Tagline: N/A
Back tagline: There’s no place like this home…
Summary: At first, Brandt McCloy thinks moving to Shadyside is great. He has attracted the attention of three beautiful girls—Meg, Jinny and Abbie. But Brandt hasn’t heard the terrifying stories about his new home—99 Fear Street. He doesn’t know about the headless bodies, the bleeding walls. He doesn’t know that Cally Frasier still haunts the house and plans gruesome deaths for him and everyone close to him. Poor Brandt—what he doesn’t know will hurt him.
First Impressions: What a cute, scared couple we have here! This cover is more interesting that The First Horror‘s and the art style is definitely better. I’m not quite sure if that house accurately represents how it’s described, but we’ll go with it I guess. Much like The First Horror had a floating book with a knife in it, this one has a spooky, glowing skull floating in front of what looks like some kind of tribal spears… 99 Fear Street was supposedly built on a burial ground for Fear victims though, so I’m not quite sure of the correlation.
The blurb doesn’t give us too much, but I’m excited to see what Cally’s got in store for Brandt. I still think it would have made more sense for Kody to have been killed and become a vengeful spirit, but oh well.
Let’s see how many more deaths the house of evil can add to the roster!
Recap
Roll call:
Brandt — The newest victim to move into 99 Fear Street.
Cally — A victim of 99 Fear Street who’s corrupted spirit now haunts the place.
Meg and Jinny — Best friends who both fancy Brandt.
Jon — Jinny’s boyfriend who has jealousy issues.
Abbie — Brandt’s neighbour who also takes a liking to him.
We begin with a prologue, with the ghost of Cally Frasier watching from the attic window as the McCloy family begin moving in. She promises they’ll be sorry and briefly thinks about the history of the house that she’s aware of, including how her family abandoned her. [What, did you want them to stay and disappear or be killed, too?] Filled with the evil of the house, Cally feels no sadness, only anger, and she’s ready to give the McCloys a welcome they won’t forget…
Meanwhile, down on the front lawn, Brandt McCloy’s holding his black-and-white cat, Ezra, watching as his father fusses around the movers they’d hired. The family’s moved here for a new beginning, and although the house is rundown, Brandt hopes they’ll be happy here. Soon, Dad comes storming out of the house complaining about rats in the basement, insisting they weren’t there two months ago when he came to check the house before buying. Mum says it’s not the end of the world, but Dad insists on calling Mr. Lurie to demand he come do something about it.
A voice interrupts, asking if they’d just mentioned the name Lurie, and the family turn to to find a young, moustached man standing on the sidewalk smiling at them. [It’s Hankers!] He’s wearing grey overalls and carrying a toolkit, and apologises for interrupting. Dad asks if he knows Mr. Lurie, and the man replies that he’d heard the people who used to live here mention the name. He introduces himself as Glen Hankers, handyman, and after Dad introduces the family, Dad asks if he has experience with rats. Pest control is Hankers’ specialty apparently, [I think the Frasiers would beg to differ] and he follows Dad inside to take a look. Brandt passes Ezra over to Mum, wanting to help the movers with the boxes. [What a lovely boy!] Mum reminds him he needs to be careful because of his condition, but Brandt assures her he won’t lift anything heavy. We don’t know what the condition is yet, but he’s got a small scar on his left cheek, and we learn he wears a leather pouch on a leather string around his neck that never comes off. [No idea if that is relevant to the condition, though! He’s also not wearing it on the cover 👀]
After a few trips back and forth, Brandt is called into the living room where Dad is unwrapping his collection of tribal relics; ancient spears, delicately carved painted masks, most twisted into frightened or cruel expressions, and even some reed pipes used for blowing silver darts with razor-sharp points. Dad’s a superstitious man, it seems, and wants to hang his relics up straight away — ‘”It will guarantee we have good luck in our new home.”‘
Mum and Ezra wander in as Dad nails a hook into the wall, and Ezra rubs against Brandt’s leg as he picks up one of the spears. As Brandt begins to hang it on the hook, he feels a sharp tug and cries out as the spear seems to jump out of his hand, before pointing down and plunging to the floor, directly into Ezra’s body. [Noooooooooooooooooo, poor Ezra. Stine didn’t waste any time killing this pet!]
Later that night, the family have pizza for dinner as we learn Ezra didn’t survive his injuries. Mum and Dad assure Brandt the cat didn’t suffer long, and he was getting old anyway, so he probably wouldn’t have lasted more than a year or two longer. [That’s still a while!] Brandt knows Ezra was old and would pass soon, but still feels horrible that the cat died so violently. We also learn a bit more about the family over dinner; Brandt’s spent most of his life travelling to exotic places with his parents, and they’ve spent the last few years on a remote island in the Pacific called Mapolo, [Which I don’t think exists, nothing comes up when I google it!] where dad, an anthropologist, studied ritual magic. His parents had decided Brandt should live in America for a few years, so they left Mapolo and Dad took a teaching job at Waynesbridge Junior College.
