said to Tyler.
“Fine,” he huffed.
Paige jogged to Jaylen and linked arms with him. He immediately pulled her toward the stage door. Avery waited until they’d entered the wings, then turned to Tyler.
“Ready?” she asked.
Scowling, he spun on his heel and pushed open the stairwell door. To Avery’s relief, nothing jumped out at them. As soon as she passed the threshold, the door banged shut behind her, enclosing them inside.
Avery hadn’t imagined the building’s air quality could get any nastier, but she’d been wrong. The stairwell’s cement walls oozed moisture, and the mildew stink threatened to choke her.
Tyler kicked the lowest stair before stepping on it. “What is up with Jaylen?”
“Right?” Avery stuffed both her phone and Paige’s in her backpack’s outer pocket before trailing Tyler and his light up the staircase.
“One minute he’s showing off for Paige, the next he’s freaking out,” Tyler grumbled. “Ever since those two kissed, he’s—”
Avery stopped so hard her sneaker made an ear-splitting squeak, the echo rebounding around the stairwell. “WHAT?”
CHAPTER TEN
“Oh.” Tyler froze, one foot on a step, the other on the landing. He shot Avery a guilty look. “Paige didn’t tell you?”
“No.” Avery’s mind reeled. In second grade, the four of them had spied on the older kids playing spin the bottle and witnessed Paige’s sister, Natalie, kissing Jaylen’s brother, Russell. The Ridge Road Detective Club members had been beyond disgusted. They’d made a pact then and there to always be friends and never, ever anything more. Because anything more would be gross. “I can’t believe it.”
“Well, it’s true.” Tyler leaned his back against the wall and bowed his head.
“When was this?” Avery asked.
“At the beginning of the summer,” he said darkly.
“Were you there? I mean, was it a dare or something?” Avery remained locked in place, her hands gripping the railings. This was even bigger than the Bethany Barnes betrayal. How many secrets was Paige keeping from her?
“No, I was not there. And it absolutely was not a dare.” Tyler laughed bitterly. “I’m a poet and I didn’t know it.”
“So, what happened?”
Even though his cell light pointed toward the floor, Avery could see Tyler’s jaw clenching. “I was at my dad’s,” he said. “So the two of them biked to get ice cream after dinner one night and stopped in Autumn Park on the way home. They were sitting next to each other on the swings and…they kissed.”
“But why?” Avery couldn’t wrap her mind around it. “Do they like each other that way?”
Tyler shrugged. “He likes her. I don’t know what she thinks. I guess it only happened once.”
This was huge. Avery trudged up the steps and joined him on the landing. She’d never kissed anyone in a romantic way. There was a boy at her new school, Joe Doyle, who gave her butterflies when she passed him in the hall. He’d smiled at her and said hi once and her insides had gone so squishy she thought she’d collapse on the spot. She’d totally told Paige about him. In the past, the two of them had dreamt together about their first kisses, who they’d be with, what they’d be like. It was absolutely inconceivable that Paige hadn’t told her about this.
Jaylen would’ve been Paige’s first kiss. At least as far as she knew, Jaylen would’ve been Paige’s first kiss.
Bethany Barnes probably knew for sure.
Tyler traced a circle on the ground with the tip of his shoe, still not meeting her eyes. “Listen, I don’t know anything else, so if you want more facts, you’ll have to talk to Paige.”
“Wait.” Something clicked in Avery’s mind. Tyler was almost more upset about this kiss than she was. “You like her, too, don’t you? In that way.”
“No,” Tyler said quickly. Too quickly.
“Tyler.” She put her hands on her hips.
“Okay. Kinda.” He finally raised his head. “I mean…yeah.”
Avery’s hands dropped to her sides. She had never thought of Jaylen and Tyler in a romantic way. They were like brothers to her. Sometimes she even hated them, though that never lasted. She absolutely didn’t want to kiss either of them, ever. Still, she felt a pinprick of jealousy. Should she be insulted that the boys didn’t think of her that way? Paige triumphs again. She twisted the bracelet on her wrist. Since when had she gotten so competitive with her best friend?
“Does Paige know you like her?” Avery asked.
“No!” Tyler jolted like he’d stuck his hand in an electric socket. “I hope not! Please, don’t tell her.” His eyes were pleading. “I mean, if she doesn’t like me back—”
“Right.” Avery totally understood. It was hard to put yourself out there unless there was no question the other person was interested in you, too, whether you wanted to kiss them or just hang out and be friends. She’d learned that at her new school. “How about Jaylen? Does he know?”
“Absolutely not,” Tyler said emphatically. “No way was I gonna tell him that after I found out they kissed.”
More secrets. Avery had never thought there would be so many between her friends. This changed everything. The way the boys had been fighting made much more sense now. “So that’s why you’ve been picking on him.”
“Have I?” Tyler shrank back, surprised.
