Tagline: Season’s greetings… the evil is back!
Back Tagline: Gone Forever…
Summary: Corky and the Shadyside cheerleaders are sure that the evil spirit is destroyed. The terror is over.
Then Hannah is mysteriously thrown through the car window. And Naomi is nearly burned to death. One horrifying accident after another. And now Corky can no longer keep her greatest fear to herself—the evil is back!
But where is it?
Corky, Kimmy, and Debra aren’t waiting to find out. They have a plan to draw the evil out. Draw it out and destroy it for good. Unless, of course, the evil destroys them first….
First Impressions: Is this really a new evil, or is the OG one back again somehow? The first three books didn’t have nearly as much deaths as I was anticipating, and this one seems like it’s going to continue that trend. I’ve been enjoying the Cheerleader chronicles anyway though, so no big deal. Corky is an amazing character with a lot of depth, and Stine’s writing has been better than usual. Looks like we’ve got a new cheerleader in the mix, too, so there goes Heather’s chance of becoming a prominent character I guess.
Let’s talk about the cover – it’s fkn great! It looks like Santa is supposed to be carrying a weapon – maybe it was edited out? It’s a weird way to stand if not. From the way this girl’s angled, there’s no way she can see Santa behind her so it looks like she’s terrified of that tagline hahaha. Still a good cover though, even if 80% of me believes there’ll be no murderous Santa.
Will Corky’s torment never end?! Will we like Naomi? Who’s the girl on the cover this time? Will I ever learn Corky’s real name? Only one way to find out!
Recap:
Meet the squad:
Corky – Our heroine who’s once again convinced the evil is back.
Kimmy and Debra – Corky’s besties who continue to help stop the evil.
Heather – Yep, she’s still here and still unimportant.
Hannah – Surprising has less screen time that Heather!
Naomi – The newest member of the squad.
Alex – Corky’s boyfriend who may or may not be cheating on her.
Jay – Alex’s best friend who definitely has some sexual tension with Corky, even if the characters don’t notice it.
Ivy and Lauren – Hannah and Naomi’s replacements who may or may not be inhabited by evil…
Part One: Party Time
The book begins with Corky, Kimmy and Hannah emerging from cheerleader practice into the snowy car park, shouting out some new cheers including this very explicit one:
Where are we putting it?
IN YOUR FACE!
Where are we keeping it?
IN YOUR FACE!
Slam it, Tigers! Slam it!
[What exactly is it? Could it be RAZZMATAZZ?!?] The trio piles into Kimmy’s car [Is Hannah part of the core group now? What about Debra?], but despite the icy roads, Hannah refuses to put her seat belt on because it’s only a 10 minute drive to her place [No wonder she’s about to be thrown through the windshield]. Hannah starts complaining about new cheerleader Naomi Klein, the replacement for Ronnie, who’d transferred school [What? Why? As in why, once again, are we writing in new characters instead of utilising the ones we already had? #JusticeForRonnieAndHeather!]. Corky’s quick to defend the newcomer, a trained gymnast with carrot-coloured hair, and suspects Hannah’s jealous because she’s not the exciting new star anymore [Sounds about right]. Miss. Green also moved away, so the girls have a new coach, Ms. Closter [Again, why?], but apparently her routines suck.
Corky’s boyfriend of one month, Alex, is also brought up [No last name mentioned, which is unusual… Some sources online say it’s Alex Beale, but I’m not sure], and we learn he’s a bit too popular for Corky’s liking – she’d seen him at the mall with Deena Martinson on Saturday, and last week, Kimmy saw his car parked in Janie Simpson’s [Of The New Boy] driveway! He explained that he was helping Janie with English after Corky confronted him about it, and Corky couldn’t stay mad at him because he’s just sooOOoooooooOo000Oo00O0Oooo00 good-looking [Corky, please].
Hannah suddenly remembers her parents aren’t home tonight and rudely invites herself over to Corky’s with a ‘”What’s your mom serving for dinner tonight?”‘ [Ew. Seriously, why isn’t Debra here?] She quickly gets her comeuppance though, because the brakes aren’t working and Kimmy loses control of the car. The spinning is stopped by a tree and Hannah flies forward, the glass shattering as her head hits the window with Stine’s trademark sickening crack. Corky and Kimmy are fine because they know the importance of seatbelts, but dumbass Hannah is sprawled over the hood of the car, ‘her legs dangling down over the dashboard.’
In the waiting room at the hospital, Kimmy is sure the evil’s back, claiming she felt in the car with her. Corky argues that the brakes just froze and she can’t just blame the evil for anytime something goes wrong, reminding Kimmy that the evil drowned in the river. It’s a bit of the pot calling the kettle black, though, because Corky also constantly wonders if the evil is back every time something happens. According to Kimmy, Debra also believes the evil is back, but Corky just thinks they’re just spending too much time together.