In bed that night, Brandt hears scratching and assumes it’s rats. It sounds like it’s coming from the attic, and it quickly turns into what sounds like footsteps! He’s the kind of guy who investigates a potential burglary instead of hiding in bed because he ain’t no wimp, so up he goes to the attic, where he gets into a fight with a raccoon. Brandt assumes it has rabies since raccoons don’t normally attack, and manages to get it out of the open window without a single scratch. As he makes his way back down the attic stairs, his parents are waiting for him, wondering what the commotion was. He explains what happened, and after checking him over for wounds, they scold him for fighting a raccoon and tell him to be more careful, reminding him that he has a condition. [But again, not saying what the condition is. What’s the bet it’s something stupid?]
Unbeknownst to Brandt as he returns to bed, ghost Cally has been watching and really enjoyed the fight in the attic. She knows the raccoon didn’t have rabies, but instead was influenced by the house’s evil, and she silently promises that Brandt will discover the evil soon enough. Cally’s got lots of excitement in store for Brandt, and thinks he looks super cute when he’s scared, with his big brown eyes flashing and his jaw sticking out as he clenches his teeth. She’s sure she and Brandt will be very good friends!
Brandt spends the next day unpacking and is exhausted by the time he goes to bed, but still can’t sleep. He can’t shake the feeling of something dangerous nearby, but decides it’s probably just nerves since he has his first day As Shadyside High tomorrow. As he eventually drifts off to sleep, he feels several puffs of cold air across his skin, then the brush of cold lips across the back of his neck before ‘sharp teeth bit into his shoulder—and he screamed.’ Dad runs in, and Brandt tells him that something bit his neck, but there’s no wound and no sign of anything in his room that could have done it, so they decide it was just a nightmare. Just as Brandt is about to fall asleep again, though, he feels a cold rush of air on his face…
The next morning, Brandt learns that his parents have hired a housekeeper, Mrs. Nordstrom, who’s already here and vacuuming. She was recommended by Mr. Hankers and had turned up before Mum had even had a chance to call her, so she assumes Hankers had called her first. Next, Brandt tells his parents that the bite he felt on his neck felt way too real and suggests it was a spirit of some kind. Dad wonders if his research has rubbed off on Brandt and is playing on his imagination — ‘”After all, you’ve grown up in all kinds of strange places, hearing me talk about magic and spirits”‘. Brandt doesn’t think it was his imagination, and Dad promises to look into the house’s history. Before he heads off for school, they warn him not to overdo it today, and he quickly leaves before they can bring up his condition again. [It’s probably something totally manageable, like diabetes]
Brandt heads off to school now, and as he reaches the sidewalk in front of his house, he can’t help but notice that the sunlight seems to begin as soon as his front yard ends. Then something suddenly pushes him from behind, and an icy hand grips his shoulder. Startled, he whips around and stares into the face of a pretty blonde girl, about the same age as him. [I feel like this is actually Cally… Or if not, surely one of the three girls he befriends will be Cally secretly] She blushes as she explains that she tripped and hadn’t meant to grab him. He asks if she lives around here and she nods, introducing herself as Abbie Ayler. Brandt introduces himself and asks if she’s heading for school, and she reveals she goes to Darwin Academy, an all girls school, [Never heard of it! I didn’t know Shadyside had an all girls school] before she asks if he’s heard all the stories about 99 Fear Street.
He hasn’t, and she explains that people tell different stories, but something bad happened to the last family who lived here. She didn’t know them, but had seen the two girls once, and the family moved out soon after one of the girls died. Abbie’s uncle says there’s some kind curse on the house, like it’s evil or something! Seeing Brandt’s troubled expressions, she assures him it’s probably all silly gossip, pointing out that people tell all kinds of crazy stories. Brandt suggests she tell him some of the stories sometime, because he is keen on this cutie! Her words troubled him, though, and he glances back at the house as something in an upstairs window catches his eye. A dark shape sways back and forth in his parents’ bedroom, and he quickly realises ‘his father’s body was hanging in the window.’ [It’s probably original home owner, who’d hung himself in the house. Does Brandt just think it’s his father because who else would it be if it’s a man’s body, or does it look like him? Cally saw her own ghost in the house before she died, so maybe it’s another one of those!]
Abbie’s seen it too, screaming and pointing at the window, and the pair quickly run into the house as Brandt screams for his dad. They dash upstairs and burst into his parents’ bedroom, where Mum’s plumping a pillow and Dad’s just stepping out of the bathroom. Brandt looks at the window and lets out a relieved laugh when he sees his father’s suit hanging there. The only explanation he gives his parents is that they thought the suit was Dad, then he introduces them to Abbie. The teens set off for school again, and make plans for a study date for Saturday afternoon around 2pm.
