Tagline: And there’s no way out!
Back tagline: The Doomed Class. The class that won’t survive senior year.
Summary: That’s the furthest thing from Kenny Klein’s mind. He’s too busy with his camp counselor job. And way too interested in Melly, the hot new girl he just met.
Kenny had only two problems. The strange boy in his group—the one that always wears a mask—and the fact that someone at the camp is trying to kill him.
First impressions: I have a soft spot for camp-themed horror, so I’ve got high hopes for this one! Just like the first book, the blurb doesn’t give too much away, but it’s enough to get me intrigued. We barely saw Kenny in the first one, so I’m curious to find out what he’s like. Fingers crossed he’s not insufferable!
Once again, we have the same style of cover as the first book, but with a different colour scheme and an axe instead of a knife. Will the axe come into play at any point? [Note from future: No] This one also says ‘A Fear Street Series’ rather than ‘A Fear Street Super Chiller’ like the first one, and that lack of consistency kind of bothers me.
I’ve got a few burning questions that will keep me turning the pages of this one, which also seems promising. Why does the strange boy wear a mask all the time? Will Kevin Klein be the first victim from the senior class? And is Melly a nickname? If so, why would she willingly go by that? 🤢 Only one way to find out! Let’s read.
Recap
I’ll include the yearbook here once again, as well as new characters:
Melly — A fellow counsellor with an instant attraction to Kenny.
Vincent — A creepy little camper who latches on to Kenny.
The book begins as Kenny Klein and his girlfriend, Jade Feldman, enjoy a relaxing night in her front yard, wishing they could be together over the summer. Jade’s heading to California in the morning for a SAT-prep course, while Kenny’s staying in Shadyside to work as a counsellor at Shadyside Day camp, where he’ll be in charge of a group of nine-year-old boys. Jade makes Kenny promise he won’t go getting interested in any other girls while she’s away, because she wants them to be together for all of senior year and doesn’t want anyone or anything getting between them. [You better not read the blurb then, Jade]
The next morning, Kenny arrives at the day camp and greets Debra Lake and Dana Palmer, who are also counsellors this year. Craig Sherman, the camp director, instructs everyone to put their bags in their assigned cabins, which are used for rest periods and weekly overnight stays, before the campers arrive at 9am. As Kenny heads to his cabin, Craig reminds him about the troubled boy that will be in his group and asks if Kenny read the files he’d sent about each camper in his group. Kenny lies that he had, but really he’d just glanced over them, then couldn’t find them a few days later when he had time to read through them properly.
After dropping off his bag, Kenny heads down a path to a clearing where a blonde guy with an eyebrow ring is hanging tetherballs on their poles. Kenny introduces himself, and we learn the guy is Tyler Sullivan, who goes by Ty, and is transferring to Shadyside High from his private school in September. [Ohhhh, that makes sense why Josie didn’t recognise the name when Marla was heading out to meet him. He’s not a student yet! The book’s description doesn’t match the yearbook photo, though] The boys begin a friendly game of tetherball, and soon an audience of counsellors is cheering them on. Kenny’s having fun, but Ty seems to be taking the game very seriously. Ty suggests Kenny call it quits now since he won’t win, but Kenny refuses, slapping the ball right back. It hits Ty square in the face, giving him a nosebleed, and he doesn’t accept the apology or the tissues Kenny offers him. According to Ty, there’s no such thing as accidents, and he tells Kenny to watch himself before stalking off to the main building’s infirmary.
Kenny decides to take a walk to the lake, where he spots a long-haired blonde girl in a counsellor uniform standing on the sandy shore. Even from a distance Kenny can tell she’s beautiful, and as he watches her walk along the water’s edge, he realises she seems to be floating rather than walking. She’s just so beautiful that Kenny is sure she isn’t real and will disappear if he blinks. He squeezes his eyes shut momentarily and when he opens them again, she actually has vanished!! [Is this Melly? Is she a ghost? She’s 100% going to turn out to be a ghost]
Shocked, he closes his eyes for a few seconds and by the time he’s opened them again, she’s reappeared holding a bunch of blue flowers — she’d simply ducked down to pluck them from the ground. Kenny heads over to her and says hi as she tucks some flowers into her hair. She turns around with tears in her big green eyes and explains she’s allergic to the flowers, but couldn’t resist them because they’re so beautiful. [Is it really worth the allergies, though?] Introductions are made and we learn that Melly Baker is the arts and crafts counsellor. Kenny expresses some concern about how well-behaved the group of boys he’ll be looking after will be, but Melly assures him he has nothing to worry about — ‘”After all, I just met you, and I like you.”’ She warns that it’s Ty he needs to be worried about, because he’s got real cruel streak.
Kenny shrugged. “Come on, I don’t think—”
“I mean it,” Melly whispered. “I know what I’m talking about!”
