Nightfall (Devil's Night #4) - Penelope Douglas Page 0,210

howl I could manage from deep in my stomach hearing the rest of them—the girls, too—join me as our fires spat and hissed around us, the whole fucking place going up in flames.

I looked over at Alex, seeing her eyes squeezed shut and her mouth in an O as she belted into the night air, and I laughed, hooking her neck and planting a slobbery kiss on her cheek.

She giggled, all of us looking up at the flames rising and spreading, and after a few more minutes, I looked right, seeing Lev and David arrive in the parking lot with the fire engine.

We’d let the fire do its job—just long enough for the place to be beyond repair—and then start putting it out.

“Wait,” I heard someone call. “Hey, wait!”

I released Alex and looked around, seeing Rika staring off toward the back of the park.

“What is it?” I jogged over, stopping next to her.

She stared, bending to see around rides and into the distance. “I thought I saw something?” Then she looked at me. “Are you sure the place is empty?”

I thought it was. Just then, I saw the door to the shop we’d come through flapping in the wind, and if anyone were here, they’d be hiding there.

“The tunnels!” I told everyone. “Go!”

Everyone ran, heading back to the shop and toward the underground. We didn’t have homeless in Thunder Bay, but there were no cars in the lot and there was nothing else within a couple miles from here. If someone were here, they were living here.

“We should’ve checked the place,” Michael gritted out. “Dammit.”

Scurrying down into the tunnels, we ran back toward the entrance to the track, and I opened the door, sending Alex, Damon, Kai, Banks, Micah, and Rory on their way.

“The seats swivel,” I told them, out of breath. “Just turn around and go back the way we came like I taught you. It’s the fourth red light down.”

Kai nodded, everyone descending into Coldfield.

Damon looked back at me, but I shook my head, knowing what he was thinking. “Just go,” I said. “I’ll catch up.”

I got ready to shove Rika and Michael in after them, but I looked back and they both were hanging by a room.

Closing the door, I approached. “What is it?”

I looked inside, seeing a bed, posters and graffiti on the walls, and a lamp turned on.

“Didn’t Misha say he stayed down here for a while? After Annie?” Rika asked.

“Yeah.”

She walked in, picking up a sandwich or something, half-eaten and laying on a wrapper. “Someone’s here,” she said, squeezing the fresh bread.

Either the light was off when we arrived, or the door was closed, because we passed this room on the way in and noticed nothing.

Shit.

“Dammit!” Michael growled.

We ran back up the stairs, the flames orange and bright outside the shop windows as we raced into the park, searching for who was here.

We couldn’t let anyone be hurt.

And it would be fantastic if there were no witnesses.

“I know I saw someone,” Rika said. “Maybe a girl.”

“Like a little girl?” I asked.

She nodded.

“Shit! There!” Michael yelled, pointing.

We halted, sucking in air and looking through the swings and toward the fun house, seeing a small form standing way on top.

Jesus. She had to be thirty feet in the air.

Dressed in black, she had a long, blonde braid draped over her shoulder and a beanie on her head, but I couldn’t see well enough to know if I recognized her.

“You!” Michael yelled to her. “Come here!”

We ran and saw her spin around, disappearing off the roof.

She jumped down, the shoelaces of her ratty sneakers dragging across the ground.

“Get her!” Rika yelled.

Michael dug in his heels, shot toward the girl, and caught her arm just as she was rounding the corner.

“I got her!” he bellowed, sweeping her into his arms.

But then she bit his hand, and he dropped her, hissing.

“What the hell?” he barked.

She ran, slipping around the booths, past the roller coaster, and disappearing into the pitch-black forest.

“Shit!” Michael gritted out.

We stopped, breathing hard and knowing she was gone.

“Was she living down there?” Rika asked us. “She can’t be more than eight.”

I shot her a look. “Do you recognize her?”

“No.” She shook her head. “She’s not from around here.”

I stared into the trees for another moment, hearing Lev and David start with the hoses and putting our shit out.

“Some mayor you are.” I chuckled. “Little Newt from Aliens is squatting in your abandoned theme park, and you’re trying on wedding dresses.”

Rika slapped me in the stomach and