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

as he headed for the door. “Around four, I think—you should come down to the lobby, I hear he’s bringing his kids. See you in a bit!”

“Bye.” The second the door clicked shut, I tossed my worksheets aside and grabbed Dad’s laptop. I had to see what the P2P fans were saying now.

But when I opened the forum, the title of the newest thread pushed all thoughts of the host curse out of my head.

P2P FAN FORUMS

The Kat Sinclair Files???

Maytrix [admin]

Someone sent me a link to this blog . . . Looks like Jack’s got a 13- yo daughter who’s traveling with the show! Could be interesting. She’s got a post up about the next episode in Rotterdam, which is pretty cool. But it’s the second post you guys should check out—apparently the show’s ghost is restless. Printer spitting out random messages, cameras going wonky, laptops turning off and on . . . great stuff! I kind of love that this girl’s giving us a behind-the-scenes look.

skEllen [member]

OMG I <3 THIS!!!1!!

presidentskroob [member]

do you think fright tv knows about this blog? like, is she getting paid or something? could just be another stunt.

AntiSimon [member]

It’s not a stunt. The show’s haunted, that’s why the equipment keeps freaking out.

YourCohortInCrime [member]

Yeah, that must be it. Couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that electronics glitch out sometimes.

AntiSimon [member]

YCIC, sometimes I wonder why you even watch this show. You’re not a believer.

YourCohortInCrime [member]

I watch because I want them to show me proof. THEN I’ll believe. And some kid whining about a broken laptop’s not gonna do it.

beautifulgollum [moderator]

I wouldn’t call it whining, YCIC. She seems like a smart girl to me. And it’s great to have someone with the show blogging about this stuff!

spicychai [member]

too bad she’ll be gone after the second episode. along with her dad.

I scrolled down the thread, then hopped over to my blog. Maytrix and AntiSimon had left comments on my last post: “wow, thanks for sharing!” and “great posts, keep ’em coming!” Grandma commented, too—“Love it! Have you asked Sam about the messages? (And where are my pics??)”

I clicked back over to the forums, relieved I hadn’t described the video in detail in my post. I just said it was extra footage they never used. It wasn’t my fault the video had started playing, but I kind of didn’t want the rest of the crew to know I’d seen the lighthouse séance. After my chat with Mi Jin, I couldn’t help wondering what the fans would think if I posted about what really happened during the dead air.

Watching the fans talk about me was bizarre, too. Most of them were nice, but the “some kid whining about a broken laptop” comment was pretty irritating. I didn’t say it was broken, I said it started playing a random video before turning itself off. And I so did not whine about it. But that wasn’t the comment that bothered me the most.

Too bad she’ll be gone after the second episode. I pictured how stressed Dad had been on the phone just now. Roland said they did their best to make things entertaining—were they going to fire my dad as part of a publicity stunt?

At four o’clock, I leaned back and rubbed my eyes. I’d been poring over the P2P forums, looking for anything I could find about the curse and the former hosts. There was a lot. These fans were seriously chatty. I’d just clicked on yet another thread about Sam and Emily when I remembered Thomas Cooper had probably arrived.

A minute later, I stepped off the elevator and froze when someone shouted my name.

“Kat!” A round-faced girl ran toward me, her curly brown ponytail bouncing. “I’m Hailey Cooper and oh my God I think it’s so cool that you started that blog about the show and is it really true that a ghost printed out a message for you and what did it say?”

Without waiting for a response, she threw her arms around me in a giant hug. Bewildered, I stared over her shoulder. Everyone in the lobby was watching.

“Everyone” included Dad, the entire crew, Oscar, a stern-looking man in a rumpled suit, and a boy my age with curly brown hair just like the girl currently wrapped around me like a spider monkey.

I cleared my throat. “Um . . . hi.”

“Mr. Cooper, this is my daughter, Kat.” Dad stepped forward, motioning me over. “Kat, apparently Hailey here is a fan of your blog.”

“No kidding,” I said dryly. Hailey giggled, pulling away so I could shake Mr. Cooper’s hand.

“She’s been blogging about the show for friends and family back home,” Dad told Mr. Cooper, who nodded with this expression like he couldn’t care less.

“That’s nice,” he said without giving me so much as a second glance. “Lidia, can we—”

“A bunch of fans found it, though!” Hailey interrupted, beaming at her father. “They love it!”

“It’s true,” her brother chimed in. “They linked it on the P2P boards.”

Roland groaned. “Did they really?” I saw him and Jess exchange a look.

“They did, and a couple of them commented on her post!” Hailey informed him before turning back to me. “Seriously, though, what was the message? The first one, with the printer?”

“Um . . .” I could feel Oscar’s eyes on me. I still wasn’t entirely positive the printer hadn’t been another one of his pranks. “Nothing, really. Just . . . gibberish.”

“Oh.” Hailey’s face fell. “Still, though, it sounded so creepy, plus the camera thing—Mi Jin, did it really have thirteen Xs?”

Mi Jin grinned. “It totally did.”

“Awesome! Are you bringing the Ouija board to Crimptown tonight?” Hailey plowed on without pausing for breath. “Can we try it before you guys start filming? Did you tell Kat and Oscar about that time Jamie contacted that dead lady in the hotel in London? Jamie is so good at Ouija, Kat. You’ve got to see it. It’s amazing.”

Stifling a laugh, I glanced at her brother. “It’s true,” he agreed, his expression as serious as Hailey’s. “I’m the Ouija master.” Then he smiled at me.

It was one of those happy