Holly Horror by Michelle Jabès Corpora

Author:Michelle Jabès Corpora [Corpora, Michelle Jabès]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2024-08-13T00:00:00+00:00

12

It was two weeks later when the air started to smell like snow. Autumn peacoats gave way to puffy winter jackets, Christmas music played in every shop, and there was a pervasive sense of anticipation as the holiday season got into full swing.

Unlike most everyone else in Ravenglass, Evie didn’t exactly feel anticipation.

It was more like dread.

Wherever she went, whether it was to school, to Birdie’s, or even just walking down the street, she couldn’t shake the feeling that people were watching her. Staring at her when she walked past them in hallways, or when she turned her back after paying for a hot cocoa at the general store.

On the outside, the town seemed bright and jolly, bursting with festive cheer.

But Evie sensed something sinister in it all, lurking just under the surface. Something that made the songs she used to love sound ominous and strange.

The feeling began after Thanksgiving and had only gotten stronger since. Evie, Tina, and Sai had gathered at Birdie’s that weekend to discuss what to do next, but the planning took longer than Evie had hoped. After she and Tina had fully briefed Sai about the whole Holly and Sarah saga, he had thrown himself headlong into the investigation alongside them. She’d assumed once she’d convinced Sai to help, everything else would just sort of fall into place.

It didn’t.

In fact, Evie felt nearly as lost as before.

They’d carefully recorded everything that had happened since Desmond’s disappearance. The details of every vision, every piece of information they’d learned from Dr. Rockwell, Chief Sànchez, and anyone else they could think of. Evie had even invited Sai back to her house one Sunday when her mother was at work and stood in the middle of the kitchen holding his hand.

Nothing happened.

Which turned it into possibly one of the most awkward moments of her life. Made even more so by Stan spying on them from the hallway and laughing. It was hopeless, trying to salvage the morning after that. They’d tried touching the locket again, even tried returning to the road behind the school and the church to re-create the situations when the other visions had occurred.

No such luck. Holly stayed quiet.

It had been Tina’s idea to visit the library.

She’d been poring over the Sarah Flower papers, and realized that Holly must have obtained most of them at the Ravenglass Library Museum and Archives. “Maybe she missed something,” Tina had reasoned.

Evie was inclined to agree. After all, Holly had told her to “finish what I started.” So they’d been making visits ever since, trying to understand the link between what had happened to Desmond and a little girl who lived more than a hundred years ago.

Evie was walking down Main Street, on her way there for the third time that week, when she saw Tina, Mrs. Sànchez, and Tina’s grandmother turn the corner and start walking in her direction. She stopped just in front of the Ravenglass General and waved them down. Tina’s stormy expression brightened at the sight of her.

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