SVT SUPER CHILLER #8: The Secret of the Magic Pen, or…do I even need a snappy alternate title here?
How can you not want to read the recap of this book? The title alone is gold! Not to mention the back cover, which reads:
“A pen that tells the future?
Summer vacation is here, and Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield and their friends have just arrived at sleep-away camp! On a hike through a dark, eerie cave, Elizabeth finds something incredible - a glowing pen! She can’t wait to use it to write an article for the camp newspaper”.
LOL! Only Liz would find a pen incredible.
Anyway, basically Liz starts trying to write articles with the pen. But instead, the pen makes her compose this mystery story that seems to come out of nowhere. Obviously Liz has no idea about writing, because she thinks that maybe this is how all writers write - without any thought, planning or creativity. Like, maybe it just comes out when you touch pen to paper. Pfft. We should be so lucky! And maybe this pen in particular is just really inspiring. Yeah, sure. Seriously, this is Liz’s actual reasoning! In any case, stuff from the mystery she’s writing starts coming true - for her. Spoooooooky! Is the pen maaaaaagic? Is it hauuuuuuuunted?
The cover features Jessica, not Elizabeth, for some reason, (wearing a purple t-shirt? Must be her) and Miranda, a camper friend of hers. As far as I can tell, there are no scenes were Jessica illuminates the word “Beware” on a cave wall with her legs heavily oiled up - continuity =(. At first, I thought Miranda had weird green sparks coming out of her fingers, but then I realised it was meant to be a bush she was hiding behind. That’s right, a bizarre, alien, floating-in-mid-air bush. But I guess if we can believe in an evil, magical, haunted pen, then we can suspend the laws of physics for a cover pic.
I actually enjoyed this book as a kid (I have a weakness for camp stories), but even when I was little it occurred to me that this story was pretty far-fetched.
The book starts with the twins lamenting how boring this summer will be. Boo-hoo. They’ve done everything in Sweet Valley 100 times before, all their friends are away or busy with fun activities (hilariously, Liz thinks Amy’s summer school is one of those fun activities). The twins wish they had a change of scenery. Conveniently, Ned and Alice tell them that night at dinner that they’ve signed the twins up for Camp Faraway, a two-week summer camp for girls with all kinds of fun activities - drama and dance for Jess, pottery and writing for the camp newspaper for Liz. It starts the day after next - better get packing!
I should also mention that around the start, Liz starts trying to write a mystery book, inspired by her favourite author Amanda Howard, and goes on a hilarious mental sojourn where she’s a published author and tours the country doing book signings and teaching college classes. At the age of twelve. I like Steven’s diplomatic “isn’t that a little ambitious?” at the dinner table. Liz finds herself totally writers-blocked though, and can’t eke out a single word. I laughed out loud when she was considering the options for her book:
“Should her setting be Sweet Valley, or should she make up a fantasy world where only the strangest things happened?”
…Because a world in which magic pens glow eerily and write mysteries by themselves is not at all fantastic?
Other things of note here: Jessica’s club The Unicorns calls their lunch table ‘The Unicorner’. How (uni)corny is that?
After packing their whole libraries (Elizabeth) and wardrobes (Jessica), the two get in the car with their parents and drive off to Camp Faraway. Five minutes into the hour-long drive, Jessica is bored already. I am officially diagnosing her with Attention Deficit Disorder as well as Antisocial Personality Disorder.
When the twins arrive, they find that Mandy Miller, a Unicorn Club member who is friends with both of them, is also at Camp Faraway. Then Miranda Page, an aspiring actress (and perfect new friend for Jess) comes along, as does Starr Johnson, a Shakespeare-loving writer (and perfect new friend for Liz). Cough. Do twelve-year-olds that go around constantly quoting Shakespeare exist??? Although if they did, I suppose they would be friends with Elizabeth Wakefield.
