Tagline: Sun, fun… MURDER!
Back tagline: It’s spring break!
Summary: Josh Maxwell is ready to party at Trisha Conrad’s ranch in Arizona. Meanwhile, his stepsister Josie is hanging out with a cute college guy back in Shadyside.
But Josh and Josie are about to find out that there’s no break from the senior curse—and that wherever they go, the evil will follow…
First impressions: A ranch in Arizona seems like a weird choice for spring break, right? Like, doesn’t everyone usually go to a beach or lake or something? It’s not a thing in Australia, so my knowledge is based purely on what I’ve seen in movies and tv shows lol. Maybe there’s a pool at the ranch!
On the cover we have a spooky skeleton hand, and with Josie being a protagonist I’m cautiously optimistic that maybe we’ll see the return of the evil skelly she unleashed back in Let’s Party. Given the poor track record of things on the cover featuring in the book, I don’t want to get my hopes up too high. On the inside cover we see Josh, Trisha, Jennifer Fear, one of the Palmer twins, and some other people who are cropped out having fun in the sun.
Plot-wise, it sounds interesting but at this point the senior curse needs to step up its game. This one’s a Super Chiller, so fingers crossed we get several deaths. We haven’t seen much of Josie and Josh since the first book, but I liked them both so it’ll be good to check in with them. But there’s still several seniors who haven’t had a chance to star in their own books and have barely been featured, and there’s not much time left!
Will the alleged senior curse claim some more victims before spring break is over? Let’s find out!
Recap
The yearbook’s been updated again, this time with Justin Thompson and Ty Sullivan marked as deceased! Here’s our roll call:
Rose – Josh’s love interest n the ranch.
Roberto – A college guy working on a dig near the ranch.
Cowboy Clay – An angry cowboy who’s bag gets mixed up with Josh’s.
Tim – Josie’s lame love interest.
Evan – Jennifer’s lame love interest.
Part One
The book begins with Josh Maxwell, Mickey Myers, [Also spelled like that in the yearbook. I really don’t understand how it goes from Myers to Meyers constantly throughout the books and in the yearbook lol] Gary Fresno and Deirdre Palmer on a plane as it touches down at Tucson International Airport, where Trisha’s waiting to take them back to her ranch. [What about Jennifer, and the others we can kind of see on the cover? Are they coming separately? Although now that I think about it, I guess the photos on the cover haven’t really been depicted in the stories themselves] Dana Palmer was supposed to be here, but she got the flu the day before they were supposed to leave, and her parents made her stay home, much to her boyfriend Mickey’s dismay. [Deirdre has a crush on him back in The Thirst, maybe she’ll shoot her shot! Or maybe Trisha’s in the mood to steal another friend’s boyfriend!] Gary’s a bit worried about what will happen when Trisha’s parents find out he’s one of the ranch’s guests on account of them not liking him — he is a ‘guy with an earring and an attitude’, after all! Josh, who’s looking forward to getting away from the horrors of Shadyside for a little while, reminds him that the Conrads are in Australia, and Mickey points out that even if they do find out about Gary, they can’t really do anything about it.
The group meets Trisha in the baggage claim area, and as they’re waiting for their luggage, Josh accidentally knocks some guy’s Stetson hat off after accidentally stepping on his foot. Some woman runs over the hat with her luggage, pissing off the man more. Josh apologises several times, but the rough-looking cowboy, who smells like sweat and beer and seems to be in his 20s, isn’t in a forgiving mood. He grabs Josh by the shirt and refuses to back off until they’ve settled this outside, dragging him towards the exit.
Josh manages to break free and hurries back to his friends as the cowboy yells out ‘”You wanna mess with Clay Hartley?”‘ and soon the group is driving away in Trisha’s Mercedes van. It’s not long before they notice a black convertible come racing up behind then, and Josh recognises the driver — cowboy Clay Hartley!! To their horror, the convertible smashes into the Mercedes several times from behind, but there’s no license plate on there for them to memorise. Trisha tries to lose the man by turning down a side road, but to their surprise the cowboy follows after them. [I don’t know why they’re so shocked?] Clay eventually pulls into the opposite lane and drives alongside them, shouting at Trisha to pull over. She refuses, and the then a truck comes roaring towards them from around the bend. Clay shoots his car forward and in front of Trisha’s van, narrowly avoiding the truck. As Trisha brings the car to a stop finally, Clay loses control of his vehicle, zig-zagging into the desert and eventually coming to a stop against a cactus. The tires are buried in sand, spinning furiously, which only digs them deeper until the car is buried up to it’s chassis. Gary remarks that it’ll take a tow truck to get him out of there, and as Clay gets out of the car to inspect the damage, Trisha drives off, leaving the guy stranded. [Karma’s a bitch, Clay!]
The gang soon arrives at Hohokam Ranch, and Josh is surprised by how luxurious the place is — emerald green lawns, horse barns, several swimming pools, gazebos and a tennis court. Trisha pulls up to the main house and the group inspects the damage to the van. The fender is fine, but the paint is scratched. [Is that all? Lucky] A long-haired man in a Stetson exits the house and asks the group what happened, and Trisha introduces the group to the ranch foreman, Simon Travis, before explaining what happened with the crazy other driver. Simon drops their luggage off at the west wing where they’ll be staying on his way to take the vehicle to the mechanic while Trisha gives them a tour of the ranch before they head to their quarters. As they collect their bags, a side pocket of Josh’s bag flies open, spewing clothes everywhere. As he quickly stashes everything back, a super hot, green-eyed girl with black hair appears. He introduces himself, explaining he’s one of Trisha’s friends, and instead of telling him her name she says that she knows everything about the ranch because her dad is the foreman:
“I was here before the Conrads bought the place and—”
“Excuse me, Rose,” Trisha cut in. “Could you do me a favor? Could you get one of the hands in here and make sure all the bags get to their rooms?”
Rose’s smile faded. “Of course.”
“If you could do it now…” Trisha said.
Surprised, Josh turned toward Trisha. It wasn’t like her to order people around.
But there was something brewing between the girls—
A flicker of tension. Resentment?
