Read Online The Snow by Caroline B. Cooney - Free Book Online Page B

hostess I expect you to make sure every guest has a good time. Are you complaining about your partner?”
    Poor Katy bit her lips and stumbled. Her plain face turned splotchy red and her eyes welled up with unshed tears.
    Dinner was wonderful: huge platters of lasagna, soft hot rolls with sweet butter, and salad for greenery. “Nobody is actually required to eat any salad, of course,” said Mr. Shevvington, smiling down at the girls, “because this is a fun time, and we want even vegetable haters to have fun all night long.” The girls applauded Mr. Shevvington, who bowed and escorted each girl into the formal dining room. During dinner Mr. Shevvington told wonderful scary stories about the sea captain who built the house and his bride, who flung herself to a horrible death from the cupola of this very house, exactly one hundred years before. “Tonight, when it’s dark,” he whispered, “I’ll tell you what happened to the sea captain after his wife vanished in the terrible tides of Candle Cove.”
    Gretch and Vicki screamed with delight. “Horror stories!” shouted Vicki. “I love them.”
    “You are one,” muttered Katy.
    Christina laughed for the first time that night. Katy had potential.
    After supper they popped popcorn and made caramel popcorn balls. They sang crazy songs — the sort with twenty verses you learn in summer camp. Mrs. Shevvington had them play Charades of brand names. Gretch did Wrangler jeans; Vicki got Coca-Cola; Dolly got Burger King. Mrs. Shevvington explained that Christina would go last, because the guests always came ahead of the hostess. Then, when it was finally Christina’s turn and she was aching to act, Mrs. Shevvington said everybody was bored now, and they would do something else.
    Mr. Shevvington looked across the popcorn at his wife. Mrs. Shevvington looked back. Their smiles seemed to fit in midair like a key and a lock. Their eyes slid around the room and landed on Dolly. Dolly was sitting between Gretch and Vicki. Vicki was feeding Dolly a popcorn ball, Vicki holding it, Dolly nibbling. Gretch talked about Dolly as if she really were a doll. “Isn’t she adorable?” giggled Gretch.
    “She’s so sweet,” agreed Vicki, stroking Dolly’s braids as though she had just purchased Dolly in a department store.
    Dolly preened.
    “We’re going to play,” said Mr. Shevvington softly. “ Murder .”
    The girls all screamed joyfully.
    “Now you must listen to the rules very carefully. Especially the first one. This is a big house and a scary one. You must not go into the cellar. Is that absolutely clear? Everybody repeat the promise. ‘I will not go into the cellar.’ ”
    They all promised.
    There is something down there, Christina thought. They don’t mind if I am trapped by the thing. They don’t mind if it comes and goes from the school and the cellar. But they mind if people like Gretch and Vicki find out.
    “Next rule,” said Mrs. Shevvington. Her eyes never left Dolly. She was smiling, her little corn teeth lying between her thin lips. “You will all hide in pairs.” She was breathing heavily, excited about things to come.
    Christina thought how the stairs narrowed on the third floor and the balcony tilted. “If we hide in pairs,” Christina shouted, “I want to be Dolly’s partner.”
    “No way,” said Gretch, irked. “She belongs to me.”
    “I’m with Gretchen,” Dolly agreed. “You stay with Katy, Christina.”
    Katy hung her head. “You don’t have to stay with me, Christina,” she murmured. “You can find somebody else.”
    Mrs. Shevvington looked at Christina. Every girl at the party could read that expression. Really, Christina — can’t you be nice to that poor, ugly, little fat girl for one evening?
    They’ve won a round, Christina thought. They’re making me look like the bad guy when they’re the bad guys. “They’ll never find us , Katy,” said Christina. “I know all the best spots in the house. Stick with me! We’ll