Free Book of Horrors (Nightmare Hall) by Diane Hoh Page A

cold. The sky overhead was slate-gray and the air smelled of more snow to come. Reed glanced up nervously, scanning the tops of the pine trees for any sign of black, flapping wings, even though Poe had been sleeping in his cage when she left. Something didn’t feel right, but she had no idea what it was. Maybe it was just that this was the first time she’d walked back from the house alone.
    Her mother would say, “It’s from reading too many McCoy novels.”
    Reed smiled to herself and took another step forward.
    And the ground opened up beneath her and there was nothing but air under her feet and she was falling, falling …

Chapter 8
    R EED FELL, FEET FIRST, down a long, dark shaft so narrow that her arms, flailing wildly, slammed against the walls as she fell. Too breathless with shock to scream, she let out only a series of small, terrified gasps. Her hands grasped outward for something to clutch, something to stop her dizzying descent. But there was nothing. Nothing but air.
    When she landed, every last breath was knocked out of her. Her legs slammed into the ground first. Pain shot up her body from her feet to the top of her head, and she cried out. Her body folded in upon itself like an accordion, crumpling into a heap at the bottom of the hole.
    Reed had no idea how long she lay there, stunned and aching. When she finally roused herself, her eyes met nothing but darkness. She was surrounded by damp, icy cold. She tilted her head upward, groaning in pain with the effort, and saw that the light at the mouth of the shaft was not as far away as she’d expected. Still, although she hadn’t fallen so very far, after all, it seemed like miles. And if there wasn’t a way out, it might as well be miles.
    But, of course, there had to be a way out.
    Where was she? Why had the ground gone out from underneath her like that? She’d walked along exactly the same path she’d taken before from the house. Had the hole always been there? If it had, why hadn’t she stumbled across it sooner? And why hadn’t Rain warned her about it?
    Something soft and furry scuttled across her right hand. She screamed and jumped to her feet, shaking the thing off, and then screamed again as lightning bolts of pain zigzagged up her legs.
    But I’m not dead, she told herself, bending to gingerly check her legs. The bones seemed intact. I’m not dead. I hurt all over, and I hate this place, and I don’t know how I’m going to get out, but I’m not dead.
    But she couldn’t stay here. It was so cold, she could freeze to death in no time at all.
    She had to get a grip. When the dizziness left her, she would have to climb back out.
    But when she put her hands out, some time later, to search the walls of her dank, dark pit, her fingers touched only smooth, cold cement. Nothing to grip. Nothing to dig her fingers into to haul herself up to the surface.
    Reed forced herself to stay calm, deliberately evening out her breathing to keep from panicking. There could be a ladder. There had to be a ladder. There had to be some way she could climb out of this awful dark hole in the ground.
    This pit.
    There was no ladder.
    And although she tried again and again, placing her palms flat against the wall in an effort to gain some traction, each time her hands slid free. The cement walls of her pit were so smooth, they might as well have been buttered.
    Her legs ached unbearably. And it was so very cold.
    Giving up, letting tears of frustration and fear slide down her cheeks, Reed sank to the ground hopelessly.
    How long did it take to freeze to death?
    “Reed?”
    When she heard her name called the first time, Reed was sure she had imagined it. She wanted out of this awful place so badly, she was hearing things.
    But it came again. Link’s voice. “Reed, are you down there?”
    She pulled herself to her feet. “Yes! Yes, I am! Get me out, please!”
    “Are you okay?”
    She could see his face then, peering over the edge of the pit. “Yes, I think so.