“OWWWW!”

I screamed as my forehead cracked into solid glass.

Beside me, the other kids cried out in shock and pain, and bounced off the glass, staggering back.

Shaking off the pain, I punched the mirror with both fists. The glass was hard. No way to escape into it.

We were all rubbing our foreheads. Robby cupped his hand over a bloody nose. Kids pushed against the glass, but it was no use.

Five kids had made it through. Six of us were left.

And now the bright café began to fade. The blue-and-white-checkered tablecloths dimmed to gray. The lights began to flicker out.

Still dazed, we were standing in the hallway again, staring at a solid wall.

I heard thundering footsteps running toward us. And from around a corner came four more Monster Police officers waving clubs.

“Run!” Carly Beth screamed.

“Where?” Julie cried.

We turned and charged down the long hall. “To the lake,” Matt said. “We can swim out of this park if we have to!”

“STOP!” an officer yelled. “Stop! We just want to talk to you!”

“Then why are they waving clubs?” Carly Beth asked breathlessly.

We whirled around a corner, down a long hall with the Monster Police close behind. Out a door into the crowded park. Zigzagging through kids and families, trying to lose our pursuers in the crowds.

Jackson and I didn’t know where the lake was. We followed the others. I kept glancing back. I didn’t see the Monster Police. But I knew they were close behind.

My chest throbbed as we finally reached a round blue lake. No one in the water. I spotted a row of canoes tethered to a short dock.

“Into the canoes,” Matt gasped. We were all breathing hard, totally winded.

The canoes tossed and bobbed in the water as we scrambled into them, two to a canoe. Jackson held a canoe steady as I dropped onto the seat. He tossed off the rope holding it to the dock and leaped in behind me.

I began paddling furiously.

Robby and Julie paddled beside us. Matt and Carly Beth shared the third canoe. Matt kept waving us forward. He and Carly Beth pulled ahead to lead the way.

We’re doing it, I thought. We’re getting away.

But does this lake really lead out of the park?

I learned to paddle during a long canoe trip at camp last year. But I’d never paddled so hard and fast before. Leaning forward, I put all my strength into it.

I screamed when I heard the cracking sound beneath me. Jackson screamed, too.

And then I felt cold water seep up my legs. “The bottom!” I cried. “The bottom dropped out of the canoe!”

I slid down fast, unable to catch myself. Into the cold water. I sank below the surface, then raised my arms and pulled myself back up.

Sputtering, swimming in place, I shook water out of my eyes. “Jackson?”

He was swimming beside me. All six of us were in the water, splashing hard, trying to get over our surprise.

“I forgot!” Matt shouted. “Those canoes — they’re part of a ride. It’s the Bottomless Canoe Ride.”

“Now he tells us!” Robby cried.

Everyone laughed. Nervous laughter.

We swam in circles, trying to figure out how far we had come. Not far enough. We had no choice. We had to return to the dock where we started.

Soaked and shivering, I climbed onto the muddy shore. I turned and helped pull Julie out of the water.

We were all hugging ourselves, shaking off water, our teeth chattering.

“Now what?” Robby asked. “We can’t just stand here soaking wet.”

I heard voices. I turned to see a boy and girl running toward us. I recognized them instantly. The two kids who had been watching us.

The six of us huddled together.

“You’ve been spying on us — haven’t you!” I cried.

The girl nodded. “Yes, it’s true,” she said. “We’ve been watching you.”

“Who are you?” I asked. “Why are you spying? Why are you working for the Horrors?”

The boy laughed. “Huh? Us? Working for the Horrors?”

“We’re not,” the girl replied. “My name is Lizzy Morris. This is my brother, Luke. Luke and I have been to HorrorLand before. We know you’re in a lot of danger.”

“We know you’re trying to escape,” her brother said. “But we think you’re making a terrible mistake. We think you need to stay here in HorrorLand.”

That made everyone angry.

“You’re crazy!”

“You really are working for the Horrors!”

“No way we’re staying here!”

“We don’t work for the Horrors. We’re trying to help you,” Lizzy insisted. “We really think you will be safer here in HorrorLand.”

Carly Beth glared at them suspiciously. She turned to me. “Jillian, can you read Lizzy’s mind? Is she telling the truth?”

I narrowed my eyes at Lizzy and concentrated.

“No,” I said. “She’s lying.”

Lizzy’s blue eyes bulged. Her mouth dropped open.

“Don’t deny it,” I said. “You’re lying!”

She and her brother took a step back.

But the six of us quickly surrounded them.

“Why are you really here?” Matt demanded. “Tell us! Tell us! What are you trying to do to us?”