The Vanishing Game Read online

  Frank nodded and shot me a concerned look. “Have you talked to Daisy?”

  I frowned. “I keep trying,” I replied, shrugging. “She doesn’t return my calls. I talked to her really quick between classes yesterday, and she said she’s not mad at me—just stressed out.”

  “They must have a lot on their minds,” Frank agreed.

  I could imagine. Funspot had been the talk of the town since G-Force opened—and not in a good way. I was sure Daisy’s father was regretting his decision to invest in the new, expensive ride.

  Frank stood and clapped me on the back. “Come on,” he said, grabbing his book bag. “Let’s get going. Maybe we’ll find something new out at school.”

  I put down my fork and got my stuff together without answering. I knew Frank was trying to be positive, but any news we’d gotten about Funspot hadn’t been good.

  • • •

  “Aaaaaanyway,” Jamie King was saying, flicking a highlighted blond lock behind her shoulder with a long purple fingernail, “I was like, ‘Are you serious?’ I mean, do you really think I’d ever go out with you?”

  She smiled at all of us who surrounded her at a lunch table. Daisy had grabbed me after history class and apologized for being so distant lately; she’d invited Frank and me to sit with her friends at lunch. So far, sitting at a girls’ lunch table was not so exciting.

  “You know?” Jamie went on, looking around at her girlfriends, not satisfied with their reaction. “Daisy? Am I right?”

  Daisy didn’t respond. She was staring into her vegetarian chili like it held the secrets of the universe. I didn’t think she’d even heard Jamie.

  I was sitting next to her, so I gave her a nudge. “Daisy? You okay?”

  She looked up, startled. “Sorry—did you say something, Joe?”

  “No, but I did,” Jamie said, pointing to herself. “I was talking about this guy who came up to me while I was working at Funspot last night. I swear, people just love entertainers.”

  Over lunch, Frank and I had learned that Daisy had gotten Jamie a job singing and dancing in the Funspot Revue at the park. They had wanted her to wear a big Fannie the Funspot Falcon costume, but she convinced them to let her be Princess Funfara instead.

  Daisy sighed. “I guess we should be happy that there was even anybody in the park to approach you,” she said, poking her chili with a spoon. “Attendance has been down ever since the G-Force opening. Way down.”

  Penelope, who was sitting across from us next to Frank, shot Daisy a look of concern. “When can you open it again?” she asked.

  “Tonight,” Daisy said without excitement, “but I can’t imagine that many people are going to show up to go on a ride that was involved in a girl’s disappearance. The inspectors didn’t find anything wrong with it, but everyone’s still calling G-Force ‘the Death Ride.’ ” She spooned a bite of chili into her mouth, then grimaced.

  Jamie looked thoughtful. “I bet that girl ran off on her own,” she said, pointing a carrot stick at us. “She could have had trouble at home. You don’t know.”

  Daisy just shook her head.

  Jamie bit into her carrot stick with a loud crunch and chewed. “What you need,” she said after a minute, “is someone to look into it. Someone besides the police.” She looked up at Frank and me. “Someone like these two!”

  Penelope looked at her like she was nuts. “These two?”

  Jamie nodded, giving me a frankly appraising look. “They investigate things for people. You didn’t know that?”

  Frank blushed and coughed on his tuna sandwich.

  Jamie chomped on another carrot stick and turned away with a mysterious expression.

  I was beginning to think Jamie knew everything about everybody at Bayport High.

  Daisy seemed to be coming out of her fog a little bit. She looked at me thoughtfully. “Would you guys look into it for us?” she asked. “I know you’re both smart. We could really use someone to help us get to the bottom of this. I don’t know what we could pay you, but . . .”

  Frank waved his hand dismissively. “We don’t need any money,” he said. “We just help out friends.”

  Daisy smiled. It was the first time since G-Force opened that I’d seen anything like hope on her face. “Am I a friend?” she asked.

  “You,” I said, putting my hand on her shoulder, “are such a good friend, we’ll get started on this today.”

