Read Stage Fright (Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Book 6) for Free Online Page A

like the hungry cries of a flock of birds, and I was beginning to understand how worms felt.
    “Ow!” I screamed. Someone had yanked a piece of my hair out! This had gone too far. I pushed—and the crowd pushed back! I fell to my side, but there was nowhere to go. Someone shoved me from behind, and I stumbled face first into a woman’s giant backpack. The yelling of the crowd had turned from excited and happy to scared and angry.
    “Calm down, everyone!” I yelled. “Please, stop this!”
    “I can’t breathe!”
    “Someone took my wallet!”
    “Help!”
    Everyone was panicking. In ten seconds, the scene on the sidewalk had turned into a riot—and I was right at the center of it.
    Someone new grabbed my hand, hard. I yanked my arm back, but they hung on. I felt myself slowly being dragged out of the crowd. I didn’t know who it was, but if there was a way out, I was going to follow. As gently as I could, I pushed my way forward.
    “I’m sorry,” I said over and over again. But everyone was pushing, and there was nothing else I could do.
    “Help!” yelled a small voice below me. I looked down and saw a young girl, maybe twelve, lying on the ground. Feet were stomping all around her. It was only a matter of time before she was trampled.
    I reached down and pulled her to her feet.
    “Amy! Amy, oh God, there you are!” a woman yelled. The girl grabbed her mother’s arm, and my mysterious benefactor pulled us away.
    “Mommy! Claire Cleveland saved my life!” I heard, as we swept away through the crowd. I couldn’t help but smile. Even if I did nothing else, I’d at least managed to give Claire a good reputation.
    Finally I found myself pulled up against a metal fence. It was nice to only have people pushing at me from one side—and even nicer when part of the fence swung open, and I was yanked into a small alleyway next to the theater. It was blissfully empty and quiet.
    “Thank you. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t arrived when you did,” I said, getting a close look at my savior for the first time. Up close, he was shorter than I was, and cute, in a leprechaun kind of way. He had curly dark hair and flawless pale skin. He looked like he worked at the theater. At least, he wore a headset and held a clipboard. If he didn’t work at the theater, he had strange fashion sense.
    He puffed his hair out of his eyes, causing his curls to flop around.
    “Sorry about that,” he said. He seemed genuinely sorry, as though the mob’s panic had been his fault. He wouldn’t meet my eyes. He was even blushing a little.
    “It’s okay,” I said. “I’m Nancy.”
    “Nancy Drew,” he responded. “I know. You’re on my list.” He pointed to his clipboard. “I’m Damien Alexander. Assistant to Mr. Linden von Louden.”
    “Good to meet you, Damien,” I shook his hand, then tried to rearrange my hair into something that didn’t look like a bird’s nest. “I think the crowd mistook me for Claire and got … excited.”
    Excited was the most charitable way I could put it. Wild might have been more appropriate, or maybe insane.
    “I know!” he said, suddenly looking up. His eyes, I noticed, had a bit of a wild flair to them, like a gypsy in a movie. “It’s ridiculous, because you two look nothing alike. Claire is at least three-quarters of an inch taller than you, and her hair is so much darker. I guess there’s a little resemblance in the face, but Claire is the most beautiful woman in showbiz. No offense.”
    He snapped his mouth shut. His sudden rant about Claire seemed to have surprised Damien as much as it did me. Okay … there was something a little off about this guy. I’d have to talk to Frank and Joe about him. Which reminded me …
    “I, uh, am late for a meeting,” I started, not wanting to seem rude or ungrateful. Damien blushed instantly.
    “Right! Yes, sorry. Go through that door there,” he said, pointing to a red fire door farther down the alley. “Take a