The camp is gorgeous and picturesque, and built around Lake Emerald, which their camp counsellor warns them never to go out on alone. Foreshadowing, perhaps? The camp owner and leader, Gunnie, tells them a bit of camp ‘folklore’ - that, some say, many years ago, murders were committed on this property! Oh yeah. That’s something I’d tell to a bunch of 12 year old girls. She also tells them that many famous people have journeyed to these camp grounds, the most notable being Roland Barge, who is apparently a best-selling author of dark thrillers. Foreshadowing, perhaps?
The next day, the campers go on a cave expedition. Jess meets a rival called Priscilla Westover, whom the girls quickly rename “Prissy”. It suits her. Prissy is a pain-in-the-ass, Southern-accented complain-aholic, who starts almost every sentence with “Mommy and Daddy”. I love her.
In Hangman’s Cave, Elizabeth finds something red and glowing in a crevice by the wall. She wedges it out. Omgosh, it’s a pen! An antique, ornate pen. That is mysteriously glowing from the inside.
She shows it to Jess later, who teases her for finding it so fascinating. I love this:
“Well, I bet Miranda will think this is really pretty. She loves red,” Jessica mused.
Elizabeth slid the pen back into her pocket. “No one can see it, Jess. This is between you and me.”
“A secret pen?” Jessica asked. “Oh come on, Elizabeth.”
…
“I just want to try using it to write my book.”
“Maybe you should write a story about a weird girl who finds a pen and thinks it has magical powers,” Jessica suggested.
Jess starts her acting lessons and worries that she’ll have to compete with Miranda for the lead in the play they’ll put on, The Royal Switch. It turns out Miranda wants a different part and Jess’ only competition is Prissy.
Liz starts her writing class (it’s both a creative and journalistic writing class), and volunteers to write a feature article about Roland Barge.
Liz actually skips a campfire/sing-a-long night to stay in the cabin with her pen. Quote:
“Somehow she felt as though she had to find time alone - it was almost as though the pen was calling to her”.
Yeah…I know.
So then Liz starts trying to write her article on Roland Barge, but instead, a story comes out.
“The words flew from her hand in a mystical way, almost as if they were writing themselves”. The handwriting doesn’t even look like hers! Spooky. Instead of realizing that something is obviously very, very amiss, Liz reasons that this probably happens to published authors all the time.
Her story is set about 70 years ago. It’s about a young servant girl named Amelia Champlain who works at a place called the O’Neil Manor (set at Camp Faraway before it was Camp Faraway). Amelia dreams of becoming a mystery writer and shares this lofty ambition only with her love, another servant named Richard Bittle. He tells her not to tell anyone else because they will laugh at her. Supportive guy there. Just when she’s finished her first publish-able work, though, Amelia tragically finds the title page of the work burning in the fire! Oh no! The manuscript is gone! Boo…
Heh, the book also contains excerpts from “Elizabeth’s” story, and it sounds horrible, with lines like:
“You are radiant with passion”, Richard told Amelia admiringly. “I adore the way your cheeks are flushed with excitement.”
Anyway. Later that night, Jess is reading her script for the camp play, as auditions are tomorrow. When she returns from getting a glass of juice, though, she finds her script MISSING! Omg, even worse…it turns up in the fire. Eep, just like the story.
Then Liz and Jess have a debrief. Liz tells Jess about the pen, Jess convinces her it’s a crazy story and there’s probably some rational explanation (wow, logic from the drama-queen twin). Then Jess tells Liz about the script & fireplace and Liz gets worried about her twin.
“What if the pen was speaking to me, trying to warn me about you?”
“Oh please, Elizabeth,” Jessica said. “You really have been reading too many mysteries. There’s no way a pen could have supernatural powers. I bet it had to do with our psychic ability to communicate to each other.”
I’m gonna ignore the obvious lameness here and pick on the fact that the ghostwriter here has said “communicate to each other”. Shouldn’t ‘to’ be ‘with’? Yeah, sorry, I’m picky.
The next day, Jess beats the pants off Prissy for the lead in the play. Yay. The play sounds kind of neat, it’s called The Royal Switch and is about a princess and a pauper(ess) who were switched at birth.