  • • •

  Julie Keohane was in gym class with me. In fact, she had once knocked me to the ground in a particularly heated basketball game. She was Kelly’s sister—now the missing Kelly. A crowd of students surrounded her after our daily run to give her their condolences. After gym class today—a particularly embarrassing lesson called Dances of the World—I ran up to Julie to offer my sympathies and see if I could ask her a few questions.

  We sat on a bench outside the locker rooms. “Are you and Kelly close?” I asked gently.

  Julie nodded. “Very close,” she said, and sniffled. “She’s fourteen, only two years younger than me. We tell each other everything.”

  I nodded. “Has anything been going on with Kelly that’s out of the ordinary?” I asked. “A new boyfriend, or an argument with someone?”

  Julie looked up from the spot on the ground she’d been staring at. “No,” she said, a little forcefully.

  Hmm. “Does Kelly get along well with your parents?” I asked. “Do you guys ever fight?”

  Julie sighed. “She gets along with everyone,” she said, sounding exasperated. “Look, I know where you’re going with this. I know you want me to say someone was mad at her, so you can tell the police or whoever that she ran away or something.”

  I paused. “I wasn’t trying to get you to say that,” I said, although I’d kind of been hoping she would. I really wanted to find out what had happened to Kelly. If she could give me a reason Kelly might have run away, at least that would make sense. Right now nothing about this made sense. “I just want you to tell me the truth, so I can help figure out what happened to her.”

  Julie widened her eyes. “She disappeared on that ride,” she said, then shrugged in frustration. “I don’t get it either. I know it’s weird. But when the ride started, she was strapped in right next to me, and I could hear her screaming with everyone else. When the ride was over, I looked and she was gone. The restraints were cut. She didn’t run away. She didn’t go with someone. Kelly was a good kid. She always told me or my parents what she was doing.”

  She stood, then stopped and leaned down, saying these next words right into my face. “Someone took her,” she hissed. “And that scares me more than anything.”

  • • •

  I was a little shaken by my conversation with Julie, so I didn’t try to talk to anyone else for the next two periods until school ended. When I went outside to meet Frank at our usual meeting spot, though, I saw him talking to a group of boys who had been waiting to ride G-Force that night.

  “It was a guy I’d never seen before,” one of them was saying. “He got out of line, which I thought was weird.”

  “He was pretty close to the front, too,” one of the other guys said.

  “Yeah,” said the first guy. “And I saw him on one side of the ride, then the other, like he was circling it.”

  Frank glanced at me and nodded. “Thanks, guys. Joe, this is Dave and Eli. Guys, this is my brother, Joe. What did the guy look like again?”

  The first guy, Dave, didn’t hesitate. “He had dark hair and blue eyes, and he had freckles. He was about this tall.” He gestured a few inches above his own head.

  That description sounded very familiar. Unpleasantly familiar. It suited Daisy’s ex-boyfriend, Luke Costigan, to a T. I took out my phone and showed them the picture I had taken of Luke. They nodded—that was Luke, all right.

  Frank thanked the boys and sent them on their way as I mulled this over. Finally he turned to me.

  “Sounds like Luke, right?”

  I nodded. “The one
and only.”

  Frank looked thoughtful. “We know he’s a jerk,” he said. “Is he enough of a jerk to sabotage a ride opening to get back at Daisy for breaking his heart?”

  ARE YOU READY?

  3

  FRANK

  THE NEXT MORNING WAS A saturday, but no sleeping in for Joe or me. No, we were up at the crack of dawn to get to Funspot before it opened. The security guard told us that Daisy had warned him we were coming, and ushered us into the employee entrance. As elephants, giraffes, and pirates struggled to get their huge stuffed heads situated just right, a mustached man who had to be Hector Rodriguez walked up to us and held out his hand.

  “You must be the Hardy Boys,” he said, offering a megawatt smile that showed off a row of perfect white teeth. “Thank you so much for looking into this for my family. We are very grateful.”

