Cal considered this. “Fair enough,” he said, nodding.

Sadie gasped and then nudged Lou toward the movie screen on the wall.

When Lou saw Jason staring at them from inside the screen, her insides turned to gelatin.

CHAPTER 9

“WHO’S THAT?” CAL asked, staring at the screen. “He’s not part of my movie.”

“It’s my brother,” Lou whispered. “I think … whatever brought all of us here is using his image to scare me.”

“Are you usually scared of your brother?”

“No. I love Jason … most of the time.” Lou backed toward the doorway where she and Sadie had entered the screening room. “It’s like this house, or something in it, is trying to get inside my head. To warp my thoughts and my memories. To turn good things into bad things. If it really is him, I’m terrified he’ll leave me by myself.”

Jason stared at her and shook his head. Lou couldn’t look away from the screen. He was moving his mouth but all that was coming out of the speakers were the screaming sounds from Cal’s film. The horror-movie characters continued to run around in the background, unaware that Jason had moved into the center. Lou tried to make out what her brother was trying to say from the shape of his lips. Help me, please. Or it could be It’s me, Lou. It’s really me.

Jason’s eyes suddenly lit up, glowing a deep and fiery amber. The sound from Cal’s film started to cut out, and a growling noise took its place, coming through the speakers so loudly that the three of them had to cover their ears to block it out. Lou’s skin prickled. Now she was sure this was not her brother.

His eyes drew back, sinking deep into his skull. His nose and mouth protruded outward until he looked more like a goat or a horse. A monstrous, giant horse. His white skin grew thin and translucent and as it stretched, Lou could see bones and muscles moving underneath. The thing’s shoulders expanded into sharp points, and Jason’s shirt ripped away, exposing a torso that appeared to be made of tree roots and bramble vines.

Even worse, however, was his smile—wide and cruel and ravenous—crammed with huge teeth and sharp, misshapen shards of bone.

“Wow!” said Cal, his jaw agape. “That is so cool. I wish I could do effects like that!”

“Jason, please!” Lou shouted at the screen. “Stop! You’re scaring me.”

The thing opened its mouth and whispered in a drawn-out, rough-hewn whisper, “Gooooooood.”