Josh isn’t sure what to think of the interaction, but Rose is already gone, so he follows the others as Trisha leads them to their rooms. She deposits Josh and Mickey into their shared room and the as they unpack, the boys discuss the place and how crazy is it that Trisha and Travis were so casual about the damage to the Mercedes. As Josh searches his bag for his swimsuit, he pulls out a western shirt, a tooled leather belt and red boxers with yellow smiley faces on them that definitely don’t belong to him. Confused, he digs through the clothes some more and gasps as he pulls out a revolver.
Realising he’s grabbed an identical bag that belongs to someone else, Josh and Mickey wonder how a gun was able to get onto an airplane. Josh finds a photo ID to a Tucson gym in the pocket of a pair of jeans and to his horror, the bag belongs to Clay Hartley, the psycho cowboy. Josh realises he must have been chasing them to get his bag back, worried they’ll find a gun! Josh tells Simon about the bag mix-up, and Simon offers to call the airport, who will probably send a van out tonight or tomorrow to fetch it. Josh is worried that the airport will find the gun and Clay will come after him [Well, he shouldn’t be bringing guns onto planes xxx] and insists he needs his own bag right away because he has no clothes, and suggests a ranch hand could drive it out to the address on the ID. Unfortunately Simon can’t spare anyone this afternoon and heads off, but Rose, who was nearby, recognises the street name and offers to drop the bag off. Josh warns that Clay is dangerous and is the one who smashed into the car and insists on going with her. [Lucky Rose has a big strong teenager to protect her from Cowboy Clay!]
15 minutes later they arrive at the Sedona Drive house, which looks deserted. Josh makes Rose wait in the car while he investigates, but there’s no answer at the door. He knocks again, and the door gives way, revealing a small living room with covered furniture, a mattress and a carboard box. Is this an old address? Did Clay move away? Since he’s not sure that Clay would ever be back here to find the bag, he decides against dumping it, and ventures into the living room to search the box for something that might have a new address for Clay. Unfortunately there’s nothing useful, and then the house starts rumbling! The entire home is shaking violently, rattling, roaring, ‘swallowing him!’ [It’s clearly an earthquake Josh, calm down, you idiot]
The idiot narrowly avoids being crushed by a huge bookcase before fleeing the house, screaming. Rose asks if he’s OK, remarking that that was a pretty big earthquake, hopefully the last aftershock from a bigger one a few days ago, much to Josh’s embarrassment. She asks why he still has the bag, and he explains the place seemed abandoned, so he’ll take it to the airport tomorrow or something. On the drive back to the ranch, Rose keeps glancing over at Josh, and her eyes seem to question him. She opens her mouth to say something several times but always changes her mind, which Josh finds strange: ‘Why does she keep looking at me that way—as if she has some kind of secret, some kind of secret she can’t bring herself to share?’ [It better be a good secret if there is one!]
Part Two
Back in Shadyside, Josie Maxwell and Jennifer Fear are bored out of their brains in Josie’s room. Josie’s complaining that they have nothing to do for spring break, and expresses some jealousy that Josh, Mickey, Trisha and Dana are living it up on a dude ranch. Jennifer corrects her than Dana couldn’t go, so Deirdre took her place, [What if there was a reason Deirdre wasn’t originally invited, though?] which she’s sure Deirdre is frothing over — ‘”Everyone knows she has a thing for Mickey.”‘ We learn that Jennifer was also invited, but her parents wouldn’t let her go. Josie knows that Jennifer hasn’t been getting along with her parents lately but still doesn’t know why, [It’s because her dad is a dirty liar] and Jennifer changes the subject. She thinks that something exciting could happen over spring break; they could meet some really cool guys somewhere, or Josie could get a call from a secret admirer…and then the phone rings.
It’s just Josh, who tells Josie about the fight with Cowboy Clay, but we don’t hear his side of the conversation so I’ve got no idea if he mentions the gun. He wants to talk to Mum and Dad but they’re not home, so Josie promises to tell them he called, and the call soon ends. After learning of the drunken cowboy, Jennifer has an idea; ‘”Something I hid away for the perfect occasion.”‘ It’s a surprise, though, so she tells Josie she’ll pick her up around 9pm and to wear something sexy, a little outrageous but sophisticated, and try to look older. Josie demands to know what they’ll be doing, but Jennifer simply smiles and says, ‘”Something dangerous”‘ before heading off. [Mysterious!]
Shortly after 9pm, Jennifer picks up Josie, who demands to know where they’re going because she hates surprises. Jennifer reveals they’re going to the Roadhouse, a bar just outside Waynesbridge. Josie is baffled by the idea of sitting at a bar and getting drunk, but Jennifer insists they’ll meet lots of older hotties. Jennifer and Josie are only 18, of course, [Which is the legal drinking age in Australia, thank god] but Jennifer has fake IDs! Deirdre had gotten them made for Jennifer and herself before school started last fall, but they haven’t used them yet. Josie complains about using Deirdre’s fake ID, since she looks nothing like her, but Jennifer assures her it’ll be fine; the bar will be dark, and she can just flash the ID quickly so no one can scrutinise the photo.
Luckily there’s no ID checks at the door of the Roadhouse, so the girls waltz right in and grab two seats at the bar. The place is pretty crowded, and they wait for the only bartender to come take their order. Josie’s nervous when he takes a really close look at another girl’s ID, so Jennifer offers to grab both drinks, since she looks older: ‘”Maybe he’ll only look at my ID.”‘ As the bartender starts to make his way over, a hand grabs Josie’s shoulder and a voice booms, ‘”You’re both under arrest. Come with me.”‘ Josie practically shits her pants, but it’s just fellow Shadyside senior Matty Winger, ‘Voted Most Likely To Be a Nerd for the Rest of His Life’. [Hahahaha, he is pretty annoying] Josie absolutely can’t believe her luck — ‘Matty Winger. Of all people. Yuck. Was this the low point of her life?’ [Hahahahaha] Jennifer asks if he can buy them beers, and he agrees, dragging them over to his table and introducing them to his cousin, Mo, who’s apparently as gross as Matty and looks like a ferret. A waitress arrives to take their order, but asks to see ID when Matty requests alcohol. Of course, the dipstick doesn’t have a fake ID and the foursome are removed from the bar. It’s still early, so Matty suggests they all go somewhere. Maybe they could drive up to the river, and fool around or something:
Then he whispered, loud enough for both girls to hear, “My cousin has never made out with a girl.”
