Funhouse (15 page)

“I’ve decided to hang both of us from those two skeletons in the middle chamber,” he said, friendly again, as if they were planning an outing. “Won’t that be a hoot for whoever finds us?”

“Hang
us?”

“Sure. Like father, like son, right? My father did it. Said so in his obituary. I looked it up at the library. Didn’t say where, exactly. The writer was too squeamish, I guess. So I get to pick the place. And I choose the skeletons.” Taking a penknife from his back pocket, he ripped a long, narrow strip of nylon from the tunnel’s side. Then he tore a second strip and stuffed it into the pocket, along with the knife.

Suddenly, without warning, he jumped onto the padding and grabbed Tess, looping the nylon strip around her neck.

“Now get up!” he commanded, tugging on the strip around her neck. “Or I’ll finish you off right here!”

They entered the chain-walk tunnel.

“Guy Joe,” she croaked, the nylon pulling too tightly on her throat, “I can’t go across those chains in my bare feet. I can’t!”

Still holding the nylon strip in one hand, Guy Joe gave her a shove, sending her onto the links. Balancing properly was impossible and she fell again and again into the meshed circle of metal links.

“See,” Guy Joe said happily, “what I’m going to do is tie this end of your rope to that hook the skeleton dangles from. You’ll be standing on the railing when I do that.”

Tess tried desperately to grip the metal with her toes. It was impossible. Down she went again, slicing one of her toes as she fell. She cried out, but Guy Joe ignored her and went on talking.

“Then you’ll jump,” he went on matter-of-factly. “Bye-bye, Tess, easy as that. Then it’ll be my turn. Isn’t it nice that there’s one skeleton hook for each of us?”

“I won’t jump!” Tess cried. “I won’t!”

Guy Joe shrugged. “Okay. You don’t have to. I’ll just push you.”

He meant it. She knew that. Whatever Guy Joe had learned about himself, it had stolen the brother she knew and replaced him with this person who had no conscience, no qualms whatsoever about taking her life and his own. She
had
to do something to stop him.

Tess struggled across the remaining chains. When she was on the wooden platform, she said, “I can’t walk, Guy Joe. I’ve cut my foot.”

Guy Joe bent to glance down at her foot, giving Tess just enough time to grasp the chain belt at her waist, unsnapping the clasp. In one smooth motion, she yanked the metal belt free from its loops and swung hard, whipping it down across the back of Guy Joe’s head.

Stunned, he fell to his knees, releasing his end of the rope.

Tess ran. She raced into the next chamber, where the metal saucers whirled. She knew she had only a second or two. Bending quickly, she reached down with both hands and, stretching her arms across, grabbed at the middle circle and pulled upward. It came up out of the floor easily, just as Guy Joe had said.

She heard footsteps behind her. Lifting the circle, using what little strength she had left, she tossed it into the next passageway. It landed with a sharp clink and then fell silent.

Tess ran across the wooden walkway to the opposite side of the circles. Then, swinging the chain belt with careful aim, she smashed the overhead light in the ceiling, throwing the tunnel into absolute darkness. She crouched there, trembling violently, waiting.

“I’ll get you for this, Tess Landers!” Guy Joe’s voice, full of rage, cried as he entered the tunnel. “You’ll be very—”

He never finished the threat. Consumed with rage and blinded by the sudden, unexpected darkness, his voice became a scream of terror as the hole Tess had created swallowed him up.

T
ESS WOULD HEAR GUY
Joe’s scream in her sleep for many nights to come.

Crouching in the corner, trembling violently, she covered her face with her hands.

“Tess! Tess, where are you?” Tess heard a voice cry out, frantic with worry.
Sam.

“Here! I’m here! Be careful—there’s a saucer missing!”

In spite of the darkness, Sam made his way across the chamber, and a moment later he was kneeling at her side. “You okay?” Lifting her gently, he put his arms around her.

“How did you know I was here?”

“Gina. She called me. She got this weird package at the hospital today. From Guy Joe. A couple of journals. One was his and the other one was an old one, written by some woman.” Sam began leading Tess out of the Funhouse, using one of the wooden walkways. The rain had stopped, and the half moon cast a faint glow over the beach. “I didn’t have any idea what she was talking about, but she was scared. For you. She told me to find you, right away. I’d just hung up when Doss called me and said you and Guy Joe were here and that Guy Joe looked funny, sort of freaked out. So here I am.”

So Doss
had
noticed something strange, after all. And hadn’t ignored it. She would have to remember to thank him.

“Where’s Guy Joe?” Sam asked.

“Down there.” Tess pointed to a spot on the beach. Guy Joe was unconscious. He looked so helpless, so innocent, lying there on the sand, that Tess found it hard to believe that tonight’s horror had actually happened. “We’d better call another ambulance. But,” Tess added softly, “this will be the last one.”

T
HEY THINK
I
’M UNCONSCIOUS
. But I heard every word they said. Dr. Oliver said to that man who’s
supposed
to be my father, “We’ve had our hands full lately with these kids, haven’t we? Buddy Slaughter tells me Trudy is just about hysterical after what happened at her birthday party.”

I had finally found out what I’d been afraid I’d never know. Trudy’s father was the “Buddy” Lila had written about. The only one who hadn’t suffered at my hands.

Okay. No sweat. I’d go wherever they sent me. I’d weave little baskets and play Ping-Pong with the other loonies and I’d talk to the shrinks.

But I’d get out some day. And when I did, the eighth man on the board would be waiting. Buddy Slaughter, the man who had stolen everything from me, would be waiting.

So I could wait, too. …

Diane Hoh (b. 1937) is a bestselling author of young-adult fiction. Born in Warren, Pennsylvania, Hoh grew up with eight siblings and parents who encouraged her love of reading from an early age. After high school, she spent a year at St. Bonaventure University before marrying and raising three children. She and her family moved often, finally settling in Austin, Texas.

Hoh sold two stories to
Young Miss
magazine, but did not attempt anything longer until her children were fully grown. She began her first novel,
Loving That O’Connor Boy
(1985), after seeing an ad in a publishing trade magazine requesting submissions for a line of young-adult fiction. Although the manuscript was initially rejected, Hoh kept writing, and she soon completed her second full-length novel,
Brian’s Girl
(1985). One year later, her publisher reversed course, buying both novels and launching Hoh’s career as a young-adult author.

After contributing novels to two popular series, Cheerleaders and the Girls of Canby Hall, Hoh found great success writing thrillers, beginning with
Funhouse
(1990), a Point Horror novel that became a national bestseller. Following its success, Hoh created the Nightmare Hall series, whose twenty-nine novels chronicle a university plagued by dark secrets. After concluding Nightmare Hall with 1995’s
The Voice in the Mirror
, Hoh wrote
Virus
(1996), which introduced the seven-volume Med Center series, which charts the challenges and mysteries of a hospital in Massachusetts.

In 1998, Hoh had a runaway hit with
Titanic: The Long Night
, a story of two couples—one rich, one poor—and their escape from the doomed ocean liner. That same year, Hoh released
Remembering the Titanic
, which picked up the story one year later. Together, the two were among Hoh’s most popular titles. She continues to live and write in Austin.