Hahahhaa - Jess’ reply to an admiring fellow camper:
“Your audition was totally amazing. How do you manage to be so funny and so emotional at the same time?”
Jessica smiled graciously. “It’s all a matter of being true to yourself,” she replied, quoting from something she’d read about acting somewhere”.
I love how her advice is “be true to yourself”, when the quote isn’t even hers.
Liz does some research on Roland Barge, and finds him to be really reclusive and silent on the topic of his past and personal life. The only thing he’ll talk about is his novels. Liz finds some reviews of his works. Every novel of his has rave reviews, except for the last one, which is basically described as crap.
Liz starts trying to write more of the Amelia/Richard story with a regular pencil, but she is completely uninspired. Now she is certain the power is all in the pen. She writes more (with the pen). Richard leaves Amelia a note to meet him on the lake, so she takes a small boat out to meet him. But then it starts storming and her boat begins to sink. Nooo…luckily, a fisherman saves her, but he reveals that the boat had knife punctures in it. Someone was trying to kill Amelia (Gee, I wonder who?).
Sidebar: Elizabeth’s new friend Starr is a total wimp. Liz considers telling her about the pen, but decides against it because she figures it would scare her to death. Based on how Starr acted to anything remotely scary in the book, I’m inclined to agree.
Then, in real life, a sudden storm comes rolling in. Fearing that the pen’s predictions are about to repeat themselves, Elizabeth insists to her camp counsellor that Jessica is at the lake and they must go save her. Sure enough, they see Jess on the lake and a boat saves her. It’s cute how Liz dives into the lake and tries to save Jess herself, even though it doesn’t work. Jess tells Liz there was a puncture in the boat. Dunn dunn dunn dunn…
The twins get tons of attention for their ‘bravery’. Um…yeah.
Then Gunnie comes over and starts talking to Liz about her Roland Barge article. She mentions what a charming young man he was… “of course, that was before he changed his name”. Apparently, Roland Barge used to be known as Richard Bittle, and worked as a servant at the O’Neil Manor. GASP!
Gunnie also reveals that Richard used to be in love with a servant girl named Amelia Champlain, but that one day, Amelia left him a note saying she had run off with another man. This doesn’t sit right with Elizabeth. What about Amelia’s writing ambitions? Was…was Amelia murdered? And if so - would the same thing happen to Jessica?
Elizabeth reveals everything to Jess later, and Jessica finally believes her…until Liz suggests they get their parents to pick them up that night and save them from any further danger. Miss a starring role in The Royal Switch on the off chance that she might die???!!! That’s not our Jessica! She’s quick to go back to scoffing at the magic pen, and refuses to leave the camp.
Okay, this story is obviously crazy and would never happen in real life. But just say it did - Jess is being so dumb here. Elizabeth has proof that the pen is writing for itself and that Jess may be in mortal danger, and Jessica just glosses over it. What a fucking bitch!
To get more info, Liz goes to the camp library (really? The camp has a library?) and reads Roland Barge’s famous first book, “Death of a Hangman”. It’s about a murderer who buries the bodies of his victims in a cave, then ends up hanged in the same cave by the spirits he’s killed (a little scary for a twelve-year-old, no?).
Jess getting ready for her play’s dress rehearsal:
Jessica smiled confidently in the small mirror.
“I’m going to look too pretty to get murdered, that’s for sure!”
Bahahaha. If only looks were a defence against brutal killings, Jessica. If only.
Then Liz goes to write more with The Most Magical Pen in the World and it turns out Richard has left Amelia another note, asking her to meet him at a cave. Now, if I was Amelia, a bright, plucky young mystery writer, I’d be a bit suspicious by now. But maybe she’s just too in love, or maybe cynicism wasn’t invented 70 years ago. Whatever it is, she stupidly meets him at the cave and, unsurprisingly, he evilly strangles her to death. End of Liz’s story.