Two days later the girls are at practice where we learn that somewhere between the last book and now, Corky has inexplicably replaced Debra as co-captain with Kimmy. Energy is low because Hannah’s still in the hospital – there was some internal bleeding but she’s in a stable condition now, albeit with a bunch of stitches in her face and a broken collarbone. There’ll be tryouts on Monday for her replacement, but whoever joins the squad will need to practice practice practice because the Holiday Tournament is just two weeks away!
The basketball team enter the gym to start their own practice and Corky waves to Alex, but he doesn’t see her [Girl, he does not like you hahaha]. She heads over to chat to him, but he takes a while to notice her before agreeing to take her for a drive to the river after practice (She wants to make sure the evil isn’t free). Alex’s best friend, Jay Landers, a goofball who looks like a ‘very tall chicken,’ also offers to take her instead, but he doesn’t even have a car. Isn’t he hilarious?
Up at the river later, Alex assumes they’re there for a make-out sesh, and Corky can’t resist his good looks [Is that all you like about him, Corky? That’s not enough]. She eventually stops the kissing and climbs out of the car to look over the river, which is completely frozen over… except for the fishing hole someone’s made! There’s a white steam rising from the hole and upon seeing how terrified Corky is of it, Alex mainsplains how steam works [Omg]. Corky knows it’s actually the evil escaping to find a new host [OK, but like, why wouldn’t it have escaped before the river froze? Or has it really been laying dormant for some reason until now? Wouldn’t it have drifted away in the river current? Also, isn’t the evil green? Like, we’ve seen the white steam several times, but the other books made it seem like the green cloud is the physical manifestation of the evil], but she can’t tell Alex that so they haul ass out of there.
Corky tries to call Kimmy and Debra later to tell them about what she saw but neither were home, so she tries to call Hannah at the hospital, but she’s resting and can’t be disturbed [She also doesn’t even know about the evil so I’m not sure why Corky was calling her lol]. Later in bed, Corky has a nightmare about the evil floating across her ceiling of her room and down into her body – it’s a recurring nightmare, but why did it feel so real this time…?
On Friday night, Corky, Alex and Jay are at Pete’s Pizza, where Alex mopes about because he failed to block a shot which cost the Tigers’ the game. Jay is his usual goofy self and makes Corky laugh, and I feel like these two are a much better match. Alex finally cracks a smile, and Corky has a flash of jealousy when she realises it’s not because of her, but because of Deena Martinson, who’s just walked in with Jade Smith [Also from Wrong Number]. She’s all like “WTF Alex,” and normally I’d be like “WTF Corky, calm down, he’s allowed to offer a friendly smile to people he knows,” but it genuinely does seem like Alex isn’t interested in Corky one bit, so I’m all for it. Alex insists he’s just saying hi, but Corky suddenly has a bad feeling about him.
The next day, Alex bails on movie plans with Corky because he has to watch his sister, but his voice sounds strange and Corky suspects he’s ditching her to hang out with Deena instead. Miserable, Corky spends the day getting her ass kicked at ‘Mortal Kombat’ [I love Mortal Kombat!] by younger brother Sean. By Sunday, Corky’s desperate to talk to someone about everything and heads over to Debra’s house, where she finds Debra and Kimmy trying to summon a spirit by candlelight with a spell from an old book Debra found at a used-book shop. They’re not looking for the evil spirit, though, but one that will protect them from the evil if it really has returned.
Corky reveals what she saw at the river and joins their little séance, all three of them chanting in unison from the book. Corky begins hearing footsteps from the living room before the room begins to tremble, a low rumble filling the air. The girls continue chanting as the footsteps draw closer and closer until eventually a musty odour fills the room and all the candles go out at once [Ooky spooky!]. Debra clicks on a lamp and continues to call the spirit forward, but Kimmy’s terrified and begs her to stop. Debra’s a lot more calm than the other two and confirms she felt a presence in the room with them, but it left when they panicked.
Kimmy decides the book is too dangerous and Corky agrees that they should leave everything in the past and ‘”try to lead normal lives,”‘ which just doesn’t make sense at all because do they really think the evil’s going to let that happen if it really is back [Seriously, I don’t understand the logic here]? Debra agrees with me that they’re both dumb, but she knows she’s outvoted and agrees to save the book for a rainy day.
Time for some cheerleader tryouts now, and Corky and Kimmy have whittled it down to three girls; Ivy Blake, who’s athletic and dramatic-looking, her best friend Lauren Wilson, a great jumper with a weak voice, and Rochelle Drexler, who had the best routine and a super loud voice. The contenders wait by the bleachers, which are being currently worked on by two men so you just know something bad’s about to happen, while Corky and Kimmy head into Ms. Closter’s office to discuss their final decision. They ultimately decide that Rochelle is the best option, followed closely by Ivy, who happens to be standing just outside the office as they reach their decision. Ivy denies eavesdropping, explaining she has a tennis lesson soon and wanted to know how much longer she’d have to wait, insisting she didn’t hear a word of what they were saying [I guess Ivy’s our red herring this time].