In the cafeteria line at lunch, Brandt meets Jinny Thompson, a tall girl with straight black hair and dramatic blue eyes, and her redhead friend Meg Morris. They’re both pretty cute, and they all joke and banter as the girls let him know the dangers of the cafeteria food. He follows them to a table and a tall, athletic blonde boy with a basketball plops down next to Jinny, wrapping his arm around her. Jinny introduces Brandt to Jon Burks, who suggests Brandt try out for the basketball team because they need tall guys. Jon knows his parents would go ballistic if they found out he joined a sports team, but he is good at sports. He decides to go to a few practices before maybe trying out, and Mum and Dad will never have to know. Jon tells him practice is every afternoon at 3:30pm, and tryouts are next week. Then Jon asks Jinny if she’s meeting him after practice today, but she refuses because she’s got a lot of homework already. After a suspicious glance at Brandt, Jon stands up and reminds her of their date on Friday night. Jinny promises she hasn’t forgotten, and Jon leaves without saying goodbye. Meg wants to know what his problem is, and Jinny insists Jon’s just like that; he gets jealous if she sits alone and reads a book! Then, smiling at Brandt, she teases, ‘”But I never let that stop me from doing what I want.”‘ [Cheeky gal!]
Later that afternoon, Brandt rocks up to the school gym where Jon immediately lies to everyone that Brandt had been boasting about his basketball skills, clearly trying to embarrass him. [Jon can die] Brandt meets Coach Hurley, who drily remarks that ‘”If you’re tall and you’re breathing, you’ve got a pretty good chance of making this team.”‘ The group are split into two teams for a round, and Brandt finds himself sweaty and breathless pretty quickly. [Probably because of his condition!] He’s determined, though, and knows he can make the team.
Later, Brandt arrives home as Mr. Hankers is telling Mum the rats are gone. [That was quick! Why couldn’t you do that for the Frasiers?] Brandt tells his mother that he got home late because he joined the student senate, lying that it meets every day after school; she’ll kill him if she finds out he was playing basketball! Mum thinks that sounds perfect for him. [Because of his condition!] She wants to hear more about his first day, but he scurries up to his room before she can trap him in conversation and collapses onto his bed, exhausted. That’s when he’s hit with a nasty smell, like decaying meat. He jumps up to let some air in through the window, but stops when he notices a green glow coming from beneath the closet door, which is weird because there’s no light in there. The glow grows brighter as he approaches the door, and he finds the doorknob wet and slimy with green goo. [Like what came out of the bathroom taps in The First Horror!] Too curious to leave, he swallows his nausea and yanks the door open. A flash of white cloud springs out at him, choking his screams. It covers Brandt’s face, strangling him, and he’s unable to tear it off. As he collapses to the floor, his bedroom door swings open and Mum walks in, wondering what’s going on. The white cloud, the green goo, glow and the stench all disappear at exactly the same time, leaving Brandt confused but sure that something’s in this house — and it’s after him!
The next afternoon at basketball practice, Coach Hurley pairs Brandt and Jon for some one on one. Brandt manages to score, much to Jon’s chagrin, and we learn that Jon led the team in fouls last year. When it’s Jon’s turn with the ball he charges at Brandt, who’s knocked down and lands on his elbow. Coach Hurley calls Jon out, but he protests that he didn’t touch Brandt. Brandt examines his elbow, horrified to see a black bruise ‘spread across his arm like a dark stain.’ As it continues to darken and spread up his arm, he tries to stop the others from noticing it so they won’t realise he’s got a condition. [What kind of condition creates instant bruises that spread?] Coach Hurley comments on the nasty bruise and suggests Brandt sit out, but Brandt insists he’s fine and rejoins the group, noticing the triumphant grin on Jon’s face.
That night, Brandt’s in bed thinking about Abbie and her blonde hair, blue eyes and musical laugh. [I’m still certain it’s Cally] Jinny and Meg cross his mind next, and he’s sure they’re competing for him because they flirt every time they see him, even though Jinny’s with Jon. Speaking of Jon, has Brandt made an enemy already? The bruise has started to fade, but Coach Hurley was staring at it, so Brandt will need to show how tough he is at the next practice.
Brandt’s thoughts are interrupted by footsteps coming from the attic. Once again he goes up to investigate, but finds no-one up there. He does, however, discover a small notebook in the middle of the floor that wasn’t there previously, and the first page reveals it’s the diary of Cally Frasier. He realises Cally must be one of the twins who lived here previously and flips through it, [Nosy!] eventually stopping at an interesting passage. It’s Cally’s entry about the history of the house, which she’d learned from Anthony, [Will we ever see Anthony again? He goes to Shadyside High, maybe Brandt will ask someone about him] and Brandt realises he was right about the house being haunted. He remembers that Abbie had said one of the twins died and wonders if Cally is deceased. He doesn’t have to wonder for long, though, because as he sets the diary back down where he’d found it, it falls open to the last entry, where ‘I died tonight’ is written.
