Dark Moon (Nightmare Hall) by Diane Hoh Read Free Book Online Page B

direction.
    Trying to push the terrifying presence out of her mind, Eve concentrated instead on finding a way out. She already knew that all of the glass-strewn passageways provided no exit, so she turned immediately away at the first sight of shards on the floor. And the pink or black trail she’d left behind saved her from entering any dead-end corridors she’d already traveled.
    This tiresome process led her, after what seemed like long, anxious years, to the exit.
    She was breathing hard, almost sobbing, by the time she stumbled to the door and threw it open. She fell out onto the porch and stood there, clutching the wooden railing and gulping in huge mouthfuls of cool, night air.
    Darkness had fallen while she was inside. It surrounded her, broken only by lightning streaking the sky and the bright yellow bulbs on the Ferris wheel towering overhead in the distance. The music and laughter and screams of the carnival filled her with a sudden, white-hot rage. How dare so many people be having a good time when she had just been tortured and nearly killed in the Mirror Maze?
    But they don’t know that, Eve, the voice of reason told her. No one knows. Only you and … whoever.
    “Whoever” could still be on her trail.
    Eve pulled herself upright, took two more deep, cleansing breaths, and staggered down the steps toward the music and laughter.
    The bored girl in the booth was gone. A CLOSED sign hung on the window. The entire area was deserted.
    Eve had never felt so alone. No wonder no one had heard her shouts. There wasn’t anyone there to hear them.
    Afraid to take the time to wrap anything around her bleeding ankle, she hurried, in an awkward stumbling run, toward the Ferris wheel, repeatedly glancing over her shoulder for some sign of her tormentor.
    She never even noticed that her hair had slipped free of its barrette and was swinging, loose and disheveled, on her shoulders.
    She wasn’t aware of the missing barrette until Andie, standing at a taco booth near the Ferris wheel, turned and saw Eve approaching. Her mouth dropped open, her eyes widened. Forgetting the requested taco, she ran to Eve’s side.
    “What on earth …? Where have you been? What’s wrong with you?” Her words spilled out of her mouth rapid-fire. “Hey, what happened to your hair? Wow, Eve, it’s really pretty. You should wear it like that all the time. It makes you look so … so … well, different.”
    Renewed fury welled up inside Eve. How could Andie stand there talking about her hair! Couldn’t she see that something was very, very wrong?
    But when Eve tried to explain, the feeling of disorientation came over her again, and all she could do was shake her head. Now that she was out of that terrible place, now that she was out in the open with music and laughter all around her, with people in a hurry to have fun brushing past her, with the smells of hot dogs and tacos and cotton candy in the air, it didn’t seem possible that any of it had actually happened.
    Eve looked down. Yes, there it was. Her ankle was still bleeding. And it still hurt. She touched the back of her ear and her fingers were quickly stained with blood. Proof positive that all of it had actually taken place.
    Andie’s eyes followed Eve’s. “Oh, yuck! What’d you do? That’s gross! Did you trip or something?”
    Eve reached for the napkins Andie was holding. She bent to wrap them around her ankle, saying as she did so, “Have you seen Garth? He was with me in the Mirror Maze, and then he wasn’t.”
    “Garth? That new guy? No, I haven’t seen him. Is that why you took your barrette out, Eve?” Andie added coyly. “For him?”
    “I didn’t take my barrette out,” Eve snapped, standing up. “It fell out. You haven’t seen him?”
    Andie shook her head. “Haven’t seen anyone: Serena’s riding The Twister, Don and Beth and the others from the committee are making the rounds, checking things out, and Alfred was so pissed at you for being with Garth