A New Fear

A New Fear

R.L. STINE

POCKET BOOKS

Have you read the latest

books?
WHAT HOLLY HEARD
THE FACE
SECRET ADMIRER
THE PERFECT DATE
THE CONFESSION
THE BOY NEXT DOOR
NIGHT GAMES
RUNAWAY
KILLER’S KISS
ALL-NIGHT PARTY
THE RICH GIRL
CAT

By
R.L. SINE
Available from Archway Paperbacks
Published by Pocket Books
The Secrets of the Fear Family …
The history of the Fear family is a dark and strange one, filled with death, madness, tragic love, and revenge.
No one can escape the curse of the Fear family. Simon Fear tried. He changed the spelling of his family name from Firer to Fear and tried to start a new life. But he could not hide from his destiny—the Fear curse destroyed his entire family.
Except one. Nicholas Fear. The child of Daniel Fear and Nora Goode.
Will this new Fear be the one to break the curse? Or will he suffer the fate of his doomed family?

Books by R.L. Sine

FEAR STREET
THE NEW GIRL
THE SURPRISE PARTY
THE OVERNIGHT
MISSING
THE WRONG NUMBER
THE SLEEPWALKER
HAUNTED
HALLO WEEN PARTY
THE STEPSISTER
SKI WEEKEND
THE FIRE GAME
LIGHTS OUT
THE SECRET BEDROOM
THE KNIFE
PROM QUEEN
FIRST DATE
THE BEST FRIEND
THE CHEATER
SUNBURN
THE NEW BOY
THE DARE
BAD DREAMS
DOUBLE DATE
THE THRILL CLUB
ONE EVIL SUMMER
THE MIND READER
WRONG NUMBER 2
TRUTH OR DARE
DEAD END
FINAL GRADE
SWITCHED
COLLEGE WEEKEND
THE STEPSISTER 2
WHAT HOLLY HEARD
THE FACE
SECRET ADMIRER
THE PERFECT DATE
THE CONFESSION
THE BOY NEXT DOOR
NIGHT GAMES

FEAR STREET SUPER CHILLERS
PARTY SUMMER
SILENT NIGHT
GOOD NIGHT KISS
BROKEN HEARTS
SILENT NIGHT 2
THE DEAD LIFEGUARD
CHEERLEADER’S: THE NEW EVIL
BAD MOONLIGHT
THE NEW YEAR’S PARTY
GOOD NIGHT KISS 2

THE FEAR STREET SAGA
THE BETRAYAL
THE SECRET
THE BURNING
FEAR STREET SAGA COLLECTOR’S EDITION
FEAR STREET CHEERLEADER’S
THE FIRST EVIL
THE SECOND EVIL
THE THIRD EVIL

99 FEAR STREET: THE HOUSE OF EVIL
THE FIRST HORROR
THE SECOND HORROR
THE THIRD HORROR

THE CATALUNA CHRONICLES
THE EVIL MOON
THE DARK SECRET
THE DEADLY FIRE

FEAR STREET SAGAS
A NEW FEAR
HOUSE OF WHISPERS
FORBIDDEN SECRETS

FEAR PARK
THE FIRST SCREAM
THE LOUDEST SCREAM
THE LAST SCREAM
Available from ARCHWAY Paperbacks

For orders other than by individual consumers, Pocket Books grants a discount on the purchase of
10 or more
copies of single titles for special markets or premium use. For further details, please write to the Vice-President of Special Markets, Pocket Books, 1633 Broadway, New York, NY 10019-6785, 8th Floor.

For information on how individual consumers can place orders, please write to Mail Order Department, Simon & Schuster Inc., 200 Old Tappan Road, Old Tappan, NJ 07675.

The sale of this book without its cover is unauthorized. If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that it was reported to the publisher as “unsold and destroyed.” Neither the author nor the publisher has received payment for the sale of this “stripped book.”

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

AN ARCHWAY PAPERBACK
Original

An Archway Paperback published by
POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

Copyright © 1996 by Parachute Press, Inc.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

ISBN: 0-671-52952-8
ISBN 13: 978-0-671-52952-9
eISBN 13: 978-1-439-12071-2

First Archway Paperback printing March 1996

10  9  8  7  6  5  4

FEAR STREET is a registered trademark of Parachute Press, Inc.

