Page 127 of Nothing Like the Movies

“Uh,” I started to say, but then Liz said, “Campbell said the doorknob isn’t budging. They’re going to find Stark and see if he’s got a key.”

“A key?” I bent my knees and raised my phone so I could see the knob. “I don’t see a lock on this side at all.”

“This is freakinggreat,” she said, sounding annoyed.

“I’m sure he’s got a key,” I said, trying to reassure her.

“You said yourself that it doesn’t look like there’s a lock,” she snapped, her voice thick with frustration.

“Relax, Buxbaum, it’s going to be okay,” I said, wondering if this was about the closet or if it was about me. “Are you claustrophobic?”

“No,”she bit out. “I just don’t want to be here.”

So itwasabout me.

“They’re probably going to find our bloated, spider-bitten corpses when they finally get in,” she said, and it reminded me so much of Little Liz that the disappointment took a back seat to amusement.

“Christ. That’s a little dark.”

“Well, something made all of these webs, right?”

“I choose not to think about it.” I turned my head and said, “I wonder what it’s like up the stairs.”

“A graveyard of demented dolls and mannequins, I would guess.”

I heard Liz’s phone buzz, saw the screen light up, and she said, “It’s Campbell.”

I watched her as she read the message.

“Nononono,”she whined, looking up at me. Her face was illuminated by the phone, that slick mouth all lit up, and something about it made my pulse speed up. “Look.”

She held out the phone so I could read the message. Apparently Nick’s landlord had a key, but the guy was thirty minutes away. Campbell and Leo were going to go get it, but we’d have to wait until they returned.

I knew I shouldn’t be happy, especially when it was obvious Liz wasn’t, but how could I not be? I’d just been given the gift of thirty uninterrupted minutes with Liz. I was going to make the most of this situation and try to nudge us past this place we were stuck in.

“I know exactly what we can do while we wait,” I said.

Her expression was priceless, like she seriously thought I was suggesting we get after it in the creepy attic full of spiderwebs. I was half laughing when I said, “Get your mind out of the gutter, Buxbaum. I only meant that we can play twenty questions and get to know each other.”

“I thought you already know me better than anyone,” she said in a mocking voice.

“Well, then, now’s my chance to prove it,” I said, wondering if it were possible to hyperventilate on someone’s perfume.

Because I could never quite stop myself from taking little sipping sniffs whenever I was near her.

“But let’s see what’s up the stairs first.”

“Are you kidding me?” she said in a high-pitched voice. “No way am I going up those rickety steps.”

“Oh, come on, Lib,” I said, turning on my flashlight and stepping closer to the stairs. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“That’s what the next victim says in every horror movie.”

She wasn’t wrong, but as I put my foot on the bottom step, I saw it. “There’s a window up here.”

“So Chucky can push us to our deaths?” she quipped, sounding hesitant.

“Grab the back of my shirt,” I said, “and follow me. I will slay any villains who come for you; I promise.”

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