Ivy returns to wait with the others, and just as Corky and Kimmy are approaching to reveal the new cheerleader, there’s a shout from one of the workers. Corky’s confused until she sees Rochelle, who’d been sitting on the floor brushing her long hair:
Then her eyes fell on Rochelle. Still cross-legged on the floor. Still leaning over, her hair over her face.
“Ohhhhh!” Corky let out a horrified wail when she saw the bright red gush of blood spurting up from Rochelle’s neck.
She saw the blood. And then she saw the screwdriver. Stuck deep into the back of Rochelle’s neck.
“Ohhhhh no!” Corky knew at one what had happened. The screwdriver had fallen from the bleachers above.
It had dropped straight down.
And now it lay embedded in the back of Rochelle’s neck.
The blood poured out over Rochelle.
The hairbrush fell from her hand.
She slumped forward until her head hit the floor.
She didn’t move.
[Surely the screwdriver didn’t fall with so much force that it impales someone hahaha. But if the evil is back, I guess it makes sense. Ivy is definitely suss, but she’s too obvious to be the bad guy, right?] One of the workers claim the screwdriver just flew right out of his hand, and as Corky heads to the office to call an ambulance, she notices a strange expression on Ivy’s face – ‘Ivy wasn’t smiling—was she?’
Rochelle is carted away in an ambulance, injured but alive, and as the remaining cheerleaders prepare to head home after being questioned, Ivy wants to know who the new squad member is. Kimmy and Corky are shocked because someone almost died right now, but they understand that Ivy and Lauren probably just want to think about something other than Rochelle. When Ivy is declared winner, Lauren can’t believe what she’s hearing and decides there’s only one reason she didn’t make the squad – ‘”It’s because of Alex and me!”‘ [Ugh]
The next afternoon, Debra’s over at Corky’s house trying to figure out if the evil is responsible for Rochelle’s accident. Corky doesn’t want to think about it and swiftly changes the subject to Lauren’s revelation, but Debra suggests Lauren’s a liar and just said it because she was angry at Corky for not choosing her. Alex finally returns the 12 messages Corky left for him to get in touch ASAP and claims he hadn’t gotten back to her sooner because he had stuff to do [Stuff as in Deena Martinson?! Or Lauren Wilson?! Or maybe even Suki Thomas?!]. Corky then asks him what’s going on with Lauren:
“Huh? Lauren?” She couldn’t tell if Alex was genuinely confused by the question, or if he was stalling for time.
“Yeah. You and Lauren,” she insisted. “Lauren told me that you and she—”
“Whoa!” Alex interrupted. “If she said that we went out or anything, it’s a lie.”
“You didn’t go out with Lauren?” Corky demanded. “What did you do—stay in with her?”
[Hahahaha get him, Corky] Alex explains he just helped her one night last week with a government project, but when Corky suggests he come over tonight to help her with her government project, he says he can’t and doesn’t offer an explanation. Thankfully, Corky knows he’s being suss af but leaves it for now and heads back to the living room, surprised to find Naomi there now too. Naomi breaks the news that upon Ivy’s suggestion, Lauren went to Ms. Closter and begged to be an alternate ‘”in case something bad happens to one of [the cheerleaders],”‘ so now there’s a seventh member of the squad. Corky and Debra are fine with the new addition because despite the events of the first three books and even the accidents in this one, they’re stupidly like “NoThInG eLsE bAd CaN hApPeN, rIgHt?” [Idiots]
Because the gym is closed for a few days while the police investigate Rochelle’s accident, the cheerleaders aren’t able to practice until the night before the pep rally for the big tournament. They plan on finishing with some confetti cannons at the rally, and they’ve been half filled so they can test them tonight. As soon as Kimmy, Debra and Ivy finish their handsprings, Corky, Naomi and Heather will pull the cords to set the cannons off. Naomi loses a contact, which is a common occurrence apparently, and I’m only mentioning it because when she finds it, she puts it straight back onto her eyeball without even cleaning it first, which is gross. Ivy tries to get Heather to swap roles with her, but Heather stands her ground so I’m sure something bad’s abut to happen to her [Ivy is suss but at this stage I’m thinking Lauren is our bad guy]. Sure enough, Heather’s cannon ends up backfiring, snapping her head back as she flies backwards and lands unmoving on the floor.