The next day in chemistry class, Brandt’s sitting between Jinny and Meg, with Jon on the other side of Jinny. The teacher, Mr. Ross, gives the class 10 minutes to work out their lab partners, and Jon immediately tries to claim Jinny, who lies that she’d already promised to be Brandt’s lab partner. It’s the first Brandt’s hearing of it, but it would be fun to work with Jinny and make Jon jealous, so he backs her up. Meg complains that it would be easier for Jinny and Jon to be partners, since they’re already sitting together, and she’ll take Brandt, but Jinny protests with a sly grin that it’s just as easy for Meg to pair with Jon. Brandt declares the pairings as final and reports back to Mr. Ross as the bell rings. Jinny waits for him in the hall and explains she’d lied about the promise because she didn’t want to buddy up with Jon, who sucks at chemistry and would make her do all the work. Brandt suggests she come over on Saturday to get a head start on their project, and her smile fades when she learns his address. It can’t be that bad if he lives there, though, so she agrees to be there at 2pm. [But that’s when Abbie’s scheduled!]
At basketball practice that day, the boys are doing lay-ups, with Brandt going right before Jon. Brandt misses his first shot, while Jon succeeds:
He glanced at Brandt after the shot went through.
Yeah, I saw it, Jon, Brandt thought, rolling his eyes.
“Great shot, Jon. Let’s see you do it again,” Brandt shouted.
“Let’s see you do it once!’ Jon taunted.
He got you there, Brandt!] Brandt makes the shot on his next turn, while Jon fails. As Jon takes his place in line behind Brandt, he suggests they do a best out of three, and Brandt agrees, although his arms and legs are beginning to feel heavy and tired. He silently wills his body not to give out on him just yet, but willpower is no match for his mysterious condition. As he leaps for his next shot, raising the ball to the basket with his right arm, his arm dislocates. [Wtf kind of condition does this boy have?!? Is it real?? No wonder his parents are so worried about him all the time if he’s this fragile. Crazy] Coach Hurley shoves his arm back into place and is confused by how easily it was dislocated. He sends Brandt to the nurse’s office for a sling, warning that his basketball season may be over and Brandt spots Jon smirking as he leaves the gym.
Later, Brandt’s walking home with his arm in a sling, wondering what to tell his parents. He’s intercepted by Meg, who asks if Jon had anything to do with his arm being in a sling. She warns that Jon is super jealous when it comes to Jinny and goes ballistic sometimes; he even got suspended last year for beating up a kid in Waynesbridge, and the victim was hospitalised for two weeks! Brandt thanks her for the warning but is sure he can handle Jon, and then Meg kisses him. He kisses her back, because ‘she’s really awesome’! She knows he has a study date with Jinny Saturday, but asks him to come over Sunday to hang out. Brandt agrees, and she sets off for home, smiling.
Brandt reaches home a few minutes later and finds Abbie waiting for him on the porch, wearing her school uniform. [So maybe she’s not actually Cally? Or maybe this is Cally’s school uniform from her previous school?!? Can ghosts change their clothes, though? I suppose if the 99 Fear Street ghosts are corporeal then then could] He remembers that he’d also planned to hang out with Abbie Saturday and after explaining the sling, tells her he’s got some stuff to do Saturday now and suggests they hang out another day. Abbie’s expression crumples, but she brightly tells him it’s not a problem before heading off. Brandt watches as she disappears around the hedges and is sure she’ll get over it. He can’t help smiling to himself, though, because ‘girls were throwing themselves at him right and left!’ [I’ve never heard that expression said that way before, it’s always been left and right. Sounds weird that way!] Brandt heads inside and lies to his mother that he’s such a klutz and fell down the stairs at school. [Good save]
We jump to Saturday afternoon now, and Jinny’s just arrived for her study date with Brandt, who’s arm is no longer in a sling. His parents are at a faculty event in Waynesbridge, so he’s home alone. [Hubba hubba!] He gives her a quick tour of the house, ending with the living room where he shows off all the tribal weapons and armour on the wall, including the super sharp blow darts. [Which will surely be killing someone in the house at some point] They head upstairs to Brandt’s room, since that’s where his books are, [Of course it is! 😏] and she takes a seat at his desk. As he leans across to grab a notebook, Jinny asks about the pouch he wears around his neck. He explains it’s a good-luck charm and it saved his life once, but refuses to elaborate further because she’ll think he’s superstitious. [So?] He also doesn’t like talking about it [That makes more sense], and she doesn’t push the subject.
