Ronnie was out of the van before she’d finished that sentence. She hopped out, too, and Linda and Warrick and Two followed, Two pleased to be out in the open air once again. By the time they’d jogged across to the ballot box, Ronnie was already talking to the kid.

“Guys,” he said, “this is Austin Cooke. Austin, we’ve heard about the box. About what happens when you get the most votes. Is that why you were going to smash it?”

“Cole Blancard stuffed it with my name,” Austin said. His voice cracked. His eyes were wide with panic, but he was forcing himself to remain calm. Kelly liked him immediately. “Just cos he picked me out of everyone in my grade. I don’t even know why.”

“You take it seriously, then,” Linda said. “Everyone else we’ve spoken to says it’s harmless, just used to keep kids in line.”

“Yeah? Bet they’ve never had a hundred pieces of paper with their name on shoved into it. They wouldn’t be saying it’s harmless then.”

“You believe the Narrow Man is real?”

Austin hesitated.

“We’re not going to laugh,” said Ronnie. “We’ve encountered weirder things than this.”

Austin nodded. “Yeah. I think he’s real.”

“Have you told your parents how worried you are?” Kelly asked. “Maybe they’ll take you out of town.”

“They won’t. It’s Hell Night on Wednesday. They won’t take me anywhere.”

Warrick frowned. “Hell Night? That’s the name of your festival?”

Austin nodded. “Messed up, huh?”

“What happens on Hell Night?”

“Don’t know. It’s loud, though. And it’s nuts. The next few days, everyone’s replacing broken windows and cleaning the streets and walking around with bruised faces and broken arms … People die. Did you know that? My uncle died at a Hell Night two years ago. Other folks, too.”

“How?”

Again, Austin shrugged. “I’m a kid. I don’t get to see. I just get put down in the panic room.”

Kelly frowned. “You have a panic room?”

“Every house in town has one,” said Austin. “That’s where we sleep while Hell Night’s going on. We can’t even leave our houses the next day, sometimes the next two days. That’s when they clean up.”

“Are all kids put in panic rooms?” asked Ronnie.

“Everyone who isn’t an adult, yeah.”

“And you’ve never asked your older friends what goes on that hurts so many people?”