wax. And Michael, whose crayon eyes seemed to stare at Jenny in accusation.
She'd promised it wouldn't get him, and it had.
Jenny was guilty, just as she was guilty of Summer's death. Not in the sense the police had meant, not the hacking-off-Summer's-head-and-burying-her-body-in-the-backyard sense, but because she was the one who'd gotten Summer into it. Jenny had invited Summer to play a game that had turned out to be deadly. Jenny had come out alive and Summer hadn't. Jenny's Game had killed Summer.
Now it might have killed the rest of her friends.
And she was alone. The apartment practically echoed with aloneness. There was no sound since she had jammed a book under the toilet ball to keep it from flushing anymore.
The rest of them had been picked off one by one. Like ten little Indians. Now she was the only one left, and she was next.
The base. I have to find the base. I have to get them out before Julian gets me.
But how?
The hints. She had to remember them. But her mind was so confused. She was all alone-she could feel the air around her. She could feel how each room in the apartment was empty. The emptiness was crushing her.
The hints. Think of them, nothing else. Get them in mind.
But I'm alone -
Image as opposed to reality.
A door she'd seen. A door she'd been through, but hadn't been through.
Not in the Shadow World. Maybe somewhere halfway.
What else was halfway? Like the More Games store -
Black and white.
A tiny light went on in Jenny's mind. Yes. It would fit. A door she'd seen and gone through-but that she couldn't possibly have gone through, depending on how you looked at it. A black and white door.
It was just then that the piece of paper came fluttering down.
From nowhere. It came out of thin air as if someone had dropped it from the ceiling. It skimmed and side-slipped and landed almost in her lap.
Jenny picked it up and looked at the writing.
I'm something. I'm nothing.
I am short. I am tall.
When you fall at your sport, then I stumble and fall. I have never been seen yet beneath a new moon.
I thrive in the evening but vanish at noon. I am lighter than air, I weigh less than a breath; Darkness destroys me, and light is my death.
A little over three weeks ago Jenny might have had trouble with that one. What could be destroyed by both light and darkness? What could be both short and tall? What was something and nothing at once?
But ever since April 22, the day of the Game, the subject of this particular riddle had been on Jenny's mind. She'd been haunted by it, she'd thought about almost nothing else.
She saw shadows everywhere these days.
She had no doubt about what the riddle meant, either. A shadow was coming to get her-the shadow. The Shadow Man. Julian was going to take care of this personally.
She had barely thought this when all the lights in the apartment went out.
Chills swept over Jenny. Icy fingers stirred the hairs at the back of her neck. Her palms were tingling wildly.
I'm in trouble. Bad trouble. But I think I know the answer now. I know where the base is. If I can just get there ... if I can get to it before he gets to me. ...
First, find the way out of the apartment.
There was some light coming in through the curtains from the walkway. All right-the front door was over there. Jenny picked up Michael's keys and made her way to it, arms outstretched.
As she reached the walkway, the lights there went out.
Cat and mouse. He's playing games with me. All right, play! This mouse is running.
Her hand slid on the wet iron railing as she hurried down the stairs. In the carport Michael's VW Bug was swathed in shadows. Jenny pulled the door open and slipped in, turning the key in the ignition almost before the door was shut. She pulled out just as the parking lot lights went off.
Right behind me...
She wrenched the wheel and sped out of the apartment complex.
The rain had started again, droplets splattering the windshield. Hard to drive safely. Jenny sped on, hoping no one was in her way.
A stoplight-the brakes screeched. Please, God, don't let me hit anyone. Please -
The red light winked out, but the green didn't come on. The stoplight stayed dark, swaying in the rain.
Jenny hit the accelerator.
Canyonwood Avenue-Sequoia Street-Tassa-jara...
The Bug's engine coughed.
No-let me make it. I've got