“Now that’s a surprise!” Jennifer said, rolling her eyes.
She and Josie both burst out laughing.
They were still laughing a few minutes later, wiping tears from their eyes, as Matty and Mo drove away.
“Wow. What a night” Josie murmured finally.
“I guess this was better than being poked with a stick,” Jennifer said.
“I think I’d like to try the stick,”‘ Josie replied.
And then they both started laughing again.
[These two are hilarious hahaha] The girls immediately stop laughing when they notice one of Jennifer’s back tires is flat. Jennifer complains about not knowing how to change a tire, and as if on cue, two guys appear from around a blue van and offer help. [What’s the bet they punctured the tire so they could be knights in shining armour? And what’s the bet they’ll seem great at first but turn out to be creeps?] The girls gratefully accept, and the boys introduce themselves as Tim and Evan and suggest the girls wait in their van. [Yes, in the van…] The girls wait at the side of the van and try to work out which boy is which. [What? How exactly did they introduce themselves if it didn’t explain who is who?] Jennifer’s pretty sure the tall, skinny one with great eyes is Tim, and the shorter one with the killer smile and great body is Evan. Jennifer wants Evan, but Josie questions why she thinks the boys are keen on them. Jennifer is like, ‘”You’ll see,”‘ and then they’re interrupted by Evan’s scream; he groans that the jack slipped and his legs are crushed under the car! But it’s just a cheeky prank, he’s totally fine. With the tire replaced, Jennifer flirtily comments on how nice that was of them. Tim explains that they’d seen the girls in the bar, ‘”And we thought we’d like to meet you. That’s why we let the air out of your tire.”‘
[Oop] The girls laugh along, but Josie is starting to feel a little uncomfortable. The boys confirm they’re joking, but Josie isn’t sure whether to believe them. Then she scolds herself for always being so cautious and suspicious. Jennifer asks if they go to college in Waysnebridge, and while the boys say they do, their shared glance makes it seem like they’re lying, so Jennifer asks what their major is. After another glance, Evan reveals he’s majoring in flower arranging, and Tim is studying modern dance. Then they burst out laughing and slap each other a high five, because it’s just another joke! [These guys are fkn lame lol] They are college students though, but they don’t bother to explain their real majors. They invite the girls to the dorm party they’re heading to, and Josie pulls Jennifer aside to discuss. Josie is reluctant since these are total strangers, and they’re kind of weird. Jennifer argues that the point of tonight was to meet cute strangers, and the guys were just goofing; she thinks they’re funny! [Jennifer please, Matty Winger is funnier than these two] Josie finally relents, but knows that if she wasn’t so bored and jealous of Josh’s spring break, and if they hadn’t run into Matty Winger ‘and his ferret cousin’, she never would have agreed to go with Tim and Evan. They seem dangerous, twisted. Or is she just being timid and afraid, as usual?
The girls tell the guys they’re happy to come check out the party in their van, and the guys agree to drop them back off at Jennifer’s car later. [This is how people get murdered, girls] The group makes brief small talk on the way to the party, with Jennifer revealing she and Josie are seniors at Shadyside High. Tim thinks that’s awesome, and Josie, who’s in the passenger seat, notices him glance at Evan in the back through the rearview mirror. Tim then takes the freeway, which is not the right way to the college, as Josie points out. Evan suggests they cruise around for a while instead of going to the party, [I’d probably be shitting myself if I was one of the girls. I would never do something like this] but before it can be discussed further, the group hears police sirens coming up behind them. A worried Tim quickly admits the van doesn’t belong to them… they “borrowed” it.
But then the squad car speeds right past them, and Tim laughs as he reveals that of course this is his van. It’s just another one of their lame ass jokes. [Oh my god, they’re so fkn annoying] At Evan’s instruction, Tim turns the van around and they head towards the dorm party, chatting and laughing the whole time. Josie starts feeling more comfortable and lets herself loosen up. But her mood dampens as soon as they arrive at the dorm and see no evidence of a party. The boys realise they must have got the date wrong and invite the girls to their dorm for pizza, but Jennifer’s over it at this point and demands they take her and Josie back to her car. They agree to meet up some other time, though, and Evan decides that that means tomorrow night.
Finally arriving back at the Roadhouse, Jennifer writes hers and Josie’s numbers down and hands it to the boys. Josie asks for their numbers, but Tim says the phone isn’t hooked up at their new apartment yet. [Convenient!] The girls wave goodbye as the van pulls away, and then they notice Jennifer’s car. Smears of red paint cover the windshield, running down onto the hood, spelling out two words: ‘WANNA PLAY?’
Part Three
It’s dinnertime at the ranch now and the gang is having a barbeque. It’s the first time Josh is meeting Roberto Morales, a college kid working on a dig on the far side of the ranch, looking for artefacts and stuff. Everyone else had met him at the pool earlier today while Josh and Rose were at the mall buying replacement clothes. Gary doesn’t like the way Trisha and Roberto interact and makes sure to interrupt their conversation about college and drag her away. [Faire enough, Trisha cannot be trusted around other men] Rose comes over with some brownies, and Josh makes an absolute fool of himself by asking her if she made them herself. What an idiot! [I think it’s a pretty fair question, but Rose sarcastically says that she did, and also milked the cows and plucked the chickens too, so he feels stupid. I don’t like her] After dinner, the group gathers around the bonfire, and Gary wants to know why it’s not called the Conrad Ranch. Trisha thinks a name change is a great idea, but Rose shuts that down — ‘”The ranch was named long before the Conrads bought it.”‘ [There’s so much tension between the girls, and I can’t wait to learn why! Hopefully it’s not something stupid. But it probably is] Simon explains that it’s named after the Hohokam Indian tribe, who disappeared from the area about 500 years ago. Hohokam means ‘The Vanished Ones’, but we don’t learn if the tribe was already called this, or the name came after their disappearance. No-one knows what happened to the tribe, and Roberto’s excavation team is hoping to find answers to the mystery. They’ve already found some artefacts, like pottery and tools belonging to the tribe, but Roberto’s desperate for a big find and is hoping for a petroglyph. Josh, who we now learn has always been interested in archaeology, explains to the group that a petroglyph is a carving on a rock; sometimes a picture, sometimes words. He tells Roberto he wouldn’t mind a tour of the site, and Deirdre’s also keen for a treasure hunt. Rose thinks it’s a bad idea, and while reluctant at first, Roberto agrees after Trisha reminds him he’d always promised to show her around, as long as everyone agrees not to disturb anything. Rose cries out in protest, and gazes from one face to another, begging them not to go there.
