The Slither Sisters

FOUR





In the days to come, the halls of Lovecraft Middle School were filled with posters advertising Sarah’s campaign. They all featured the same phrase: SUCCESS COMES WITH A PRICE. It was meant to be a snappy campaign slogan—but to Robert the words sounded like a warning: If Sarah won the election, there would literally be hell to pay.

But who would believe him?

How could he warn people?

What proof did he have?

The Price sisters looked like perfectly normal, all-American girls. They had photographs of boy bands taped inside their lockers. Their grades were good but not suspiciously good; they earned B’s and B-pluses on every quiz, test, and book report. Sarah played the violin; Sylvia played field hockey. They both contributed moody poetry to the school’s literary magazine.

They behaved like all the other seventh-grade girls at Lovecraft Middle School in every way except one:

They never ate lunch.

Every day at eleven forty-five, when the bell rang and hundreds of seventh-graders filed into the cafeteria, Sarah and Sylvia were nowhere to be found.

Karina explained that they were probably revolted by the flavors of human food. “The creatures at Tillinghast prefer live meat. They’ll eat anything as long as it’s breathing. Rodents, birds, amphibians. Even bugs.”

Robert imagined the Price sisters sharing a bowl of live crickets in the middle of the school cafeteria. No wonder they were dining in secret.

“We need to find them,” he said. “They’re up to something, and we need to know what it is.”

That became his mission. Every day during lunch period, Robert wolfed down his sandwich and then wandered the hallways of the school, hoping to catch the Price sisters eating roaches in the gym or the computer lab or the music room. It was hard to do so without arousing the attention of his teachers. While searching the library, he was repeatedly approached by Ms. Lavinia, the elderly school librarian.

“Can I help you, Mr. Arthur?”

“No, thanks.”

“Are you looking for something in particular?”

“I’m just browsing.”

The library was a labyrinth of tall shelves that offered plenty of places for Sarah and Sylvia to hide; as Robert wandered its corridors, Ms. Lavinia was always close by, alphabetizing books or pushing a rickety wooden cart with a squeaky wheel.

Glenn helped search, too. While Robert explored the inside of the school, Glenn scoped out the tennis courts, the athletic stadium, the parking lots, and the picnic areas. It was a funny thing: there was a time when Robert and Glenn couldn’t stand each other. Glenn had a reputation as the biggest bully in Dunwich, Massachusetts, and he had picked on Robert for years. But after Robert saved Glenn from a squid-monster, the two boys had joined forces, and they were unlikely friends ever since.

After three days of searching the school for Sarah and Sylvia, it was Karina who finally discovered where the sisters were hiding during lunch.

“The swimming pool!” she exclaimed. The lunch bell had just rung, and she stopped Robert and Glenn in the hallway outside the cafeteria. “They’re in the girls’ locker room,” she said, “changing into swimsuits. We need to go right now!”

Robert had been hearing about Lovecraft’s amazing swimming pool since the first day of classes but had yet to see it firsthand; he’d never been able to find it. Karina led them into the east wing and down a stairwell, and soon Robert was completely disoriented. “Where are you taking us?” he asked.

“This is it,” Karina announced.

She had stopped in front of a door labeled THE WILBUR WHATELEY MEMORIAL NATATORIUM.

“What about the pool?” he asked.

“This is the pool,” Karina explained. “A natatorium is a room with a pool inside it.”

Glenn opened the door. “Holy cow.”

It was the biggest indoor swimming pool they had ever seen, fifty meters long and up to twelve feet deep. There were ten lanes for swimming and three platforms for diving.

But no sign of Sarah or Sylvia Price.

“They’ll be here any second,” Karina said.

“We should hide,” Glenn said.

Robert looked around for a good place but didn’t see one. The air in the natatorium tickled the back of his throat. It was warm and humid and reeked of chlorine.

“Over here,” Karina called.

Spanning the length of the pool were rows of metal bleachers for coaches, parents, and other spectators. Karina had already climbed behind the stands. It was a tight squeeze for Robert and even worse for Glenn; they had to crouch down on all fours to fit through.

