The Chase Page 0,67

alive!" Dee's hug bruised like Tom's.

"Not a very original observation," Tom said. "Now, look, here's the deal. It's hot and it hurts, but it doesn't kill you. You count about to ten and you're through. Okay?"

Only ten? Jenny thought, sagging a little in Dee's arms. "It feels like a hundred," she confided to Dee's shoulder.

"Think 'cool, wet grass,'" Tom said. "Like firewalkers do. Keep thinking and keep going and you'll be okay."

Dee nodded. "Let's do it!"

But Michael's eyes were wide and uneasy, and Audrey recoiled a step. Zach remained very still, looking at Jenny. Then he let out his breath.

"Okay," he said. "It's just an illusion. Unreality, here we come."

"Hurry up, move," Tom said to the others. "We have to get out before this damn photograph burns up. Who knows what happens then." He grabbed Michael by the sweatshirt, then took firm hold of his hand. He held out his other hand to Dee.

Jenny grabbed Audrey.

"No!" Audrey screamed. "I don't want to-"

"That way!" Tom shouted to Michael. "Go on! Straight ahead!" He gave Michael a push that sent him stumbling forward. Dee reached behind her to grab Audrey's hand and pull her along. Jenny shoved Audrey on from behind and held out her free hand to Zach. She felt his thin strong fingers close over it. She felt heat billow up around her.

Then it was like a wild game of crack-the-whip, with everyone surging and running and pulling-and Audrey, at least, trying to pull in the wrong direction. Fire filled Jenny's eyes and ears. She tried to count to ten, but it was impossible-her whole mind was occupied with the struggle of keeping Audrey going forward.

Fire and pain and heat and yanking on her arms -

Then Zach stumbled.

Jenny didn't know how it happened. Her hand was suddenly empty. She groped wildly with it and found nothing. She turned her head, looking frantically

behind her. For an instant she thought she saw a black silhouette in the orange inferno, then the flames blotted it out.

Zach ...

She opened her mouth to scream, and burning air filled her lungs. She choked. She was being pulled forward. There was nothing she could do-unless she let go of Audrey. She was being dragged along. Zach was far behind now.

Then she burst out into coolness and fell.

She landed on top of Audrey. Audrey was whimpering. Jenny was still choking, unable to get her breath.

She was so hot and exhausted and sore. Everything hurt. Her ears were ringing. Her eyes and nose stung, and when she tried to get up, her legs collapsed under her.

But she was alive. And Audrey was alive, because she was making noise. Michael was alive, coughing and gagging and beating at his smoking clothes. Dee was alive, pounding the concrete and shouting joyously.

Tom was alive, and on his feet. Tall and handsome and stern.

"Where's Zach?"

Jenny's throat was raw. "He let go," she said, almost in a whisper. "He tripped and he let go of my hand-"

Dee's grin collapsed. She stared up at the photo on the wall. Flames were licking out of it.

"I couldn't hold on to him," Jenny said, ashamed. "I couldn't help it____"

"I'll get him," Tom said.

"Are you crazy?" Michael shouted. He broke off, bending over in a fit of coughing. Then he spat and lifted his head again. "Are you nuts? It'll kill you!"

Audrey had rolled over to look up at the photograph with terrified eyes, her spiky lashes matted together.

"We should get a fire extinguisher-" Dee began.

"No! Not till we get back. It might do something-close the door or something. Just wait for us-we'll be back in a minute."

Jenny swallowed dryly. The fire had been worse this time; it must be getting worse every second.

But Zach. Her gray-eyed cousin. He was lost somewhere in that fire. She couldn't just leave him....

"Oh, God," she sobbed. "Tom, I'm going with you." She tried to get up again, but her legs simply wouldn't obey. She looked down at them in astonishment.

"No!" Tom said. "Dee, take care of her!"

"Tom-" Jenny screamed.

"I'll be back. I promise."