Rose doesn’t want anybody disturbing the site and reveals that two students working there have gotten sick, and there was a fire in a tent. Roberto dismisses these incidents as food poisoning and an unlucky lightning strike respectively, but Rose insists it’s supernatural — ‘”Ever since they started digging on Hohokam Ranch, terrible things have been happening.”‘ She thinks it’s the work of La Amadora, who was a respected elder of the tribe and had many powers. When she was alive, she enchanted creatures of the desert, and still appears through animals sometimes. Other times, she’s been spotted in her red cape, creeping over the buried villages; she roams the ancient settlements of the mountains, protecting them from strangers, and Rose is sure she’s trying to protect the ranch. La Amadora is apparently searching for the force that made her tribe disappear, and you can sometimes her her howling an angry cry of revenge. Roberto howls like a wolf and laughs at Rose for believing in the legends, so she asks him to explain Ben Granger. Roberto tells the group he’d been found dead in a ditch with a broken neck, and it had been decided that Ben simply lost his footing. Rose disagrees with this, pointing out that the ditch had been dug by the archaeologists; ‘”He got too close. Too close to the Hohokam.”‘
We jump forward a few hours now, and people are starting to head to bed. Mickey tells Josh he’ll meet him at their room later; Dierdre’s spooked by Rose’s ghost story, so he’s going to make sure she gets to her room safely — ‘”At least, I’ll get her back before sunrise.”‘ Josh reminds him of his girlfriend, Dana, Deirdre’s twin, but Dana’s not here and Deidre’s the next best thing. [You’re better than this, Deirdre!] Josh is all alone now, and as he lays back and gazes up at the stars, thinking about Rose, he’s startled by a high wail echoing across the dark ranch. An eerie, desperate cry that may or may not be human, but definitely freaks him out. Josh hauls ass back to the west lobby as the wailing continues and bumps into Roberto as he opens the screen door. He tells Roberto about the noise, but Roberto didn’t hear it. There’s no noise now, and after a bit of teasing, Roberto heads to bed.
Josh is too freaked out to sleep and later that night, he tells Mickey about the sound. Mickey teases that it was La Amadora and mocks Rose’s theatrics earlier about them going to the dig site. The boys really want to see it, so they decide they’ll go visit it right now! Taking some flashlights, the boys sneak out of the west wing and find the path that Mickey had seen workers go down earlier. As the building disappears into the darkness, they hear a shrill voice cut through the night. Luckily it’s not La Amadora, but Deirdre, who comes chasing after them down the path. Trisha’s out and about with Gary, and she’d seen Josh and Mickey leaving, and there was no way she was staying in the building alone! She initially thinks they’re joking when they tell her where they’re headed, but tags along, presumably to spend time with Mickey because they’re very flirty.
15 minutes later, they arrive at the site, which is roped off and marked with flags, like a grid. Some parts are dug up, others untouched. The trio starts to hear scraping noises that sound far away, and while Mickey teases that it’s a ghost to scare Deirdre, Josh decides it’s just an animal. Deirdre wants to go, but Josh insists on taking a minute to check the place out. Mickey promises to protect Deirdre and wraps his arms around her, and Josh heads towards some dark pits as they start kissing. [Goddamn it Deirdre, why would you do this to your sister?!] He stops roughly a foot from a hole, worried the sides could collapse if he gets too close, and sweeps his flashlight over the wide, deep hole. There’s a scuffling noise behind him before something presses into his back and pushes him, sending Josh flailing into the pit.
Turns out the hole is only a few feet deep, a dried up riverbed, and soon Mickey and Deirdre come into view above him. Josh tells them he was pushed, and Deirdre wants to get the hell out of there ASAP. As Josh moves to the edge to climb out, he accidentally tromps on a piece of pottery, breaking it. He pockets the pieces, hoping Roberto won’t be too pissed when he sees what Josh has done. [Just don’t tell him lol]
Unfortunately for Josh, Roberto is livid the next morning at breakfast when Josh produces the shards of pottery. The visit to the site they’d planned for today still goes ahead, though, and Roberto makes Josh carry the backpack full of water canteens and other supplies. It’s Saturday, so there’s no workers there, and Roberto gives them a tour of the place, explaining different things about the dig. As they continue on the trail that circles the site, Rose insists they’re too close to the ruins and will be disturbing the Hohokam: ‘”La Amadora is near. I can feel it!”‘ Trisha pretty much tells her to shut the fuck up and follows the rest of the group up the narrow trail. As Trisha reaches the top of the ridge, she suddenly screams in horror and collapses to the ground.
Josh races up to her with the others, where Trisha reveals she had an overwhelming vision. In it, she was with Gary, Deirdre, Josh and Mickey, and a coyote with red stripes started howling angrily at them, making them scatter — ‘”We flew through the air. Then we vanished.”‘ Vanished just like the Hohokam tribe, points out a scared Deirdre, who wants to know what the vision means. Roberto thinks there’s a lot of possible explanations, but Rose declares there’s only one. La Amadora caused the vision, and she’ll come to make something terrible happen! She insists they need to leave the ruins now that La Amadora has been disturbed, and instead of heading back to the ranch the group decides to hike to the nearby saguaro cactus forest, which has some ancient cacti, including one over 40 feet tall!
