Daughters of Silence

by R. L. Stine

  Hannah’s skeleton walked straight to Hallie. And Julia came to Jenna. One skeletal hand reached out.

  Julia pinned Jenna’s head between her bony hands.

  “Get away from me!” she shrieked, straining away from that inhuman touch.

  But no matter how she twisted and bucked, those skeleton-hands kept their hold. The finger bones caught in her hair. Caught and held and pulled. Jenna struggled and fell over onto her side.

  She could see Hallie now. The other girl didn’t try to struggle with Hannah’s skeleton. Jenna watched in horror as Hannah’s skeleton laid its bony hands on Hallie’s shoulders and stared into her eyes.

  Jenna cried out. Hallie’s eyes took on that blue-white glow. Beneath the skin of her chest, that same unearthly light pulsed from the heart pendant.

  Hallie never moved. Never cried out, never even knew what was happening to her.

  And then a strange feeling washed through Jenna. On her wrist, the crystal bracelet began to throb with the same blue-white glow.

  It took every drop of her strength just to bend her head enough to look. But when she did, her whole body went numb with terror.

  Her flesh glowed with a blue-white radiance. Beneath the skin, she could see the outline of her bones. And Julia …

  Jenna’s breath went out in a wail of horror. A film of light covered Julia’s skeleton. And within that unearthly glow, the image of her own face hung upon Julia’s skull.

  Her spirit.

  Julia had claimed it.

  The Fears had won.

  Chapter

  23

  “No!” Jenna shrieked. “No!”

  Horribly, the skull’s mouth opened. “Yesss. It’s my turn … to live.”

  Jenna could see the glowing image of her own mouth moving to shape the words Julia spoke. Coldness bloomed in the pit of her stomach. And darkness. Cold and dark. Death.

  Julia laughed, her skeleton-teeth gleaming through Jenna’s reflection. Then those glowing features shimmered and began to change. Another girl’s face began to emerge.

  “Ssssoon,” the skeleton mouthed. “I’ll be alive soon. I can feel it.”

  With all her strength, Jenna fought to take back her own body and soul. But the glowing face took on more form and substance every moment.

  Then Julia’s phantom-eyes glanced down. She let go of Jenna’s hand, instead clamping down on her arm, just above her wrist. Pulling it up with a jerk that made Jenna cry out in pain, Julia examined the bracelet.

  “That … is my bracelet!” she cried. “My favorite bracelet. Give it back!”

  With her free hand, Julia ripped the bracelet from Jenna’s wrist.

  And Jenna was free.

  “Get away from me!” Jenna screamed, shoving the skeleton away with all her strength.

  Julia staggered backward, bony arms flailing. Then she crashed right into Hannah, bringing her sister down with her. Both skeletons crashed to the floor.

  Arms and legs broke away, ribs tore loose to clatter across the stone. Jenna stared in horror at a disjoined skeleton hand. It twitched and jerked, the finger bones scraping at the floor.

  Both the skeletons had mingled. She could no longer tell which was which.

  But she’d been given a chance to survive. One chance. And she wasn’t going to throw it away.

  That thought went through her in the first heartbeat. On the second heartbeat, Angelica screamed. The sound bounced from wall to wall until the room seemed full of it.

  “Noooo!” she shrieked, “Hannah! Julia!”

  Jenna raced to Hallie. Grabbing the other girl’s shoulders, she shook her hard. “Hallie! Come on!”

  But the heart pendant still glowed. And Hallie still stood frozen.

  “Simon, she’s getting away!” Angelica shrieked.

  “We’ve got to go,” she panted, tugging frantically at Hallie’s arm. “We’ve got to go now!”

  But the other girl didn’t move. Jenna could see the Fears clearly now. Simon held onto the medallion on his chest. She could see now that it was a silver medallion on a long, fine chain.

  Jenna could feel its power from across the room.

  There, in Simon’s hand, it beat like a heart.

  “Run!” Jenna shrieked, terror surging through her. “Oh, run!”

  Hallie had no will or power to move, no impulse to save herself. The locket pulsed with the same rhythm as Simon’s medallion.

  “How dare you ruin our spell!” Angelica cried.

  The shadows coiled along Angelica’s shoulders like smoky, evil snakes. Simon laid his free hand on Angelica’s, joining their power.

  Slowly, Angelica raised her hand.

  And pointed at Jenna.

  A dark form surged up from the floor.

  “Rob!” she cried.

  Rob’s shriveled body hurled into Simon. For a moment, Simon teetered there, his arms spinning wildly. Then he crashed to the floor. Off balance, Angelica went down, too.

  Whirling, Jenna raced for the stairs. She had to run right past Simon. He grabbed for her as she sped past, catching the hem of her skirt.

  Jenna stumbled and fell to her knees. She stared into his pitch-black eyes and felt her breath drawn out of her body.

  “Hah!” Simon laughed, reeling in her skirt with a powerful grip.

  Caught by a sudden, powerful instinct, she snatched at the gold medallion. The chain broke. Simon let go of her skirt as he tried to take the medallion back from her.

  “That’s mine!” he shouted.

  “I’ll come back for you, Hallie!” she called over her shoulder. “I’m going for help!”

  Angelica screamed high and shrill, like a hunting hawk. Then Simon shouted, “Hallie, stop her!”

  Hallie leaped forward. Faster than she’d ever moved before. Faster than Jenna had ever seen anyone move.

  Jenna hadn’t gone ten steps when she felt Hallie’s hand close on the back of her dress. Without a word, Hallie started dragging her back to the Fears. Jenna struggled wildly.

  And then Angelica laughed. Jenna heard her triumph, and madness. Jenna knew what to do now. Twisting around, she sank her nails into Hallie’s chest—around the locket.

  Gritting her teeth, she forced her nails into the skin.

  Deeper. Deeper still.

  Blood squirted up around her fingers. Jenna saw it run down Hallie’s chest in scarlet streams. She felt revolted. But she knew she could not let go. She gritted her teeth and dug deeper.

  A tiny line appeared between Hallie’s brows. A spark flickered in her eyes. Jenna dug deeper, until she could feel the locket beneath her fingertips.

  Blood coated her fingers, making it hard to grasp the locket. She wedged her fingers deeper.

  “Now!” she panted.

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

  Chapter

  24

  With 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 gripp
ed 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.

  Chapter

  25

  The 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 …

  About the Author

  “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)