Kenny narrowed his eyes at her. “You know him? You’ve been here before?”
“Yes,” Melly replied softly. “Before I drowned.”
Kenny’s all like “Huh? You drowned?” but Melly insists that she said ‘”Until I left town”’ and laughs that maybe he’s allergic to the flowers too, and they’re affecting his hearing. [Is that how allergies work?] Kenny laughs with her, feeling embarrassed, and finds himself wishing she’d kiss him. He immediately scolds himself, though, since he’d just promised Jade last night he wouldn’t even look at another girl, but that promise isn’t going to be easy to keep! ‘But that was last night, he thought. And Jade is halfway to California by now. And Melly is right here, staring at me with those big green eyes. Teasing me. Flirting with me.’ Melly gets up nice and close and asks if he’d like to take a walk along the shore, but they’re interrupted by Craig, who asks Kenny to go help Ty at the storage shed. Melly assures Ty she’ll make sure they have plenty of time together before heading over to the arts and crafts cabin, [I’m thinking maybe Kenny’s the only one who can see Melly because Craig doesn’t interact with or acknowledge her at all, but I’m not sure] and then Dana appears. She reckons it’s a good thing Jade isn’t here because she wouldn’t like the way Kenny’s been staring at Melly. [OK, I guess everyone can see her hahaha] Kenny denies looking at her in any kind of way, and Dana just laughs and walks off. Kenny will need to be careful, since Dana’s on the cheerleading squad with Jade and might tell her about Melly. Not that there’s anything to tell. ‘Not yet, anyway.’ [Kenny, plz, I want to like you]
Continuing on to the storage shed, he finds Ty raging at a large wooden trunk, struggling to get some volleyball equipment back in. He’s not happy that Kenny’s been sent to help and complains that Craig had asked him to take the volleyball stuff out, and then told him to put it back in. Kenny tries to joke about how bad bosses can be, but it’s clear Ty isn’t going to loosen up anytime soon, so they continue on in silence. They attempt to shut the trunk on the count of three, but Melly walks past the doorway and catches Kenny’s eye, and the distraction causes him to slam the trunk down on Ty’s hand with a sickening crack. [Ty, why were your hands under the lid if you were trying to close it? Seems like your own fault]
Kenny apologises and walks Ty, who once again accuses Kenny of injuring him on purpose and is sure his hand is broken, to the main building, where Ty continues on to the infirmary while Kenny discusses the incident with Craig. He explains that Ty has this crazy idea that Kenny’s trying to injure him, and Craig points out that Ty’s just hot-tempered and isn’t thinking correctly while he’s in pain. They go see how he is, but Nurse Gomez doesn’t have the right equipment to work out if Ty’s hand is actually broken, so an ambulance is on the way to take him to Shadyside General for an X-ray. If it is broken, it’s bad news for Ty because he won’t be able to do his job as the swimming instructor, which frustrates Ty even more because he needs this job.
Kenny avoids Ty’s rage by going to wait for the campers at the front of the camp. He bumps into Melly on the path and tells her what happened, and Melly’s confused because that guy isn’t Ty; ‘”He doesn’t look anything like Ty!”‘ [Oooh, that would make sense why yearbook Ty doesn’t match this Ty’s description. But then who is this guy?] The buses arrive before Melly can elaborate, and soon the campers are all split up into their groups.
In Kenny’s group we have Graydon Boyce, a chubby, smart-mouthed redhead, as well as Dan, David, Matthew, Charlie, Simon, and Vincent, who seems to be missing. Graydon and Charlie start shoving each other, both wanting to be first in line, but Kenny assures the kids it doesn’t matter what order they walk in as long as they don’t wander off. Craig comes over to let Kenny know he’d found Vincent hiding behind one of the buses, and reminds him that Vincent wears a ski mask because of the accident that was explained in his file. Of course, Kenny has no idea what accident he’s referring to, but goes along with it, and while Craig goes to fetch Vincent, Kenny encourages the boys to make Vincent feel welcome. Graydon complains about being stuck with a freak, but Charlie quickly shuts him down — ‘”You’re a freak too, lard boy. So why don’t you just shut up?”‘ [I don’t agree with fat shaming but Graydon’s a little shit so he deserves it. #TeamCharlie!] Graydon tries to attack Charlie but is intercepted by Kenny, who quickly sets a no name-calling rule.
Vincent finally joins the group, and Kenny can’t help but wonder how messed up his face is under the red-and-white ski mask that only shows his mouth and blue eyes. The mask gives Kenny the creeps, but he feels sorry for Vincent and decides he’ll have to be really nice and pay close attention to him. The boys head over to their designated cabin to dump their bags, and Vincent walks right next to Kenny, staring up at him the whole time, making Kenny uneasy.