“What if a teacher catches us?” Glenn asked.

“Don’t worry,” Karina said. “As long as we don’t move, no one’s going to see us.”

It was true: to anyone looking at the bleachers, the kids were virtually invisible, camouflaged by the benches and rails and supports.

From their hiding place, Robert could see only the very surface of the water, as clear and still as glass. Time creeped forward.

“You’re sure they were in the locker room?” he asked.

Karina nodded. “They’re coming here every day. The question is, why?”

Robert wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer. The last time he tried spying on someone, he’d witnessed his Science teacher, Professor Goyle, eating a live hamster.

Moments later, Sarah and Sylvia emerged from the locker room, dressed in simple one-piece swimsuits and chatting pleasantly. To anyone watching, they appeared to be perfectly ordinary sisters. But to anyone listening, they sounded like snorting, snarling lunatics.

“Yh’nghai tsathogua dho-na,” said Sarah.

Sylvia smiled. “Y’golonac chaugnar faugn.”

“Hgulet tcho-tcho, ep hgulut shaggai.”

It was the same bizarre language that Professor Goyle had spoken—but what did it mean? Robert had no idea.

The sisters had reached the edge of the pool and were preparing to dive in when Sylvia stopped, scowled, and raised her hand. “Gnai glaacki!”

Both girls glanced around the natatorium, as if suddenly realizing they weren’t alone.

Together, they approached the bleachers.

A long forked tongue unfurled from Sarah’s mouth, purple and black and eight inches long. It flicked this way and that, dripping with saliva. Robert remembered learning in Science class that certain reptiles used their tongues to detect smell. He forced himself to remain absolutely still, hoping all the chlorine in the natatorium would mask his scent.

Then he felt something shift inside his backpack. Pip and Squeak spent most mornings napping but usually woke around noon for lunch—and they never hesitated to let Robert know when they were hungry. He closed his eyes, wishing they would sleep for just a few moments longer. Take it easy, guys, he thought. Stay still for one more minute. And immediately the rats stopped wiggling, as if they had somehow read his mind.

Finally, Sarah retracted her tongue, satisfied they were alone.

“Shai shabblat?” Sylvia asked.

“Y’ai zhro,” Sarah replied.

Together they raised their arms above their heads and then dove into the deep end. Robert watched the water lapping against the edges of the pool, the waves slowly ebbing until once again the surface was as clear and still as glass.

“What are they doing?” Glenn whispered.

“Shhh,” Robert said.

He was counting off the seconds—forty-one, forty-two, forty-three—wondering how long Sarah and Sylvia could stay underwater before surfacing for air. Robert counted all the way to three hundred before stopping.

“How long can you hold your breath?” he whispered to Glenn.

“I don’t know. Maybe a minute? They’ve been down there for five.”

“They’re not human,” Karina reminded them. “Some creatures can stay underwater for hours.”

“Right,” Robert said. “But why? What are they doing down there?”

No one could answer that question.

“We need to see what they’re up to,” he said. “There has to be a reason they come here every day.”

Robert squeezed out from behind the bleachers and crept toward the pool. He wanted to glimpse the sisters without being seen—but they remained just out of view. He had no choice but to step right up to the edge of the water.

“Glenn? Karina?” he called. “You can come out.”

His friends rushed to his side and looked down into the pool. Apart from several hundred thousand gallons of water, it was empty.

“What happened?” Glenn asked.

“They vanished,” Robert said.

Karina shook her head. “They crossed over,” she said. “There must be a gate at the bottom.”

Robert realized she was right. This would explain why Sarah and Sylvia returned to the pool every day: they were traveling back and forth between Lovecraft Middle School and Tillinghast Mansion.

He sat down at the edge of the pool, unlaced his sneakers, and pulled off his socks.

Glenn knelt beside him. “What are you doing?”

“We have to hurry,” Robert said. “They’ve got a five-minute head start.”