I shoved her flashlight away from my face. “Caroline, you were the one who wanted to come on this camp-out. Are you saying you want to go home now?”
“No, I am not,” Caroline snapped.
We pointed our lights in front of us. Gnarled trees blocked our way. Thorny vines hung down from twisted branches and caught at our hair.
“Yeow!” Caroline cried as a branch whipped her in the face.
We walked so close together, we stepped on each other’s feet. My eyes were open wide as I stared into the darkness.
Just ahead, something moved through the trees.
I locked my knees. “Did you see that?”
“Yes. What do you think it was?” Caroline whispered, barely moving her lips.
“I don’t know,” I groaned. “Let’s just find the campsite.”
Caroline held out the map and we focused our lights on the yellowed paper. “I think we’re supposed to look for a stream,” she murmured.
I flashed my beam in a circle around us. “I don’t see a stream, do you?” I asked.
“No,” Caroline replied.
Something crashed through the trees to our right.
“M-maybe we should forget about this camp-out,” Caroline said in a shaky voice. “Maybe we should just go home.”
“Well—okay,” I agreed. I didn’t want to sound too eager. But boy, was I glad Caroline changed her mind!
We turned and started back the way we came.
A few more feet, and we’ll be back on Fear Street, I thought. But when I flashed my light around, I couldn’t see anything but trees! And nothing looked familiar!
“Caroline,” I whispered. “We must have gone the wrong way. I don’t know where we are.”
Caroline squeezed my hand and whimpered.
Then I heard a bubbling sound. Water! Running water!
“The stream! I think I hear it, Caroline,” I told her.
We hurried forward. Branches tore at our clothes. I could hear Caroline grumbling about it. But I didn’t care. I just wanted to find the campsite. Even the Camp Fear Girls weren’t as creepy as this forest!
When we reached the stream, I checked the map again.
“What does it say? Where do we go now?” Caroline asked.
I squinted at the map. “I can’t tell. It’s all smudged.”
“A light!” Caroline cried suddenly. “I see a light!”
I glanced up. She was right! Off in the distance I could just make out a faint yellow glow.
Crack! Again the sound of something moving behind us.
This time it wasn’t a twig. It sounded more like a big branch. And something huge must have made it break.
No way was I turning around to find out.
“Run for it!” I screamed to Caroline. “Now!”
We took off toward the yellow light.
My pulse thundered in my ears. Brambles jabbed at me. But I didn’t stop.
The light grew brighter as we ran closer.
I could see it now. A campfire!
A warm yellow campfire. In a little clearing. And girls sitting around it!
I tripped over a tree root and fell to my knees just in front of the fire.
Caroline fell next to me, gasping for breath.
Our faces were flushed. Sweat poured from my forehead as I raised my head.
The Camp Fear Girls loomed over us. They stared at Caroline and me as if we were totally nuts.
Priscilla, who was holding a guitar, spoke first. “Hey, you guys made it. Why are you so out of breath?”
I pressed my hand against my chest. It burned from running so hard. “I think someone was following us through the woods.”
“Yeah. Me.” Amy stepped out of the woods and into the clearing. “I saw you two back by the creek. But when I tried to catch up with you, you bolted. Are you guys on the track team, or what? You’re fast!”
I glanced at Caroline. She stared back at me. Then she let out a giggle. Boy, did we feel silly!
“We got lost and I guess—well, we both freaked out,” I explained. “We’re not used to the woods.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Trudy told us as she pounded a tent stake into the ground. “The Fear Street Woods do that to a lot of people. But you’ll get used to it.”
“We did.” Violet added, stirring up the campfire.
I stood up and took a closer look around the clearing. Several of the girls were making S’mores—roasted marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate. Priscilla was strumming her guitar. Amy had gathered wildflowers from the woods.
It all looked totally normal. Nothing creepy going on.