Afterward, Kenny takes the boys on a tour of the camp, with Vincent continuing to be shadow him. They eventually notice a cave in one of the hillsides, and Vincent can’t contain his excitement. This is a surprise to everyone since he’s barely said a word the whole time, and before Kenny can stop him, he disappears inside. Kenny stops the other boys from following just as a high-pitched wail comes from inside the cave and Vincent starts screaming about bats attacking him.
That night, Kenny’s at Pete’s Pizza with Debra, Dana, Josh Maxwell and Mickey Myers, telling them the story about Vincent and the cave. He’d come shooting out of there and ran all the way back to camp, but when Kenny had entered the cave to check it out, there were no bats at all, and he and Craig had concluded Vincent made it up for attention. Josie Maxwell comes over to drop their bill off, [She’s finally found a job!] and it’s her very first shift so Mickey makes sure to tease her — ‘”Are you sure you added it up right? I know you got a D in math.”‘ [Hahaha drag her]
Josie heads off to serve another table as Kenny thinks he spots Melly by the counter, but it’s just a random blonde he doesn’t recognise. He then asks Debra if he knows Melly, since she used to live in Shadyside, but Debra only met her today. Mickey wants to know what she looks like, and Dana teases Kenny about how pretty Melly is. [Dana’s a little pot stirrer and I love it! It’s very me hahaha]
The group decide to go swimming in Fear Lake, minus Debra who has to go meet Clark Dickson, who she’s officially dating now. [Awkward for Josh that he and Debra are still in the same friendship group] As everyone frolics in the water, Kenny spots Melly in a white swimsuit at the water’s edge and wades over to her. She says she couldn’t resist a swim on this beautiful night, and they both admit they’ve thought about each other all day. Melly then kisses him, and Kenny’s practically orgasms. Melly then leads him around a bend to a high boulder that juts out over the lake, daring him to jump off. Several small rocks are piled close to the base, with dark, deep-looking water stretching out beyond that. Kenny isn’t sure he wants to risk it, but Melly agrees to dive with him, and on the count of three, Kenny launches himself into the water.
He lands sideways on the water and plunges deep down, smacking his head on a rock. He struggles to get his bearings, but some strong arms manage to pull him to the surface. Josh and Mickey scold him for being so stupid to jump off that rock, and Kenny thanks them for saving him. He also thanks Melly, but she’s not here and no-one knows what he’s talking about. He explains she jumped off the rock with him, and they’ll have to find her since she hasn’t surfaced, but the group insists they watched him leap off by himself; there was no-one else with him on the rock.
Kenny listens to the radio on the way to camp the next day, expecting to hear a report of a body found washed up on the shore of Fear Lake, but there’s nothing. He hurries to the main building to see if she’s checked in for the day, and ends up running into Ty, who’s right hand is in a splint and wrapped in gauze. Kenny asks if he’s heard anything about Melly, and Ty reveals she gave him a dirty look when he saw her this morning, but he’s not sure why. Relieved that Melly’s OK, Kenny then points out that Craig obviously hasn’t fired Ty. Ty bitterly explains that he’s still useful even with a broken hand, and he’ll be overseeing the swimming and helping with any chores he can manage. Kenny suddenly remembers how Melly said this guy wasn’t Ty Sullivan, and mentions that some friends had told him ‘”they thought you were somebody else. Somebody with a different name.”‘ Ty whips out his license, proving he is who he says he is, and then warns Kenny to stay out of his way from now on.
Later, Kenny takes his group of boys over to the arts and crafts cabin for their allocated slot, but Melly’s not there. He leaves the boys inside to go look for her, forcing Vincent to stay too despite the boy wanting to go with him. Back outside, Dana walks past on her way to the lake with her campers, and mentions seeing Melly earlier. She’s not sure where she is now, but if she sees her again she’ll let her know Kenny’s looking for her. She’s sure Melly would want to know — ‘”Jade would too.”‘ [Amen, Dana]
Kenny is quick to inform Dana that his group has arts and crafts now but Melly’s not at the cabin, then decides to try his luck at the main building. A scream from the arts and crafts cabin interrupts him, though, and he dashes back to find Vincent on the floor, writing in pain and covered in blood. The other boys didn’t see what happened, and as Kenny checks on Vincent, he realises it’s not blood, but paint. Frustrated, Kenny ends up shaking poor Vincent and screaming that he’s had enough of these stupid jokes, then quickly apologises when he sees the other boys’ disapproving looks. He tells Vincent it’s not funny to scare everyone like this, but Vincent simply responds, ‘”You shouldn’t have left me.”‘ Kenny can’t believe what he’s hearing and orders Vincent to go get cleaned up and come right back, realising he really can’t stand the kid.
Melly finally arrives and explains her disappearance last night — she didn’t think he’d actually jump, and when she saw him go under and his friends started screaming, she ran to get help. When she returned, everyone was gone. She feels terrible and is really sorry, and the pair make plans to meet up for a walk on the nature trail after the campers leave later today.