She’s fine though [Unless she gets a death scene, I suspect this is as big a role as she’ll get], and practice finishes shortly after. At Corky’s car, Debra and Kimmy confront Corky with all the reasons indicating that Ivy is possessed by the evil – first, Hannah’s accident makes room on the squad. Then Ivy overhears that Rochelle is to be the new member, and Rochelle is taken out, allowing Ivy to join the squad. Lastly, Ivy’s bff Lauren desperately wants to be on the squad, and Heather’s almost blown to bits! Evidently, the most incriminating evidence is the huge smile on Ivy’s face right before the cannon went off – ‘”What was she smiling about, Corky? What?”‘ [Debra, she was doing a fucking cheer, the whole point is to be beaming from ear to ear, you idiot]. Corky desperately tries to deny that the evil has anything to do with what’s been going on [And I was so ready to rage because what the actual fuck is wrong with her] but she eventually faces the facts and breaks down:
“Stop, Debra! Just stop! You want to believe the evil is back. You think it’s really exciting and fascinating! It’s a game to you and Kimmy! You didn’t lose a sister to the evil! You didn’t lose a sister you loved. I think about her every day of my life!”
Hot tears rolled down Corky’s face. Her entire body trembled. “I miss Bobbi so much! I think about her every hour!” Corky said, sobbing. “I think about my poor sister and the horrible way she died. And I don’t want the evil to be back! I want it all to be accidents, Debra! All accidents!’
[Poor Corky 😢] Debra and Kimmy apologise, but whether Corky likes it or not, there’s more to come and the next accident could happen to one of them, which sounds like a threat to Corky [Don’t be dramatic, Corky, you know she’s right]. When Corky arrives home, she’s surprised to find Alex waiting for her. He seems nervous and there’s something he needs to tell her, so Corky’s convinced he’s about to dump her which sucks because she really cares about him [Know your worth, Corky], but Jay arrives for some reason before Alex can say anything.
It’s tournament time now, and the crowd is roaring as the girls do their cheer routines. The last one of the night involves fire batons and because Corky, Debra and Kimmy are fucking idiots, they’ve either assigned or allowed Ivy to be in charge of lighting the batons [Seriously, why the hell would they give this task to someone they think is evil and has tried to kill them in the past? Why are they so stupid now?!]. As the girls start the routine, Corky hears some sharp, high-pitched cries and thinks it’s a puppy squealing [WHY IS SHE SO DUMB NOW I DON’T UNDERSTAND] before realising that flames are spreading over Naomi’s body [!!!]. Kimmy is quick to act and is able to smother the flames before they reach Naomi’s face, so we’ve avoided yet another death [I want deaths, damn it!].
The next day, Corky, Kimmy and Debra trudge through Shadyside Park discussing the latest accident. Naomi be in hospital for a few weeks, which means not only is Lauren on the squad, but she’s also Corky’s number one suspect in regards to being the evil. Kimmy points out that it was Ivy who lit all the batons and must have made sure the kerosene ran all over Naomi’s one, but Corky saw Ivy crying her eyes out when Ms. Closter questioned her, swearing up and down that she had been careful. Debra agrees that Lauren could be making it seem like Ivy is guilty, but Corky snaps that it doesn’t really matter which one is possessed because they’re all in agreement that the evil is back after what happened to Naomi [Darl, we all agreed it was back a long time before Naomi’s accident!].
Then they hear a girl’s voice and follow it towards the bank of the frozen river [Not sure why this is suspicious, though, because they’re in a public place lol] where they spot Lauren standing on the shore, watching as Ivy skates on the ice. The girls watch from behind the trees as Ivy skates in a strange pattern over and over again, which Debra theorises is some kind of symbol. Soon there’s a small hole in the surface and Ivy rapidly skates around it as a white steam begins to rise. To Corky, this is proof that Ivy is the evil one, and Debra’s already thought of a plan to get rid of her – ‘”We have to drown her.”‘ [Great idea Debra, because that’s worked the other 104068976 times it’s been drowned]
A few days later, Corky works up the courage to call Alex and ask him to a Christmas ice-skating party she’s throwing tomorrow afternoon at the river with Kimmy and Debra. She’s been avoiding him since that Thursday night at her house, you see, because she’s convinced if they start talking he’ll break up with her [Corky you are better than this. You’re killing me]. Alex thinks it’s a weird idea but agrees to go as her date, and we learn through Corky’s internal monologue that this is just some sort of cover to drown Ivy [In front of a bunch of potential witnesses? How does that make sense?].
Of course, Alex calls at the last minute saying there’s something he’s gotta do before the party, so Corky has to find her own way to the river and ends up being late. Debra and Kimmy are way too cheerful considering they’re about to attempt an assassination, but they’re just trying to act normal to avoid any suspicion. Corky heads off to ice skate where she bumps into Jay and has a grand old time. She asks why Alex is being weird lately, but Jay claims not to know [Bros before hoes, right Jay?].
