The Club (Night Fall ™)

by Stephanie Watson

  Miles sat behind the row of bushes. He looked like death. He was coughing so hard that his eyes seemed to bug out. When he saw Jackson, he sprang from the bushes out to the sidewalk.

  “Oh my God,” said Jackson. “Miles, are you okay? Do you need help?”

  Miles vigorously nodded his head. But this motion seemed to make him cough even harder. He clutched at his throat and mouthed Help me.

  Then he coughed a deeper, louder cough. A dark, metallic liquid started to spew out of his mouth. It dripped down his chin and pooled on the sidewalk. Some of it splattered onto Jackson. Josh’s stomach turned.

  “What should we do?” Sabina’s voice was frantic.

  Josh took out his cell phone and started to dial 911, although he was pretty sure the paramedics could do little to help Miles now.

  “Hang on, man,” Jackson whispered. “Hang on.” Jackson tried to take a step away from Miles and avoid being splattered by the substance spewing from his mouth, but Miles firmly gripped Jackson by the shoulders. Miles’s legs seemed to give way as he clung to Jackson, coughing harder and harder.

  Suddenly, with one loud cough, Miles showered Jackson with a stream of blood. Then Miles collapsed dead on the pavement.

  20

  That evening, when Josh finally returned home, he was greeted with more bad news. Ned had died that afternoon in the hospital. Josh felt so upset and angry when his mother told him the news that he quickly ran into his bedroom. He wasn’t angry at her, but he was still afraid of what his anger could do.

  In his bedroom, Josh flipped through Dark Spells. He could not stop thinking about trying out new spells. He figured it was harmless to look at the spells because he didn’t have the enchanted crystal. There were all sorts of crazy spells in the book. There were spells that would make your hair grow faster or turn a chicken bone into soup. But there were also spells that turned people into animals or imprisoned them for life. Then Josh came across a spell called Blood from Another. He read it and called Sabina.

  “I can get Dan’s blood,” Josh said. “Have him meet us tomorrow in the woods behind your house. Tell him we are going to play the game again or something. But be ready for the spell. We’ll have to move quickly.”

  “Josh, are you sure about this? I thought we didn’t want to cast any more spells,” Sabina said. She sounded really worried.

  Josh clutched the spell book. “We don’t. But I really think this will work,” he said.

  “I don’t know . . . ,” Sabina said.

  “Sabina, we’re killing people,” Josh said. “We have to stop! This might be the only way to do it.”

  Josh explained what had to be done, and Sabina reluctantly agreed. Then, Josh called Jackson and told him the same. It was time to end this once and for all.

  Josh skipped football practice so he could get to Sabina’s a little bit early. Sabina handed him the crystal from the game and then led him out to the woods behind her house. They walked along a path for about ten minutes until they came to a small clearing. In its center was a fire pit, a circle of stones with old ashes in it. That was where they’d agreed to build the fire they hoped would end the curse.

  “I sure hope you know what you’re doing,” Sabina said. Josh nodded, feeling the crystal in his hand. He hoped so too.

  The clearing was circled with old birch and maple trees. They created an umbrella that blocked out most of the sunlight. Underneath the trees’ thick cover, it was dark and very chilly. Josh shivered under his heavy sweater and jacket.

  Sabina had brought matches, newspaper, lighter fluid, wood, and the game. She gathered them around the small fire pit. Josh took out Dark Spells and opened it to the Blood of Another page. The spell had instructed that he carry a “goblet” to collect the blood. All he was able to find was a coffee cup from the kitchen. He took that out of his backpack. Everything was in place.

  Jackson was the next to arrive. He was still shaken from Miles’s death, but he helped Sabina and Josh start the fire. He barely spoke at all.

  A few minutes later, Josh heard Dan coming down the path. Josh’s heart started to race. He grabbed the coffee cup and spell book. He had to be ready before Dan had a chance to get angry or see what they were up to. Jackson and Sabina stood at the ready by the fire with pocketknives to spill their own blood.

  21

  Wow, nice fire,” Dan said as he approached. “Is it for a spell?”

  Josh knew he couldn’t hesitate for a second. He took a deep breath and started reciting the spell. “Fill this goblet with the blood of Daniel Chissolm!” Josh yelled.