AN ARCHWAY PAPERBACK and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc.

Cover art by Lisa Falkenstern

Printed in the U.S.A.

IL 7+

R. L. Sine wishes to thank Brandon Alexander for his contributions and efforts on this manuscript.

Prologue

The Village of Shadyside
1900

N
ora Goode Fear bowed her head. Tired, so very tired. She had been sitting in this cold room most of the night, answering questions. Describing everything she had witnessed at the Fear mansion.

Not once.

Not twice.

But three times now.

And still they held her prisoner here. In this room without windows. In this room that held more darkness than light.

The flame of a solitary candle flickered. The shadows shifted.

Nora lifted her gaze to the man sitting behind the desk. He alone would determine her fate. He had the authority to set her free. He had the power to lock her away.

The man sighed heavily and leaned back in his
chair. He scattered papers before him. Papers containing his questions and her answers.

Nora wiped the tears from her eyes and straightened her spine. She tried to swallow, but her throat was too dry. Her back ached. She was hungry and tired. She wanted to slide out of the chair, curl up on the floor, and go to sleep.

She wanted to dream of Daniel, her husband of one day. Of the happy times they shared before his family’s curse brought them death and destruction.

“All right, Nora,” the man said sternly. “Tell me again what happened.”

Again? Nora’s shoulders slumped forward. If I am not insane now, she thought wearily, I soon will be. How can I keep telling this tale of horror over and over? I want to forget all that happened, but he forces me to remember.

Impatiently, the man rapped on the desk with his knuckles. “Tell me the truth about what happened at the Fear mansion. Tell me the truth and you shall be released.”

I must be strong, Nora thought. Strong for my baby. Daniel’s and mine.

Nora knew she carried Daniel Fear’s child. Knew it in her heart. She would do anything to protect their baby. Anything.

She swallowed hard and forced herself to answer calmly. “Daniel’s grandfather, Simon Fear, was celebrating his seventy-fifth birthday. All the candles on the cake were burning. Daniel announced that Nora
Goode Fear was his new wife. His grandfather screamed—”

“Liar!” the man cried. “You were never married. Everyone in Shadyside knows that.”

“We were married!” Nora protested. How could she convince the man to believe her?

“Our marriage was a secret,” Nora explained. “We did not want to tell our families until after the ceremony. We were afraid they would try to stop us—because of the feud between the Fears and the Goodes.”

The man shook his head, his lips pressed together in a thin line. “Go on,” he said impatiently.

“Daniel and I eloped. We did not even take the time to choose wedding rings. Daniel gave me this instead.” Nora lifted the chain of the amulet she wore around her neck.

“That night was Daniel’s grandfather’s seventyfifth birthday. Someone brought in a cake with all the candles lit. Then Daniel announced our marriage. His grandfather screamed and rose from his wheelchair—”

“Impossible!” the man barked. “Simon Fear was a weak old man. He could not rise from his wheelchair.”

Nora flinched at his harsh tone. “But he did,” Nora insisted. “Then he fell and crashed onto the table. The cake toppled off. The flames from the candles started the fire.”

“You expect me to believe that the tiny candles on a
birthday cake burned an enormous mansion to the ground?’

Nora squeezed her eyes shut and nodded. She could see Daniel standing by her side and introducing her to his grandparents. The next moment, a wall of fire separated them—forever.

“You did not try to put out the fire?” the man asked.

“No one could put out the fire. Daniel tried, but it was like a living, breathing thing. A thing with a will of its own. So hot and bright.”

Nora took a deep breath and forced herself to meet the man’s cold eyes. “And I saw faces—laughing, screaming faces—in the flames,” she said firmly.

Nora felt more tears begin to flow down her cheeks. She dashed them away.

“Enough!” The man pounded his fist on the table. “I gave you four opportunities to tell the truth. The events you describe are impossible.”

He picked up a pen, dipped it in an inkwell, and scrawled his name across the paper. The candle flame wavered. Shadows danced across the man’s face.

He lifted his eyes and captured her gaze. “I am sorry, Nora, but I have no choice. I must declare you insane and commit you to the insane asylum.”

Nora opened her lips and uttered an anguished cry that echoed through the room.

PART ONE