Jay offers to skate with her later if Alex doesn’t show up before heading off to talk to Gary Brandt, and Corky continues on alone, skating away from everyone else for some reason. She’s dreading the plan to drown Ivy, which apparently involves revealing ‘in front of everyone that Ivy is the evil,’ [Which sounds like a bad plan anyway, but one huge flaw here is that Corky, Kimmy and Debra are the only ones that know about the evil in the first place, so they’d need to first prove the evil is real, and then prove that Ivy’s currently possessed by it], but then her thoughts make her dizzy and she has to stop. She bends down, waiting for the dizziness to pass, and hears someone skating towards her – it’s a menacing Santa Claus [Oooh, so that’s our girl Corky on the cover!] and he’s got a long, pointed icicle in his hand. It all happens so fast that there’s no time for Corky to react before Santa’s upon her, lowering the icicle to her throat as he utters a fierce grunt [!!!].
It’s just Alex, though, who drops the icicle to catch Corky as she stumbles back, explaining he just wanted to do something funny to make her laugh because she’s been so down lately [Yeah, pretending to attack someone with an icicle is a great way to cheer them up, you pleb]. Corky pulls him in for a kiss because he’s just so sweet, but then spots Kimmy and Debra waving to her and heads on over because it’s showtime, baby! A short time later the trio are setting up some candles on the ice, away from the others, and we finally learn the exact plan:
Light the ring of candles. Chant the words. If the evil is inside Ivy, she will be drawn forward, pulled across the ice to them.
If Ivy is pulled by the chant, Corky and her two friends will know for sure, know that she is the one possessed by the evil.
If Ivy is possessed, they’ll break through the ice and drown her, then revive her once the evil is dead [OK but why are you doing this in front of a group of witnesses who won’t have any idea why you’re drowning her?! And again, why do they think drowning the evil for the 20384th time will kill it? Is anyone else frustrated by these girls?!? Am I going crazy!?]. Corky notices Ivy heading towards them as the trio set up the candles, so they quickly begin their little chant as Debra moves one candle in a circle above the other ones. And even though Ivy was already on her way over before they started chanting, the girls think they’re drawing her over [She’s probably just curious wtf they’re doing].
Suddenly there’s a loud crack and the ice starts shaking. The roar grows louder and louder until an explosion sends the Corky, Kimmy and Debra hurtling back. Corky watches in terror as the crack splits open further and ‘a swirling mass of thick black smoke [funnels] up from beneath the surface.’ A sour stench fills the air as the smoke pours out over the cheerleaders and basketballers before rising up further into the air. And that’s when Corky and the girls realise they were wrong about Ivy and the evil – ‘”We brought the evil to life! We’ve unleashed it!”‘ [So all the bad stuff that’s happened has just been coincidences? But the construction guy said the screwdriver just flew right out of his hand! What was up during the séance? The room was shaking and they could hear footsteps… was that really a protective spirit that they just decided not to bother with again? And why was Ivy skating a symbol into the ice? The math and mathing here]
Part Two: Game Time
It’s a few days later now [What, we don’t get to see the aftermath of the party? Lame], and the cheerleaders have just arrived at the Cliffside Inn in New Forster where they’ll be staying for the Holiday Tournament. The boys are staying at the Motor Lodge, which is right in front of the area where the tournament will be held, but there’s no explanation for why they aren’t all staying in the same place. Anyway, Corky and Kimmy are sharing a room with Ivy, and along with Debra, they’ve been extra nice to her because of how guilty they feel for thinking she was evil. Luckily, there’s been no accidents over the last few days, so Corky’s wishfully thinking that the smoke just blew away that night.
At the arena a little later, we get a cheer where every line rhymes except, annoyingly, the last line:
Everything is okay,
Shadyside has come to play!
Everything is okay,
Shadyside is on its way!
Everything is okay,
Shadyside is going to WIN!
[Why, Stine? What was the reason?] The Tigers are in the lead by halftime, so Ms. Closter instructs the girls to use the confetti cannons. Corky’s hesitant, but Lauren assures her that she and Ivy checked them before the game and there’s no problem this time. Corky, Lauren and Heather wait for the others to finish their handsprings and then yank the cords of the cannons, but instead of confetti exploding out, geysers of steaming black tar spew towards the crowd [!!!!]. The arena is filled with screams as spectators struggle to get out of the way and miraculously, no-one is seriously injured. The game is rescheduled for tomorrow at noon, and anyone who may have had an opportunity to tamper with the cannons is questioned by police.
That night, Corky has a dream where she can sense the evil but can’t see it, and then Debra and Kimmy appear, yelling frantically and pointing at her, but Corky can’t make out their words [Is this gonna be like The Third Evil and they’re trying to tell her that the evil is in her again?]. She wakes up and hears a tapping at the window and immediately assumes the evil has come to claim her, but it’s just Alex, who apparently walked here and insists she come outside for a walk [How far away is the motor lodge? Fuck walking down a highway in the middle of the night].