And Liz is actually surprised and shocked at this ending. Is she retarded or what?
Liz runs straight to the theatre to find Jess, but is told Jess is late to rehearsal. She then grabs Gunnie and begs her to come to Hangman’s Cave with her.
And then they find Jess in the cave just in time to save her from being strangled to death by some unseen force.
Turns out Jess was also propelled to the cave by an unseen force.
Then the pen starts glowing and Liz is drawn to use it to write on the cave wall. (Wow, the cave wall’s surface must be pretty damn smooth…I find it pretty unbelievable that a pen could write legibly on a cave wall)
It tells everyone, in first person writing, that Richard tried to strangle Amelia, then drowned her in the cave’s bottomless pool, all to steal her books. The pen also tells them to find Amelia’s original manuscripts below the barn, or something.
They all rush to the barn and discover - surprise! - Amelia’s original books, written in the pen’s bluish ink and fancy script. Only one is written in black ink and different handwriting - Roland’s last (shitty) novel, when he finally ran out of Amelia’s books and tried to make a go of it himself. Of course, he sucked, which is why the critics stomped on it.
Oh yeah, then they find Roland/Richard’s journal. It explains that at the time when he “burned” Amelia’s first manuscript, he actually just burned the title page to mislead her and stole the rest. The diary ends with Roland saying he’s about to go hang himself for the obvious reason of him being racked with guilt his entire life over his evil deeds.
Lizzie gets to keep the pen, Amelia’s spirit is laid to rest, and Liz writes an article called “The Truth About Roland Barge”. Oh yeah, and Jess gives an awesome performance in the camp play. Woop-di-do. The end!
I have just one more bone of contention: Amelia’s ghost sure seems like an asshole. I mean, I assume that that’s what the book was getting at with all the unseen force thingies - Amelia made these things happen to get the real story of her novel-writing out there. But what was the deal with continuously reliving the past in real life and making it happen to Jessica? Jess could have died, especially at the end when she was in the cave. Jeez, Amelia, couldn't a creative gal like you think up some nicer ways of getting the truth about your cunty ex-lover out there? I guess the grave embitters the noblest soul.
“A pen that tells the future?
Summer vacation is here, and Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield and their friends have just arrived at sleep-away camp! On a hike through a dark, eerie cave, Elizabeth finds something incredible - a glowing pen! She can’t wait to use it to write an article for the camp newspaper”.
LOL! Only Liz would find a pen incredible.
Anyway, basically Liz starts trying to write articles with the pen. But instead, the pen makes her compose this mystery story that seems to come out of nowhere. Obviously Liz has no idea about writing, because she thinks that maybe this is how all writers write - without any thought, planning or creativity. Like, maybe it just comes out when you touch pen to paper. Pfft. We should be so lucky! And maybe this pen in particular is just really inspiring. Yeah, sure. Seriously, this is Liz’s actual reasoning! In any case, stuff from the mystery she’s writing starts coming true - for her. Spoooooooky! Is the pen maaaaaagic? Is it hauuuuuuuunted?
The cover features Jessica, not Elizabeth, for some reason, (wearing a purple t-shirt? Must be her) and Miranda, a camper friend of hers. As far as I can tell, there are no scenes were Jessica illuminates the word “Beware” on a cave wall with her legs heavily oiled up - continuity =(. At first, I thought Miranda had weird green sparks coming out of her fingers, but then I realised it was meant to be a bush she was hiding behind. That’s right, a bizarre, alien, floating-in-mid-air bush. But I guess if we can believe in an evil, magical, haunted pen, then we can suspend the laws of physics for a cover pic.
I actually enjoyed this book as a kid (I have a weakness for camp stories), but even when I was little it occurred to me that this story was pretty far-fetched.
The book starts with the twins lamenting how boring this summer will be. Boo-hoo. They’ve done everything in Sweet Valley 100 times before, all their friends are away or busy with fun activities (hilariously, Liz thinks Amy’s summer school is one of those fun activities). The twins wish they had a change of scenery. Conveniently, Ned and Alice tell them that night at dinner that they’ve signed the twins up for Camp Faraway, a two-week summer camp for girls with all kinds of fun activities - drama and dance for Jess, pottery and writing for the camp newspaper for Liz. It starts the day after next - better get packing!