At the forest, they break for water, and when Josh complains about carrying the supplies, things get tense between him and Roberto, who won’t forget what Josh has done. Josh takes his water over to a boulder and is soon joined by Trisha. As they start to discuss the meaning of her vision, they’re interrupted by a rattling sound as a rattlesnake appears from a nearby burrow and chomps down on Trisha’s leg. Josh alerts the others as Trisha collapses to the ground, and Rose calls through to her father via the two-way radio. Trisha is lifted onto Gary’s lap to elevate the rest of her body while Roberto ties a constriction band above the bite. Rose apologises for scaring everyone with all the La Amadora talk and hopes that it wasn’t the spirit behind the bite, and then Simon arrives in a jeep. Josh watches as Roberto and Simon lift Trisha into the back of the vehicle, wondering if everything is going to be OK; Rose seems so certain that La Amadora is real, so is there something she’s not telling them?
Part Four
Meanwhile in Waynesbridge, Josie and Jennifer are on a double date with Tim and Evan at a crowded restaurant. They’re having a great time and annoying everyone else in the building with their obnoxious laughter, but the boys are just sooooooooo funny! Tim’s face is covered in spaghetti sauce because he apparently doesn’t know how to eat, and it’s just soooooooooooOoOo00O0o0 hilarious! [These college boys are killing me, they’re so annoying] Josie’s really into Tim now and can’t believe she and Jennifer had had their doubts about seeing the boys again. Jennifer had insisted they needed a spring break adventure, but Josie’s hoping it’s not too much of an adventure, especially after the words scrawled on Jennifer’s windshield last night. Josie can’t help but wonder if the evil spirit she unleashed earlier in the school year was responsible. Is it still out there, waiting to finish off the senior class? Or was it just some random at the bar?
Soon, Josie heads to the bathroom but is startled by a rasping whisper that seems to be coming from a closed stall: ‘”Wanna play?”‘ [Oop] Josie asks who’s there, but the voice only repeats itself. Josie checks under the stall but doesn’t see any feet, so she climbs onto the toilet in the stall next to it and peeks over. It’s completely empty, bur Josie continues to hear the chilling voice. Josie hurries back to the table to find Evan missing, apparently having gone to the bathroom himself. She wonders if he could have been whispering to her from outside the bathroom window, and asks if he’d gone outside when he returns. He denies it and asks why, and she just blushes instead of explaining herself. Tim suggests they head off, and Jennifer proposes they head up to River Ridge, which we know is the most popular makeout spot in Shadyside, overlooking the Conononka River.
At River Ridge, Jennifer and Evan go for a stroll while Tim admires the view near the edge of the cliff. Josie’s scared of heights, but Tim insists she needs to check it out, assuring her he’ll keep hold of her. Josie likes the sound of that, and soon she’s in front of Tim, his hands on her shoulders. He asks if he likes scary movies, and then he shoves her off the cliff. But then his strong hands wrap around her waist, saving her from a fall, and he comments on the close call. Josie’s like, “Umm, wtf, you pushed me,” but Tim insists he slipped on the wet grass. She demands to know why he asked her about scary movies, and he explains that he watched one a few weeks ago that ended on a high cliff like this; he was simply reminded of it. Josie isn’t sure what to believe, but she doesn’t have time to question it because now they’re kissing.
Josie wakes up the next morning remembering Tim’s kisses. ‘”He was so sweet,”‘ she says to herself, as if he didn’t force her to come to the edge of the cliff despite her fear of heights, push her off and then gaslight her about it. [Josie, plz]
In the kitchen, Mum asks her to bring the paper in, because I guess her legs are painted on, and Josie is horrified when she notices some words splashed in red paint across the walk: ‘WANNA PLAY ROUGH?’ [Could Tim and Evan be behind all this? But then who wrote on Jennifer’s car?]
Part Five
Back at the ranch, [It’s the same day that Trisha got bitten, but it’s a bit confusing how because time seems to go forward and backwards when we jump between Josh and Josie] while a totally fine Trisha stays at the hospital overnight, Mickey, Deirdre and Gary head to the drive-in after dinner. Josh stays behind, hoping to get closer to Rose, who he’s falling for. Josh and Rose go for a walk in the dark, and he asks if Roberto ever lightens up. Rose has sensed the tension between them, and Josh explains about the pottery he accidentally stomped on. Rose can’t believe what she’s hearing, and Josh basically calls her an idiot for believing in the La Amadora legends. Rose reveals she had a run-in with La Amadora once while exploring a national park not far from the ranch; the park has a lot of rocks that have been etched with Hohokam petroglyphs. It was getting dark, and she’d moved off the trail to find other petroglyphs when she heard a wailing sound. She decided it was the wind, but then a coyote came out of nowhere, blocking the trailing and growling at her. It bit down on her arm, then disappeared as soon as she screamed. There was no wound or blood on her arm, just a jagged scar, which she shows to Josh. La Amadora could have killed her, but she didn’t for some reason. Josh comforts her as she tells him the traumatic story, and soon they’re kissing. [What if Rose and/or her father are Hohokam spirits/La Amadora?]
There’s something else Rose wants to show Josh, but he’ll have to catch her first, and she runs off into the darkness. [Lol, that’s very suss for someone who’s apparently super scared of La Amadora…] Josh tries to find her, but comes face to face with a coyote. It attacks him, and they struggle on the ground for a bit, with the beast clawing Josh’s chest and shoulder, until Simon suddenly appears and shoots the animal dead. Josh explains he’d been out here with Rose but they got separated, and Simon asks where his flashlight is, since that usually scares off the animals at night. Rose had it, of course, and here she comes now, explaining she lost him when he started running, so she went back to the trail to wait for him. [Yeah right. I don’t like Rose, there’s something off about her. Why would you leave someone alone at night without a light when you know of all the dangerous animals in the area????] Simon scolds them both for being reckless in the desert, remarking how lucky Josh is that he’d happened to come by on night patrol at the right time.
