The candy store had metal shutters rolled down over its windows and the tiny lights around the signs advertising homemade fudge and caramel apples were off.
Jenny just couldn't accept it.
That afternoon the park had been filled with sound: babbling, yelling, ride noises, laughing, music. Now the only sound was her own breath. The motion was the gentle fluttering of pennants at the top of a roller coaster.
Then she noticed something else moving.
On a huge billboard the pirate chest was slowly opening and shutting like a clamshell.
"Nobody's here-not even maintenance people," Dee was saying in dissatisfaction.
"It's too late," Michael said. "They've all gone home."
"But somebody should still be here. Look!" Dee's beam flashed across to a little orange cart, nosed up against a fence ahead of them. The cart looked a lot like something a maintenance person might use.
But we didn't see it until after Dee mentioned maintenance people, Jenny thought.
Not just her little fingers but the sides of her hands were beginning to tingle.
There was something wrong here. It looked just like Joyland-from the artificial lagoon down to the refreshment cart with the red-and-yellow wheels. But it felt-wrong.
As if something in the darkness was awake and watching them. As if the deserted park around her could come to life at any moment.
"This place is creepy," Audrey announced suddenly.
"Yeah, well." Michael laughed. "Nothing creepier than a closed amusement park."
Words flashed through Jenny's mind. Did I ever tell you about this amusement park nightmare I had when I was a kid-?"
"Listen." She turned around abruptly. "Besides Michael, has anybody else had amusement park nightmares?"
Audrey stopped, flashlight drooping. After a moment she said in a subdued voice, "I have."
Dee said quietly, "Me, too."
"And so have I," Jenny said. "Maybe it's one of those universal things-"
"An archetype," Michael interrupted pugnaciously, his voice wobbling slightly. "But so what? That doesn't mean anything... ."
Jenny realized then just how bad his dreams must have been.
"Don't be silly, Michael," Audrey said, very gently. She reached out and Michael snuck a finger into her hand. "You think?" she said to Jenny.
"I don't know. It's nothing like I expected. It looks like Joyland, but-"
"But Julian can make anything look like anything," Audrey finished crisply.
Dee looked around, then chuckled. "All right! Listen, you idiots," she said, turning back to them. "This is good. If it is the Shadow World-or part of it-it's a place we've been. We'll have an advantage, because we know the terrain. And it's better than blue-and-green blizzards, or whatever Jenny saw out that window last time, right?"
Audrey nodded without enthusiasm. Michael didn't move.
"And if it's not the Shadow World, we're in real trouble. Because it means we've blown our chance to find Tom and Zach. Maybe our only chance."
"Cest juste," Audrey said. "I forgot."
Jenny hadn't forgotten. "We'd better check around. See if this is the real Joyland or-" She didn't need to finish the sentence.
She didn't know exactly how they were supposed to tell. The place certainly looked authentic. They crept through the silent park, heading automatically for the front gates, passing a restaurant, dark and still.