  “What?!” Dan yelled. By now he could see everyone clearly—Josh holding the coffee cup and spell book, and Sabina and Jackson behind him. “What are you doing?” Dan demanded. But before he could say another word, blood burst out of the pores on Dan’s skin. The blood streamed through the air like water from a hose and rushed into the coffee cup in Josh’s hand.

  It didn’t take long for Josh to realize that something had gone terribly wrong. The cup quickly filled to the brim. Then it started to overflow, turning the ground under Josh’s feet a dark, reddish brown. The blood wouldn’t stop coming. Dan’s body seemed to deflate, and his legs buckled underneath him as more and more blood was sucked from his body.

  “Stop it!” Josh heard Sabina screaming. But Josh could do nothing. The spell had been cast. He didn’t know how to stop it. And it was taking all of Dan’s blood.

  Finally, the blood stopped flowing. Dan collapsed on the ground. His face was completely white.

  Tears ran down Josh’s face. Sabina and Jackson looked at Josh like he was a monster. Josh realized how he must have looked to them. He was covered in Dan’s blood. He could feel the blood dripping all over his body. It was in his eyes, nose, and mouth too. He screamed. He had to get it off. He grabbed the bucket of water Sabina had brought for the fire and poured it over his head. He fell to the ground and buried his face in his hands.

  “I didn’t know,” he said. “I didn’t think it would take all of his blood! I thought it would just give us enough for the spell!”

  “We know,” Sabina choked out. She walked over to him and knelt beside him. She pulled his hands from his face. “It’s okay,” she said. She looked right into Josh’s eyes with tears streaming down her face. “Let’s finish this.”

  22

  Standing in front of the fire, Sabina lifted her pocketknife. She made a small cut in her hand and let her blood drip into the fire. Jackson shakily did the same.

  Then, Josh approached the fire. He poured a little of Dan’s blood from the cup into the fire and then added his own. The blood seemed to sizzle as it hit the flames.

  Sabina began tossing pieces of the Black Magic game into the fire. The paper cards caught quickly, turning black and charred. Then it was time to throw in the crystal. Sabina, Jackson, and Josh all looked at each other. Sabina held the crystal upright.

  “Do it,” Josh heard himself say.

  Sabina closed her eyes and threw the crystal into the heart of the flames.

  The world around them darkened as thick, black smoke blew from the center of the fire pit. Flames shot up to three times their original size. Heat scorched their faces, forcing them to take a step backward.

  “Oh my God!” Sabina screamed over the flames.

  Only Josh leaned forward. Something was revealing itself inside the flames. He squinted. What was it?

  It was a face. It was the girl from the crystal. Just then the fire seemed to explode upward.

  “Run!” Jackson screamed as the dry timber around them began to catch.

  The three of them backed away as flames erupted from everywhere around them. Thick smoke made them cough. We’re going to die here, Josh thought. But as he lowered himself to the ground to escape the worst of the smoke, the fire in front of them seemed to die down a little.

  The girl’s face appeared again in the flames. “You finally broke the spell,” she said, her voice hissing through the flames. “I’m
Megan Greenfeld. You have put to rest the evil I released from the cursed game and freed me from the torment I have endured these eighty years. You have destroyed the game. I can only hope . . . that it will not destroy you.”

  Slowly, Megan’s face began to fade away. As it did, the flames receded back into the fire pit. Still, the trees around them burned. They were trapped in a circle of fire.

  The heat from the flames grew more intense. Sabina, Josh, and Jackson huddled together, wrapping their arms around each other. Josh watched in horror as the flames caught Dan’s body.

  Then they heard a shout. “Over here!” There were loud thuds of boots running. One firefighter appeared, then another. Behind them was Sabina’s mother.

  “They’re trapped inside the fire!” she screamed breathlessly.

  “We need to get some helicopters in here!” one of the firefighters yelled. Meanwhile the flames burned closer to Josh, Sabina, and Jackson.

  It seemed like an eternity later when a spray of water hit the burning trees to their right. Then another spray hit the trees to their left. Within minutes, the fire was out. The charred tree limbs and acrid smell were all that remained of the blaze.

  “Is it over?” Jackson whispered.

  Josh watched the firefighters collect Dan’s body. He wondered what the Club would do next.

  23

  In the next few weeks, Josh, Sabina, and Jackson, not sure if the spell had truly worked, were careful with their emotions. Josh would return from school every day and go right to his room. He didn’t want to risk getting upset with his parents or Sam. But when no one dropped dead after someone knocked Sabina’s lunch tray out of her hands one day, they figured they were safe.

