Authors: R.L. Stine
My Name Is Evil
Go ahead and scream.
No one can hear you. You're no longer in the safe world you know.
You've taken a terrifying step â¦
into the darkest corners of your imagination.
You've opened the door to â¦
Welcomeâ¦
I'm R.L. Stine. Let me introduce you to Maggie O'Connor. She's the red-haired girl with the excited smile on her face.
Why is she smiling? Well, today is Maggie's birthday. She's thirteen todayâand what could be better than celebrating this special time with her three best friends?
They've taken Maggie to the little carnival on the pier. And now they've stopped outside the fortune-teller's tent. “Let's go in,” one of Maggie's friends urges. “You have to have your fortune told on your birthday!”
Maggie follows her friends inside. The fortune-teller picks up Maggie's hand and starts to read her palmâ¦.
In a few seconds, the tent will ring out with Maggie's cries of horror.
Happy birthday, Maggie. But be careful. When you step into the fortune-teller's tent, you're stepping into â¦
THE NIGHTMARE ROOM
.
CONTENTS
Â
Go Deeper into This Nightmareâ¦
Preview: The Nightmare Room #4 Liar Liar
“Maggie, you're so evil!” Jackie Mullen said, laughing.
My mouth dropped open. “Huh? Me? Evil?”
Jackie pointed across the table to the cupcakes on my plate. “You took three cupcakes and only ate the icing.”
Her sister Judy frowned at me. “What's wrong with them? I baked them myselfâfor your birthday.”
I licked chocolate icing off my fingers. “There's nothing wrong with them,” I told her. “They're wicked cool cupcakes. I just like icing.”
Jackie laughed again. “Are you getting weird? You never say wicked cool.”
I sneered at her. “I'm thirteen now. I can say whatever I want. Besides, I need a new image.”
“Like a makeover,” Judy said.
“Like a personality makeover,” Jilly, the third sister said. “Maggie wants to be sophisticated now.”
Jilly was right about that. I've always been the youngest in my class because I skipped second grade. But now I was turning thirteen. Now I was old enough to transform myself into a mature, confident person. And no one would treat me like “the baby” anymore.
“I am sophisticated,” I said. “I'm thirteen now, and there's no turning back!”
“Well, you're off to a bad start,” Jackie said. She pointed. “You have icing in your hair.”
I groaned and reached up and felt sticky stuff up there. For some reason, the three sisters all thought it was a riot. Jilly laughed so hard, she choked on her cupcake.
Jackie, Judy, and Jilly Mullen are triplets, which means that I have three best friends. Everyone at our schoolâCedar Bay Middle Schoolâcalls them the Three J's. And they're very close, although they try really hard to be different from each other.
Jackie and Judy look alike. They both have straight black hair and big, round brown eyes. They both always look as if they're suntanned.
But they're so eager for people to tell them apart, they have totally different styles. Jackie's hair is long, halfway down her back. She wears funky, old clothes, baggy jeans, old bell-bottoms from the seventies, oversized, bright-colored tops she finds at garage sales. She loves clanky jewelry, heavy beads, and dangling, plastic earrings.
Judy is much more preppy. She has her hair cut very short. She wears short skirts over black tights and neat little vests. Judy always looks as if she just washed her face.
Jilly was born last, and she doesn't look as if she belongs in the same family. She has long, golden blond hair, creamy, pale skin, and big green eyes. She looks very angelic, and she talks in a soft, whispery voice.
Jackie is funny, and kind of loud, and a real joker. She doesn't take things too seriously. I really want to be like that.
I have coppery hair and a slender, serious face. I've been quiet and pretty shy and serious my whole life. And I keep thinking if I hang out with Jackie a lot, maybe I'll be more like her.
Judy is the brain in the group. She is the perfect student. It's all I can do just to keep up in school. But Judy is always busy writing essays and doing projects for extra credit.
Judy likes to organize things. She's always joining clubs and committees at school. These days, she is organizing a huge Pet Fair to raise money for animal rights.
And Jilly? Well ⦠as my mother would say, Jilly is in her own world. In other words, she's kind of a flake. She's really into boys, and music, and I-don't-know-what-else. She's kind of a dreamy person. You know. Like she's floating a few feet off the ground.
The only thing I've ever seen Jilly be serious about is her dancing. She takes ballet lessons five times a week after school, and she's really talented.
I'm into dance, too. But I've always been too shy to try out for anything. Not anymore, though. In a few days, the “new” me and Jilly are both trying out for a community ballet company. My whole life I've dreamed of dancing with a real company, but I'm not looking forward to the auditionâbecause I have to compete against Jilly!
Anyway, those are my best friends, the Three J's. And of course I wanted to spend my thirteenth birthday at their house with them.
When we finished the birthday cupcakes and I wiped the chocolate icing from my hair, Jackie jumped up, clapped her hands once, and said, “Let's go!”
“Go where?” I asked.
“You'll see,” Judy said. She started to pull me from the table. “Just follow us.”
“To the carnival,” Jilly added, tying her blond hair back with a blue, ribbony scrunchie.
I held back. “Huh? The carnival on the pier?”
All three girls nodded. All three were grinning. They had planned this.
So I didn't argue. I followed them to the carnival.
And that's when all the horror began.
A short while later the four of us staggered off the roller coaster, laughing, holding on to each other to keep from falling over. I blinked, trying to stop the ground from tilting and swaying. The carnival lights flashed in my eyes.
“That was awesome!” Jilly declared, brushing back her blond curls with both hands.
I held my stomach. “Wow. I'm so glad I ate all those cupcakes!”
“Why do they call it the Blue Beast?” Judy asked. “The cars are bright yellow!”
Good question. Judy always wanted things to make sense.
“Who would want to ride on the Yellow Beast?” Jackie asked.
We all thought that was a riot, and we laughed our heads off as we made our way across the pier.
It was a warm, cloudy night. The air felt heavy and damp, more like summer than fall. I glanced up, looking for the moon. But the low clouds blocked it out.
“Wasn't this a great idea?” Jackie asked, taking my arm. Judy hurried up ahead to buy more ride tickets. “Isn't this the perfect way to celebrate?”
“Wicked cool,” I replied, grinning.
Jackie shook her fist at me. “Go ahead, Maggie. Say it again. I dare you.”
“I think there are some boys from school here,” Jilly said. She has the most amazing Boy Radar! “Maybe I'll catch you guys later.”