I should also mention that around the start, Liz starts trying to write a mystery book, inspired by her favourite author Amanda Howard, and goes on a hilarious mental sojourn where she’s a published author and tours the country doing book signings and teaching college classes. At the age of twelve. I like Steven’s diplomatic “isn’t that a little ambitious?” at the dinner table. Liz finds herself totally writers-blocked though, and can’t eke out a single word. I laughed out loud when she was considering the options for her book:
“Should her setting be Sweet Valley, or should she make up a fantasy world where only the strangest things happened?”
…Because a world in which magic pens glow eerily and write mysteries by themselves is not at all fantastic?
Other things of note here: Jessica’s club The Unicorns calls their lunch table ‘The Unicorner’. How (uni)corny is that?
After packing their whole libraries (Elizabeth) and wardrobes (Jessica), the two get in the car with their parents and drive off to Camp Faraway. Five minutes into the hour-long drive, Jessica is bored already. I am officially diagnosing her with Attention Deficit Disorder as well as Antisocial Personality Disorder.
When the twins arrive, they find that Mandy Miller, a Unicorn Club member who is friends with both of them, is also at Camp Faraway. Then Miranda Page, an aspiring actress (and perfect new friend for Jess) comes along, as does Starr Johnson, a Shakespeare-loving writer (and perfect new friend for Liz). Cough. Do twelve-year-olds that go around constantly quoting Shakespeare exist??? Although if they did, I suppose they would be friends with Elizabeth Wakefield.
The camp is gorgeous and picturesque, and built around Lake Emerald, which their camp counsellor warns them never to go out on alone. Foreshadowing, perhaps? The camp owner and leader, Gunnie, tells them a bit of camp ‘folklore’ - that, some say, many years ago, murders were committed on this property! Oh yeah. That’s something I’d tell to a bunch of 12 year old girls. She also tells them that many famous people have journeyed to these camp grounds, the most notable being Roland Barge, who is apparently a best-selling author of dark thrillers. Foreshadowing, perhaps?
The next day, the campers go on a cave expedition. Jess meets a rival called Priscilla Westover, whom the girls quickly rename “Prissy”. It suits her. Prissy is a pain-in-the-ass, Southern-accented complain-aholic, who starts almost every sentence with “Mommy and Daddy”. I love her.
In Hangman’s Cave, Elizabeth finds something red and glowing in a crevice by the wall. She wedges it out. Omgosh, it’s a pen! An antique, ornate pen. That is mysteriously glowing from the inside.
She shows it to Jess later, who teases her for finding it so fascinating. I love this:
“Well, I bet Miranda will think this is really pretty. She loves red,” Jessica mused.
Elizabeth slid the pen back into her pocket. “No one can see it, Jess. This is between you and me.”
“A secret pen?” Jessica asked. “Oh come on, Elizabeth.”
…
“I just want to try using it to write my book.”
“Maybe you should write a story about a weird girl who finds a pen and thinks it has magical powers,” Jessica suggested.
Jess starts her acting lessons and worries that she’ll have to compete with Miranda for the lead in the play they’ll put on, The Royal Switch. It turns out Miranda wants a different part and Jess’ only competition is Prissy.
Liz starts her writing class (it’s both a creative and journalistic writing class), and volunteers to write a feature article about Roland Barge.
Liz actually skips a campfire/sing-a-long night to stay in the cabin with her pen. Quote:
“Somehow she felt as though she had to find time alone - it was almost as though the pen was calling to her”.
Yeah…I know.
So then Liz starts trying to write her article on Roland Barge, but instead, a story comes out.
“The words flew from her hand in a mystical way, almost as if they were writing themselves”. The handwriting doesn’t even look like hers! Spooky. Instead of realizing that something is obviously very, very amiss, Liz reasons that this probably happens to published authors all the time.
