Graveyard Slot by Michelle Schusterman (classic children's novels .TXT) 📕

“Um, obviously.”

As I faced the pool again, a feeling of unease passed over me. Tiny goose bumps broke out on my arms in spite of the heat. I rubbed my arms, frowning. A second later, the sensation was gone.

Taking a deep breath, I jumped. The second or two of free-falling felt incredible. Then I plunged into the pool, and the sharp sting of icy water drove all thoughts from my mind.

A voice screamed in my head, and I exhaled a short burst of bubbles, flailing frantically. I opened my eyes and tilted my head toward what I thought was the surface. Another face stared back at me.

Mine.

I just barely stopped myself from letting out a scream. Instinctively, I reached out, and my hand passed through my eyes, my nose, my mouth, scattering my reflection. A second later, my head broke through the surface.

Sucking in a warm gulp of air, I blinked the freezing water from my eyes. It was a few seconds before the muddled sounds around me turned to recognizable words.

“How’s it feel?” Dad was calling from where he stood next to Jess.

“Great!” My voice came out hoarse, and I tried to smile as I floated away from them. I felt kind of silly, letting the sight of my own reflection scare me like that. Even if it was an especially vivid reflection.

Now that the shock had subsided, the water was starting to feel . . . well, it was still freezing. But bearable. Enough so that I could stay put and avoid parading around in front of the cameras in my sopping-wet Wednesday Addams shirt.

Treading water, I hummed the theme from Jaws under my breath. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water . . .

The unease swept over me again. It was the same feeling I got during the first scene of a horror movie, where everyone looks totally happy, moments before something gruesome happens. I shook it off, but the water suddenly felt much colder. I watched as the others made their way out of the pool and joined Dad and Jess, who were opening the coolers of food. “Let’s make this a quick dinner,” I heard Jess say. “We need to get rolling.”

Sighing, I forced myself to swim toward them. Like it or not, it was almost time to start shooting my first-ever television episode.

Nighttime totally transformed our campsite. It was a kind of darkness I’d never experienced outdoors; it even seemed to swallow the beam from my (admittedly weak) flashlight. Brenda and Hugo had provided us with maps that marked where the campers’ footsteps had been found, and we were trying to retrace their path and figure out how they’d managed to circle around and around and never find their way out. Already, Sam had claimed to be experiencing “an intense sense of anxiety and despair.” Roland had responded by offering him anti-diarrhea medicine. (“Sometimes despair is really just the runs.”)

While Oscar hovered around Jess and Mi Jin, cracking jokes for the cameras every five seconds, I trailed behind everyone. I thought my Elapse was a good pretense—after all, I wanted to get shots of the group trekking around for my blog. But after half an hour, Jess pulled me aside.

“How about joining Oscar up at the front for a little bit?” she asked kindly. I wrinkled my nose.

“Do I have to?”

Jess studied me for a few seconds. “The thing is, the network made it clear they don’t want one kid tagging along with a bunch of adults. They want clips of the two of you together. Like the graveyard mini episode. Which they loved, by the way.”

“They did?”

“Yup.” She smiled. “It pretty much sealed the deal as far as you two becoming cast members. Look, try to stop thinking about the cameras so much, okay? Just relax and be yourself.”

“I’ll try.” Although Oscar isn’t being himself on camera, I couldn’t help adding in my head as I followed her. I felt guilty even thinking it, but his weird new über-charming on-camera persona was driving me nuts. Maybe the fans loved it, but I preferred the real Oscar.

After consulting the maps again, Brenda and Hugo led us through a cluster of large rocks. The path twisted and turned like a maze. When we finally got out, I was pretty sure we were heading back in the direction of the pool—circling around just like the campers had done. It was easy to see how they’d gotten so lost.

Several minutes later, we were all huddled around a tree with thick, knotted roots twisting up out of the ground. Sam knelt next to it, placed his palm on the bark, and closed his eyes. “One of them tripped here,” he said gravely. “She hit her head . . . possibly a concussion.” Blinking, he stared around as if he expected to spot the lost campers behind us.

A wave of anxiety washed over me, so strong my knees almost buckled. I stepped back quickly, praying Jess and Mi Jin wouldn’t notice. They kept their cameras focused on Dad and Lidia, whose EMF meters had apparently started spiking. But Oscar glanced over at me, frowning.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I whispered quickly. “Just a little dizzy.”

His eyes narrowed. “Dizzy? Wait, are you sensing . . . whatever Sam’s sensing? The campers? You should tell Jess, this is—”

“No,” I snapped, straightening up. “It’s not that. I’m fine, I just . . . I have to pee.”

“Does having to pee usually make you dizzy?”

I glared at him. “Ha-ha.”

“Kat, this is the whole point of the show,” Oscar said in a low voice. “It’s a paranormal investigation, and you’re sensing something paranormal. So just . . . just get over your stupid camera thing already so we can tell Jess about it.”

If my heart hadn’t been jackhammering in my chest, that might have hurt my feelings. Instead, it made me angry. So I turned my back on Oscar and walked over to Brenda.

“I have to pee,” I told her, doing my best to keep my voice from shaking. “I’m not