Dead Voices

“Tell you in a minute,” said Coco. “The lodge is on fire.”

Seth was still there. He stared at her with an expression Coco could only describe as fascinated horror.

Coco couldn’t resist. She grinned at him and she hoped her smile was as scary as his had been.

“Checkmate,” she said, and pointed at Brian, who had put Ollie’s watch on his wrist. Seth’s lips tightened, seeing it. He looked from the watch to Ollie herself, who was still leaning on Coco, the ice thawing from her eyes. Coco saw him understand what she’d done.

The room was full of smoke. But she didn’t care. From the hallway came the reassuring wail of a fire alarm. Through the burning curtains, outside the window, she saw a pearl-pink dawn and a world lying under a perfect blanket of snow. “I tricked you in the chess game,” she said to Seth. “And you tried to trick me. You tried to distract me with those stupid bones. We were supposed to spend the whole night chasing around the lodge for them. When the answer was just Ollie, and her watch. Or maybe even the Ouija board would have worked, if we’d known. Something that exists on both sides of the mirror opens a doorway through it. And I guess the fire helps too.”

Seth looked torn between anger and admiration. Coco’s two friends were on either side of her. “We won,” said Ollie strongly. Water was running like rain down her face and her eyes were open and bright now. “Coco won. Go away.”

“Guys,” said Brian practically. “Forget him. He’s just a jerk, and he tried to come here and mess with us, but he lost. Does anyone know where there is a fire extinguisher?”

Coco had expected Seth to look furious. But his face was completely expressionless. That scared her worse, somehow.

Then he bowed suddenly, an old-fashioned gesture that looked completely natural. His eyes were suddenly bright, and he smiled his wild-wolf smile at them.

“Until next time,” he said, and then the smoke billowed up and he disappeared.

The three of them were already choking on smoke. They ran for the door of the room. But not before Coco looked back at the mirror and saw the ghosts on the other side dissolving into smoke and fire with looks of profound relief on their faces.

Thank you, mouthed Gretel. And vanished into the light.

19

OLLIE, BRIAN, AND COCO found the fire extinguisher just as Mr. Adler came thundering up the stairs with Coco’s mom and the Wilsons on his heels. Mr. Adler saw the smoke, saw the fire extinguisher, grabbed it out of Brian’s hands, and used it on the burning floor, the burning curtains. Mr. Wilson had another fire extinguisher, and after a few tense seconds, the overhead sprinklers came on, drenching everyone.

A small silence fell when the fire was out.

Ollie, Brian, and Coco were all red-eyed and coughing from lack of sleep and from the smoke. They stood there. None of them knew what to say.

“What happened?” asked Ollie’s dad.

“We heard the fire alarm,” said Ollie glibly. She was still coughing. “And ran upstairs. You guys slept so hard. But it was okay; Brian’s a Boy Scout and he grabbed the fire extinguisher. It’s okay now. It’s okay.” Ollie was babbling. Then she burst into tears, ran over, and hugged her dad. Her dad hugged her back, looking a little puzzled.

“Coco,” said her mom. “What happened to your lip?”

Coco ran her tongue over it, where she’d split her lip on the door. “Oh,” she said, and waved an arm. “I tripped. Um, so did Brian.” Brian had a split lip too.

Her mom raised an eyebrow.

“Going to the bathroom,” Coco improvised. “It was—uh, slippery.”

Brian nodded jerkily.

“Oh,” said her mom practically. “Well, we’ll have to disinfect it, then.” Her mom hugged her, and hugged Brian for good measure.

Outside, Coco could see the sun rising over Mount Hemlock. It was really over. They had won.

She had won.

Ollie stepped back from her dad, wiping her eyes. “I don’t know about you guys,” said Ollie, “but I want to go home today. Sorry. It’s just—it was a weird night. I want to go home.” She nodded apologetically at the Wilsons. But they barely heard her. They were going through the bunk room, annoyed at the smoke damage and the broken mirror.

“Okay,” said Mr. Adler, looking at Ollie with concern. She was white as a sheet, her face wet with tears and meltwater. “Is that what you want, Ollie-pop?”

Ollie nodded.

“Then let’s get packing,” said her dad.