Brandt hasn’t looked through the list of experiments they need to choose from yet, so he stays up here to look them over while a thirsty Jinny heads downstairs to fetch a drink. Soon, she starts screaming, [Did the blow darts get her?!?!] and he dashes downstairs to find blood all over the kitchen. It’s flowing from Jinny’s wrists, and she keeps screaming ‘”Make it stop!”‘ over and over, clearly in shock. As Brandt wraps her injured wrists in paper towel, his parents arrive home and quickly assist. Jinny screams that the glass flew out of her hands, like somebody pulled it from her, before shattering mid-air, and Brandt remembers how the spear that killed Ezra flew out of his hands in a similar fashion.
The McCloys take Jinny to the hospital, where we learn the cuts aren’t deep enough to require stitches, so her wrists are just bandaged. When they drop her home afterwards, she tells Brandt that next time they’ll study at her house. Despite being covered in blood, Brandt wants some air and decides to walk home, but as he reaches Fear Street, a shadowy figure starts to follow him. He starts running but it floats after him, ‘all gray on shades of gray’. He trips over a tree root in his front yard and sprawls over the grass facedown, waiting in terror for the dark shadow to sweep over him.
Instead, it’s Abbie that appears and walks towards him, and the shadow seems to have disappeared. [Or turned into Abbie! Who’s really Cally!] He invites her in to talk, but she’s scared of his house so they sit on the porch instead. She notices the stains all over his clothes, but he lies that it’s mud, and then asks if she knows anything else about 99 Fear Street. She says she doesn’t, not even how one of the twins died, and he realises his questions are frightening her. He asks if she wants to go see a movie tonight, but unfortunately she’s not free, and she soon heads home, promising they’ll find time to hang out — ‘”After all, we’re neighbours.”‘ [Housemates is more like it, if my theory is correct!]
Brandt finds his parents in the kitchen, preparing dinner after cleaning up all the blood. They tell him they were surprised to find a girl here and question if he waited for them to leave before inviting Jinny over. Brandt impatiently replies that he didn’t know he had to tell them every little thing and explains she was here to work on their chemistry project. Dad assures him they don’t care if he has friends over, but they met Abbie the other day and now Jinny, and they’re worried too many girls could be too much for him — ‘”Look what happened today. Jinny could have been seriously hurt.”‘ If they hadn’t have come home when they did, it could have taken a lot out of him! Brandt’s sick of the conversation now and stomps upstairs, demanding they call him when dinner’s ready.
That night, Brant hears the footsteps in the attic again as he lays in bed. After trying to ignore it, he heads up there to investigate and finds no-one up there once again. The diary has moved though, and it’s open to a new page with a fresh entry in blue ink — ‘I made Jinny bleed. Abbie is next.’
The handwriting matches all the other entries, but how could Cally have written it if she’s dead?! What’s going on?! Is the house really haunted!? Did a ghost kill Ezra and hurt Jinny?! Brandt realises the shadowy figure that chased him must have been the ghost, and he vows to stop it before it can hurt Abbie — ‘”if anyone can beat it, I can.”‘ [Mate, you can’t even jump without dislocating your arm, how the hell are you going to beat it?] Unfortunately, he can’t remember Abbie’s last name so is unable look up her number, and he doesn’t actually know which house she lives in, so he’ll just have to warn her next time he bumps into her.
The next day, Brandt is super tired when he arrives at Meg’s house to watch a movie. Meg asks if he’s OK, and he ends up telling her about the footsteps and the diary in the attic. Meg thinks it’s probably Jon playing tricks on him, but Brandt doesn’t think Jon’s slick enough to sneak into his attic and forge Cally Frasier’s writing. Soon the two are kissing, but they’re interrupted by a knock at the door. It’s Jinny, who’s surprised to see Brandt here, and can tell they’re not on a study date. She drags Meg into the next room and Brandt can hear them whispering angrily to each other before Jinny ends up storming out of the house. The mood’s ruined so Brandt heads off not long after that, and back at home he heads up to the attic to check the diary. There’s a new line added to the previous entry, so it now reads, ‘I made Jinny bleed. Abbie is next. Brandt, you cannot save her.’
He yells out to Cally, asking if she’s the one doing this, but there’s no reply. He decides to hide the diary, hoping that without the diary the evil can’t occur, [It’s not the diary that’s evil, you fkn idiot] and stashes it in a drawer underneath some T-shirts. [Is he serious? Why not hide it somewhere other than the house that’s clearly haunted, where the ghosts are probably watching you every time you’re home? Or just destroy it altogether?] As he closes the drawer, he hears a voice. His parents aren’t home, so it can’t be them, [That reminds me, what happened to Nordstrom and Hankers? Have they not been coming over to work?] and steps out into the hallway, where it sounds like muffled crying. He follows the sound to an empty bedroom where the frightened voice becomes clearer — it’s a little boy, identifying himself as James and begging for his Mummy to come get him. It sounds like it’s coming from inside the wall, and Brandt recalls Cally writing about her brother James in her diary; he and his puppy disappeared, although the family could still hear them. James sounds alive, despite being missing for over a year, [Has it really been that long since the first book?] so Brandt fetches a wooden mallet from his father’s tools and breaks through the wall. He’s hit with the same stench he’d smelled in his room a few days ago, like decaying flesh, but keeps going. With one last swing, the wall falls away, and he’s faced with the most horrifying thing he’s ever seen:
As Brandt gaped in horror, the skeleton of a child toppled out of the wall. The child’s bony hands clutched a dog’s skeleton in its arms.
