his front door, and what happened later when he went back to his room to destroy the object, how he thought he’d seen her appear in his bedroom, followed by the Nightmarys, as the jawbone’s curse fought to protect itself from being broken.
Abigail simply watched him as he spoke, her face unreadable. When he finished his story, he thought she might punch him in the eye. Instead, she plucked the metal shard from his fingers and examined it more closely.
“It’s not glowing,” she said. Timothy nodded. “So, it’s over,” she added, with finality. “Whatever was inside this chip is gone.”
“You really believe that?” Timothy asked.
“Can’t you feel it?”
“I guess so.”
Abigail handed the piece back to Timothy and sighed. “I have a confession too,” she said, staring at him. “At the hospital, I knew you were lying.”
“You knew I gave you the wrong bone?” Timothy shook his head in disbelief. Abigail smiled. “But why’d you let me do it?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe it was the curse. Maybe not. I guess, deep down, I thought you needed it for something.”
“I thought I did too,” said Timothy, palming the tooth. Quickly, he turned his hand over. The black chip fell, turning and glinting in the sunlight, until it disappeared into the dark water beneath them. “But I was wrong.”
They strolled back toward New Starkham. The cars continued to whiz past. Every now and again, someone honked, a student happy to be leaving. They were almost at the part of the bridge that stretched over the campus parking lot when Abigail froze. She glanced over her shoulder at the lighthouse. “I’ll be back,” she said. “Wait for me.” She turned and ran in the direction from which they’d come. Once she was over the water again, she reached into her back pocket. Something silver glinted in her hand as she waved it over her head. Then, closing her eyes, she threw the lighter as hard as she could. Like the tooth, it faded away, then disappeared into the Little Husketomic.
When she returned to where Timothy stood, he said, “Hey, I thought you needed that.”
“I thought I did too,” Abigail echoed. “But I was wrong.”
Once they reached the intersection at Edgehill Road, she said, “Come over, if you want. Mom said we could order a pizza, and Gramma wants to listen to my grandfather’s records with us.” She shrugged. “I know it sounds kind of boring, compared to everything else we’ve been through….”
“That doesn’t sound boring,” Timothy said, smiling. “Actually, that sounds like fun.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many thanks to my friends and family who supported this story from the moment I shared my nightmare about those creepy girls in white dresses. Thank you to Charles Beyer for inspiring me with your brilliant Victorian ghost paintings. And to Gary Graham for not only reading parts of an early manuscript, but for the “million-dollar idea” and the subsequent Nightmarys trading-card illustration.
Thank you also to Nico Medina for being a wonderfully perceptive copy editor and an all-around awesome friend. Thank you to Kathy Gersing and Nick Eliopulos for graciously reading the very long first draft and for not wanting to smack me with it. Thanks to Nic DeStefano for the glamorous photo shoot in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Thank you to Katie Cicatelli, Ellice M. Lee, and everyone else at Random House Children’s Books, especially my editor, R. Schuyler Hooke, who adopted this baby and helped me make her even more disturbed than she already was. It must be stated that Barry Goldblatt is a dream agent; I’m so grateful he’s in my corner. Thank you to David Levithan for all you do.
Thank you to my grandparents, Francis and Wanda Poblocki and Doris and Ray Piehler, for your stories and support. Dad, Maria, Emily, Johnny, Brendan, Amanda, Mom, and Bruce—I love you guys.
And Ethan, you’re just the best.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
In the first nightmare DAN POBLOCKI can remember, giant ants attacked his town. Dan lives in Brooklyn, New York, where he is stalked only by slightly-larger-than-ordinary cockroaches. He is also the author of The Stone Child. Visit him at www.danpoblocki.com.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2010 by Dan Poblocki
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Visit us on the Web! www.randomhouse.com/kids
Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Poblocki, Dan.
The nightmarys / Dan Poblocki. p. cm.
Summary: Seventh-grader Timothy July and his new friend Abigail try to break a curse that is causing them and others to be tormented by their greatest fears brought to life.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89317-9
[1. Fear—Fiction. 2. Blessing and cursing—Fiction. 3. Supernatural—Fiction.
4. Schools—Fiction. 5. Books and reading—Fiction. 6. Horror stories.] I. Title.
PZ7.P7493Nig 2010 [Fic]—dc22 2009050690
Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
v3.0