Her story is set about 70 years ago. It’s about a young servant girl named Amelia Champlain who works at a place called the O’Neil Manor (set at Camp Faraway before it was Camp Faraway). Amelia dreams of becoming a mystery writer and shares this lofty ambition only with her love, another servant named Richard Bittle. He tells her not to tell anyone else because they will laugh at her. Supportive guy there. Just when she’s finished her first publish-able work, though, Amelia tragically finds the title page of the work burning in the fire! Oh no! The manuscript is gone! Boo…
Heh, the book also contains excerpts from “Elizabeth’s” story, and it sounds horrible, with lines like:
“You are radiant with passion”, Richard told Amelia admiringly. “I adore the way your cheeks are flushed with excitement.”
Anyway. Later that night, Jess is reading her script for the camp play, as auditions are tomorrow. When she returns from getting a glass of juice, though, she finds her script MISSING! Omg, even worse…it turns up in the fire. Eep, just like the story.
Then Liz and Jess have a debrief. Liz tells Jess about the pen, Jess convinces her it’s a crazy story and there’s probably some rational explanation (wow, logic from the drama-queen twin). Then Jess tells Liz about the script & fireplace and Liz gets worried about her twin.
“What if the pen was speaking to me, trying to warn me about you?”
“Oh please, Elizabeth,” Jessica said. “You really have been reading too many mysteries. There’s no way a pen could have supernatural powers. I bet it had to do with our psychic ability to communicate to each other.”
I’m gonna ignore the obvious lameness here and pick on the fact that the ghostwriter here has said “communicate to each other”. Shouldn’t ‘to’ be ‘with’? Yeah, sorry, I’m picky.
The next day, Jess beats the pants off Prissy for the lead in the play. Yay. The play sounds kind of neat, it’s called The Royal Switch and is about a princess and a pauper(ess) who were switched at birth.
Hahahhaa - Jess’ reply to an admiring fellow camper:
“Your audition was totally amazing. How do you manage to be so funny and so emotional at the same time?”
Jessica smiled graciously. “It’s all a matter of being true to yourself,” she replied, quoting from something she’d read about acting somewhere”.
I love how her advice is “be true to yourself”, when the quote isn’t even hers.
Liz does some research on Roland Barge, and finds him to be really reclusive and silent on the topic of his past and personal life. The only thing he’ll talk about is his novels. Liz finds some reviews of his works. Every novel of his has rave reviews, except for the last one, which is basically described as crap.
Liz starts trying to write more of the Amelia/Richard story with a regular pencil, but she is completely uninspired. Now she is certain the power is all in the pen. She writes more (with the pen). Richard leaves Amelia a note to meet him on the lake, so she takes a small boat out to meet him. But then it starts storming and her boat begins to sink. Nooo…luckily, a fisherman saves her, but he reveals that the boat had knife punctures in it. Someone was trying to kill Amelia (Gee, I wonder who?).
Sidebar: Elizabeth’s new friend Starr is a total wimp. Liz considers telling her about the pen, but decides against it because she figures it would scare her to death. Based on how Starr acted to anything remotely scary in the book, I’m inclined to agree.
Then, in real life, a sudden storm comes rolling in. Fearing that the pen’s predictions are about to repeat themselves, Elizabeth insists to her camp counsellor that Jessica is at the lake and they must go save her. Sure enough, they see Jess on the lake and a boat saves her. It’s cute how Liz dives into the lake and tries to save Jess herself, even though it doesn’t work. Jess tells Liz there was a puncture in the boat. Dunn dunn dunn dunn…
The twins get tons of attention for their ‘bravery’. Um…yeah.
Then Gunnie comes over and starts talking to Liz about her Roland Barge article. She mentions what a charming young man he was… “of course, that was before he changed his name”. Apparently, Roland Barge used to be known as Richard Bittle, and worked as a servant at the O’Neil Manor. GASP!