He was reaching into the picture-pulling the handle. Then he simply disappeared. The flames shot out and seemed to grab him like hungry hands, snatching him inside. He was gone-and the photograph was ablaze.

Every inch of it was burning now, flames bursting up and fanning out. Leaping so high that at any other time Jenny would have been terrified at the mere sight, afraid for Zach's house. She'd never seen an uncontrolled fire this high.

At this moment all she cared about was the photograph. The entire picture was on fire, blackening and peeling. The image was fading under the flames.

"No!" she screamed. "Tom! Tom!"

"We've got to get water!" Dee shouted.

"No! He said not to ... oh, Tom!"

It was burning. Burning up. Burning out of all recognition. Turning into a black curling mess. The pyramid of tables disappearing as flames licked over them. The door was gone now. The Exit sign was gone.

"Tommeeeeeee!"

Dee's strong hands held her back, keeping her from trying to jump into the photograph. It was no use anyway. There was no handle sticking out of the picture any longer. There was nothing left at all.

The flames began to die as the last of the photo was consumed. Bits of it fell off. Other bits floated in the air, drifting down slowly. Sparks danced upward.

Then it was just a charred and smoldering rectangle on the wall.

Jenny fell to her knees, hands over her face. She hadn't known she could make sounds like that.

"Jenny, don't. Don't. Oh, God, Jenny, please stop." Dee was crying, too, dripping tears down her neck. Dee, who never cried. Audrey crawled up on the other side, wrapping her arms around both of them. They were all sobbing.

"Look, you guys-you guys, don't," Michael gasped. Jenny felt a new pair of arms around her, trying to shake all of them. "Jenny-Jenny, it might not be so bad. He might have made it through. If he made it through to the cafeteria, he's okay."

Jenny couldn't stop sobbing, but she raised her head a little. Michael's face was grimy and anxious and deadly earnest.

"Let's just think about this. It took more than ten seconds for that picture to burn up. And he could go faster without all of us to hold him back. So he probably did make it through-and that means at least he's alive."

There was a shaking in Jenny's middle. "But-but Zach-"

"He may have made it back, too," Michael said desperately. "He may be okay."

Jenny looked up at him. The shaking didn't stop, but it lessened. She felt more connected to the world. "Really?" she whispered. "Do you think?"

Just then Dee made an odd sound, as if something had bitten her.

"Look!" she said.

Jenny twisted her neck and followed Dee's gaze to the photograph. Then she hissed and turned around all the way to stare at it.

Letters were appearing on the blackened surface, just as letters had appeared on Michael's window in the unnatural frost. Only these were graceful, looping letters, flowing script that ran along the length of the picture. As if a giant calligraphy brush were painting them on the blackness. They glowed red as coals, and wisps of smoke rose from them as they appeared.

Your friends are with me-in the Shadow World. If you want them, come on a treasure hunt. But remember: If you lose, there's the devil to pay.

"Oh, no," Michael whispered.

"But they're not dead," Audrey said, a little tremulously. The red letters were fading already. "You see, they're not dead. Julian's keeping them to bargain with."

Dee just said, "God."

Jenny, though, sat back on her heels, her hands opening and closing. Working, getting ready for action. She thought of the Shadow World, of the swirling ice and darkness in the closet, and the cruel, ancient, hungry eyes there. Tom was somewhere among those eyes, and so was her cousin.

She knew this-but she wasn't shaking anymore. All her weakness and confusion had evaporated. She had heard the challenge and understood.

She wasn't afraid of Julian now. She was stronger than she had ever been before-stronger than she had known she could be. And she knew what she had to do.

"Right," she said and heard her own voice, clear and cold, like a trumpet. "He wants a new game? He'll get it. I know I can beat him now,"

"Jenny-" Michael began, looking at her fearfully.

Jenny shook her head, straightened her shoulders. "I can beat him," she said again with complete confidence. To the smoking photograph, black and empty again, she said, "En garde, Julian. It's not over till it's over."