Later, after the last bus leaves, Kenny makes a pit stop to Craig’s office, where he jots down Melly’s number and address so he can surprise her and take her out one night. He realises it’s not right to be cheating on Jade, and not fair to Melly either, but decides not to tell Melly about Jade in case she decides to stop seeing him. [Kenny, plz] Continuing on towards the trail, he’s stopped by Dana and Debra, who question why he’s staying at the camp. Before he can come up with an excuse, Dana spots Melly walking towards them. She tells Kenny she’d been joking before about him and Melly, but now she sees that something is going on — ‘”Jade’s your girlfriend, Kenny. If you don’t have the guts to tell her about Melly, then I will.”‘ [Good call, Dana!]
She turns and walks away, leaving Kenny shaken by the threat. Would she really tell Jade, or did Dana just enjoy having something to hold over his head? Melly can tell he’s upset when she reaches him, and he lies that Ty is really getting to him. He mentions seeing Ty’s ID, which confuses Melly, but she doesn’t elaborate on who she thinks he is, and Kenny’s too dumb to ask. [Fkn hell, Kenny] Instead, Kenny explains how Ty had threatened him, and Melly warns once again that Ty is dangerous and evil.
They continue walking and come to the cave where Vincent was allegedly attacked by bats. Melly tells him the cave is haunted, but nobody talks about it. She claims a little boy got lost in there and died. His body was found and buried, but his spirit lives on inside the cave. She then drags Kenny into the cave to find the spirit, but runs ahead of him in the darkness. [Melly’s clearly trying to kill him or something, but why? What’s her deal?] As he tries to follow in the darkness, he ends up walking off a ledge and lands painfully in a small crater.
A flame flickers above him, illuminating Melly’s face, who smiles strangely and explains she stopped answering his calls to her because she’d wanted to play hide and seek. He realises he could have been seriously hurt, but as she helps him up, he’s unable to stay mad because he’s just crazy about her, you know? [Kenny, stop] She wants to stay a bit longer because she enjoys being all alone in the darkness with him, but Kenny realises they’re not alone when he hears someone else’s breathing. He takes the lighter and whirls around, spotting little chubby Graydon peering at them from around the corner.
Graydon complains that the bus left without him and he was on his way to the office when he saw them sneaking into the woods. Kenny scolds him for sneaking up on people before cutting his date with Melly short because now he has to walk Graydon back to camp and call his parents. Melly’s annoyed but understands, and hurries from the cave ahead of them. Graydon teases Kenny about his girlfriend being mad, and Kenny quickly corrects him:
“She’s not my girlfriend.” Or is she? Kenny wondered. An image of Jade popped into his mind, but he quickly pushed it out. He didn’t want to think about Jade right now.
As they walk back to camp, they discuss tomorrow’s overnight stay, and Graydon reckons it’ll be super fun except for Vincent the weirdo. Kenny asks Graydon to be nicer to Vincent, but the shithead just calls Vincent a jerk and runs up ahead. After Graydon is picked up, Kenny bumps into Ty again, who comments on Kenny living dangerously. He elaborates that Melly’s an out-of control, evil nutcase — not only does she keep giving him the evil eye, but he ran into her a few minutes ago and she left two long scratches along his forearm, blood still oozing from the wounds.
It’s time for the overnight now, and all the counsellors and their groups are gathered around a campfire each. While Vincent heads to the toilet, Kenny takes a break from telling ghost stories to stretch his legs and runs into Melly. He mentioned what Ty had said, and she admits that she’d attacked him. It was self defence, though — Ty grabbed her and wouldn’t let go, so she had to scratch him to get away. Kenny seems to buy it, and they make plans to meet up after lights out.
Back at his campfire, Kenny saves his campers from a venomous snake with his bare hands, depositing it in a mesh cage at the rec hall for Craig to deal with tomorrow. Upon returning, Graydon’s pretending to be a snake and picking on Vincent, calling him a baby. Kenny reminds Graydon of the no name-calling rule, but Vincent’s unhappy with the lack of punishment and promises not to forget it. This, of course, just gives Kenny more reason to dislike the creepy kid, and makes me think something’s going to happen with that snake.
As the group decide what to do next, Vincent pulls out some tarot cards he claims predict the future, and suggests Kenny go first. Not wanting to look like a wimp, Kenny selects three facedown cards and places them on the ground. Vincent looks more and more fearful as he picks them up one by one, revealing three black skulls, but smirks as he declares it means instant death. The other boys tease Vincent because Kenny’s still breathing, and annoying shithead Graydon tries to snatch up the rest of the deck. He and Vincent start wrestling for them until it’s broken up by Kenny, who decides it’s time to go to bed. As he’s cleaning up, he thinks about the skull cards and how he’s had three close encounters already with the cliff jump, the fall in the cave, and the snake…
Later, there’s an urgent phone call in Craig’s office for Kenny, but it’s just Jade, who really misses him. As they chat, he realises how much he’s missed her too and decides he can’t cheat on her, [You already did] planning to end things with Melly tonight. He feels a rush of guilt as he thinks about how crazy he’d been about Melly, like she’d put a spell on him or something.
