Fright Night

Full of menace and suspense comes this unputdownable original paperback thriller perfect for fans of Natasha Preston and Natalie D. Richards! When a group of friends spends the night in a forest, they're confronted with their greatest fears. One of the friends won't survive the night. And one of them is a killer. . . .

Auteur

Maren Stoffels

Texte du rabat

Full of menace and suspense, this unputdownable original paperback thriller is perfect for fans of Natasha Preston and anyone looking for a spine-chilling Halloween read!

Sofia isn't so sure about Fright Night. When she suggested it to her friends, she was only thinking of it as an excuse to get closer to Dylan. Now that it's happening, she's worried that spending the night in a deserted forest is a bad idea.

But it's totally safe--there's even a safe word if things get too intense. And they do. Sofia and her friends are forced to face their greatest fears, and suddenly? It's too late to turn back.

Underlined is a line of totally addictive romance, thriller, and horror paperback original titles coming to you fast and furious each month. Enjoy everything you want to read the way you want to read it.

Résumé
Spending the night in the woods with your friends is not a good idea in this scary thriller by the author of ESCAPE ROOM.

Sofia isn't so sure about Fright Night. When she suggested it to her friends, she was only thinking of it as an excuse to get closer to Dylan. Now that it's happening, she's worried that spending the night in a deserted forest is a bad idea.

But it's totally safe--there's even a safe word if things get too intense. And they do. Sofia and her friends are forced to face their greatest fears, and suddenly? It's too late to turn back.

Underlined is a line of totally addictive romance, thriller, and horror paperback original titles coming to you fast and furious each month. Enjoy everything you want to read the way you want to read it.

Échantillon de lecture

Sofia 

The three of us are riding our bikes in a line along the narrow bike path. The only illumination comes from our lights shining over the road. 

The threatening words on that postcard have been on my mind all week. A few times I’d been on the verge of showing the card to Dylan, but I simply can’t imagine the message is meant for him. Dylan doesn’t have any enemies. Everyone at school likes him. There is no address on the card, so someone must have put it through the door in person. But who knows? Maybe it’s just a silly joke. 

“You excited?” 

I look up. Dylan’s cycling beside me, our handlebars almost touching. He’s wearing a new pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and his eyes are shining. I try to imagine that he was ever seriously ill, but it’s almost impossible. 

“Yeah, sure.” 

Dylan smiles. “That doesn’t sound very enthusiastic.” 

I actually have no idea what to think about this whole Fright Night business. My suggestion was just an impulse thing, because I wanted to do something with Quin and Dylan. Now that it’s almost time, my nerves are really kicking in. It feels weird that I can’t back out now. It’s like the safety bars on the roller coaster have locked shut and the cars are slowly shunting along. 

“Nearly there!” Quin points at a sign by the roadside. Someone had scrawled the words fright night on it. 

“Feels like we’re falling off the edge of the world,” says Dylan. 

“Then we must be in the right place.” 

I know Quin’s right. The information they sent us said the woods were pretty remote, far from civilization. In the daytime, it’s paradise for dog owners, who let their pets run free, but at night it’s deserted. 

We cycle up behind another boy and girl on bikes. The girl looks back and asks if we’re here for Fright Night too. 

“You bet,” Quin says, bouncing up and down on his seat. All the way here, he’s been listing exactly what he hopes to encounter in the woods. Dylan had looked at me and sighed a few times, and we both laughed. Quin can be so hyper. 

A guy in a yellow vest is standing on the roadside with a flashlight in his hand. He signals at us to turn off the road. We see dozens of bike racks, and we quickly find places. Some other Fright Nighters are already walking around. Who are we going to get teamed up with? And what if we don’t get along with them? We have to spend four hours together, so it could be a very long evening. 

I run my fingers over the beads of my bracelet and try to calm myself down. I remind myself that I’m with my friends, Dylan and Quin. I don’t have to do this alone. 

It’s busy at the stand where we have to sign in. The two cyclists who arrived just before us join the line too. 

“Some guys who did this last year told me they make you sign a contract,” says Quin. 

I look up in surprise. “What? Why?” 

“We have to declare that we accept all responsibility for our participation. You know, just in case someone kicks the bucket.” 

I know Quin’s joking, but I can still feel myself getting more and more nervous. Signing a contract sounds so . . . serious. 

What have we gotten ourselves into?

 

Five Days Before Fright Night

Dylan

“So what do you want to do this summer break?” Quin’s lying on the bed with a book in his hands. He never reads, doesn’t have the patience. My best friend always has to be talking. He spends half his classes out in the hallway because he stops everyone from working.

“Go swimming?”

I can’t wait to be lying in the pool. Quin’s attic room is so hot. I need to cool down.

My own bedroom, one floor below, is way less stuffy, but it still doesn’t feel like mine. Quin’s mom and dad have tried so hard to make me feel at home here. They bought a new bed and painted the walls. But I’d still rather sleep in Quin’s room. On the extra mattress on the floor, I can pretend I’m just having a sleepover, like I used to.

But it isn’t the way it used to be. I live here now, even though it sometimes feels like I just stole Quin’s dad’s study. Because of me, Johan has to work longer days at the office now. When I said that the other day, Quin immediately went on the defensive. 

“What are you talking about? You’re part of the family, Dylan. You always have been. It’s just that it’s official now.” 

I know that’s how it is for Quin, but I still feel like an intruder in this family sometimes.

“Want to go to the pool tomorrow, then?” Quin gives me a cheeky grin. “I bet Sofia will want to come.”

When I hear her name, I drop backward onto the mattress. I play with the key on the string around my neck. 

The ceiling of Quin’s room is made up of wooden boards. The cracks between them are the perfect place for secret messages. I always used to roll up notes and hide them there. It feels like centuries ago. 

“Ow!” 

A sharp pain shoots through my nose, right in the spot between my eyes. Then I see Quin’s book lying beside me on the floor. 

“What are you doing?” I yell. “You nearly broke my glasses!”

Quin grins. “I asked you a question. But you were just thinking about Sofia in a bikini, weren’t you?” 

Ever since Sofia joined our class at the start of this year, Quin has been making comments like that, each one more irritating than the last. 

“Not everything is about Sofia,” I …