He tries to start a pash sesh butCorky wants to talk, finally confronting him about his suss behaviour lately. And get this – he’s not cheating on her, he just has a math tutor… that’s why he’s been late so many times, or has just not turned up at all [But why are you making plans when you know you can’t commit to them because you’re booked in with a tutor? Idiot]. Alex’s ego couldn’t take it if people knew, which is why he’s kept it a secret. They start smooching, and Corky notices that Alex is kissing different – harder, rougher, more needy [Horny boy!]. Because her eyes are open, Corky’s able to see Jay staring at them from the corner of the building. His eyes seem to be glowing an inhuman red, ‘or was it just the glare from the neon sign?’ and when Corky alerts Alex, Jay is gone…
The next day, the Tigers and the Lions get to the area early to warm up, and Corky’s got Jay on her mind – why didn’t he say hi last night? He usually has no issue interrupting Corky and Alex. Are he and Alex really acting strange, or is Corky just uneasy because she’s in an unfamiliar place? Soon, Jay yells at the basketball coach to get out of his face before storming off to the locker room, which is super weird because he’s never acted like this before. Then it’s time for an impromptu cheerleading battle initiated by Lena from the Lions, who’s gorgeous, graceful and athletic. After a bit of back and forth, the Lions finish up with a cheer where Lena does a perfect backflip at the end of each line, only she keeps flipping once the cheer’s over:
Another backflip. Another. The basketball players had all stopped their warm-ups to watch.
Another backflip.
And then Lena’s trembling voice rang out over the court. “Somebody—help me!”
Another backflip.
Corky watched the terror on Lena’s face as she flipped again.
“Help me! Please! I can’t stop!”
[She’s like one of those backflipping toy dogs!] Several Lions players manage to hold her down as a crowd of onlookers form a circle around her, but Lena manages to break free to continue her flips, screaming in terror the whole time. Then Corky spots Ivy, standing back from the crowd with her arms casually crossed and a pleased grin on her face…
The Tigers end up winning the game and Alex is the top-scorer while poor Jay is benched the whole time. Heading to the locker room afterwards, everyone finds the Tigers’ coach sprawled out on the floor, the neck of an enormous water bottle from a cooler shoved into his mouth. It rests on his face, empty, and Corky realises the coach drowned, his belly and chest bloated ‘like a big water balloon.’ [Oof, poor Coach Hall! Wish we had have seen this happen though, would be a cool scene]
Three hours later as the police are investigating the scene and questioning everyone, the Tigers are in the locker room enduring a rousing speech from Alex, who seems to have gotten over his shock and sadness awfully quickly. It’s obvious no-one in the room is picking up what he’s putting down, but that doesn’t stop him! Corky also notices Jay staring at her intensely and notes that he doesn’t even look like himself [OK, so is Jay possessed? The evil loves to murder those who wrong its host, and benching Jay for his outburst would definitely give the evil motive But isn’t that too obvious?]. Corky alerts Kimmy and starts to suggest that Jay might be the evil, but Kimmy cuts her off, telling Corky they need to get home “Before we all die,”‘ as if the idiot thinks the evil will stay behind in New Foster. Seriously, what the hell will going home solve?
Our core trio make plans to find a way home for the following moment and that night, Corky’s unable to sleep, allowing her to sees Ivy sneak out of the room at around 4am. She wakes Kimmy up and they follow Ivy out to the parking lot where she meets up with Heather, Lauren, Alex, Jay, and the rest of the basketball team. Everyone seems to be talking excitedly and kidding around before their faces all grow solemn and they head off into the woods behind the parking lot. Corky and Kimmy are confused af and are soon joined by Debra, who’d followed Heather and Lauren.
The trio follow the main group and stay hidden amongst the trees as they arrive at a frozen lake, where the cheerleaders and basketballers are all holding hands, sliding around the ice in a circle. In some kind of strange dance, they face outward and tilt their heads from side to side, raising their clasped hands over and over again ‘in strange slow unison, as if all part of a single machine.’ They’re completely silent with wide, vacant eyes, and as Corky, Debra and Kimmy watch on, they have a lightbulb moment – when they unleashed the evil at the skating party, the three of them were knocked back over the ice, out of the way as the black smoke poured over their peers, and now they’re all possessed [A group possession?! Why hasn’t the evil done ever done that before? It would have solved a lot of problems lol]! The dance is suddenly interrupted by a snarling dog who approaches the group, but Ivy and Jay wordlessly step forward and grab it midair as it leaps to attack:
Ivy and Jay heaved it up, straight up.
