Pretty Please (Nightmare Hall) (7 page)

Dr. Trent shook her head. “Who knows? The ground started to freeze up on them sooner than they’d expected, and that put them behind schedule. I’ve taken to wearing earplugs when I’m not with a patient, to save my hearing.”

She declared the stitches to be in fine shape and promised to take them out early the following week. “Until then, just keep them dry, okay, Jo?”

Nodding, Jo slipped into her copper-colored suede jacket. “Am I going to have a scar?”

“Umm, maybe a tiny one.” The doctor smiled. “Just enough to give your beautiful face an exotic touch. Nothing to worry about.”

Satisfied with that, Jo left the infirmary.

A few hours later, Lester dorm was chaotic. Cath’s party, unlike Missy’s, was not open. But Nightmare Hall was big enough to hold a lot of people, and many Lester residents had been invited. They were all trying to get ready at the same time.

Nan almost got stuck in the doorway of room 428 when she arrived to see how Jo and Kelly were doing. She had to move sideways so the huge pink skirt of her gown could be stuffed through the opening. The maneuver tilted her elaborate white wig to one side. “How are you going to dance in that outfit?” Jo asked, laughing, as Nan adjusted her wig. “You look like a wedding cake!” But her laughter hid a pang of envy. Nan looked so beautiful as Marie Antoinette. The white curled wig brought out the turquoise in her eyes and the flawlessness of her skin. Kelly, too, looked stunning as Morticia, in a slinky black dress, her black wig long and sleek, her huge, dark eyes carefully outlined with black pencil.

Nan shrugged bare shoulders. “I’ll manage. You look fantastic,” she added generously, taking in Jo’s shiny black outfit.

“So do you,” Jo said, ashamed of her crack about the wedding cake. “Help me with this helmet, will you?”

Nan helped her stuff the curly mass up underneath Jo’s head covering and gently eased the thin latex down over the tape and bandages.

Then she stood back and aimed a critical eye at Jo. “Perfect!” Nan announced. But the look in Evan’s eyes when he arrived told her all she needed to know about her costume.

Nightmare Hall looked a lot less gloomy than usual with bright light shining from every window. Cars lined the upwardly curving driveway and music and laughter rang out from within.

“They should have a party here every night,” Carl said as they all piled out of his convertible. “Makes this monstrosity look almost welcoming.”

Jo and Evan were the only two who had never been inside Nightmare Hall. She was eager to see what it was like. “I love old houses,” she confided to Evan, dressed as Groucho Marx, complete with thick black mustache and fake cigar as he took her hand and led her up the wide stone steps.

“You do?” He seemed surprised. “Not me. I grew up in one. No matter how much money my parents poured into it, it never looked new or perfect.”

Jo laughed. “They’re not
supposed
to look new, Evan. That’s part of their charm. And I can’t wait to see this one. I’ll bet it has all kinds of secret nooks and crannies.”

Cath Devon, dressed as Glinda the Good Witch from
The Wizard of Oz
, complete with star-studded wand, met them at the door. “Jo? Is that you?” She let them all into a huge foyer crowded with people. Most were costumed. Only a handful of people in regular clothes sat on the wide, curving stairs. “You look wonderful!”

Before Evan would let her check out the house, he insisted they dance. The huge library on the first floor had been cleared of furniture, and the music coming from there was slow and mellow. “Okay, one dance,” Jo agreed. “Then I want to explore, okay?”

The big, book-lined room was romantically lit with candlelight, Jo’s favorite song was playing, and although the room was full of other dancers, it wasn’t overcrowded. Not like at Missy’s.

Jo relaxed and let the music melt her bones.

I am, she thought firmly as she nestled her head against Evan’s shoulder, going to have a wonderful time tonight. If anyone tries to spoil it for me, I’ll give them thirty lashes with my jump rope.

“You look fantastic in that getup,” Evan said. “Where’d you get the whip?”

“At Oscar’s. Across the street from the costume shop.” She lifted her head to look up at him. “I thought I saw you going in there, too. The day we found the costumes?”

He shook his head. “Not me. I was going next door, but they didn’t have what I wanted, so I just hiked on over to the costume shop.”

She would have asked him what was next door to Oscar’s, but just then, she spotted another sleek black outfit leaving the room. “Oh, no,” she cried in dismay. “Another Catwoman?”

