R. Stine - Red Rain

“But what about his backpack? What was he wearing? What about his lunch? Did he have any breakfast?”

“I’m sorry. I really can’t answer those questions. This is all a surprise to Lea and me, too. The boys slept in the guesthouse last night and. . we didn’t know.”

“Excuse me? The guesthouse? You allow twelve-year-old boys to sleep by themselves in your guesthouse? And you don’t even know who’s there?”

“Normally, we check on them all the time. But I guess the boys had a sleepover together and forgot to tell us.” Lame.

Silence at the other end.

Mark raised his eyes to Lea, who was pacing back and forth, hands in the pockets of her beach cover-up, hair still spiked like lawn divots.

“Ira is a nice boy,” Mrs. Margulies said finally. “But I’m not so sure I want Ethan to come to your house.”

“I’m sorry, Ginny. I feel as badly as you do.”

“I read the papers, Mark. I know what happened at your house. The murder, I mean. You must be under a lot of pressure. I think Ethan should stay away.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better-” He realized she had clicked off.

He slammed the phone onto the counter. He turned to Lea. “Nice morning, huh? That was a warm family moment.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you blaming the twins? You’re going to berate me again for bringing them here?”

Elena backed away, hands raised. “I don’t want to hear this.”

“How are you getting to school?” Mark spun on her. He didn’t intend to sound so angry.

She backed up against the kitchen table. “Ruth-Ann’s dad. He’s picking me up. You don’t have to chew my head off. I didn’t do anything.”

Before Mark could apologize, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Roz stormed into the kitchen, still in her long blue flannel nightshirt and carrying Axl in her arms. Her hair was unbrushed. Her eyes darted around the kitchen.

“Roz-? Are you okay?” he started.

“Who did this?” she demanded. “Who was it?”

Elena squinted at Axl. She was the first to see it. “Oh my God.”

“Who snuck up to the attic last night?” Roz shouted. “Who would do this to my baby?”

Mark took a staggering step toward her, then stopped short when he saw what Roz was talking about. The fat blue arrow, pointing up, on Axl’s left cheek.

The halls at Sag Harbor Middle School smelled of some kind of strong disinfectant. The sharp odor made Samuel’s eyes water and his nose burn. He had always been very sensitive to smells.

When he was younger, the pungent aroma of burning meat from the island’s smoker pits always made him nauseous. But he had outgrown that a while ago.

The four of them walked past the principal’s office and turned the corner into the long hall that led to Miss Montgomery’s classroom. Daniel walked with an arm casually draped over Ira’s shoulder.

Samuel kept close to Ethan, who still seemed reluctant to devote himself wholeheartedly to ruling the school. His assignment from Daniel was to keep close to Ethan and make sure his transition was smooth.

Samuel glimpsed a few kids turning from their lockers and staring at them as they passed. He wasn’t surprised that the face arrows would draw some attention.

Two dark-haired sixth-grade girls, fresh from a morning basketball team practice in their blue-and-white team uniforms, noted the arrows and giggled. But they didn’t stop to comment or ask what the arrows meant.

“You know those girls, boyo?” Daniel asked Ira. “They’re pretty awesome.”

Ira shrugged. “I know them, but they don’t talk to me. I–I’m not really popular, you know.”

Daniel chuckled. “You will be.”

Samuel saw the big bulldog-faced kid, Derek Saltzman, bending over the water fountain on the wall. Derek raised his head as the four boys approached.

He narrowed his beady gaze on Ira. “Hey, Sutter. Did you have a shower this morning?”

“No. Why?” Ira said.

Derek filled his mouth with water, then turned and sprayed Ira’s face and the front of his jacket. “There’s a shower for you, dude.” His laugh sounded more like hiccupping, a series of high whoops.

Ira wiped water off his cheeks with his hand.

Derek noticed the blue arrows for the first time. “What’s up with that?” He took his thumb and smeared it over Ira’s cheek. “Hey, it doesn’t come off.”

“Want one?” Daniel said.

“Yeah, boyo. Join the club,” Samuel said.

Ethan hung back, almost using Samuel as a shield. Samuel knew Ethan was afraid of Derek.

“You look like fucking freaks,” Derek snarled. “Here. Want to wash it off?” He spit another stream of water into Ira’s face.

Daniel stepped in front of Ira to confront Derek. “You’re a tough lad. Want to spit water in my face?” Daniel’s features hardened, and he gave Derek an icy stare.

Oh, please, Daniel. It’s early in the morning. Don’t spoil the whole school day.

But Derek wasn’t intimidated. “Fuck yes!” He sucked in a long drink and spit a stream of water in Daniel’s face. Then he laughed his whooping laugh.

Daniel didn’t move a muscle. Just let the cold water run down his cheeks and chin.

Daniel. Please.

“You forgot to add something to those arrows on your faces,” Derek said, returning Daniel’s unblinking stare. “You’ve got to put the words I’m with Stupid .”

Some boys across the hall burst out laughing at that. Samuel spun around, surprised to find a small crowd watching the confrontation. He recognized the two girls from the basketball team and five or six other kids from his class.

Daniel and Derek continued their staring contest. Derek leaned his back against the porcelain fountain and crossed his beefy arms in front of him.

Samuel watched his twin clench and unclench his fists. Samuel’s stomach tightened in dread. He knew this meant trouble. A lot of trouble.

But couldn’t it wait till later? Couldn’t they have a quiet school day first?

A hush fell over the hall as the two boys continued to glare at each other. No locker doors slammed. No footsteps on the tile floor. No voices.

And then heavy footsteps. And a ringing shout. And before anyone could move, Mrs. Maloney bulled her way through the crowd.

“What’s going on here? What is the fuss and commotion, may I ask?”

Samuel took a step back. The principal wore a long gray crewneck sweater and a plaid skirt over black tights. Her beaded earrings jangled as she walked.

She pushed past Samuel, Ethan, and Ira, and strode up to Daniel and Derek, her eyes moving from one to the other. “Well, boys, I like shows. I like to be entertained. Can anyone explain to me what this show is about?”

They didn’t answer.

“Well, there must be a show because I see you’ve got an audience.” She motioned to the crowd of onlookers blocking the hall.

Neither boy spoke.

The principal narrowed her eyes at Derek. “Is there a problem here? I hope you haven’t been giving our new students a bad idea of our school.”

“He spit water on the new kid,” a boy shouted from the back of the crowd.

“He spit on Ira, too,” another boy chimed in.

Mrs. Maloney sighed and shook her head, making her earrings jangle. “Oh, Derek, Derek, Derek. After that nice long talk we had in my office the other day? You do remember that talk, don’t you?”

Derek nodded his head and grunted.

“Well, we don’t spit on people in this school. Lordy no. Do we need to have another long talk? Maybe call your mother in again?”

Derek’s cheeks turned red.

Daniel tapped Mrs. Maloney on the arm, startling her. Samuel watched him turn on his sweetest, most angelic smile. “He didn’t mean us any harm, mum,” Daniel said in a tiny voice. “It was a joke, see.”