Chapters (48)
- Cover
- Title Page
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Books by Erin Jade Lange
- Back Ad
- About the Publisher
It was too late for a clean escape. Twilight was here, and the Elders would not be far behind. I needed to end this party. Now.
I noticed one of the AV club’s supersized speakers nearby. It was nearly as tall as me, but I managed to scale to the top of it and stood to look over the sea of Nowhere residents. It had to be absolutely everyone in town—no more, no less.
I took a deep breath, summoning all the air in my lungs and all the power in my vocal cords, and screamed:
“RUN!”
I voiced it. I know I did; I felt it scratch my throat as the raw sound escaped. And yet, I could not hear it. And neither could anyone else.
Because at that exact moment, I was drowned out by the PA system, and the sound of a girl with a microphone and an amplifier.
Sydney.
Her voice reverberated from the speaker beneath my feet.
“Okay, everyone! Let’s take this party inside!”
Sophia joined her on the mic. “It’s time to announce the winning float and the best costume. Come on into the Hope High gym to hear the winners!”
No!
“NO!”
But this time, it was the music that drowned me out as someone cranked up the volume on “Monster Mash.” The song erupted from the speakers as people crushed into the gym. I jumped down to the sidewalk, right in front of a young couple, waving my arms and urging them to turn back, but they only flowed around me like water, as if they didn’t even see.
The monster mash, it was a graveyard smash!
A group of guys from the barstool float were next in my path, and I opened my arms wide.
“Wait! Don’t go in there!”
“Hey, kid, it’s just a costume contest,” one of them said. “Don’t worry. If you don’t win, you can go for Miss Congeniality.”
“What’s that?” one of his buddies asked. They both sounded tipsy.
“Congeniality! You know. Like nicest or most popular or something.”
I was pretty sure I was going to be nobody’s most popular after tonight, but for the first time since I had arrived in Nowhere, I did not care.
Okay, I cared a little, but I so did not have time for that right now.
They did the mash, they did the monster mash!
As person after person moved around me or tried to push right through me, I found myself swept up in the sea flowing toward the gym.
“Stop!” I cried.
But they didn’t even slow.
Lambs to the slaughter, Reg would have said.