Simon drives them back to the ranch before continuing on with his night patrol after Josh refuses treatment for his injuries since his jacket took most of the damage. Josh and Rose kiss again before she leaves for her own room, and he heads inside, pleased that she seems to like him as much as he likes her. [Is being attracted to people who almost kill you something that runs in the family, or are you and Josie just idiots?] He’s also starting to think the La Amadora stuff is making sense, although he hopes the animal attacks really are just a coincidence.
Arriving at his room, Josh finds his it totally ransacked. He checks for an intruder but finds it empty, and wonders if someone had been looking for Clay’s gun. It’s still inside the duffel bag, though, so that can’t be the motive. Josh looks at the window, which had been left unlocked; apparently it’s the norm to leave the doors and windows unlocked at the ranch, since they’ve never had any issues before. There’s light coming form the east patio, and Josh spots Roberto leaving the building before heading down the path, getting into his car, and disappearing down the lane. Josh realises Roberto had been here all by himself and had the opportunity to trash the room; but would he have done something so childish over the broken pottery? Josh is too tired to think about it, so he heads to bed.
Sometime later, his slumber is interrupted by something stirring in the room. Josh initially thinks it’s Mickey returning, but sees a shape gliding towards him quickly. ‘”You had no right….” whispers the figure hoarsely as Josh springs up and demands to know who it is. He can’t see the face, just a flash of red — ‘A red hood? La Amadora?’ And then Josh sees the gleaming knife in the intruder’s hand…
Part Six
It’s a beautiful spring day in Shadyside now and Josie and Jennifer have met Tim and Evan for a picnic at the edge of the Fear Street Woods. Josie won’t be able to have fun unless she knows the boys aren’t behind the weird red words she’s been finding, so she asks, ‘”Are you the guys with the red paint?”‘ Naturally, the boys claim to not have any idea what she’s talking about, [She hasn’t really provided any context, to be fair] and she explains that someone is sending ugly messages to her. Jennifer sticks up for the boys, assuring Josie that they don’t know anything about these messages, but Tim shocks her when he says, ‘”Of course we do.”‘ They admit to writing the messages and to Josie’s horror, they stand up and smile evilly at her before float up into the air and melt into a single figure — the evil skelly she’d unleashed!
This, of course, is a nightmare, and Josie scurries over to Jennifer’s at 8am to tell her all about it. Josie also tells her about the evil spirit she’d conjured up in this very house; she’s sure the nightmare was a warning that the boys are evil and the spirit is toying with her. [If the evil spirit wants everyone dead, why would it be sending her a warning?] Jennifer’s the first person she’s told about the evil spirit, and Jennifer is surprisingly unreceptive considering she had her own run-in with the supernatural recently. When she realises Josie’s come to her because she thinks that as a Fear she’ll be able to help, Jennifer explains that she’s not a Fear at all; this is why she’s been fighting with her parents so much. Jennifer also reveals that Trisha Conrad is actually a Fear, which is probably why she has those visions.
Josie decides to call Tim and confront him about the messages, sure that he and Evan are behind them. The sleepy voice on the end of the line confirms it, but then starts laughing; it’s not Tim at all, but his roommate, Colin, who wakes Tim up and sends him to the phone. Josie asks him about the messages, but Tim doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Then he asks her to wait a moment because he’s got another call, and Josie tells Jennifer Tim isn’t responsible for the messages. When he comes back, he says has to take the important call, but will call her back later. Then, because he’s an idiot, he doesn’t actually hang up on her, but accidentally makes a three way call with Evan who’s on the other line. Josie stays quiet and listens angrily as Tim tells Evan that Josie’s starting to suspect something. He explains that he denied being behind the WANNA PLAY messages and acted real innocent, [How did they write it on Jennifer’s car if they were with the girls the whole time??? It doesn’t make sense; surely the girls would have noticed] and Evan laughs cruelly as he asks if they have a plan for tonight. Tim explains he’ll call Josie later and invite her and Jennifer to climb to the top of Copple Tower with them; it’s a historic building with a romantic view of the whole college campus. Then the boys will make an excuse to leave and lock the girls in there, just to return later to rescue them — ‘”The more we scare them, the hotter they are for our bods!”‘ [Grosssssss 🤮🤮🤮] Josie quietly hangs up the phone, seething with rage, and explains to Jennifer what creeps the boys are:
“Tim really did push me off the cliff,” Josie said, shaking her head, her voice trembling with anger. “And then he caught me. So I’d be so grateful to him!”
Josie pounded her fist on the table. “It had nothing to do with the evil spirit! Nothing at all. Tim and Evan—they’ve been trying to scare us. Scare us—then rescue us. It’s all a stupid trick to get us to think they’re great guys!”
“Oh, wow,” Jennifer moaned, suddenly pale. “Oh, wow.” She raised her eyes to Josie. “What are we going to do?”
“Don’t worry,” Josie replied. “I’ve got a plan.”
Part Seven
Back to Josh, who attempts to tackle the knife-wielding, red-cloaked intruder but totally misses. When he turns around to face the attacker again, there’s no sign of them. He can hear footsteps receding outside, and moves to the window in time to see someone duck behind a trellis. Convinced it can’t be La Amadora since a spirit doesn’t walk, Josh is faced with a scary thought: is someone at the ranch trying to kill him?!
Josh doesn’t mention the attack to anyone the next day and they all go horseback riding, except for Mickey who wants to beat his high score on Space Crushers in the game room. As the group travel single file up a ridge, the horses get a bit scared, aware of the steep drop alongside the trail. Rose and Simon calm the horses and the group continues, but soon Trisha remembers more of the vision she had yesterday — they were all flying above this canyon, and at the bottom of the steep cliff is where they ended up!
Everyone freaks out now and they decide to turn the horses around and head back to the ranch. The plan is to have lunch by the pool, and Josh heads off to find Mickey. He’s not in the game room, so he heads back to their bedroom and finds Mickey in bed, covered by the quilt, his baseball cap pulled down over his head. Josh is about to wake him up when he notices a knife buried to the hilt in Mickey’s chest!
