Snared

perfectly polished bumper. That’s what had caught his eye on the trail.

To his left Chris noticed a slight rise that would put him above the cabin’s foundation. He walked to it and climbed up. When he reached the top of the mound, he peered at the cabin and was shocked to see a face in the window.

She was a pretty girl, though a bit plump in the face. Maybe she’s just built a little thick, Chris thought. He couldn’t be sure, because from where he stood, he only saw her from the breasts up, which was cool. They looked nice. And she was definitely cute.

He tried to look busy, tried to look cool. He tried to look like anything but a stalker who was trying to sneak a peek into the house, but he was right out in the open on the rise. He smiled.

The girl waved at him, and Chris felt a tingle of excitement in his belly.

The family vacation is looking up, he thought.

Then another face appeared. The man was only slightly taller than the girl. His face was thick and strong- looking. Maybe he was the girl’s father or husband, but Chris didn’t think so. At least, he hoped not. She was about his age, and the guy looked as old as his granddad. He also looked pissed off.

The man wrapped an arm around the girl and guided her away from the window. Chris’s sense of disappointment flared, then went out completely. He saw the bulge of the girl’s stomach when she turned to the side.

No way, he thought. Pregnant is so not hot.

So Chris walked off the snowy mound. He picked up the trail where he’d left it and began the walk down.

EPILOGUE

A mournful rumbling shook the old Georgian deeply. The sound was like thunder, but last night’s storm was over, and the way Shirley rolled up on her knees with her jaws stretched open made it seem as if, somehow, it had come from her.

She panted, shivered, exhaled, and grinned giddily. The moonlight picked up a patina of ghostly sweat on her face that made her pale skin glisten. She blinked a few times and noticed how the others were staring. Then she began to sob.

“I told you it was horrible,” she said, collapsing forward. “That poor girl, trapped with that thing inside her.”

A nonplussed Anne rolled her eyes. “Please. That overprivileged brat got just what she deserved. She made it with a guy she barely knew without any protection. Like she didn’t know about the birds and the bees?” She rolled closer to the whimpering Shirley in a predatory fashion. “But the big question is why you got all Rainman to try to keep from telling it.”

Anne looked up and melodramatically scanned the ceiling, where flecks of fraying plaster jutted from darkness. “Hmm. No Christmas lights or angelic hordes. I’m guessing it wasn’t your story. Why the fuss?”

Shirley tried to slow her breathing. “When it first came to me, I didn’t know it wasn’t mine. I was…I was just afraid it might be, I guess.”

“Right,” Anne said. “But that’s never happened before. Did it hit too close to home? Were you maybe not a virgin when you died?”

Shirley looked nervously around. “No, I would never! I mean, I don’t know! That’s not fair! You know I don’t remember! None of us do!”

Her objections were loud, bringing Daphne and Mary out of the story’s haze.

“What are you on about now, Anne?” Daphne said, her brow twisted deeply in disapproval.

“You’ve no heart at all,” Mary chimed in. “Lindsay was in love. It was tragic.”

“Well, I did like her spirit, if not her taste in men,” Daphne said. “She was a fighter. Thought on her feet. Guess you can’t always help what the heart wants.”

“Yeah,” Anne said. “That’s why we have laws. And agreements. Things that people can stick to when it’s not in their selfish best interests. You know, like agreements about how games should be played?”

Daphne sighed loudly. “That again. How much longer are you going to drag our noses through it? We gave you your three tries and you lost. Now you’re taking it out on Shirley? Can’t you let anything go?”

Anne’s face wrinkled. “Maybe I just can’t stomach the way Shirleykins whines even when she wins. She’s the only one who’s never even been in the Red Room, right? What’s that about?”

“Can I help it if I’m sensitive?” Shirley shot back. Then she curled into a little ball and started fidgeting with her hair again.

Daphne rose, walked over, and patted Shirley’s shoulder. “The old dame probably just figures it’d drive her crazy permanently. She wants to keep us afraid and, well, Shirley’s already afraid.”

Shirley pulled out another strand of her hair and stared at it. “I know I’m a little jittery sometimes, but, really, I can’t help the way I am, even if I’m not sure who that is exactly. After all, what if it had been my story? What if I’m here because I committed suicide just to avoid giving birth to a monster?”

“Oh, please. Turn the drama volume down,” Anne said. “What if Mary was a serial killer or I was a nun?”

“Ha! That’d be the day,” Daphne said. “But all this talk’s got me thinking. Anyone ever wonder why we don’t remember?”

“The shock of passing, I always supposed,” Mary said wistfully. “Isn’t that final breath bad enough, no matter how gentle?”

“No way,” Anne said. “If that was it, this place would be full up. We’d have enough for a million spirit march.”

“Maybe it’s some trick of the Headmistress, a way she has to keep us all here,” Daphne said. “She could be that powerful, I imagine.” She rose and stretched.

“Or maybe our deaths really were particularly terrible,” Shirley added.

“Whatever. We don’t have a clue. Deal with it,” Anne said.

Daphne sighed. “Well, ladies, I hate to admit, but Anne was right when she said we were pushing our luck. Unless we want to risk discovery again, I’m thinking we should call it a night.” She turned and looked at the raven- haired girl. “Anne, let’s try to start over, okay? Since we skipped you last night, you hide the Clutch tonight. All right?”

“Fine,” Anne said. Just fine.

She sat on her knees, put her long thin arms out on the floor, and scooped all five bones toward her. Then she took the vermilion bag, the Clutch, loosened the top, and one by one placed the bones inside. Straightening, she tightened the cord and tied a loose knot in it.

“Well?” she said, looking at the others. “You three going to gawk at me all night? I thought the idea was that only one of us knows where the bones are, so that if the others get caught, they can’t tell what they don’t know.”

“Very well,” Mary said, rising. “But where shall we gather next?”

Shirley shrugged. “We haven’t been in the kitchen in a while. I like all the pots and pans, and there’s lots of exits and hiding places.”

“Whatever,” Anne said. “Such a little housewife.”

“The kitchen will be fine,” Mary said.

“Tomorrow night then, in the kitchen,” Daphne said, heading off. “Don’t be too long, Anne. The Headmistress will be up soon, and we wouldn’t want her to find you wandering where you’re not supposed to.”

“Chill,” Anne said, rising.