  Joe held up a finger. “We’re happy to help out our friends. But if you could keep the fact that we’re doing this under your hat . . .”

  “Yes,” I chimed in. “We’ve found that working undercover makes it easier to look around and get information.”

  Hector looked from my brother to me. “Of course. I won’t tell anyone you’re working here, if that’s what you mean.”

  “Excellent,” I said. “Okay, can you show us the ride?”

  Hector nodded and turned to lead us out of the employees-only area, through the food stalls, and past the kiddie park. And then there it was, in front of us: G-Force, the sleek, enigmatic ride that had blown me away.

  I assumed the park was still pretty empty, so I started when I saw someone moving in the glass-paneled control booth that jutted out from the side. On further inspection, I realized that it was Cal, the ride operator from the week before. He opened the door to the booth and shuffled down the steps, not making eye contact.

  “I know you boys both were on the ride on Saturday night, so you know the basics,” Hector said.

  “We did,” I agreed, “and it really is an amazing ride, Mr. Rodriguez.”

  He shook his head. “Please, call me Hector,” he said. “And thank you. I really thought we had a winner here . . . until, well, all this happened.”

  Joe nodded sympathetically. “Hector, do you have any idea what happened to the girl?” he asked. “Any idea at all?”

  Hector sighed and shook his head. “I’m as stumped as everyone else,” he replied. “We searched the ride, the whole park. Nobody has seen anybody matching Kelly’s description in a twenty-mile radius. It’s like she just vanished.”

  He stopped, sighing again and looking down at the ground, then raised his eyes to meet Cal’s. “Boys, this is Cal Nevins,” he said, “G-Force’s first and only ride operator. I’d bet he knows this ride almost as well as the brothers who designed it. He can take you inside and answer any questions you have.”

  “Great, thanks,” I said, nodding at Cal. He nodded back at me, making eye contact for only a second, and then turned back toward the ride.

  “Should we go in?” he asked.

  Joe caught my eye. I could tell from the tiny bit of fear in his eyes—invisible to anybody except his brother, I’m sure—that he wasn’t exactly looking forward to riding this thing again.

  “We should,” I said. “And hopefully we’ll find something that will tell us what happened to Kelly.”

  • • •

  “So how does it work, exactly?” Joe asked for what seemed like the hundredth time, running his hand along the sleek silver walls of the inside of G-Force.

  “I keep telling you,” Cal replied gruffly—and accurately, “it’s a mixture of a few things. Shifting perspective, strobe lights, and centrifugal force.” He sounded as though he were quoting directly from the ride’s manual.

  “And there’s absolutely nowhere for anyone to hide in here?” I asked, looking around the ride with a careful eye. Cal had turned on all the interior lights, making it much brighter than it had been on the night of its opening. But I still couldn’t find anything suspicious. Inside, the ride was just as sleek as it was outside, with brushed silver metal forming the sharply curved walls. Aside from the main door, there didn’t seem to be any way to get in or out, or anywhere to stay out of sight.

  Cal sighed. “Not that I’m aware of.” He paused, looking around the ride with a faraway expression. “I’ve racked my brain trying to figure out what happened to that poor girl,” he added. “But I’ve got nothin’.”

  I nodded, frowning. “I think,” I said, “we’re just going to have to ride it again.”

  Joe paled a little. But he seemed to push past his fear as he sat down in one of the cushy purple seats and put his game face on.

  “Let’s do this,” he said, clutching the restraint bar. “For Kelly!”

  Cal strapped us both in and walked out to the control booth, shutting the door behind him. The lights went down, then out entirely. I heard the same whoosh sound as we had the previous Saturday.

  “Joe?” I asked as the first guitar chord of “Beautiful” played, because his silence was starting to freak me out.

  “Frank, was this a mistake?” Joe asked, but before I could answer him, the music crescendoed and the strobe lights started up and we started moving, and pretty soon I couldn’t think about anything but how awesome this ride was. Every so often I would catch myself and try to focus: Look around! Observe! Listen for strange noises! Check the strength of my harness! But I could barely see anything through the flashing lights, fog, and random images. I couldn’t even see Joe anymore.