Corky gasped as the dog sailed high into the air. Higher than the dark trees on the shore.
Higher than any human could throw an enormous dog.
The animal disappeared against the blackness of the sky.
Then it came sailing back down onto the hard ice with a sickening crack.
The dog is still alive, though, and limps away as Ivy and Jay smile at each other. The rest of the group remains expressionless, but soon they all join hands again and the dance continues [Why does the evil always dance? Like, what is it actually doing? Is there any point to it?]. As our trio discuss what to do, the evil group suddenly stop, and Corky realises they’re all staring into the trees [!!!!].
Part Three: Good-Bye Time
The cheerleaders and basketballers toss back their heads and let out an inhuman wail in unison as they move towards Corky, Kimmy and Debra, who take off running back the way they came. Their pursuers continue to howl and soon Corky loses track of Debra and Kimmy – Debra was up ahead somewhere, but Kimmy slipped and fell and Corky didn’t stop to help her, [Wow, Corky]. Corky makes it back to the motel inn but finds the front office locked, so she jumps into the phone booth to call 911. The line is dead, though, and now Alex is blocking her exit!
He kindly invites her to come have some fun down by the lake and pulls her back towards the woods, where Corky manages to break free. She escapes further into the woods towards the lake, which is kind of dumb because that’s exactly where the evil wants her. She reaches the frozen lake and quickly spots a familiar face staring up at her beneath the ice, – it’s Kimmy, lifeless and bloated [Oof, wasn’t expecting her to finally die, especially now that she’s grown on me. I bet Corky’s glad she didn’t even consider to stop and help Kimmy when she fell before]!
Devastated, Corky flees back into the woods as the sun starts to rise, but is quickly spotted by Lauren and Jay. Dashing off again, Corky realises from the sound of everyone’s voices they’re trying to form a circle and close in on her, so she hides between two tree trunks growing together, entangled as one. Her pursuers are getting closer now, trying to coax her into revealing herself, but somehow no-one sees her hiding spot [Like, if they closing in on her from all directions, someone must have a view of her, right?]. The woods around Corky become silent now, and a bluejay takes off from a limb above Corky. There’s a soft thud and then silence once more, so an impatient Corky risks a peek to see if anyone’s around and spots the poor bluejay’s corpse on the ground [Poor little bluejay :(].
Satisfied that the evil gang have moved their search to another area, Corky exits her hiding spot and makes her way back toward the inn. In the parking lot, Lauren and Heather are boarding the minibus, where the rest of the Tigers are already waiting to be taken to the area for the next match. The bus driver suddenly gets off and heads into the inn’s office and, fuelled by her frustration and anger, Corky realises what must be done.
The passengers are all distracted so no-one spots Corky dash into the driver’s seat, and thankfully there’s a solid partition that hides her from everyone. She manoeuvres the bus away from the inn and up a road called Cliffview which, you guessed it, leads to the top of the cliffs that overlook the lake. Corky has some doubts about her plan, but she keeps picturing Kimmy’s drowned, bloated face urging her to keep going, and this gives her the strength she needs to drown her friends, hoping that once the evil is gone they’ll all be resuscitated successfully [And who’s going to pull them out of the water and revive this many, Corky?]
There’s a low guardrail along the edge of the cliff but it’s not strong enough to stop the bus and at the last second, Corky opens the door and leaps out. The bus plunges over the edge and crashes into the ice below, sinking beneath the water as the passengers scream in terror. Corky watches from the top of the cliff as several ice fisherman abandon their poles and hurry over to the hole as the water starts to bubble and boil. Thick steam rises up from the hole, a sign that the evil is drowning:
Corky watched as the steam continued to billow up from the ice.
No one came up.
No one swam to the surface.
Corky drowned the evil.
But had she drowned all her friends too?
[I wonder if everyone on the bus knows they were possessed, like Corky and Sarah Fear did, or if they’re completely absent like Kimmy was while the evil was inside her? If it’s the latter, surely they’ll all definitely drown because they’ll come to their senses and have no idea where the hell they are or what’s going on] In a daze, Corky makes her way back to the road and walks all the way to the arena with one thing on her mind – tell everyone everything. She barges past the ticket attendant and out to the arena floor, where she tries to tell Ms. Closter what’s happened but is drowned out by the crowd and a band. Then suddenly, the Tigers make their way out onto the floor, stopping the band in their tracks as the crowd groans in horror – the players are wet, puffy and bloated, with clumps of lake moss sticking to them and mud staining their uniforms.
