Daughters of Silence (16 page)

With all her strength, she yanked the locket right out of Hallie's chest.

W
ith a horrible sucking sound, the locket pulled free. It felt warm in Jenna's hand, wet with Hallie's blood. With a shudder, Jenna flung it against the stone wall.

Hallie blinked. Then she raised her head and looked straight at Jenna. Her eyes were no longer empty.

“Jenna,” she gasped. “What … ?”

“Run!” Jenna cried.

For once, Hallie didn't ask questions. The girls raced toward the stairs. Behind them, the Fears began to chant again.

“I can't move,” Hallie gasped.

“Yes, you can,” Jenna insisted. “You have to.”

“I can't!” Hallie wailed.

“Come on,” she cried. “If you want to live, you'll get up!”

Hallie struggled up. Jenna grabbed her arm, and
together they started up the stairs. A wind sprang up and swirled around the room.

The girls linked arms, lending each other strength. Jenna struggled upward. One step. Two.

Finally, they reached the top step. The wind howled in Jenna's ears. She grabbed the doorjamb to keep from tumbling back down the stairs. Hallie gripped her waist with both arms.

Then the wind died.

The silence was so sudden, so complete, that Jenna's ears rang with it. The skin twitched at the back of her neck. Something was about to happen. Something very bad.

Jenna shot a glance over her shoulder. Angelica and Simon stood close together, their eyes closed as they chanted. A flame writhed in the air over their clasped hands. It burned yellow, then green, then blood-red.

Then it turned black.

The black flame began to dance. The thick, coiling shadows piled up like stormclouds around the Fears.

Angelica pointed at the girls. “Take them,” she commanded.

The shadows swelled until they nearly reached the ceiling. Then, with a tremendous roar, the mass of darkness swept forward. Straight toward Jenna and Hallie.

Hallie grabbed Jenna's hand, squeezing it painfully around the medallion. In her terror, Jenna had forgotten it. Now, she recognized their only hope. Power against power. Evil against evil.

The shadows moved toward her, looming higher and higher. Through the roiling darkness, she could see the black flame dancing.

With all her strength, she threw the medallion. Straight through the shadows.

Into the flame.

Lightning exploded from that point, spearing into every corner of the room. Jenna could see the shadows thinning. Fading away.

“Run!” Jenna cried, giving Hallie a push. “Now!”

Grasping Hallie's hand, she raced through the mansion and burst outside. They ran across the Fears' property to the road and didn't stop until they reached home.

The Sheridans met them at the door. Both adults looked very tired and worried.

“Girls, where have you been?” Mrs. Sheridan demanded when Jenna and Hallie stumbled into the house. “It's past midnight!”

“We were almost killed!” Hallie cried. “The Fears tried to steal our souls and bring their daughters back to life—”

“That's enough, young lady,” her father commanded.

“Please, listen!” Jenna begged. “She's telling the truth.”

Hurriedly, before he could protest, Jenna told the whole tale. Her voice broke from time to time, and it was all she could do to keep from crying.

“And that's why we all have to leave this place,” she cried.

“Now, girls,” Mr. Sheridan began. “You can't expect us to believe that wild story.”

This time, Jenna could no longer control her tears. They spilled out over her cheeks in a hot, stinging
flood. She had to convince them. She had to make them believe! Time was running out—for all of them.

“If you don't believe us, believe your own eyes!” she cried, pulling open the top of Hallie's nightgown.

Mrs. Sheridan screamed. A single glance told Jenna why. For the wound had healed. Closed over. But a mark remained.

A mark in the shape of a perfectly formed black heart.

T
he Sheridans delayed only long enough to pack a few suitcases. Then they all piled into the carriage, determined to leave Shadyside forever.

Turning, Jenna looked back toward town. Shadyside. This place belonged to the Fears. It always would.

Mr. Sheridan urged the horses on at a swift pace. As they rode along, Jenna glanced nervously out of the carriage. No one came after them.

But the Fears weren't finished, she knew. Their power might have been weakened for a time, but their evil remained as strong as ever.

Jenna shivered. She'd looked into the deepest depths of that evil and survived. But she knew as she settled back into the carriage that she had been lucky. So very lucky.

But some other girl would not be …

“Where do you get your ideas?”

That's the question that R. L. Stine is asked most often. “I don't know where my ideas come from,” he says. “But I do know that I have a lot more scary stories in my mind that I can't wait to write.”

So far, he has written nearly five dozen mysteries and thrillers for young people, all of them bestsellers.

Bob grew up in Columbus, Ohio. Today he lives in an apartment near Central Park in New York City with his wife, Jane, and son, Matt.

Books by R. L. Stine

The Fear Street Saga

THE BETRAYAL

THE SECRET

THE BURNING

FEAR STREET SAGA COLLECTOR'S EDITION

Fear Street Sagas

A NEW FEAR

HOUSE OF WHISPERS

FORBIDDEN SECRETS

THE SIGN OF FEAR

THE HIDDEN EVIL

DAUGHTERS OF SILENCE

Available from ARCHWAY Paperbacks

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

AN ARCHWAY PAPERBACK
Original

An Archway Paperback published by
POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

Copyright © 1997 by Parachute Press, Inc.

DAUGHTERS OF SILENCE
WRITTEN BY WENDY HALEY

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

ISBN: 0-671-00293-7

First Archway Paperback printing April 1997

FEAR STREET is a registered trademark of Parachute Press, Inc.

AN ARCHWAY PAPERBACK and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc.

Cover art by Lisa Falkenstern

IL 7+

ISBN: 978-1-4391-2094-1 (eBook)