  The benefits that they had gained with the hexes also went away. Sabina’s mother lost her high-paying position at work, and Sabina had to continue working hard for a scholarship. Josh didn’t think she seemed to mind too much, though. She was still pulling straight As at the end of the school year, even in chemistry.

  Jackson’s voice went back to normal, but he didn’t mind. He confided in Josh and Sabina that he liked it much better that way. They preferred it too. Jackson continued to struggle in debate, even without Miles as his rival. But he kept practicing and eventually snagged second place in the district-wide debate championships.

  Josh quit the football team before the end of the season. He decided it was better than enduring the glares of his teammates when he made yet another fumble or missed his hundredth kick.

  Coach Tyree was mystified at the change in his best player. “Josh,” he said. “What happened? You were going to take this team to the championship!” Josh would just shrug. He took up skateboarding instead of football.

  They never did find out how the game in Sabina’s basement came to be or who wrote the mysterious spell book that seemed to match it. Jackson thought it was the work of a powerful sorcerer from long ago and that Megan had unknowingly unleashed his power by charming the crystal. Sabina thought an ancient witch had created the game and written the book. She said “Black Magic” sounded like a witch term.

  Josh didn’t really want to know how it all came to be, anyway.

  All he knew was that they had destroyed a great evil. And no one ever suspected that four kids from Bridgewater High were responsible for the string of mysterious deaths that occurred in Bridgewater that fall.

  The police ruled Dan’s death to be accidental, due to a fire that simply got out of hand. Josh, Sabina, and Jackson didn’t talk about Dan very much, or the others who had died. It was too difficult to think about. But every once in a while, Josh would have nightmares about Ned Onger. Sometimes, after those nightmares, he’d wake up and swear he could hear a heartbeat echoing in the darkness.

  Everything’s fine in Bridgewater. Really . . .

  Or is it?

  Look for these other titles from the

  Night Fall collection.

  MESSAGES FROM BEYOND

  Some guy named Ethan Davis has been texting Cassie. He seems to know all about her—but she can’t place him. He’s not in Bridgewater High’s yearbook either. Cassie thinks one of her friends is punking her. But she can’t ignore the strange coincidences—like how Ethan looks just like the guy in her nightmares.

  Cassie’s search for Ethan leads her to a shocking discovery—and a struggle for her life. Will Cassie be able to break free from her mysterious stalker?

  THE PROTECTORS

  Luke’s life has never been “normal.” How could it be, with his mother holding séances and his half-crazy stepfather working as Bridgewater’s mortician? But living in a funeral home never bothered Luke. That is, until the night of his mom’s accident.

  Sounds of screaming now shatter Luke’s dreams. And his stepfather is acting even stranger. When bodies in the funeral home start delivering messages to Luke, he is certain that he’s going nuts. As he tries to solve his mother’s death, Luke discovers a secret more horrifying than any nightmare.

  SKIN

  It looks like a pizza exploded on Nick Barry’s face. But bad skin is the least of his problems. His bones feel like living ice. A strange rash—like scratches—seems to be some sort of ancient code. And then there’s the anger . . .

  Something evil is living under Nick’s skin. Where did it come from? What does it want? With the help of a dead kid’s diary, a nun, and a local professor, Nick slowly finds out what’s wrong with him. But there’s still one question that Nick must face alone: how do you destroy an evil that’s inside you?

  THAW

  A July storm caused a major power outage in Bridgewater. Now a research project at the Institute for Cryogenic Experimentation has been ruined, and the thawed-out bodies of twenty-seven federal inmates are missing.

  At first, Dani Kraft didn’t think much of the breaking news. But after her best friend Jake disappears, a mysterious visitor connects the dots for Dani. Jake has been taken in by an infamous cult leader. To get him back, Dani must enter a dangerous alternate reality where a defrosted cult leader is beginning to act like some kind of god.

  UNTHINKABLE

  Omar Phillips is Bridgewater High’s favorite local teen author. His Facebook fans can’t wait for his next horror story. But lately Omar’s imagination has turned against him. Horrifying visions of death and destruction come over him with wide-screen intensity. The only way to stop the visions is to write them down. Until they start coming true . . .

  Enter Sophie Minax, the mysterious Goth girl who’s been following Omar at school. “I’m one of you,” Sophie says. She tells Omar how to end the visions—but the only thing worse than Sophie’s cure may be what happens if he ignores it.