Maybe the Camp Fear Girls were just an ordinary scout troop. The missing house on Fear Street, the way the Camp Fear Girls ignored me when I asked about Pearl—maybe I had imagined all that.
Violet handed me a S’more. “Caroline’s will be ready in a minute. Make yourselves comfortable,” she told us. “In a few minutes Amy is going to lead story time.”
“Okay.” I nodded and bit into the S’more. Mmmm! It was perfect—warm and gooshy and chocolaty. I started to relax. Maybe the camp-out was going to be fun after all!
I sat down by Caroline. She was checking out a nasty scrape she got on her knee.
Amy was stacking kindling nearby. “Where’s Pearl?” I asked her. “I’d like Caroline to meet her.”
Amy cocked her head and frowned. “Pearl? I don’t know anyone named Pearl.”
Was she kidding? I tried a laugh. “Oh, come on,” I joked. “You know Pearl. Long brown braids. Purple sash.”
Amy stared me straight in the eye. “There’s no one in this troop named Pearl,” she stated. She walked off to collect more kindling.
Uh-oh. A knot formed in my chest.
“Priscilla, where is Pearl?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.
Priscilla glanced at the other girls, and then shrugged. “Who’s Pearl?”
I stood up and pulled Caroline away from the fire.
“Listen,” I whispered. “This is very weird. I know there was a Pearl in this group. I met her!”
“Maybe you got her name wrong,” Caroline said. “I mean, it happens sometimes.”
“No!” I insisted. “I didn’t. Something really strange is going on here. I—”
“Oh, stop it,” Caroline interrupted. “Look around. Everyone’s having a great time. Why can’t you just have fun? What is wrong with you?”
Is something wrong with me? I wondered again. Am I going crazy?
“Caroline—” I tried one more time.
“Story time,” Priscilla called.
“Come on, let’s go.” Caroline led me back to the fire. Amy perched on a rock behind her. Trudy sat beside me.
Then Amy stood up. “One hundred years ago today, a troop of scouts went into the Fear Street Woods on a camping trip.”
I knew this story. I heard it at my first meeting. I guessed they were repeating it now because Caroline was new to the group.
“The girls were going to be gone for only one night,” Amy went on. “But they disappeared into the woods . . . and never returned.”
Hey. Wait a minute. Pearl was the one who told me the story at the first meeting. She had to exist. I couldn’t have imagined her!
“Rumor has it that the girls were turned into hideous monsters,” Amy continued in an eerie voice. “And they still roam Shadyside to this day. They have rotting skin and eyeballs that fall out of their sockets.” Amy seemed to really enjoy her gruesome description.
As she spoke, I made out a shadowy figure with a hideous face tiptoeing up behind Caroline.
Here comes the part where they scare Caroline with the rubber monster mask, I realized.
Amy’s voice sank almost to a whisper. “If one of them ever approaches you,” she warned, “beware! Because they are now the Camp Fear Ghouls!”
The shadowy figure placed her hand on Caroline’s shoulder.
Caroline turned and screamed.
I burst out laughing.
Then Trudy put her hand on my right shoulder.
I turned to laugh with her.
And gasped.
Trudy’s face! It was horrible!
Her flesh was rotting. A jagged bone poked through a hole in her cheek. Green pus oozed from the hole and dripped down her face.
It’s just a mask, I reminded myself.
I reached out to pull the mask off Trudy’s face. But my fingers sank deep into soft, putrid flesh.
It wasn’t a mask.
Trudy was really a monster!
16
“Help!” I screamed frantically.
I searched the faces around the campfire.
And then I screamed again.
They were all monsters!
All the Camp Fear Girls had changed into hideous, rotting creatures!
Their eyeballs bulged out of their sockets. Pus dripped from their pores. I began to choke on the smell of their decaying flesh.
Caroline dug her nails into my arm, shrieking.
Amy stood in front of us. She continued with the story.
What was the matter with her? Couldn’t she see what was happening?
I jumped up and pulled Caroline to her feet. “Amy!” I cried. “Come on! We have to get away!”
