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

like me.” He paused, looking thoughtful. “Ghost children always prefer other children to adults, though. They trust other children. That’s why he’s been reaching out to you.”

“He tried on my first day in Rotterdam.” I couldn’t believe I was saying this out loud. But something about Sam made me want to talk about it. “When I used the laptop, there was a blank document open, but it printed out with a message: Keep her away from the medium.”

Sam sighed deeply, his eyes glazing over. “Ah.”

“Do you know what it means?” I asked hesitantly.

After a moment, Sam nodded. “Yes. I think I might.”

I waited, then cleared my throat. “Well? Who does he want you to stay away from?”

Down the hall, the doors to the conference room opened. Dad and Jess exited first, laughing and chatting. Roland, Lidia, and Mi Jin followed, all carrying armfuls of folders and binders. They headed down the hall toward the back exit. Glancing over his shoulder, Roland saw Sam and me.

“We’re going back to that café Jess found,” he called to Sam. “Coming?” His eyes flickered to me, and I stared back defiantly.

“I’ll be right there,” Sam replied. I waited until Roland had turned back around before touching Sam’s arm.

“Who does he want you to stay away from?” I repeated. Sam blinked, his gaze sliding back over to the rest of the crew.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said quietly. “I’m already trying to keep my distance.”

He gave me a small smile before wandering down the hall after the others. It was only after the exit doors closed behind them that I remembered Lidia’s phone was still in my hand.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

THE SECRET OF THE DEAD AIR

Post: The Eternal Prison

The day after tomorrow, we’re heading to Brussels to visit Daems Penitentiary, which is a few miles (er, kilometers) outside the city. Out in the middle of nowhere, according to Dad. He’s been doing lots of research to prepare for his interviews, and the prison has a history pretty much as creepy as Crimptown. In 1912, there was a massive escape attempt that ended really gruesomely.

It started with one prisoner, who managed to steal a key from a guard during lunch. That night, he unlocked his door and quietly crept from cell to cell. He told each prisoner to wait until midnight, then all break out of their cells at the same time. That way, the guards would be overwhelmed and more of them would be able to escape. He promised he’d hide in the tower and deactivate the electric fence that surrounded the courtyard. The prisoners all agreed to his plan. So the first prisoner unlocked all the cells, but left their doors closed. Then he crept up to the tower, and everyone waited.

At midnight, chaos erupted. The prisoners all burst out of their cells and started running out into the courtyard for the fence. The first prisoner threw the switch and turned the fence off, then hurried downstairs to make his escape.

A few prisoners were killed, but some guards were, too. There weren’t enough guards left to stop most of the prisoners from escaping. All around the courtyard, men were climbing the fence. They were almost free.

But one guard had noticed the first prisoner fleeing the tower, and realized he’d deactivated the fence. So the guard ran up the tower and flipped the switch back on.

Ninety-four men were electrocuted. They fell from the fence, dead before they hit the ground.

The prison was abandoned after that. Dad said people are so superstitious about it that after the bodies were taken away, the city could never get anyone to buy the property, or even set foot on it to clean it up. The local legend is that every night at midnight, the ghosts of those ninety-four men roam the courtyard and try to escape. But they never make it past the fence. Locals call it la Prison Éternelle—the Eternal Prison.

Jamie finished reading my post out loud and sat back in his chair.

“Wicked,” Hailey announced, and I grinned.

“Yeah?”

She nodded, still studying the pictures on the screen. “Yeah.”

“It’s great,” Jamie agreed. “These photos are really cool, too.”

“Jess found those for me,” I told him. Jess and Dad had read my post last night before I’d published it. After what Lidia had told me, I’d kind of expected Jess to be annoyed by the whole thing. But she’d actually seemed impressed. She’d even said my blog reminded her of an article Dad had written for their college newspaper about local urban legends.

Hailey sighed. “This episode is going to be so creepy. I wish we could come.”

“Me too,” I said, and I meant it. I’d barely known the Coopers for a week, but I was really going to miss them. Especially with Oscar being so . . .

Well, antisocial would be the nicest way to put it. Not that I blamed him one bit.

I hadn’t told Oscar what I’d learned about his father. I felt awful about invading his and Lidia’s privacy, even though it was by accident. And every time someone said prison or prisoner—which was, like, a hundred times a day, since they were all preparing for the next episode—I cringed.

Oscar never flinched. But then, he’d been spending a pretty decent amount of time holed up in his hotel room. Except for yesterday, when, after a lengthy video chat with Trish and Mark, I’d found Oscar in Mi Jin’s room, where they’d been paired up against Jamie and Hailey in what was apparently a pretty epic Mario Kart battle. Oscar had been laughing and everything, but his eyes had still looked funny. Pink and a little too dry, like he’d been holding back tears for so long, he didn’t even have to try anymore.

“Hellooo?”

Blinking, I realized Hailey was waving her phone in front of my face. “Sorry, what?”

“Laser tag!” she said excitedly. “That giant arcade we saw the other day on the waterfront has it. Dad just texted—he said he’ll be ready to leave in fifteen minutes. You’re still coming, right?”

I smiled.