Read Online Dance of Death by R.L. Stine - Free Book Online Page B

of his way. Then she lifted her skirts and raced through the trees. She had to get home.
    Madeline dashed madly through the dark forest. Thick shadows engulfed her and she could barely see the ground ahead of her. Her legs ached as she raced on. Her breath burned in her throat as she gasped for air.
    She glanced back and saw only darkness and the dim outline of trees. I can’t go back to Cousin Deborah’s. She would surely think I’m insane now. I’ve got to try to reach Justin, Madeline decided.
    She changed direction abruptly, angling down the hill toward Justin’s house.
    The man appeared in front of her the second she turned around. He floated in the air above her head, now twice the size he had been.
    His eyes burned in their sockets. His lips curled back as if he were desperately trying to speak. Yet she heard no sound. He waved his arms wildly, grabbing at her with his monstrous hands.
    He wants me to die, Madeline thought. He wants to kill me.
    Why? Why?
    â€œWhy do you want to hurt me?” Madeline cried,struggling to control her terror. “I’ve never done anything to you!”
    The man’s body stretched and stretched. His image filled the entire sky. Madeline’s gaze fixed on his blood-soaked clothing. So much blood. Her stomach churned and her knees buckled at the revolting sight.
    â€œI won’t let you get me!” Madeline screamed. “I won’t.”
    Crack!
    Madeline felt the earth beneath her feet tremble. She lost her footing and fell to the ground. The ground split open.
    She clawed the earth desperately as she felt it crumple away beneath her. Opening up into a huge hole.
    Madeline’s body dangled over the edge of a wide, deep pit. She quickly glanced over her shoulder, trying to see the bottom. She couldn’t. The hole was black and bottomless.
    Madeline clung to the soft earth at the edge with all her might. But slowly, she began to slide. Slide into the pit.
    Madeline grabbed a thick root. “Help me! Please! Somebody!” she cried. “Somebody, please help me!”
    She held her breath and listened. She prayed someone had heard her cries.
    No answer. No sound of footsteps approaching.
    A shower of earth and twigs and tiny stones hit Madeline in the face. She felt the root begin to give.
    I’m going to fall! I’m going to be buried alive!
    Madeline spotted another root. She wrapped her fingers around it and scrambled up the side of the hole. I’m not going to fall in there! she thought. I’m going to get to Justin.
    She flung herself over the edge of the pit, and crawled to solid ground. Then she struggled to her feet on shaky legs.
    Madeline leaned forward and planted her hands on her knees. She had to catch her breath before she could move on.
    A powerful gust of wind swept through the forest. The tree above her gave a horrifying groan. Then it split in half, as if chopped in two by a huge axe.
    The heavy tree crashed down. Its branches whipped Madeline’s face as it slammed to the forest floor.
    Madeline felt blood dripping from her nose. She began to choke.
    I’ve got to get out of here. I’ve got to run, run, run!
    But she couldn’t run. The pit the ghost had created stretched in front of her, too big to go around.
    Too wide to jump across.
    The tree! One half of the tree had fallen across the pit. I can use it as a bridge, Madeline thought. It’s my only chance. My only chance to get to Justin.
    Madeline crawled out onto the enormous tree trunk. It was so big, Madeline couldn’t get her arms around it. She held on to branches on either side.
    I’m climbing a tree, that’s all. Climbing a tree. I did it all the time when I was a child.
    Madeline’s head swam with pain and dizziness. Her arms ached with the effort she was making to hold on. Inch by painful inch, she moved along the tree trunk.
    Don’t look down. Don’t look down. Just concentrate on getting to the other