Holding his breath against the foul odor, Brandt forced himself to look. The small body was decomposed.
A ragged pair of jeans and a shirt clung to the boy’s bones.
The bones tumbled in a heap to the floor.
Brandt turned away, fighting down his nausea.
The room lay silent now. The pitiful cries had stopped.
Brandt stared at the hideous little skull with its patch of red hair. This boy was calling to me, Brandt knew. That was the tiny voice that I heard.
[Poor James, I wonder how long he survived there? Why didn’t he try banging on the walls or something so his family could actually locate where he was?] Mum and Dad get home an hour later and are just as horrified as Brandt about the bones. Dad thinks it explains a lot of the weird things that have happened and suspects a poltergeist, which are apparently usually the ghosts of children. Dad says poltergeists are mischievous, but rarely malicious, and Brandt reminds him what happened to Ezra and Jinny, insisting the presence he’s felt is more evil than mischievous. Dad isn’t so sure, and the family call the police, hoping everything will settle down once James is buried and can rest in peace. A short time later, ghost Cally watches as the police remove James and Cubby from the house, and she promises that Brandt’s troubles aren’t over…
We jump forward to Saturday now, and Brandt finds Abbie on the porch when he opens the front door to get the paper. She’s looking real cute and he invites her in, but decides not to warn her about what Cally’s diary said — James’s bones were removed almost a week ago and nothing strange or scary has happened in the house since, so the threat must be all gone! [Brandt, please. You really think a nine-year-old ghost boy that was begging for help killed the cat and injured Jinny?] In the living room, she asks about Dad’s weapons and armour, and Brandt explains about living on the island. The people living there believed people and animals have two spirits — one is your personality, and the other is your life force that keeps you alive. The natives practiced animal sacrifice, believing that blood contains the life force — by drinking the animal’s blood, their own life force would get stronger. Abbie asks what happens to the personality spirit when you die, and Brandt informs her that it becomes your ghost, which can haunt people.
The phone rings in the kitchen, and Mum calls out to Brandt that it’s for him, so he leaves Abbie in the living room to go take the call. It’s Jinny, which is a surprise because they haven’t spoken since she saw him at Meg’s place. Before they can have a conversation, though, there’s a crash in the living room and Abbie screams. Brandt and his mother rush to the living room where they find Abbie pinned under a suit of armour. She’s uninjured and they quickly free her, and she explains that the armour just flew off the wall. It didn’t fall, but flew. Mum knows it had been hanging securely because they’d checked the hooks several times, so she’s very confused. While mum heads back to the kitchen, Brandt tells Abbie about the diary’s prediction, and she insists the house is evil. While she managed to come away unscathed this time, she’s sure someone will get hurt here.
After the final bell rings at school the next day, Jon confronts Brandt at his locker about pursuing Jinny. He’s basically threating Brandt, who quickly notices the dark shadow that’s bee after him hovering in the empty classroom behind Jon. Sure that it wants to harm Jon, [Why? You’ve been the target the whole time, not Jon?] he desperately tries to keep Jon around until the shadow goes away, trying to goad him into a fight. [???? Brandt is fkn weird] Jon’s not taking the bait and heads down the hall to basketball practice. The shadow begins to follow, so Brandt quickly catches up to Jon, claiming he wants to watch practice. He glances back in time to see the shadow retreat around a corner, and wonders how long he’ll be able to avoid it.
Later, at home, Brandt paws through Cally’s diary, hoping to find information about the shadowy spirit, wondering if it’s Cally’s ghost. Unfortunately he finds no answers, so he looks through Dad’s ancient books on spells and rites. He finds one called ‘The Nature of Evil’ which claims that evil never dies. It explains that those who do its work can be conquered, but evil will seek a new vessel, and even the kindest, gentlest soul can become corrupted. Brandt concludes that something evil in the house got Cally and changed her, and he doesn’t want the same thing to happen to him. Some of the Fraisers’ belongings are still in the attic, so he heads up there in search of clues about what exactly happened to Cally, but comes up short. He does, however, find a photo of the twins and James when they were younger, standing in front of their old apartment building, before James and Cally died. He vows that the same fate won’t befall him, and he won’t let it happen to Abbie, Jinny or Meg either. [OK, maybe I was wrong; if Cally is Abbie, Brandt would have recognised her in the photo… Abbie’s still suss, though. Maybe she’s another one of the house’s ghosts?]
