by R. L. Stine
“No!” Destiny screamed. “No. Please—no! You’re lying. Please—tell me you’re lying!”
Behind her she glimpsed her dad, fumbling in his medical bag. He pulled out a hypodermic needle. “Maybe there’s still time,” he shouted. “We’re a family, Livvy. We’re a family. Think of Mikey, how much he needs you. Please—I need you too.”
Destiny took a deep breath. Then she dove over the side of the dead deer, sliding on the blood-soaked fur. She reached for Livvy with both hands. “I won’t let you get away. I won’t!”
Livvy jerked back—and Destiny toppled into the wet, pulpy open stomach of the deer.
She looked up in time to see Livvy and Ross begin to change. Their bodies folded in on themselves. Their bones crackled. Their faces disappeared.
They rose over the fallen deer as blackbirds, wings spread, flapping gently, catching the wind.
Dr. Weller sank to his knees. The needle fell from his hand. “Noooooooo.” He buried his face in his hands.
Destiny watched the birds take off, two winged shadows over the full moon. Then they were gone…vanished into the black sky.
“Destiny?”
She heard a voice behind her. She turned to find Ari running into the clearing. “Destiny? Are you okay? I checked your tent, and you weren’t there.”
“Oh, Ari,” she uttered. She threw her arms around his neck and began to sob.
Epilogue
Destiny slept uncomfortably, rolling over, bunching up her pillow, tossing off the covers. Six weeks after Livvy had left—and Destiny couldn’t sleep without dreaming about her.
I don’t want to sleep because then I have the nightmares.
But I’m so exhausted. I need to sleep.
“Dee?” A tiny voice at her ear.
She raised her head and realized that Mikey had climbed into bed with her. “Dee? Are you awake?”
“Uh-huh.” She squinted at him.
“I can’t sleep.” He snuggled against her. “I keep dreaming about Livvy.”
“Me too,” she whispered.
He was silent for a moment. Then, “Is it true? She’s never coming back?”
Destiny sighed. “I don’t know, Mikey. I really don’t. All we can do is hope….”
She sat up when she heard a tapping sound. At the window?
Yes. Tapping and fluttering.
Mikey stood up. Destiny climbed out of bed after him. They hurried to the window.
A clear, moonlit night. Everything so still.
And then a bird flew up against the window glass. “A blackbird,” Destiny whispered.
Mikey trembled beside her. She slipped her arm around his shoulders.
The bird hovered outside the window. Wings spread high, it floated on the other side of the glass, peering in…
…peering in longingly……with Livvy’s green eyes.
“It…wants to come in,” Mikey whispered.
Destiny hesitated. A chill ran down her back.
She stared into the bird’s green eyes.
“Open it,” Mikey whispered. “Let it in, Dee.”
Destiny reached for the window.
But the blackbird turned and flew off into the night.
About the Author
Robert Lawrence Stine is one of the best-selling children’s authors in history. He began his writing career at the age of nine, writing short stories, joke books, and comic books for his friends—and has been at it ever since!
After graduating from Ohio State University, R.L. moved to New York to become a writer. He wrote joke books and humor books and created Bananas, a zany humor magazine, before he turned to the scary. He wrote Fear Street and then Goosebumps, the phenomenal series that made him an international celebrity and the number-one best-selling children’s author of all time (Guinness Book of World Records).
He recently published two original collections of scary stories—the New York Times best-seller NIGHTMARE HOUR and THE HAUNTING HOUR—and his book series The Nightmare Room, also published by HarperCollins, was adapted into a popular TV series.
R.L. lives in Manhattan with his wife, Jane, and their son, Matthew.
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Copyright
DANGEROUS GIRLS. Copyright © 2003 by Parachute Publishing, L.L.C. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Adobe Digital Edition March 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-190304-5
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