But it’s not Mickey; there’s no head under the baseball cap, and under the quilt is two fat pillows; someone’s propped it all up to look like a person! Mickey enters the room soon after and Josh yells at him for his bad prank, but Mickey is just as surprised by the knife and denies being responsible. Then he notices a note on the bed: ‘Give it back now—or this will be you.’ The boys assume it’s about the duffel bag, but that’s in plain sight in the bathroom; if Cowboy Clay was the intruder, why didn’t he just take it? [Could it be about the pottery Josh stepped on? Or something else unrelated to the pottery or the bag?] Josh starts to tell Mickey about the attack last night, but Mickey tells him to hold that thought, because he’d promised Deirdre he’d teach her the backstroke, and he may not be talking about swimming!
After a campfire dinner, Josh walks Rose back to her room in the east patio and opens up to her about what’s been happening. She’s sure it’s all related to the gun, because what else could it be, and they kiss a lot before saying goodnight. Josh hurries back to his own room, which is empty because Mickey is off with Deirdre somewhere, and he soon falls asleep. Sometime later he’s woken up by a pounding on the door and is sure the attacker is back to finish the job. But it’s Rose who begs him to open up, and Josh flings the door open to find her crying in the darkness.
He brings her into the room and she reveals there was someone in a red mask and hood ransacking her room. She doesn’t think he took anything, but he was very angry and pushed her to the floor. He said he’d been watching her and Josh and said she’d better make sure Josh gives it back. Of course, since the intruder isn’t specifying what he wants back, Josh is as clueless as ever. Despite how scared she allegedly is, Rose heads back to her room; her dad will stop by to say goodnight, and he’ll freak when he sees the mess. [You were basically just attacked alone in your room, why would you wanna go back there to sleep alone? Why wouldn’t you want your dad to know what happened? Rose is definitely in on whatever is going on] Josh walks her back to her room, wondering who the intruder is. If it’s not Cowboy Clay, could it be Roberto, still angry about the broken pottery? Or does Roberto think Josh took something else from the site?
By breakfast the next morning, Josh has decided that Roberto is the one after him based on absolutely no evidence, and enlists Gary and Mickey to help confront him. They head to the excavation site and learn from someone in charge that Roberto left on a supply run. Back at the ranch, the boys learn from Simon that Roberto will be back sometime after lunch. Meanwhile, Trisha and Deirdre had been looking for the boys so they can all go on a picnic; Rose knows a good spot with shade and a view! The teens all jump on a horse and Rose leads them all up the same trail as yesterday, although this time no-one’s bothered by the steep cliff next to the ridge, although Mickey is impressed by the view. A steady beating sound catches their attention and they all turn back to see a horse and rider galloping fast towards them. A rider who looks pissed off… A rider they recognise — Cowboy Clay Hartley! And he’s also carrying a black, long-barrelled rifle!
Clay catches up to the group and orders them all off their horses. Rose protests that the horses will run away, but Clay couldn’t care less, and everyone does as they’re told. The horses shuffle down the trail as Clay forces everyone to play a game of Line up on the Ledge, making them all take several steps backwards towards the edge of the cliff. The next part of the game is called Tell the Truth, and Clay steps in front of Josh and demands to know where it is. Of course, since ‘it’ could really be anything, Josh still has no idea what he’s talking about and doesn’t bother to ask for clarification despite the threat of being thrown off the cliff. Josh simply says he doesn’t have it, so Clay forces everyone to take another step back:
“This is so simple! So simple!” Clay shouted. “Just give me what belongs to me—”
A scream cut him off.
A shrill, desperate cry.
Turning, Josh saw Deirdre pitch forward.
The ground beneath her crumbled away.
Her boots sank into dirt and dust.
Josh hit the dirt.
Reached out.
Made a wild grab.
Missed.Deirdre screamed all the way down.
Josh watched helplessly as she fell, his arms dangling over the cliffside, hands still grabbing for her.
Her shrill cry rang in his ears. Echoed off the canyon walls.
It stopped with a sick crack.
He watched her body bounce on the rocks.
And then she didn’t move.
[Oof, poor Deirdre. Maybe it’s karma for hooking up with Dana’s boyfriend. I thought Deirdre would be one of the lucky ones to survive senior year, and Dana would be the twin that died. There’s still three books for Dana to get the axe, though!] Everyone is understandably horrified, and in a fit of rage Josh leaps up and tackles Clay, managing to take the gun from him. Traumatised by Deirdre’s fall, Josh’s whole body is trembling, and at Rose’s request he passes the gun to her and moves toward the trail to try round up the horses. But Rose tells him to stop, and he turns around to find the gun pointed at him. She orders him back into the line with the others and as Clay climbs to his feet, she asks what they’re going to do with them now.
While everyone [Except me] is shocked at Rose’s betrayal, she scolds Clay for taking things too far, because now there’s a murder on their hands! Clay corrects that it was an accident, and Deirdre simply fell, but Rose is unbothered — ‘”That girl is dead, and we still don’t have the coyote.”‘ Clay then grabs Josh and demands to know where the coyote is, because it’s not in his duffel bag. Clay snatches the gun from Rose and aims it at Josh, but Josh doesn’t know anything about a coyote. Mickey does, however, producing a small clay statue of a red-striped coyote from his pocket. He’d found it on the west patio and Simon told him he could keep it since he didn’t know where it had come from. Mickey planned on taking it home for Dana, but Rose yanks it from his hands and calls him an idiot because it’s not just any statue — ‘”It’s a genuine Hohokam fetish!”‘ [I had no idea that fetish has two meanings lol. In this case, it’s an inanimate object worshipped for it’s supposed magical powers or because it’s considered to be inhabited by a spirit. Interesting!]
Clay explains he’d just met with a dealer in New York who offered a lot of money for the coyote, and Rose gloats that she and Clay are about to be millionaires. Staring at the small statue, Josh remembers Trisha’s vision about a coyote with red stripes…and all of them flying over the cliffside. Part of the vision had already come true, with Deirdre dead at the bottom of the cliff, and now Clay wants to shove the rest of them over too! He plans to start with Josh, but Rose refuses to let Clay kill the group — ‘”I can’t let you! I’m not a murderer, Clay.”‘ Clay is, though, and he admits he killed Ben Granger, the ranch hand who allegedly fell and broke his neck at the site. Rose is alarmed by this because she never agreed to hurt anyone; she just wanted to get enough money to leave the ranch! She’d taken advantage of the La Amadora stuff to keep people away from the site. [So did she just improvise that story about the scar on her arm? Clever girl] She doesn’t want to be stuck here all her life like her father, but she refuses to kill anybody to get that opportunity!