Cut to Kenny arriving at their meeting spot a short time later, and he immediately reveals he as a girlfriend. ‘”So what?”‘ Melly laughs, because she doesn’t believe for one second he actually wants to end things — ‘”You just think that you should.”‘ Kenny insists it’s over between them, and Melly declares that she’ll change his mind before heading back towards the cabins. Kenny isn’t too sure what she means by that and heads back to his own cabin, where he discovers a snake in his bed. [That pesky little Vincent!]
It seems to be the same kind of snake as the one at the campfire, and he quickly leaps up with a scream and throws it across the room. This wakes all the other boys up, and amongst the commotion Kenny’s sure he hears a muffled giggle. Did someone put the snake there on purpose?! [Yes] Flicking on the light, no-one seems to be laughing now, but he notices that Vincent’s mask has ridden up a little, revealing the thick, red scars covering his neck. [Is he a burn victim, maybe?] With his bare hands once again, [I could never] Kenny captures the snake and takes it to the rec hall, where he discovers the mesh cage empty — it’s the exact same snake! Did Vincent do this to get back at him? Kenny thinks he’s the only one crazy to do it, and decides to keep a much closer eye on the boy. The lights are off when he returns to the cabin, so Kenny creeps over to his bed and this time, in the moonlight, finds the three black skull cards resting on his pillow.
After breakfast the next morning, Kenny pulls Vincent aside and tells him it’s OK to be mad, but it’s not OK to try get revenge. He mentions being mad at another kid in grade school and purposely tripping him over, causing the kid to fall down the stairs and break his arm:
“It could have been worse. I was out for revenge, and I did something dangerous. That snake last night—that was dangerous, too.”
Vincent finally broke his silence. “I know,” he said coldly. “You could be dead. You have to be careful.”
[Hahaha I love that he makes it seem like it’s Kenny’s fault] Kenny wants some alone time now, so dumps the kids at the archery range and tells an instructor he’ll be back soon. He heads to the lake and admires the view, and with no-one else around, he stretches out on the sand and rests his eyes for a few minutes. He’s soon interrupted by Melly, who tells him he looks terrible and assumes the campers kept him up all night. He tells her his theory about Vincent and the snake, and Melly tries to comfort him by giving him a kiss. Kenny avoids her lips, reminding her that he just wants to be friends, but she insists he doesn’t mean it and demands he admit it, causing him to angrily spell it out for her:
“Get lost, okay? You’re not as hot as you think you are. Now do you get it?”
Melly gasped as if he’d punched her in the stomach. Her cheeks went white. Then they flamed with red, and her green eyes blazed. “You do care!” She shouted. “You have to!” She raised her hands to her face and raked her long, sharp nails down her cheeks. “You have to care, or I’ll die!”
Kenny stared at the deep scratches in her cheeks. Blood began to seep between her fingers.
“I’ll die if you leave me, do you hear?” Melly screamed, scratching her face again. “I can’t live without you!”
[Oof, she’s definitely not well] Kenny yanks her hands away from her face and tries to calm her down, but Melly’s hysterical and continues to shout that she won’t let him leave her and she’ll die if he does. Terrified by the wild gleam in her eyes, Kenny simply runs away, realising with horror that Ty was right — ‘Melly is completely psycho.’ [Poor girl. I wonder what her backstory is]
At the end of the following day, Kenny’s climbing into his car when he notices ‘You’re Dead’ painted across his hood in white. Having just seen Ty heading to the main building with a can of white paint, Kenny assumes he’s responsible and confronts him outside Craig’s office. Ty has no idea what he’s talking about and doesn’t even know which car is Kenny’s, pointing out that he had to go buy more paint and the can isn’t even open yet. Kenny’s not buying it and declares that they’re even, but Ty sneers that Kenny doesn’t even know what even is, but he will soon — ‘”You can count on it.”‘
The next day, Saturday, Kenny has no luck trying to call Jade and paces his bedroom restlessly. He’d given his car a quick wash and although some white paint still remains, the words are unintelligible. He’s realised that Ty isn’t the only suspect, either; Vincent’s still mad at him, and Melly had been incredibly upset. He decides he was way too cruel to her and calls the number for her he’d stolen from Craig’s office, but a recorded voice says the number has been changed. He heads to Waynesbridge to apologise in person, finding her rundown house that almost looks deserted. The door is answered by a middle-aged woman, and when Kenny introduces himself and asks for Melly, the woman threatens to call the cops if he doesn’t leave.