The music stopped and Kelly, who was standing with Reed behind Jo and Evan said, “Relax, Jo. That’s Tina Downs. But she’s not Catwoman, she’s a cat
burglar.
You know, black stirrup pants, black turtleneck sweater and gloves, black boots and a black ski mask. Her face is peeling and she wanted to hide it. But she must be so hot and uncomfortable in that outfit. Can you imagine wearing wool over a face that’s peeling from sunburn? Gross!”

“Well, I know how she feels,” Jo said. “My mask is tugging at my tape. I’m tempted to find a bathroom and take the bandages off, just for tonight.”

“Oh, don’t do that,” Kelly cried impulsively.

“Not a good idea,” Reed agreed.

Even Evan said, “Didn’t the doctor say you should keep your cuts covered?”

Jo stared at them. “I wasn’t,” she said coolly, “going to run around the party with my scarred face hanging out. I planned to keep the mask
on
.”

“We didn’t mean that,” Evan said, aware that Jo was hurt. “We just—”

“Yeah, you just,” Jo said heatedly. And she turned and hurried out of the room.

Evan called after her, but she kept going. Were they so terrified of seeing what her face looked like without tape or bandages hiding the cuts?

Well, aren’t
you
? she asked herself. Aren’t you scared to death to see what you’re going to look like when your skin sees the light of day again? You haven’t even peeked under the tape, not once. Why is that, Johanna?

That’s different, she thought as she began climbing the wide, curving stairs. It’s
my
face. I’m allowed to be worried about it. But my friends should like me for myself and not be so afraid of what I’m going to look like. It shouldn’t make any difference to them.

Jo kept going until she reached the top of the house. Maybe by the time she went back down to the first floor, she’d be over her irritation with her friends.

The attic smelled wonderful…a combination of cedar and mothballs and old clothes. Although it seemed like a great place to hide, Jo was already beginning to regret her anger. The memory of her dance with Evan tugged at her. If she went back downstairs, she might get another dance or two before the night was over.

Why ruin a perfectly good party by being stubborn?

Giving the cozy room under the eaves a last fond look, Jo went back downstairs.

But before she could look for Evan, Cath, hurrying back and forth between the kitchen and the library and living room, asked if Jo could help her out for a minute. “I need soda. It’s in the cellar. Could you run down and bring up a couple of those big plastic bottles?”

She followed Cath into the kitchen. “Is it dark down there?” Jo asked hesitantly.

“No, the light’s on. Just be careful going down the stairs in those high-heeled boots, okay? I don’t want you falling again. And leave the door all the way open so it won’t swing shut.”

Jo hesitated at the top of the stairs. There
was
a light on down there, but its glow didn’t reach as far as the stairs. The light from the kitchen only spread halfway down, leaving the bottom half dozen steps in darkness.

Cath hefted a large party tray and aimed for the living room. “Just set the soda in the fridge, okay? Thanks, Jo.”

Jo made her way down the stairs very carefully. She had no intention of falling at
this
party. She was a little nervous when she reached the lower stairs and had to feel with her hand along the wooden railing and explore with her feet to find her footing.

But once in the cellar itself, there was a faint yellow glow from a lone bulb hanging near the huge black, noisy furnace.

She hadn’t expected the cellar to be so cold. The furnace heat was being dispatched up into the house and did little to warm the earthen-floored, gray, stone-walled space. One tiny window was set high into a far wall. There were shelves loaded with tools, and other shelves full of canned goods and glass jars. At the end near the window, boxes and trunks and suitcases were piled high.

The entire space smelled musty.

Jo wondered if there were spiders.

Shivering, Jo hurried over to an old wooden table along one wall. It was loaded with soda bottles and cans. Filling her arms, she turned and headed through the chill to the stairs.

She had just put one booted foot on the bottom step when she heard a noise above her.

She raised her head. “Evan?”

But it wasn’t Evan at the top of the stairs. Above her, the kitchen was dark. Hadn’t she left the kitchen light on? Cath wouldn’t have turned it off, would she?

The cellar light didn’t reach to the top of the stairs. All Jo could see was a shadowy figure outlined above her. It could be anyone. But if it wasn’t Evan staring down at her, who
was
it?