He suddenly hears female giggling and follows it down to the second floor, where it grows louder. The joyless, cruel and scornful laughter seems to surround him and continues to get louder, sending him fleeing to his room. The laughter only follows him, though, until his body throbs with pain and he’s sure his head will split open: ‘The laughter—it’s going to kill me!’ He quickly escapes the house, and the laughter finally stops when he reaches the street. As he stares back at the house, he wonders what else is waiting for him in there.
Meanwhile, ghost Cally is watching from an upstairs window, smiling cruelly as Brandt staggers out of the house covering his ears. She’s getting bored of the silly pranks now, because he’s so easy to scare. They’ll be spending a long, long time together once he’s dead, and she thinks it will be much more fun when they can laugh together. But she’s got to take care of his friends, and then she’ll finish him off…
It’s Wednesday afternoon now, and Brandt’s at home after school when the doorbell rings. It’s Meg and Jinny, who’ve brought over a plate of stale brownies from last week’s bake sale. [What a treat!] They hesitate when Brandt invites them in, and he teases them a little about being scared. [Bruh, YOU’RE scared to be in the damn house too? Shut up] Jinny reminds him what happened last time she was here, but she knows it was some kind of weird accident, because what else could it have been? The girls agree to come in for a few minutes, and the trio head into the living room where Jinny points out the darts hanging on the wall to Meg. [I wonder if they’re both about to be shot, or just one? Because we all know that’s what’s going to happen] Brandt explains how they’re used with a blowgun to kill, and he pulls a blowgun out of a nearby drawer to show them. Then because he’s an absolute fkn idiot, he demonstrates how to load the dart into the blowgun and explains how the islanders blow through it to send the dart hundreds of feet. [Seriously, there’s been so many injuries in this house, which he knows is dangerously haunted, and he wants to load a fkn weapon up? Does he really think that’s going to end well? He’s actually so dumb. This might be the dumbest thing Shadysider’s ever done in a haunted house]
Dad calls out to Brandt from the yard, wanting help cutting some branches off a tree, so Brandt hurries out to assist, promising he’ll be right back. Dad tells Brandt he’s never seen a tree like this before, and Brandt notices the wood isn’t grey-brown like dead wood should be, but dark red like blood. Neither knows what kind of tree it is, and Dad says it’s the toughest wood he’s ever tried to cut. Brandt takes the saw and manages to cut the branch halfway through before Dad finishes it off, and the branch falls to the ground. Bright red sap oozes from the cut surface, and they both agree that it looks like blood. Dad’s had enough and decides he’ll call Mr. Hankers to finish the job, since he’s getting too old for these kind of activities and Brandt shouldn’t be chopping trees in his condition.
While Dad cleans up the mess, Brandt heads back inside and discovers something horrible in the living room:
He saw the blowgun on the floor.
And lying a few feet away were Meg and Jinny.
Their eyes were open, staring, blank. Their mouths hung open in frozen horror.
Each girl had a dart stuck in her throat.
[Of course they do! Literally what else would have possibly happened? I don’t understand how he could ever have thought loading a weapon was a good idea when there’s an evil spirit around that he knows is targeting the girls????? Like??? This has pissed me off so bad hahaha] A short time later, Brandt and his father eavesdrop in the waiting room at the hospital as Dr. Morgan tells Jinny’s and Meg’s parents the girls are lucky to be alive. The darts have been removed from their throats and the girls are expected to make a full recovery, but they’ll need to stay a few days so their minor nerve damage can be monitored.
On the drive home, Brandt tries to tell his father that a ghost is to blame for the girls’ injuries, but Dad doesn’t want to discuss ghosts right now and tells Brandt they’ll talk about it later once they’ve both calmed down. As soon as they’re home, Brandt heads up to his room to check if there’s another entry in the diary, but it’s no longer hidden in his drawer! Instead, he finds it lying on the floor by his closet, and sure enough there’s some fresh writing: ‘No more Jinny or Meg. Abbie dies next.’ Determined to warn Abbie, Brandt starts for his door, but finds Abbie in the doorway. He quickly tells her she’s in danger, but she tosses her head back and laughs — ‘”Why, Brandt,” she said, “you’ve been reading my dairy, haven’t you?”‘ Brandt watches in horror as Abbie’s appearance changes until a completely different girl stands before him, her face filled with hatred. She introduces herself as Cally Frasier and explains Abbie was just a disguise she used.