He confirms with his note that he has the right address and tries the doorbell again, but the woman doesn’t answer. Instead, Kenny spots her peeking out from a window and tries to clear up any confusion, explaining he’s a friend of Melly’s from the camp. The woman tells him he’s sick and to go away once again, and a confused Kenny quickly hauls ass out of there when she claims to be dialling the police.
Sunday morning at camp, Kenny delivers the boys to the archery instructors for their allotted slot and attempts to find Melly to apologise. [Wait, day camps continue on weekends too? These counsellors work every day? It didn’t seem like Kenny worked Saturday, maybe they get that day off. But either way, that’s a lot!] She’s not at the arts and craft cabin, so he decides to check the lake. Gazing along the shoreline, he thinks he sees someone in the counsellor uniform at the far end, and calls out to the person. As they turn, a sharp, stabbing pain in his shoulder stops Kenny in his tracks, and he ends up passing out.
He wakes up in the infirmary to Mrs. Gomez and Dr. Stewart, who’d been called in to take care of Kenny’s shoulder. Turns out he’d been shot by an arrow and passed out from shock, but thankfully nothing vital was hit, so he’ll just be left with a nasty bruise. He thanks everyone and stops Craig from calling his parents to avoid them making a big deal out of it, promising to let them know when he gets home. [Uhh, someone just tried to kill you, it’s a pretty big deal. Why have the police not been called?] The adults leave so he can rest, but Kenny wants to get right back to work. [Great work ethic, Kenny!] As he climbs out of the cot, something slides out from under him and onto the floor — three cards with black skulls on them…
Back with his campers, Kenny pulls Vincent aside and accuses him of trying to make the tarot cards come true. Vincent denies it, but Kenny points out that the cards belong to him and keep showing up whenever something bad happens. Vincent protests that he doesn’t have the skull cards anymore, claiming someone must have taken them the night of the campfire, but Kenny’s not sure whether to believe him. His eyes look innocent behind the mask, but is he lying? Could Vincent really be trying to kill him?
By lunchtime, Kenny’s shoulder is throbbing and he’s starting to feel weak and sore all over. He tells Craig he’s decided to leave, but once in the car he starts thinking about Melly. He still hasn’t been able to find her and decides to go back to her house in Waynesbridge again. The same woman answers the door, and Kenny asks her not to call the cops and quickly explains this is the address he got for Melly from the camp. He understands if Melly doesn’t want to talk to him, but he just wants to know if she’s here. The woman angrily accuses him of playing a cruel joke and drops a bombshell — ‘”My daughter Melly is dead! She died when she was eight years old. She drowned at Shadyside Day Camp.”‘ [Oop]
A confused Kenny heads home and finds Ty in his driveway, surprisingly wanting to call a truce. He apologises for his hostility and knows Kenny didn’t slam the trunk on his hand on purpose, [Again, why was your hand in the way in the first place when you were both trying to shut it?] and Kenny also apologises for accusing him of painting his car. Now best friends, Kenny tells Ty he thinks Vincent was responsible, and then fills him in on the Melly situation, too, including what her mother had told him. Ty is skeptical about the validity of her words, suggesting that Melly’s whole family is as nuts as she is, and Kenny decides he might be right.
It’s Monday night now, the second overnight, and this time everyone’s camped out along the Conononka River, where they’ll go canoeing tomorrow before a picnic. It’s almost bed time, but Vincent’s got a new deck of tarot card and reckons Kenny should have another go. Graydon remembers that Vincent had claimed the original deck was special and had been passed on by his grandfather, to which Vincent replies that his grandfather got him a new deck too, but Graydon doesn’t believe him. Not wanting to chicken out, Kenny agrees to pull three more cards, but once again it’s three black skulls. [What’s the bet they’re all black skulls] Everyone is stunned, but Graydon demands to see the deck and snatches it up before Vincent can react. He fans out the cards and turns them over for everyone to see, revealing that every single card is a black skull. [Cheeky little devil, Vincent!] Vincent thinks it’s hilarious but no-one else joins in the laughter, and Kenny has a bad feeling about tomorrow’s canoe trip.
The next morning, Ty helps send off the canoes, with Kenny’s group being the last batch to go. The group is split between three canoes, with Vincent, Dan and David taking the first one. Kenny, Matthew and Simon take the second one, leaving Ty to help Graydon and and Charlie into the third. The current is fast so they don’t have to paddle much, and once Kenny’s canoe reaches a bend, he turns back to see how close the third canoe is. There’s no sign of it yet, but he’s not worried; there’s silver-and-blue speedboats at the dock so other counsellors can patrol the river and make sure no-one gets into any trouble.
