Read Online Hangman's Curse by Frank Peretti - Free Book Online Page B

to pick on Snyder just as Baynes did today, and now . . .”
    â€œHold on,” said Sarah. “This sounds like it’s common knowledge among the student body.”
    Elisha shrugged. “It’s no secret, that’s for sure.”
    Sarah was astonished. “All this is happening right under the noses of the faculty, and they don’t know about it?”
    â€œThey know about it,” said Nate. “So I’m beginning to see what’s frustrating Tom Gessner and bewildering the principal, Ms. Wyrthen. The school has metal detectors, a security officer, all the external, crime-stopping stuff, but who cares if some of the students are getting tormented and harassed? Sure, evil still gets through the doors, but at least there are no guns around.”
    â€œNate . . .”
    Nate forced the anger from his mind and took a moment to exhale his temper. “Anyway . . . It looks to me like Tom Gessner’s theory is holding up. The victims have an enemy, maybe several enemies. But I’m not so sure about this witchcraft angle! It’s too obvious, too easy—not to mention it’s a touch unbelievable.”
    â€œAnd how do you prove a thing like witchcraft?” Elijah added.
    â€œWhat’s to prove?” said Sarah. “So far, all this talk about Abel Frye and witches could be nothing more than a silly craze that feeds on itself. I couldn’t find any solid information anywhere on anyone named Abel Frye. Where’d the name come from? How do we know the kids didn’t just make it up?”
    â€œMom,” Elijah protested, “those guys in the hospital were saying his name!”
    â€œSo? They could be caught up in the same hysteria as all the others and blaming Abel Frye when the real blame lies somewhere else.”
    â€œThat’s where I’m going,” Nate concurred. “You already have a ghost legend in place, and now there’s Crystal Sparks’ painting of the ghost that all the kids had to have seen.”
    â€œSo I don’t think we’ve found the truth yet. It’s still hidden somewhere.”
    â€œIt could be in that haunted hallway,” Elisha offered. “I finally got the story from Jamie after the Leonard Baynes thing blew over. I’d really like to check out that hallway at night.”
    Nate asked, “And what do you expect to find?”
    She shrugged. “Whatever Jamie, Cindy, and Andy thought was a ghost.”
    Elijah checked his watch. “It could be there right now.”
    Nate thought a moment. “You’re going to stay in that hallway, you understand? Don’t wander into any rooms or closets or tight places where you don’t have a clear safety zone around you.”
    Sarah concurred. “And take radios with you in case you need some help.”
    Nate looked at his watch. “I’ll call Mr. Loman and see if he’ll let you in.”
    Elijah and Elisha jumped up from the table, ready to go.
    Late at night, with the lights out and no daylight coming through the windows, it became a cold, echoing, forbidding place where strange little sounds emerged out of the night silence and patches of light fell on walls, floor, and objects for no particular reason and with no discernible source.
    â€œTake your homework!” Sarah advised firmly. “You are in school, remember! Oh—” She hurried into the lab at the back of the motor home and brought back a small but highly sophisticated digital recorder. “If you hear anything, I want to hear it, too.”
    During the day, Baker High School’s back hallway was nothing more than a passage between the gym and the outside, a way to get from one place to another.
    Late at night, with the lights out and no daylight coming through the windows, it became a cold, echoing, forbidding place where strange little sounds emerged out of the night silence and patches of light fell on walls, floor, and objects for no