The basketballers attempt to warm up while the three dead cheerleaders start a silent cheer, jumping about as murky water dribbles down their chins [This is horrifying hahaha]. Corky shouts that they’re dead, alerting the team to her presence, and they stagger towards her, ‘coming for their revenge.’ As they approach, Corky notices some of their injuries – the deep gash down the side of Alex’s face; Jay’s broken arm with the bone poking out; Ivy’s toothless mouth; Gary’s broken neck bobbing from side to side as he moved. The audience tries to flee the arena, screaming at the grisly sight, and Corky spots Debra charging towards her but assumes she’s one of the walking dead too. Then ‘the bloated bodies blocked out all the light’ as their hands grasp at Corky’s throat before a darkness sweeps her down to the floor.
Corky wakes up in the hospital and a nurse explains she’d fainted and hit her head at the arena. Her friends are all at the hospital too, which chill’s Corky to the bone as she realises she won’t be leaving the here alive. As soon as the nurse leaves, Corky’s on her feet and changing into her clothes. Debra suddenly appears at the door but Corky barges past her, still believing she’s dead, and races down the hall. She slips into a room to lose Debra and finds Alex sleeps peacefully on the bed. Sad, Corky creeps closer to her boyfriend, and Alex suddenly grabs her wrist, sits up and presses his face against hers – ‘The kiss of death!’
Alex pulls back and smiles at her, revealing how horrifying it was to almost drown . He asks why she wasn’t on the bus, and Corky realises that her friends mustn’t remember what happened [OK so they’re free of the evil, but why did he just sit straight up and kiss her without any warning, or even a damn hi? Hahaha]. Alex confirms that he has no memory of the accident and explains that the ice fisherman pulled them all out one by one, saving everyone’s lives, except for Kimmy who was dead by the time she was found. Alex also reveals that the water was strangely steaming hot, so none of them have frostbite. Hurrah!
A confused Corky blurts out that she saw them all at the arena afterwards, but Alex suggests she must have dreamed or hallucinated it because of her concussion [I guess a dream makes more sense because everyone seemed to see the Tigers, which is a fkn copout! But also, she saw the Tigers before hitting her head, so wouldn’t it have to have been a hallucination? Did she just hallucinate everyone else reacting to the ghouls?] since the fisherman got the teens to the hospital straight away. Debra bursts into the room and confirms she wasn’t on the bus, explaining that she made it out of the woods and kept running, past the inn and down the highway before hiding behind a restaurant. Then she made her way to the arena, where she saw Corky collapse and hit her head, and Corky realises that that’s when she must have dreamed of her dead friends entering the building [No, you saw them before you collapsed, Corky? What is with all these inconsistencies?!?].
Relieved that everyone else is OK [Well, besides Kimmy. Poor Kimmy making it this far before getting axed], Corky is satisfied the evil has been defeated [Why would this drowning kill it for good though?], and thinks of poor Lena the backflipping cheerleader – ‘at last, her terror would end.’ [Omg has she been backflipping this whole time? That’s hilarious hahaha]. And then the book ends with Corky, Debra and Alex realising it’s Christmas Eve and Corky wanting to go home. OK.
Final thoughts
OK so this one made me super frustrated, but I also think it’s my favourite Cheerleader book so far? I’m not sure why Corky, Kimmy and Debra were so fucking stupid all of a sudden and it was full of inconsistencies, but it was a great read, especially in the last third. I thought having everyone possessed by the evil was a good choice, but I don’t see why the evil wouldn’t have just done that from the start of this whole saga! I mean, obviously Stine didn’t think of it until writing, but an explanation in book would have been nice. We didn’t really see the evil as in depth as we have in the other books, and I feel like that was more of a hindrance. I mean, the evil didn’t appear until the very end of the second act, so what was up with all the weird stuff that happened before that? Make it make sense, Stine.
We didn’t have any deaths in the last book, so it was nice to see some murders again finally. RIP Kimmy though 🙁 Like I said, the third act was really good – having Corky isolated in unfamiliar territory with all her friends trying to get her was genuinely creepy and I actually felt scared for Corky. I guess we’re never going to find out her real name though, unless I’ve somehow missed it in one of the books. Surely it isn’t actually Corky?
Of course, I have a lot of complaints about Stine’s choices here, as usual. Why the hell was Ronnie written out for the likes of Naomi, who didn’t do anything special to warrant being a character? Ronnie easily could have just stayed and be written out the exact way Naomi was. I also really want to know why drowning the evil seems to be the go-to method of disposal when it literally has not worked any other time. Why would it be over for good now? And Corky was seriously so stupid for most of this book, when she’s actually been pretty smart in the other three. It just doesn’t make sense to me. And don’t even get me started on the whole ‘hallucination or dream’ dilemma at the end there. Ugh.
Now that I’m writing my final thoughts I’m starting to think I didn’t like it as much as I thought… but the final act did save it for me, I think, so 45 hallucinations that happened because of a concussion despite occurring before said concussion out of 57!
Next up is The Awakening Evil, where we’ll learn all about Sarah Fear’s struggle with the evil, which is exciting!