Shortly after rounding the bend, Kenny hears the roar of a speedboat and spots it behind them, heading for the canoe. It’s going super fast and Kenny realises its wake will turn the canoe over as it passes, so he shouts to the driver to slow down. The boat just continues on, though, and the glare of the sun on the water and the silver boat makes it difficult to see who’s controlling it. Rising halfway to his feet, Kenny finally spots the driver, wearing a red-and-white ski mask. But Vincent had left before Kenny’s canoe, so how could it be him?! [Maybe Ty lied about the truce, and got the same mask so he could toy with Kenny and blame Vincent? Or maybe it’s Melly, also trying to frame him?] The speedboat continues to speed towards the canoe and rams it before the occupants can jump out, sending them flying into the air and plunging into the river.
Breaking the surface, Kenny searches for Matthew and Simon, quickly spotting them in their orange lifejackets scrambling up the muddy riverbank to safety. Kenny stops at the overturned canoe to catch his breath, but before he can swim over to the riverbank, the speedboat returns and aims straight for him! Unable to dive down because of the lifejacket, Kenny manages to slip out of it and hurls it at the driver, who ducks down and swerves the boat, narrowly avoiding Kenny. The boat slows as it turns around, allowing Kenny a chance to swim over to it and climb aboard. He grabs Vincent by the arm and tries to turn off the ignition, but the boy struggles back, kicking and punching at Kenny with a bit more strength than Kenny expected. Kenny also realises Vincent is flabby now, and the ski mask has ridden up to reveal his neck, which is no longer covered in scars. Kenny manages to stop the engine and rip the ski mask off the boy’s head, revealing… Graydon! [What?! I’m actually surprised] Shocked, Kenny ask why he tried to kill him, Matthew and Simon, and Graydon bitterly explains he just wanted to kill Kenny, ‘”Because you deserve to die.”‘
A short time later, Kenny, Craig and Graydon are waiting near the boat dock for Graydon’s mother to pick him up. Graydon had stayed silent on the boat trip back, but quickly erupted when Craig started asking questions. It turns out Charlie had started puking before they could get in their canoe, so Ty went with him to find someone to take him home. Graydon was left alone on the dock, with the key in one of the boats, so he decided to take it for a spin. It turns out Graydon had been behind everything, getting revenge on Kenny for ruining his summer by spending all his time with that freak Vincent and paying no attention to him. He’d bought a mask just like Vincent’s but didn’t know when he’d get a chance to use it, but he got that chance today. He laughs about how scared Kenny had been, and then Craig walks him over to the car that had just pulled up. [So, he’s just being sent home to his parents? No police? He tried to murder Kenny several times!] After Graydon leaves, Craig reminds Kenny that he’d warned him Graydon was disturbed in his profile. Kenny is shocked because obviously he thought Vincent was the disturbed one, but all Craig had known about him was that he’d had a bad accident.
Anyway, everyone’s fine, and Matthew and Simon had decided to stay, so they’re with the rest of the campers. Craig suggest Kenny relax for a bit, then take a speedboat to the picnic area when he’s ready. Kenny rests in the sun, regretting how he’d accused Vincent of everything. He decides to go apologise immediately, but before he can get in the boat, he spots someone in a counsellor uniform floating facedown in the river, blonde hair spread out on the water like pale yellow seaweed… Melly?!?
Kenny takes a speedboat and heads over to the body, hoping she’s still alive and blaming himself for her possible suicide attempt. Her body is lifeless as he attempts to drag her onto the boat, then all of a sudden she springs to life, digging her fingernails into him as she grins. Glad she’s alive, he urges her to climb into the boat, but she tells him she actually died a long time ago, when she was eight. She tells him they met before and encourages him to remember his time as a camper here, back when he was nine years old. Kenny doesn’t remember, so Melly explains how she’d had such a crush on him, and looked forward to coming to camp every day to see him. She then asks if he remembers the mean counsellor that everyone hated, Tyler Gruman. Kenny does remember him, and also recalls reading about his death a few years ago, then realises Melly must think Ty Sullivan is the same guy, which is why she hates him so much. Melly explains that she’d felt sick one day, but Ty made her go canoeing anyway. The canoe ended up turning over and hitting her on the head, and the poor girl drowned.
She demands to know how Kenny could forget about what happened to her, and Kenny insists he’d never known — ‘”I guess they never told us. I guess they didn’t want to upset us.”‘ [Was the camp not fined or anything like that? It was a completely avoidable death if there were safety precautions in place] Melly’s been waiting for Kenny, watching him every day from the other side, and knew he’d come back. She smiles, and what had been so hard to resist the first time he’d met her now terrifies Kenny as Melly explains she ‘”borrowed this girl’s body from the cemetery so you would like me.”‘ [OK, so who’s body is this? What’s her story? It has to be a fresh corpse since it’s not rotting or anything] Melly hopes he likes her because he’ll be staying with her forever. Before Kenny can react, she grasps his neck and yanks him over the side of the boat.