Unimpressed, Clay demands the statue, and when he refuses, he makes a grab for it, knocking it out of her hands. It skitters along the stone path and over the side of the canyon, and Clay stupidly dives after it. Even stupider, Josh drops to the ground and grabs Clay’s ankles, but then Josh is being dragged down too! [Just let him go lol, why are you trying to save this guy?!] Clay thrashes about as he begs Josh to pull him up, but his movements only cause Josh to slide further forward. Then, just before it’s too late, firm hands yank Josh back, pulling him and Clay to safety. Josh turns around to find Roberto and Simon here, and the group quickly explain what happened. Simon agrees to call the sheriff, who’ll send a crew to recover Deirdre’s body and sort Clay out. With pain in his voice, Simon sadly proclaims that Rose won’t be getting away unpunished either.
While the rest of the group head back to the ranch in the jeep, Roberto, Josh and Mickey round up some of the horses. As they lead them back to the ranch, the dig site comes into view, and Mickey can’t believe he unknowingly had $1 million in his pocket. Josh thinks it’s weird Trisha saw the coyote in her vision, and Roberto reckons she’d probably seen the coyote in a book or a petroglyph on a previous trip to the ranch. Josh sarcastically suggests that La Amadora had given Trisha the vision, explaining to Roberto how Rose had really played the spirit up. Roberto insists that it’s an actual legend and La Amadora could very much be real, but Josh still isn’t buying it. Then Josh catches a flash of red moving at the dig site. It’s a woman in a hooded red cloak, standing next to a coyote! He asks the others if they can see it, but they’ve got no idea what he’s talking about, and La Amadora and her coyote have vanished by the time Josh looks back…
Part Eight
Back to Josie, who’s telling Jennifer her plan to get Dana Palmer and some of the other kids at school to put on some old ragged clothes ands green makeup to make themselves look dead and decayed and hide behind the tombstones in the Fear Street Cemetery. The girls will get Tim and Evan to take them to the cemetery before going to the tower, and when they all get there, Dana and the others will make it look like they’re climbing up from their graves! [This sounds fun! I bet Deirdre’s spirit makes an appearance]
Later that night, Tim and Evan pick the girls up from Jennifer’s house, and the girls suggest they head to the cemetery first because it’s dark and romantic there — ‘”We can get to know each other better.”‘ The boys are more than happy to make a pit stop, and soon they’re among the tombstones. As the two pairs are kissing, the first “spirit” rises up. Evan notices first and cries out, and Josie and Tim turn around to see four most ghosts climbing into view. They lumber about, uttering low moans in their ghastly makeup, and Josie admirers Dana’s commitment:
Dana wore a flowing white robe. Her face was so pale, it had no colour at all. Her blond hair flew up around her head. And she appeared to float above the tombstone. Float up softly, the robe fluttering in the breeze. So pale… so ghostly pale…
Dana waved to them, slowly, sadly.
Fabulous, Josie thought.
She saw Tim and Evan exchange confused glances. Glimpsed the fear in their eyes. Fear mixed with suspicion.
And then all four of them screamed as Dana Palmer raised one hand—and shoved it right through a solid granite gravestone!
How did she do that? Josie wondered.
[Yeah, that’s definitely Deirdre. Where’d she get the robe from, though?] The boys flee back to the van and speed off without a single thought for the girls, who laugh triumphantly and thank all their friends. Josie asks where Dana is, wanting to thank her for being so awesome, but no-one can find her. They decide that maybe she hurried home, knowing she had been ill lately, and soon everyone heads off.
Back at Josie’s house, she and Jennifer decide to call Dana to personally thank her. To her shock, Dana tells her she wasn’t there — ‘”Didn’t you hear about my sister?”‘ She explains that Deirdre died at the ranch and hangs up, sobbing, and the book ends as Josie tells Jennifer, ‘”I think Deirdre came to say good-bye to us tonight.”‘ [Ooky spooky!]
Final thoughts
This was absolutely not what I expected from a book set during spring break, but I loved it! The tribe and La Amadora stuff was super interesting and completely different to anything we’ve seen before in Fear Street. The plot back in Shadyside wasn’t nearly as interesting, especially because Tim and Evan were such losers, but I enjoyed seeing more of Josie and Jennifer’s friendship. The only thing I’m disappointed about, as usual, is the lack of deaths. In nine books so far, Deirdre is only the seventh Senior to die. This is supposed to be the doomed class, why have so many been spared so far?! Stine didn’t even bother to kill the damn villains! Poor Deirdre though, I really thought she’d make it through the year and Dana would get the chop somewhere along the line. Deirdre is much more likeable, or at least she was until she started hooking up with Mickey behind Dana’s back. As usual, though, the man gets away with his awful behaviour, and all we can do is hope that karma comes back to bite Mickey.
We do have some unanswered questions though; what happened to Josh’s bag? He never got it back and it was just kind of forgotten about. And who pushed him into the ditch that night? Was it La Amadora, or someone else? And why was there so much animosity between Trisha and Rose? Did Rose just not like that the Conrads purchased the ranch? And who painted the words on Jennifer’s car? Josie and Jennifer were with Tim and Evan the whole time, and surely the girls would have noticed if it had been done while they were changing the tyre?
Anyway, the book had a great pace and didn’t drag on or seem full of filler, like some other Super Chillers. The ending felt a little rushed, but it was still pretty effective because it tied the two unrelated plots together in a clever way. I’d love to know why Deirdre appeared in a white robe at the end instead of the clothes she died in, but I guess it’s not the first time Shadyside ghosts have changed outfits!
This is definitely in my top three Seniors books with No Answer and Last Chance, so 233 Hohokam fetishes out of 260!