Lost in shadow, the top of the stairs suddenly seemed miles away. Jo peered upward, trying to make out the identity of the person who seemed to be staring down at her. “Who’s that?” she called. “Who’s up there?”

The vague, dark figure at the top of the stairs lifted a foot, as if to begin moving downward to join her.

And then Jo thought she saw a second shadowy figure outline appear behind the first.

She heard the first figure utter a surprised grunt.

Then she saw it pitch forward, arms flying out as if to grab something, anything, to stop the fall that was coming. It made a sound, a startled cry for help.

The figure plummeted downward, free-falling through the air, straight at Jo.

Before she could jump out of the way, the cellar was plunged into sudden, complete darkness, and the door at the top of the stairs slammed shut.

Jo opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out.

Then it was too late. Something warm and heavy slammed into her chest, knocking her off her feet, propelling her backward into the stone wall behind her. There was a sharp crack as the human missile collided, headfirst, with the wall. The figure went limp, a dead weight lying half on, half off a stunned and horrified Jo, who was sitting with her back against the wall, her legs straight out in front of her.

Shaking her head to clear it, Jo gently, gingerly, pushed against the dead weight imprisoning her. She managed to free herself enough to slide out from beneath the heavy burden.

But she could see nothing.

She sat there on the cold, damp earthen floor, trying to think. Help….she had to get help. She had to get help. Someone had been hurt. Someone had fallen…been pushed…fallen…and was hurt. Needed…help.

Before she could stir her paralyzed limbs into action, the door upstairs suddenly flew open and the light came on again.

Jo blinked. Tried to lift her head to look up. Her neck hurt. Couldn’t lift it.

“Jo? Jo!”

Evan’s voice.

“Oh,” was all she could say. “Oh.”

“What…?” Evan ran down the stairs, landing at the bottom to crouch at Jo’s side. “Jo? What happened?”

Jo turned her head slightly to stare at the figure lying so lifelessly beside her, its arms and legs splayed out around it.

Black…black arms, black legs, black mask…

There were only two people at Cath Devon’s party dressed completely in black. One was Johanna Donahue. The other was Tina Downs.

“Tina?” Jo asked tentatively, crawling over to kneel beside the frighteningly still girl. “Tina?”

Tina didn’t answer.

E
VAN FELT FOR TINA’S
pulse.

“Is she alive?” Jo asked anxiously. “Is Tina alive?”

“Are you okay?” he asked. “What are you doing down here?”

Jo was too dazed to think clearly. What
was
she doing in the cellar? “I don’t know. Cath wanted something, I think…is Tina dead?”

“No. She’s alive. Must have hit her head. And it looks like she might have a broken leg, too.”

“There was this terrible sound when she hit.” Jo shuddered. “Are you sure she’s not dead?”

“She’s not dead. But we need an ambulance, fast. Can you go up and call one?”

“I’m not sure my legs will work. But I’ll try.”

She stepped in something when she got to the top step, and nearly fell. She grabbed the handrail just in time. Something…something slippery…on the top step….

She called the ambulance, and then alerted Cath that something terrible had happened.

The word spread quickly. Curious party guests began to fill the kitchen, piling up in the cellar doorway, murmuring as they watched.

When the ambulance had come and gone, Evan turned to Jo in the kitchen and said solemnly, “I thought it was you lying down there. I’d been looking all over for you. Couldn’t find you anywhere. The cellar was the only place I hadn’t looked, so I decided I might as well try there, too. It was so dark though, I couldn’t see much. Could barely make out a figure in black, lying there like she was dead. I thought it was you, thought that was why I couldn’t find you, because you’d fallen and were hurt.”

“Oh, Evan.”

“Then I turned the cellar light on, and saw you sitting there.” His voice strengthened, became normal. “What happened, anyway? You said she was pushed?”

“I…I’m not sure. I thought I saw someone, but there’s a puddle on the top step. She might have slipped on it and fallen.”

“I guess I missed it. I took the steps two at a time. Show me where.”

Jo led Evan to the staircase and pointed.

The top step was clean. No wet puddle there.

“What are you guys looking at?” Kelly asked as she came into the kitchen. Her face was very pale.

Jo turned. “There was something spilled on this step. Now it’s gone.”