Melly drags him down into the depths of the river with an iron grip, but Kenny manages to kick himself free and breaks through the surface. The boat has drifted too far now, so he tries to swim to shore, but Melly grabs his ankles. A speedboat appears in the distance, and as it gets closer Kenny spots Ty behind the wheel and calls out to him, still trying to break free of Melly’s grasp. He eventually does just as Ty arrives, who drags him into the boat to safety. Kenny thanks him for saving his life, explaining she’d been trying to drown him, but Ty has no idea what he’s talking about because there’s no-one else in the water.
Kenny can’t stop shivering as he explains what happened, but Ty’s struggling to believe him. He steers the boat towards a nearby cove and ties it to a log jutting into the water, then leads Kenny to a dry, sunny patch on the shore. He tells Kenny to wait here and warm up in the sun while he goes into the woods to find one of the hiking groups, reasoning that it’ll be quicker than taking the boat all the way back to the dock for help. [What? How? Like, how is a hiking group gonna help, on foot? Even if Ty leads them back to Kenny, they still need to get back to the main camp? Would it not be quicker just to head straight there on the boat? This is just asking for trouble]
Kenny closes his eyes and bathes in the sun, but soon hears another boat nearby. When he opens his eyes, Vincent’s masked face looms over him. Vincent tells him ‘”You’re coming with me,”‘ [Has Melly possessed a living boy now?] and Kenny notices the large butcher knife in his hand. Vincent complains he’d wanted to do it neatly with a drowning, but he’ll have to do it the messy way now, [It’s definitely Melly, but how?] then thrusts the knife towards Kenny’s chest. Kenny manages to overpower the boy and rips off the mask, revealing the face of a corpse — a mould-covered skull, thick yellow liquid oozing from the eyes, dripping onto decaying lips peeled back over blackened teeth. The corpse explains that it’s Melly, and she’d borrowed two bodies from the cemetery because the pretty one couldn’t be with Kenny all the time. [OK, I actually love this hahaha] Melly just had to be close to him, every minute of every day, and decided to pose as a camper in his group using this body.
Kenny’s time as a counsellor flashes through his mind as he realises he’d never actually seen Vincent and Melly in the same place at the same time; Melly had shown up when Vincent was off doing something else. The rotting face then leans in and plants its rotting lips onto Kenny’s. [Yum] Kenny gags and pushes her away as Melly begs him to come with her so they can be together. Realising he has to get rid of her for good before she can kill him, he hauls the rotting body to its feet. Melly smiles, thinking he’s hugging her, but Kenny quickly drags her to the river, where the speedboat she’d uses is idling in the water, and throws her into the air:
Shreiking in horror, Melly plunged into the water, into the whirring, razor-sharp blades of the speedboat.
The blades sliced the body’s head from its neck. The skull flew up, then splashed down—and sank like a stone.
The blades spun, slicing off an arm. A leg. Another arm. Blood spurted into the air, spattering the boat and the riverbank. Shreds of decayed flesh rained down on the water, floating on the surface like pieces of confetti.
[Love it!] Black smoke begins to spew from the motor as a chunk of bone finally causes it to die. Looking out over the water, Kenny asks out loud if Melly is finally gone. A faint voice replies back to him — ‘”Don’t forget me this time, Kenny. Please don’t forget me!”‘ And the book ends as Kenny promises he won’t before turning away and leaving the river. [So her ghost is still out there? What’s to stop her from possessing another corpse from the cemetery and doing it all again with a different name?]
Final thoughts
This was a good read, but there’s a lot that doesn’t make sense if you think about it. If Melly’s been waiting for him all these years, why didn’t she just possess a body and interact with him sooner? We know she wasn’t stuck where she’d died because she’d gotten these bodies from the cemetery. And then how did she even dig them up if she’s just a ghost? Also, the whole book is pretty fucked up considering the fact that Melly is eight years old, regardless of the teenage body she was in.
Graydon being the troubled camper was a good twist, I wasn’t expecting that at all. Melly alternating between two bodies was also unexpected, so extra points to Stine for that. Kenny was a likeable protagonist, although the whole cheating thing was pretty shitty of him. At least he felt remorseful and ended things with Melly before anything serious, but that doesn’t excuse his behaviour. I wonder if Jade will find out?! The lack of police in this book is concerning, too, especially after Kenny was shot by an arrow and the big reveal with Graydon. Shadyside police have shown up for less, so why didn’t anyone think attempted murder was worth calling them for?! I guess we’ll never know..
Just like in the first book, the weapon depicted on the cover doesn’t make an appearance, so I wonder if that’s going to be a continuing trend. I guess we’ll find out in the next one!
Overall, 139 troubled campers trying to kill a counsellor out of 195!