  Wait.

  “Joe?” I yelled.

  No answer. The music wailed, a flower wilted, a sad-looking toddler pointed her finger at me accusingly. Then the strobe lights started up again.

  “JOE?”

  The ride started slowing down. I could feel the seats returning to their original orbit, and the music was quieting, reaching the end of the song. I blinked, shaking my head and trying to squint through the darkness for my brother. He’d been right across from me . . . right? Or was he next to me? Or . . .

  The images faded and the lights cut out. We were plunged into darkness. I closed my eyes and reached up to touch my head, almost wondering if it was still there. My brain felt like it was bouncing around in my skull, after being flung this way and that for however long the ride lasted (I honestly had no idea).

  “Joe?” I asked again, rubbing my temples and opening my eyes. The weak purple lights flickered back on.

  Joe sat across from me, looking like he’d just stumbled in from a hurricane. His straw-colored hair poked out in random directions. His clothes were mussed. He looked like he was sweating.

  He blinked and looked over at me. “Yeah?”

  I glared at him. “Why didn’t you answer me during the ride?”

  He blinked again. “You said something?”

  Before I could reply, the small door was pushed open, letting in a ray of sunlight, and the dark profile of Cal appeared. “You boys see anything suspicious?” he asked curiously.

  I sighed.

  “No,” I said. “I think we’re going to have to ride it again.”

  • • •

  And again. And again.

  Joe looked awful. After the fifth ride, he asked Cal to unharness him, stood up, ran out of the ride, and returned a few minutes later.

  “All right,” he said, settling back into his seat. “Strap me in and fire this baby up again.”

  Cal looked impressed despite himself. “Okay.” He did as Joe asked, then walked out of the ride, closing the door behind him.

  “Joe,” I said, “are you okay?”

  Joe coughed. “I am not okay,” he replied, “but at least Aunt Trudy didn’t make us a huge breakfast today.”

  I groaned. My own head was pounding, and the ride was beginning to hurt, not feel awesome.

  “Maybe we should take a break,” I suggested. “This is going nowhere. We’re five rides in and I still haven’t noticed anything that might explain what happened to Kelly. H
ave you?”

  Joe winced and shook his head. “I have noticed the contents of my stomach,” he replied. “That’s it.”

  I tried to sit up. “Those boys I talked to yesterday—they said they saw Luke getting out of line. Remember?”

  “And he circled the ride,” Joe added, life coming back to his eyes.

  “Maybe we could get out and walk around the ride?” I suggested. “See if we notice anything unusual?”

  Joe nodded. “Yes. Yes, please!”

  I looked at my brother. We both seemed to reach the same realization at the same time.

  “CAL!!!” we screamed.

  But it was too late. The lights went off, and the whoosh of the motor started up again.

  I would say that our last, unnecessary ride on G-Force that morning wasn’t so bad, but really? It was. Joe barfed again afterward. I was pretty sure my brain had become permanently unstuck from my skull and would just rattle around in there for the rest of my life.

  But the good news? I don’t think I had ever appreciated solid ground as much as I did when we got off the ride. I walked around, stamping my feet into the ground, enjoying the pleasant, solid resistance. It was like slipping between the sheets of the world’s most comfortable bed after sleeping on the floor for a week.

  “You see anything?” Cal asked, following Joe and me down onto the ground. “In the ride, I mean? Did it help?”

  “We didn’t see anything, but it did help,” I told him. “I guess we just need to think about it a little more. In the meantime, we’re going to look around outside. Is that okay?”

  Cal looked surprised, but he quickly nodded. “Sure. Sure, whatever you think will help.”

  He backed off, and Joe and I took another minute or two for the world to stop spinning before we walked over to the smooth metal side of G-Force. Apart from the one entrance, there were no hinges or doors; not even a seam so you could clearly see where the sheets of metal had been hammered together. It simply looked like it had dropped out of the sky, sleek, shiny, and fully formed.