Amy turned and gazed at me. Her dark eyes gleamed.
“Amy,” I yelled again. “Let’s get out of here! Now!”
But Amy didn’t answer.
And then, as I stared at her, she began to change.
Her skin turned the color of pea soup. Her cheeks swelled. Larger and larger. They started to pulse.
Then the left one burst open. And something crawled out!
A worm! A fat, purple worm! It slithered across her face.
Her eyes bulged.
Her nose caved in, leaving a black hole in her face.
Caroline and I jumped to our feet.
The Camp Fear Ghouls slowly formed a circle around us. They moved closer. Tightening the circle. Closing in on us.
“Wh-what are they going to do to us?” Caroline choked out.
“I don’t know!” I cried. “Let’s not stick around to find out!”
I lunged at the Trudy-monster and knocked her over. Breaking the circle.
“Run, Caroline!” I cried. “Run!”
Caroline grabbed my hand. We took off for the trees.
I glanced over my shoulder. The Camp Fear Ghouls groaned. Then they began to shuffle after us.
They moved so slowly. We can outrun them! I thought.
It was almost as if I had spoken out loud. “You will never get away!” Amy growled.
“Don’t listen to her!” I panted to Caroline.
We reached the edge of the light cast by the campfire. The woods were only a foot away. One more step and we’d be in the trees—hidden. Then we could escape.
I was in the lead. We leaped for the woods—and slammed into something solid. It felt as though I had run into a wall, headfirst.
But there was nothing there.
I rubbed my head, dazed. “What was that?”
“Lizzy, they’re coming!” Caroline cried.
I threw myself toward the trees again.
Again I rammed into something hard. Everything swam before my eyes. Dizzy, I stumbled backward.
“What is it?” Caroline whimpered. “Why can’t we get out?”
“I don’t know,” I croaked. “It’s like there’s something there—blocking our way. Only it’s invisible!”
The monsters lumbered closer. They gathered around us.
“What do you want?” Caroline cried.
“Let us go!” I yelled. “Please, let us go!”
My heart thudded hard against my rib cage.
Amy raised one green, oozing finger and pointed at us. “You will never get away. You will remain with us . . . forever!”
17
Amy shoved her hideous face close to mine. I cringed and drew away from her.
“The campfire story is true,” she rasped. “We are the Camp Fear Ghouls. One hundred years ago today, our troop went into these woods on a camping trip. We never went home again.
“We set up camp in this very clearing. Then we collected wood for a fire. But in the dark, no one noticed that the sticks we picked up weren’t wood. They were bones. The bones of an evil man who died here!”
I sucked in my breath, horrified.
“The fire from those bones sent us all into a deep sleep,” Amy continued. “When we woke up, we were . . . as you see us now. Ghouls. Camp Fear Ghouls! Since that day we have roamed these woods. Thirteen girls—bound together forever by evil.”
“But—but there were only twelve of you when I met you,” I stammered. “You said I was the thirteenth. And now Pearl’s gone. There are only eleven of you!”
“You’re smart, Lizzy.” Amy let out a horrifying laugh. “You’ll be a good replacement for Rose.”
“R-Rose?” I choked out.
“Yes. Rose tried to escape the Camp Fear Ghouls. We had to destroy her. We chose you to take her place.”
Priscilla moved close to Caroline. She grinned. Her single tooth was covered with fuzzy green moss.
Caroline put a hand over her mouth and gagged. “Lizzy . . . ” she whimpered.
It was my fault that Caroline was here. I was doomed—but maybe I could get her out of this. I took a deep breath.
“You chose me,” I told the Camp Fear Ghouls. “But you didn’t choose Caroline. Please let her go.”
“I’m afraid we can’t,” Priscilla whispered.
“You see, we had to have you in our troop, Lizzy,” Amy explained. “But you tried to quit when we told you your friend couldn’t join. So—” She paused. “We made room for her.”
Made room?
