Lake Justice Read Free Page B

leapt toward Louisa, who squealed and scuttled back behind Felicia.
    "There's no seaweed here," Bertram pointed out. "It's a lake. "
    "The spirits of the dead are drawn to water. So the ghosts of the murdered are drawn to the lake. Every year, around this time, close to Halloween, the ghosts of the dead rise up and seek their killers. Seek justice." Mark gave Kyle a narrow-eyed look, which surprised me.
    "So this place is haunted?" Phillip looked around. He looked sturdy enough to tackle anything corporeal, but not thrilled at the idea of wrestling ectoplasm.
    "Why? Got something on your conscience?" George snickered.
    "I am so outta here if this turns into Truth or Dare," Felicia declared.
    "The legend is that the spirits only go after those who did something wrong." Again, Mark looked at Kyle. Even Fay picked up on it this time, and she frowned. "So we should be all right. Unless, of course, someone's hiding something."
    "Jeez Louise, we're the brightest kids in the school." Tessa picked up a small pinecone and tossed it into the fire, where it popped, and the flames momentarily blazed up. "We haven't wronged anyone by being smart."
    "You're saying you don't keep any secrets? From anyone?" Tobias challenged.
    "Of course I do." Tessa flushed. "Don't you?"
    "Plenty." Tobias flashed a grin, both diabolical and charming. "But I don't talk about them. That's why it's called a secret. "
    "This is the time of year when the dead reveal the secrets." Mark lowered his voice theatrically. "The time of year when the spirits rise--"
    "Wait a minute," Bertram interrupted. "Do the dead reveal their secrets? Or the secrets? 'Cause there's a big difference."
    "Aunt Bronwyn?" Jamie looked at me.
    I shrugged. "'T'ain't my tale, buddy. I'm not getting in the middle of this discussion."
    "But--" Jamie stopped when he saw the warning look I shot him.
    "They rise from watery graves--"
    "What if they didn't die in the water?" Bertram interrupted.
    "Will you stop killing the mood already?" Amy complained. "Mr. Andrews is trying to tell a really cool ghost story, and I want to hear it, without you taking apart every sentence."
    ::This is so bogus.::
    I looked around the campfire. Felicia was staring right at me. I raised an eyebrow. One corner of her mouth twitched upward. I winked. ::Careful,:: I warned . ::I get the feeling Mr. Andrews doesn't get out enough.::
    Felicia snickered. Jamie looked from one to the other of us and blew through his nose like an annoyed horse.
    "I know, I know, it sounds like a cliché, but on a dark and stormy night, a stranger came to town." Mark Andrews held up his hand. "He wooed a local young woman and enticed her out into the night. She met him here, near the lake. He strangled her."
    George tapped Amy on the shoulder. She shrieked, then began to giggle.
    "He buried her here in the woods," Mark continued. "And her ghost still haunts the place."
    "But if he buried her in the woods, what does the lake have to do with it?" asked Bertram. "Or is this a different girl?"
    "More than one girl's been killed here," said Mark. As our heads snapped to look at him, he added, "So I've heard. But this one particular girl is said to walk the woods in the days and nights before Halloween, searching for the day when her killer comes back, so she can exact her revenge." He made eye contact with everyone in the circle, leaving Kyle Everett as the last. Kyle did not look away.
    It took me a minute to realize Mark Andrews was accusing Kyle Everett of murder. I felt as though the wind was knocked right out of me. And then I was angry. If, for some reason, Mark believed Kyle was a murderer, then what the hell was he thinking, bringing teenagers out on this trip?
    "Ghosts can't bleed, can they?" Tessa asked quietly.
    "Of course not," Bertram snorted. "They don't have bodies, so they can't have blood."
    "It would explain this afternoon in the woods." Tessa traced the ground at her feet. "Why there was all that blood, and suddenly, it was