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

Between traveling to Brussels and the creepy situation with Roland, I’d pretty much forgotten about school. Oscar and I spent most of the next few days in Mi Jin’s room going over history lessons and math problems. With our minds full of death threats and impending visits to haunted prisons, focusing on something as mind-numbing as linear equations was next to impossible.

The Crimptown episode aired our second night in Brussels. Jess streamed it on her laptop, and I watched it in her room with the rest of the crew (minus Lidia, whose cold was getting really nasty). I had to admit, the episode was pretty freaky. The fans on the forum seemed to agree. So did Grandma, who’d e-mailed me an in-depth review a few hours later. But the best news came the following morning, right in the middle of a lesson on the Battle of Antietam.

“Ratings are up 20 percent from the last episode.” I barely got a glimpse of Jess’s freckled face before she hurried down the hall to the next room. Oscar and I stared at the door, then at Mi Jin. She blinked a few times.

“Good,” she said at last. “Yeah, that’s good.”

Oscar and I shared a cautious smile. The response to my forum post had been insane—as of this morning, the thread was already six pages long. Most of them seemed to think I was either really brave or really stupid. But more important, there were lots of new members. More fans were joining the forums, which I figured had to be a good sign. And my blog post with the funny prison-van photos had gotten almost one hundred comments, most of them from people I didn’t know (in real life or from the forums). “Anonymous” had been silent so far.

I was on my way to the vending machines for some celebratory candy bars when I heard Roland’s voice coming from Sam’s room. I paused outside the door, listening closely.

“How many e-mails has she sent you?” Roland sounded angry—none of his usual sarcasm. “You promised you’d tell me if you heard from Emily again.”

Sam’s response was inaudible. I pressed my ear to the door, heart pounding.

“. . . how these things work, trust me,” Roland was saying. “I’m telling you, Sam—she’s coming back.”

There was a muffled sound that I realized a second too late was footsteps. I leaped back as Roland yanked the door open. He froze, staring at me. I stared back defiantly, my face and neck suddenly scorching hot.

“What are you doing?”

“Snacks.” I pointed unnecessarily to the vending machine at the end of the hall.

Roland stepped out of Sam’s room and closed the door, still eyeing me. “Doesn’t that require walking?”

I glared at him, then continued down the hall. When I got to the vending machines, I glanced back as he stepped onto the elevator. The doors slid closed, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Well, that could have been worse. Although my fingers still shook pretty badly as I dropped a few coins into the slot.

So I was right—Roland was bringing Emily back. All he had to do now was find a way to get rid of my dad. Slowly, anger began to overtake my fear. I gathered up the candy bars and turned around just as Sam stepped out of his room.

“Hi, Sam.”

Blinking, he turned and saw me. “Oh, hello.”

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Yes, why?”

“I heard Roland yelling,” I said brazenly. “He sounded mad about something.”

“Oh, that.” Sam’s expression cleared. “It’s nothing. Kat, has our ghost tried to communicate with you again?”

“Huh? Oh, the boy ghost.” I shook my head. “No, why?”

“Just wondering.” Sam gave me a vague sort of smile as he fished a few coins out of his pocket. “Let me know if he does, okay?”

“Sure.”

I watched Sam head to the vending machines, whistling softly.

The next afternoon while Dad and the rest of the crew packed up to head to the prison, Oscar and I had a video chat with Jamie and Hailey. I couldn’t wait to tell them what I’d overheard between Roland and Sam.

“We’ve only got fifteen minutes before we leave for school,” Jamie told us. Next to him, Hailey yawned widely. “But we had to talk to you guys, because—”

“We found Bernice!” Hailey interrupted, beaming. My mouth fell open.

“What? How?”

“I was going through some of the older forum threads,” Jamie explained. “Someone mentioned seeing her at the natural history museum when they visited New York. The museum’s just a few blocks from where we live, so yesterday Hailey and I went after school. It turns out Bernice works there now.”

“And she was there!” Hailey added.

Oscar’s eyes widened. “Did you talk to her?”

“Yup. We asked her why she left the show, and . . .” Jamie paused, glancing over his shoulder and lowering his voice. “Sorry, thought I heard Mom. Anyway, Bernice didn’t really want to talk about it, but we told her we were afraid your dad was going to get fired, too. So she told us what happened.”

“Someone threatened her,” Hailey said in a loud whisper.

My pulse quickened. “Did she say who?”

“She didn’t know,” Jamie said. “She said she got unsigned letters telling her to quit by a certain date, or . . .” He paused, glancing at Hailey. “Well, she didn’t tell us exactly what the threat was. But obviously it was pretty bad.”

“So Roland’s sent death threats before.” I shook my head in disbelief. “Did you see his latest ‘anonymous’ post on the forums?”

“Yeah, that’s why we wanted to talk to you about Bernice.” Jamie leaned closer to the screen. “You guys should tell someone. Your dad, Kat—and Lidia, too. I’m sure Roland wouldn’t actually hurt someone, but still . . .”

“We can’t prove it, though,” I pointed out. “It’s our word against his. If we tell them, I bet Roland will have a whole story worked out.”

Jamie looked troubled. “Yeah . . . well, be careful. Especially at the prison tonight.”

Oscar and I shared a glum look. “We’re not going,” I said, and Hailey let out a yelp.

“Why