“Pearl,” I whispered. “You destroyed her too.”
“Right. Pearl.” Amy grinned. “She was getting too bossy anyway.”
“Enough talking. It is time for the initiation,” Trudy announced.
My knees began to tremble.
“You must each earn three badges. One badge will test your courage,” Amy said, counting on her rotting fingers. “Another will test your strength. And another, your wits.”
Amy turned to the troop. “If either Lizzy or Caroline fails to survive the badge tests, they will both become Camp Fear Ghouls . . . forever!”
A chill raced up my spine. If we failed to survive?
“What if we do earn all our badges?” I asked.
Priscilla stepped up. A strip of torn, oozing flesh dangled from her cheek. “You won’t,” she told us. “But if you do—you can go.”
Caroline and I squeezed each other’s arms. There was hope! All we had to do was earn those badges.
Amy held up her sash. “Choose the badge you want to earn first.”
Caroline and I examined the sash.
My voice shook as I explained the badges to Caroline. “The swimming badge. The rock-collecting badge. The arts and crafts badge.”
“Lizzy, I’m scared. I don’t want to take any of these tests. We have to go home,” Caroline moaned. “Time to go home now.”
“Stop it, Caroline!” I shook her by the shoulders. “We have to try to earn the badges. If we don’t, we’ll end up like the Camp Fear Ghouls.”
Caroline’s face twisted. I could see she was trying not to cry. But she nodded at me.
I studied the badges on Amy’s sash.
What should we pick? Swimming, arts and crafts, or rock collecting?
Swimming could be really scary. What if they tried to drown us or something? I decided to avoid that badge for now.
That left arts and crafts and rock collecting. “I’m not the best at arts and crafts,” I whispered to Caroline. “How about rock collecting? You pick up some rocks. You put them in a bag. How hard could that be?”
Caroline nodded in agreement. It seemed like the safest bet.
I took a shaky breath and said, “We’re going for the r
ock-collecting badge.”
“Rock collecting!” the ghouls whispered all together. An evil smile twisted Amy’s hideous features. “Good choice,” she told us. “Excellent choice!”
18
“Keep moving!” Trudy barked. The troop marched me and Caroline to another clearing in the Fear Street Woods.
This one had no campfire. Just dozens of large stones scattered on the ground.
Amy handed me a big cloth bag. “Fill this up with rocks.”
I glanced from the bag to the rocks. That was it?
“No problem,” I mouthed to Caroline.
“Pick up only these rocks,” Priscilla told us, holding up a long, skinny piece of blue, glowing stone. “No others.”
“You’ve got five minutes,” Violet snapped. “Starting—now!”
The ghouls left the clearing.
The second they were out of sight, I whispered, “Quick, Caroline! They’re gone! Let’s make a break for it.”
Caroline didn’t hesitate. She turned and charged toward the trees. I followed right behind her.
But just as we hit the edge of the woods, we smacked against another invisible barrier.
Caroline cried out in pain.
“We’re trapped,” I groaned, rubbing my forehead.
Caroline’s chin quivered. “I’m so scared, Lizzy. What do we do now?”
“The only thing we can do,” I answered. “Collect rocks. But we don’t have much time.”
I glanced at my watch. About a minute had already passed.
Caroline crawled around the clearing on her hands and knees, pawing at the stones. “Which rocks are we supposed to collect?”
I spied some medium-size stones that seemed to glow in the dark. “Pick up those, Caroline. The bluish ones.”
Caroline wrapped her hand around the one nearest her. “Yeow!” she shrieked. She dropped the rock. “It’s hot!”
“Let me try.” I picked up the rock.
Pain shot through my fingers. I dropped the rock. It just missed my foot. “It burned me!”
“We can’t collect these rocks,” Caroline cried in horror. “They burn! We’re going to fail!”
“Don’t say that!” I ordered.
“We’re going to fail!” she repeated. “We can’t do it, Lizzy—we can’t!”