The Chase Page 0,61

into reality. He could make posters and murals come alive. If Jenny looked at this picture in the right way...

As Jenny stared at the door, the handle seemed to bulge out at her. Three-dimensional. Like the doorknob to the More Games store which had stuck out of the mural.

"Jenny!"

Julian's voice behind her, sharp and dangerous. The flashlight went out.

But Jenny had seen where the handle was. She reached for it in the darkness. Her fingers brushed it-it was cold. Real metal in her hand. She had it!

She pulled.

Rushing wind surrounded her. The cold metal seemed to melt from under her fingers, and she was falling. Her scream was snatched away by the thunder of the air.

She had never seen anyone look as surprised as Audrey and Zach and Dee and Tom and Michael did. Their five faces were turned toward her, staring, mouths and eyes open, as she staggered forward and landed on her knees.

Now, what just happened-? Jenny thought, but before she could look behind her, they were all around her.

"You came through the door, "Audrey said, greatly excited. She was still wearing the black Oscar de la Renta dress Jenny had last seen her in, and it was more bedraggled than ever. Her copper hair was down.

"Are you all right?" Tom asked. There were muddy streaks on his cheekbones. He reached out to take her hand, her left hand, without seeming to care about the ring on it.

"Of course she's all right. She came through the door," Dee said gleefully. She patted Jenny's head in a frenzy of affection. "Eat that, monster!" she shouted to the ceiling.

"You lied to me," Michael said. He still had the hamster look, only now his lower lip was pushed out pathetically, too. "You said it wouldn't get me, and it did."

Jenny leaned against Tom's warmth and solidity and shut her eyes-which made tears trickle out.

She had never been so glad to hear Michael's complaining in her life.

"It's you-it's all of you," she said, opening her eyes with a little sob that sounded strange even to herself. "You're really here."

"Of course we're here," Audrey said. She sounded cross, which meant she was feeling affectionate. "Where else would we be?"

Dee grinned. "We've been waiting for you to come get us, Tiger. Didn't I say she would? Didn't I?"

Jenny looked at Zach. He had black circles under his eyes and his skin had a waxy tint, but there was something oddly peaceful in his expression. "Are you okay?" she said. "Are you all okay?"

Zach shrugged. "We're alive. It seems like a week we've been here, but Tom says it's only a couple of days. I just wish I could get back and develop these." He jangled the camera around his neck, and Jenny looked at him in surprise. "Got some great shots of that snake." His eyes met Jenny's, and he smiled.

Jenny smiled back.

"I was here alone first," Audrey was saying. "For more than a whole day. That was fun." She pressed her lips together.

"It's not so bad," Dee said. "It's sort of like the army. We sleep on the tables-see, there're blankets over there. And there's a bathroom, and food comes out there. A cafeteria's actually a pretty good place to keep people. But we never could get that door open, and none of us came in through it."

Jenny looked around. It was a cafeteria, all right. The Vista Grande High School cafeteria. Exactly like the photograph, except that the tables had been

unstacked and the six of them were standing around. The only really peculiar thing was that there was only one door in all the four walls, the only door that had been visible in the picture.

"How did you guys get here, then?" she asked.

"Through the ceiling," Michael said grimly. "I kid you not."

Jenny blinked up at the ceiling. There was a large black hole in the center. Blue electricity crackled through the darkness.

Tom spoke quietly beside her. "We can't get up there. We tried. There aren't enough tables-and something really strange happens when you get anywhere near that high. Time seems to slow down and you start to pass out."

Jenny looked down from the hole. "But you're all okay. The snake and the wolf didn't hurt anybody?"

"No," Dee said. "They just wanted us to fall in the vortexes. And they're dead now, you know. Tom got 'em."

"I think I got them," Tom said cautiously. "Michael was just telling us that you hadn't seen them tonight____"

"You did get them," Jenny said. "You must