Chillz Hillz #2: Don't Be Late: Chillz Hillz, #2

By Kerrigan Valentine

Something is wrong with her watch . . .

Whenever Molly wears it to school, she ends up in the past. No one can see her. No one can hear her. No one but the monsters roaming the hallways.

She can't fight them. She can't outrun them. The monsters know she's in the wrong time . . . and they don't want her there.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kerrigan Valentine
• Release date: May 11, 2016
• ISBN: 9781386942948

Book preview

CHILLZ HILLZ #2: DON’T BE LATE

by Kerrigan Valentine

Copyright 2016 by Kerrigan Valentine

Cover image courtesy Depositphotos and 2mmedia

Cover by The Spookmaster

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Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Epilogue

Chapter One

Is one little ghost so much to ask for? Molly muttered.

It’s okay, Rora replied as they walked through the quad. You’ll get something eventually. You can’t want it this badly and not get it. It’s the law of attraction.

Molly was not feeling hopeful. Pinching her lunchbox between her elbow and side, she pushed her bracelets higher on her arms. "I’ll take anything. Anything. A banshee. A troll. Even a ghoul that trashes my bedroom every night. I don’t care. I’m not picky. You want to move your poltergeist over to my house for a few weeks? Just to give me some stories? Real ones?"

I would if I could, Rora sighed. She shoved up her bracelets, too. That horrible thing made me crazy all summer! It started opening the bathroom door while I’m in there taking a shower. And then Jordan comes in to brush his teeth and Mom comes in to see if we have cotton swabs in the cabinet and the cat comes in to meow at the sink so someone will turn on the faucet for her to have a drink. It’s like a party in the bathroom and I can’t kick everyone out because I’m stark naked behind the curtain and trying to wash my hair!

Molly was jealous. That sounded like a wonderful problem to have. Entering the noisy cafeteria, they claimed the table in the farthest corner. This particular table was rumored to bring bad luck to anyone who sat there, but Molly had started that rumor herself. She hated when other kids sat in her spot.

The table could be bad luck. She certainly had bad luck in attracting a spirit of any kind to her house. She had bad luck in summoning the school ghost, too. She had also had bad luck in landing Ms. Neevel as her fifth grade teacher. Grumpy and strict, Ms. Neevel dressed only in dark gray clothes. It made her look like a storm cloud blowing down the aisles of the classroom.

Having to spend a school year with Ms. Neevel was the worst luck that a kid could have, so Molly’s rumor about the table might not have been a complete lie. This was Chills Hills, after all, or as the supernaturally afflicted called it, Chillz Hillz. Strange things happened here. It was a city stuck in Halloween all year round, pumpkins sitting on porches and steps and windowsills. People wrapped lights around them at Christmas and put them in Easter baskets in spring. Some were even carved. There were smiling jack-o’-lanterns outside the school and scared jack-o’-lanterns in store windows and angry jack-o’-lanterns with cobweb wigs and beards propped up in random trees at the park.

Why? Nobody knew. Why not? Chills Hills was just a different kind of place. And an awful lot of people who lived here had spooky stories to tell, even when it wasn’t truly Halloween.

But not Molly.

She opened her lunchbox and made a face. Gross!

What is it? Rora asked.

Pulling out a bottle of strawberry milk, Molly said, My mom thinks I love this flavor. But it’s nasty. You want it?

No. Rora opened her lunchbox cautiously since the poltergeist often switched out her food for other things. Then she lifted the lid all the way in relief and took out her sandwich.

Molly didn’t want the strawberry milk either, but it was all she had to drink. Popping the cap, she took a very tiny sip. It wasn’t any better than the last time she’d tried it. Setting the bottle down in disgust, she decided to visit the water fountain at recess. She liked strawberries and she liked milk, but put together they were just wrong.

Dropping her hot lunch tray to the table with a clatter, Tansy took a seat. She had the most bracelets of all, clacking against each other from her wrists to her elbows. Do you think anyone but us will show up for the first meeting of the school year, Madam President?

Molly laughed uneasily. I hope so.

They ate while they waited, Molly feeling guilty. She didn’t actually belong in the Supernatural Support Club. Two years ago, she had pretended to have a haunted house so she could join. Only Rora knew the truth. Molly’s house was as boring and ordinary as a house could possibly be. There were no secret rooms. She’d checked. There were no bodies buried in the backyard. She’d dug. Once a strange, misshapen package had arrived in the mail, but it was for the neighbor.

That was Molly’s life in a nutshell. The tiniest hint of mystery always belonged to someone else. Her family was ordinary, too. Her father worked with computers. Her mother was a part-time librarian at Chills Hills High. Her older sister Lacey read thick books and talked about cute boys with her friends. Her younger sister Andi loved coloring and played soccer. The family cat was a gigantic tabby named Buckle, and he spent his time knocking things off shelves like all cats did. Gramma Hilda visited every few months and watched cooking shows on TV while baking perfectly round cookies.

Molly was sure any ghost passing by took one look at the dull Mathers household and floated away to haunt some other family.

But the club was so much fun that Molly lied and kept on lying, and now she was the president. She hadn’t meant for that to happen. They voted her in without her even knowing at the time. Now she really couldn’t tell the truth, or everything would fall apart.

All she needed was one ghost. Just one measly ghost to visit one time, and she wouldn’t be a liar anymore. She’d have a real story.

People began to join them at the corner table. Once they had a group of seven, Rora nudged her.

Clapping her hands for attention, Molly said, Let’s get started! My name is Molly Mathers and welcome to Pike Elementary School’s Supernatural Support Club. I am the president.

We know, Bobby yawned.

Not everyone does, Molly said, since there was a new face in the club. Why don’t we go around the table? Introduce yourself and explain the manner of your supernatural problem.

I’m Tansy, Tansy said. I’ve got animal spirits in my backyard, mostly cats and dogs. They aren’t evil and they don’t appear very often, so I don’t need that kind of support. I just like to be with people who understand.

Hi, Tansy, everyone said.

Bobby, Bobby said. As most of you know, I’ve got phantom doors all over my house. My parents can’t see them, but I can. Every single one opens into the same small, empty room. Before somebody asks, no, I don’t investigate. He threw a look to Molly, who had frequently offered to investigate these mysterious doors in his house. I don’t want to know why or what or how, or look up the house in library archives. I just wish it would stop.

Hi, Bobby, everyone chorused.

I’m Zozo Wallaby, squeaked the girl sitting across from Bobby. My mom was possessed, but she’s all better now.

Hi, Zozo.

Franklin, said a chubby sixth grader. I’ve got a ragged man. Had him for as long as I can remember. I’m super tired of my dad calling him my imaginary friend and teasing me about it. I think a friend would be friendly, get me?

Hi, Franklin.

The new kid was a dark-haired boy with a narrow face. He didn’t look like he wanted to talk, so Molly said, "It’s okay if you’re too freaked