Gunnie also reveals that Richard used to be in love with a servant girl named Amelia Champlain, but that one day, Amelia left him a note saying she had run off with another man. This doesn’t sit right with Elizabeth. What about Amelia’s writing ambitions? Was…was Amelia murdered? And if so - would the same thing happen to Jessica?
Elizabeth reveals everything to Jess later, and Jessica finally believes her…until Liz suggests they get their parents to pick them up that night and save them from any further danger. Miss a starring role in The Royal Switch on the off chance that she might die???!!! That’s not our Jessica! She’s quick to go back to scoffing at the magic pen, and refuses to leave the camp.
Okay, this story is obviously crazy and would never happen in real life. But just say it did - Jess is being so dumb here. Elizabeth has proof that the pen is writing for itself and that Jess may be in mortal danger, and Jessica just glosses over it. What a fucking bitch!
To get more info, Liz goes to the camp library (really? The camp has a library?) and reads Roland Barge’s famous first book, “Death of a Hangman”. It’s about a murderer who buries the bodies of his victims in a cave, then ends up hanged in the same cave by the spirits he’s killed (a little scary for a twelve-year-old, no?).
Jess getting ready for her play’s dress rehearsal:
Jessica smiled confidently in the small mirror.
“I’m going to look too pretty to get murdered, that’s for sure!”
Bahahaha. If only looks were a defence against brutal killings, Jessica. If only.
Then Liz goes to write more with The Most Magical Pen in the World and it turns out Richard has left Amelia another note, asking her to meet him at a cave. Now, if I was Amelia, a bright, plucky young mystery writer, I’d be a bit suspicious by now. But maybe she’s just too in love, or maybe cynicism wasn’t invented 70 years ago. Whatever it is, she stupidly meets him at the cave and, unsurprisingly, he evilly strangles her to death. End of Liz’s story.
And Liz is actually surprised and shocked at this ending. Is she retarded or what?
Liz runs straight to the theatre to find Jess, but is told Jess is late to rehearsal. She then grabs Gunnie and begs her to come to Hangman’s Cave with her.
And then they find Jess in the cave just in time to save her from being strangled to death by some unseen force.
Turns out Jess was also propelled to the cave by an unseen force.
Then the pen starts glowing and Liz is drawn to use it to write on the cave wall. (Wow, the cave wall’s surface must be pretty damn smooth…I find it pretty unbelievable that a pen could write legibly on a cave wall)
It tells everyone, in first person writing, that Richard tried to strangle Amelia, then drowned her in the cave’s bottomless pool, all to steal her books. The pen also tells them to find Amelia’s original manuscripts below the barn, or something.
They all rush to the barn and discover - surprise! - Amelia’s original books, written in the pen’s bluish ink and fancy script. Only one is written in black ink and different handwriting - Roland’s last (shitty) novel, when he finally ran out of Amelia’s books and tried to make a go of it himself. Of course, he sucked, which is why the critics stomped on it.
Oh yeah, then they find Roland/Richard’s journal. It explains that at the time when he “burned” Amelia’s first manuscript, he actually just burned the title page to mislead her and stole the rest. The diary ends with Roland saying he’s about to go hang himself for the obvious reason of him being racked with guilt his entire life over his evil deeds.
Lizzie gets to keep the pen, Amelia’s spirit is laid to rest, and Liz writes an article called “The Truth About Roland Barge”. Oh yeah, and Jess gives an awesome performance in the camp play. Woop-di-do. The end!
I have just one more bone of contention: Amelia’s ghost sure seems like an asshole. I mean, I assume that that’s what the book was getting at with all the unseen force thingies - Amelia made these things happen to get the real story of her novel-writing out there. But what was the deal with continuously reliving the past in real life and making it happen to Jessica? Jess could have died, especially at the end when she was in the cave. Jeez, Amelia, couldn't a creative gal like you think up some nicer ways of getting the truth about your cunty ex-lover out there? I guess the grave embitters the noblest soul.