Cally assures Brandt that she cares about him so won’t hurt him. [Lies] Instead, she wants to protect him. She’s been so lonely, and she plans on keeping him here with her forever. Brandt begs for his life and recognises the small hatchet in her hand from his father’s collection. [Speaking of Dad, where is he? Is he not hearing all this? he and Brandt got home together] He pleads with Cally, who insists it’ll only hurt for a second [So you will hurt him] before she brings the hatchet down onto his head and it sinks ‘with a sickening crack into Brandt’s skull.’
Brandt leans back against the wall, the hatchet still in his head. He doesn’t move, doesn’t fall, doesn’t bleed, and simply watches Cally’s confusion. Then, slowly, he raises his arm and yanks the hatched from his head, tossing it to the floor:
It was his turn to smile.
As his smile widened, Cally’s face clouded in anger. “What’s going on here?” she demanded. “Why don’t you bleed? Why aren’t you dead?”
“My condition—” Brandt began.
“Condition? What condition?” she demanded impatiently.
“You can’t kill me,” Brandt told her. “I’m already dead!”
[OK, now I am shocked! That was unexpected] Yes, it turns out Brandt died on the small island of Mapolo two years ago, and he explains that his father purchased the darts and blowgun from a young warrior. The warrior suspected Dad had ripped him off, so he came to their hut at night and spread a poison powder over the doorstep, then growled like a panther. He expected Dad to come out and be poisoned, but it was Brandt who awoke first and stepped outside. [You think there’s a panther out there so you open the door and go outside?? Idiot] A burning sensation moved up his body from the soles of his feet, and he dropped dead when it reached his heart. Brandt was buried in a coffin on the island, and the scar on his cheek was caused by one of the nails being hammered into the coffin.
Mum was struggling with Brandt’s death, so Dad went to a sorcerer/witch doctor on the island, who agreed to give Brandt a new life force. After digging up the coffin and dragging it back to his hut, the sorcerer found a drifter wandering the roads and tricked him into coming home with him, where he was given some drugged tea. Once unconscious, the drifter’s clothes were put on Brandt’s body before some of his hair and fingernails were placed into a pouch. The pouch was placed around Brandt’s neck, the same one he still wears today, and a ceremony was performed, successfully passing on the drifter’s life force to Brandt. As a result, Brandt was revived from the dead, and the drifter never breathed again.
Cally couldn’t be more happy that Brandt’s already dead and tries to kiss him, but a dark shadow falls over them — it’s the dark shadowy figure that’s been following Brandt! [It’s been two years, why didn’t you deal with this on the island??] It announces it’s here to take his life back, and a shape begins to take form into the dark cloud. [Is it a shadow or a cloud? Stine can’t keep it consistent] Brandt realises it’s the drifter who’s life force he’d taken and orders him to get away, but the drifter quickly yanks the pouch from Brandt’s neck instead. Brandt weakens, and the shadowy figure solidifies into his human self. Alive once more, the drifter flees the house, and Brandt quickly shrivels up and decomposes in front of Cally.
Time for an epilogue now, and Cally watches from the attic window as Brandt’s coffin is taken away in a hearse. Dressed in black, his parents follow behind in their own car. Cally’s pissed that Brandt’s been taken away from her, and the book ends with her vowing that ‘”The next people to arrive will be sorry they ever came to 99 Fear Street.”‘ [So others that die here aren’t forced to stay??? Why did Cally stay?]
Final thoughts
This was a decent follow up to The First Horror, although I wish it had have explored the house’s history a bit more. I have so many questions that I feel like won’t be answered in the last book, either. I’m desperate to know what the deal is with Hankers, Nordstrom, and Lurie, who barely featured in this one, or why we never see the spirits of the other people who’d died here when the house was being built. I also think it’s weird that Brandt never sought out Anthony for more information after reading about him in Cally’s diary. It’s a year later so it’s possible Anthony went off to college if he was a senior last year, but it never even occurred to Brandt to try find him.
I did like Brandt, though, at least until the end when his brain apparently stopped working. I still can’t believe he left a loaded weapon with his friends inside a haunted house that’s targeting said friends. Or why he thought his drawer was a good hiding spot for a diary. The Abbie twist was obvious from the second we met her, although I was second guessing it when Brandt found the photo of the Frasier kids. It didn’t cross my mind that a ghost would be able to disguise her appearance entirely because that’s a stupid, implausible way to have a twist.
The ending was pretty wild, and I’ll give Stine extra points since it’s something completely different to any other Fear Street I’ve read. It was a lot of exposition to dump right at the end, though, so it did seem a bit rushed. I’ll admit I didn’t see it coming about Brandt’s condition, and now I’m wondering if he was so easily injured simply because some decay would have already been occurring before he was revived from the dead, or if his body is still decaying because it was stolen life force keeping him alive. It would have been nice to learn more about it, I think!
There’s a lot to pick apart with this one now that I think about it, but I had a good time reading it, so 323 footsteps from a ghost in the attic out of 401!
