Dead Air by Michelle Schusterman (best books under 200 pages txt) 📕

mom had died. He’d been really young, according to Lidia, but it had still been an insensitive thing to say. And I had no idea what the deal was with his dad.

But Oscar didn’t flinch. He just held my gaze, his expression inscrutable. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Mi Jin cleared her throat.

“The first time I saw Psycho was at a friend’s sleepover in seventh grade,” she said, and Oscar finally looked away. “I hid my eyes through most of it. Same thing with House on Haunted Hill.”

“That’s one of my favorites,” I told her. “Apparently when I was in kindergarten, I went around telling everyone I was going to marry Vincent Price.”

“You watched that movie in kindergarten?” Mi Jin said incredulously.

“My dad and grandma love horror movies. I grew up watching them.”

“And you weren’t scared?”

“Well, yeah, but in the fun way,” I said. “There’s the kind of scared you get from movies and stories, and then there’s the real kind of scared. Two different things. Horror movies are the fun kind of scary.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Shaking her head, Mi Jin took a sip of coffee. “I can’t believe you had a crush on Vincent Price. That’s amazing. And a little frightening. Although now that I think about it,” she mused, “I went through a serious obsession with Cruella De Vil when I was seven. I wore fake furs and tried to convince my mom to let me bleach my hair on the left side so it’d be black and white. Somehow the fact that Cruella wanted to kill puppies didn’t register till later.”

Oscar was staring at Mi Jin, wide-eyed. She grinned at him. “Problem?” Shaking his head silently, Oscar shoved the last piece of toast into his mouth. “No horror villain crushes for you?” Mi Jin added teasingly, causing Oscar to choke a little. I tried to hide my laughter behind my cup.

Clearing his throat, Oscar tossed his napkin on the table. “Thomas Cooper’s coming,” he said curtly.

Way to change the subject, I thought, wiping my eyes. “Who?”

“Fright TV executive vice president,” Mi Jin explained. “He’s meeting us in Brussels.”

“Nope. He’s getting in this afternoon,” Oscar told her. “I heard Lidia on the phone with him this morning.”

“Really? Oh boy.” Mi Jin leaned back in her chair, chewing her lip.

“Is that a bad thing?” I asked.

“Yup.” Oscar picked up his bowl of cereal. “My guess is that he’s gonna cancel the show if the next episode’s ratings aren’t better.”

“No way.” Mi Jin shook her head vehemently. “We just got a new host—he’s not going to cancel that fast.”

Oscar shrugged. “That’s not what it sounded like on the phone. Lidia said something about the Halloween episode being our last shot.”

He sounded supremely unconcerned, but his mouth tightened a bit. I drummed my fingers on my armrest, trying not to look as worried as I felt.

“But that’s the next episode we’re shooting,” Mi Jin said, forehead crinkled. “In Brussels. That one will air on Halloween.”

Two episodes. Do the math. I grimaced, remembering the thread about the host curse on the P2P forums. It didn’t matter if the curse was a publicity stunt or paranormal activity—all that mattered was that if it was real, then Brussels would be Dad’s last episode.

Mi Jin must have noticed my expression, because she nudged my leg with her boot. “Cheer up!” she said. “We’ll find out what’s going on when Thomas gets here. And hey, bonus—he usually brings his kids! They’re probably on fall break right now. Jamie’s around your age, and Hailey’s in sixth grade.”

I smiled, but I couldn’t muster any enthusiasm. This wasn’t fair—they weren’t giving Dad a chance. If Thomas canceled the show after Brussels, we’d be back in Chelsea by the end of the month.

And the Thing would be waiting for me. So I had no intention of going back.

CHAPTER NINE

ATTACK OF THE KILLER RATINGS

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Subject: hey

Kat—I’m not supposed to be online (grounded again, like it’s my fault Trish brought Fang over and he decided to hide in our dryer while Mom was doing laundry) but I had to tell you—yesterday Trish’s parents took us all out to dinner and we saw your grandma. She was with your mom. I figured you’d want to know about another sighting. Do you think she’s moved back?

I’m ungrounded this weekend. Maybe we can video chat or something.—Mark

After breakfast, I endured an entire hour of Oscar’s dumb jokes during a geography lesson with Mi Jin. Then we read a creepy poem by Edgar Allan Poe, which would’ve been awesome if it wasn’t for Oscar adding his own stupid commentary every other line. I was relieved when Mi Jin gave us a few worksheets to do on our own so she could meet up with the crew. Grabbing the sheets, I hurried back to my hotel room for some quiet time.

“Hey, Dad—oh, sorry,” I whispered when he glanced up, phone pressed against his ear.

“Yeah, I understand,” Dad said, rubbing his forehead. “Well . . . that’s up to you.”

I flopped back on my bed, staring at Dad’s reflection in the vanity mirror. He looked nervous. He sounded nervous. Which was weird, because Dad was a total pro when it came to stressful job stuff. If he was stressed, it had to be because of Thomas Cooper.

“Okay. Well . . . now’s not a good time, honestly. I don’t . . . Look, I’ll let you know, okay? I’ve got to go.” Dad hung up and sighed.

“Everything okay?” I asked tentatively.

“Hmm?” Dad blinked a few times, then smiled at me. “Yeah, fine. Lessons going all right?”

“Pretty good,” I said. “Mi Jin’s really cool. Oscar’s obnoxious.”

Dad laughed. “You’ll be friends before you know it.”

“No, we won’t,” I said flatly. “Why does everyone keep saying that?”

“You’re right, sorry.” Dad stood, slipping on his jacket. “You’re clearly mortal enemies born to destroy one another. Neither can live while the other survives.”

“Exactly.” I watched as he slipped his room key into his pocket. “So . . . Thomas Cooper’s coming today, huh?”

“Yup.” Dad’s expression didn’t change