Drop Dead Gorgeous (Return to Fear Street Book 3)

For a few seconds, I could hear only the moans and animal grunts of Morgan’s dead guests. But then Frankie cranked up the music again.

This is how we do it!

This is how we do it!

The words repeated like a chant. Freddy’s sound system was up so high, I could feel the floor vibrate under my shoes. Alums were screaming in horror, but the music completely drowned them out.

A dead guy in shredded rags, one hand missing, grabbed Amber with his one bony hand. She tried to pull away, but the grinning skeleton was too strong for her. He started to dance a hobbled dance.

Another dead creature wrapped his decayed arms around one of the alums and pressed his open, lipless mouth to hers. Dead people wrestled a guy to the floor while another one forced his wife to dance.

A few alums were on their knees, throwing up against the gym wall. A bunch of them went hurtling to the double doors, but a line of eyeless dead people blocked their escape.

Fights broke out. An alum punched a dead guy in the face, and the corpse’s whole head flew off and bounced over the floor. Headless, he grabbed the alum and they wrestled, punching and pummeling one another.

This is how we do it.

This is how we do it.

The gym was a blur of horror. Wrestling, fighting, screaming, dancing. Zombies. Morgan had emptied the cemetery to bring her guest list, an ugly, stench-carrying crew of zombies.

Why? Why did she do it? I thought I knew. Pure jealousy. She was beautiful but it didn’t matter. She was dead and everyone else was alive.

I turned and searched for Julie. I finally found her huddled behind the food table. Zane had appeared. I didn’t remember if he was working at the party or not. But there he was. He and Julie were holding each other in a tight hug, their eyes on the madness, on the screaming, squealing terror.

Gripped in shock, the screams and horrified cries ringing in my ears, I thought of Winks. Poor dead Winks. And then I couldn’t take it anymore.

Ducking under the grasp of a one-legged zombie, I broke through a crowd and grabbed Morgan by the shoulders. “Why?” I cried. “Why did you do this?”

She made no attempt to free herself from my grasp. Instead, she brought her face close to my ear. “I’m Morgan Fear,” she said, her voice hard and cold.

Then with a loud groan, she broke my grip. Her eyes flamed like green fire, and she grabbed my arm with both hands. Her hands felt cold and hard as steel as she jerked me hard, almost pulling me off my feet.

She pulled my hands behind my back and shoved me hard. “Over here, Delia.”

“Let go!” I screamed. “Hey—let go!”

She was pulling me to the bleachers at the far end of the gym. “Hey—let go! Morgan—what are you going to do?”