Inspector Cranium lowered his head and stared hard at me as he moved forward. He was like an animal now, stalking his prey.

I stumbled back, too frightened and out of breath to run anymore.

“Jackson —” I murmured. “He’s inside my brain. I can feel it. Tingling. Ohhh … it hurts … the tingling … it hurts.”

“Me, too,” Jackson whispered. “My whole head is tingling from the inside. Just like back in his lab.”

I wanted to run. But Inspector Cranium held me in his power.

I turned and saw Jackson staring past Cranium. Staring hard at something behind him.

“Jackson?”

He didn’t move. He didn’t blink.

And then I saw what he was doing.

I saw the Madame Doom mannequin rise up from its glass booth. The heavy wooden figure floated up slowly … rising high above the booth walls.

It tipped back and forth in the air. Then it came flying across the plaza.

Cranium didn’t see what hit him.

The mannequin dropped hard and fast. It landed headfirst on top of Cranium, and he crumpled to the pavement.

He didn’t make a sound.

Did it knock him unconscious?

Jackson and I didn’t wait to find out. He grabbed me by the arm, and we took off running again. Our shoes slapped the pavement as we shot through the plaza.

People stared. A Horror shouted to us, warning us not to run.

But we didn’t slow down. And we didn’t look back.

The Doom Slide came into view up ahead. A tall purple building with a wide, curving ramp in the center.

We ran to the ramp and started to climb.

I grabbed the metal railing on the side and half pulled, half pushed myself toward the top.

My heart was pounding, and my face was drenched with sweat. My legs felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds as we climbed higher and higher.

“Ohhh.” A faint cry escaped my lips when I heard heavy footsteps beneath us. I listened hard as I climbed. And heard grunting breaths. Someone was climbing fast.

It had to be Cranium!

My throat ached and my legs throbbed with pain as Jackson and I reached the top. We ran onto a wide, flat terrace.

In front of us stood ten open doorways cut into a high wall. The doorways were as dark as tunnel entrances. Each opening had a slide behind it. Each door was numbered.

“He — he’s coming,” I stammered to Jackson. “Cranium. He’s right behind us.”

“Choose a slide,” Jackson uttered. His chest heaved up and down. He lowered his hands to his knees, struggling to breathe normally. “Quick — which one? Which one?”

My eyes ran down the line of slide entrances. At the end, I saw a fat, yellow-furred Horror seated on a folding chair.

“Welcome to the Doom Slide,” he said, waving toward the openings. “Pick your doom.”

I heard Cranium’s footsteps on the stairs. Each thud made my heart jump.

“Nine slides are normal slides,” the Horror said. “One slide is endless. You will slide forever … slide to your doom.”

Which one? Which one?

I concentrated … tried to read the Horror’s mind. But I couldn’t pick up any thoughts.

Was it because Horrors aren’t human?

I heard a sharp, angry cry. Turned to see Cranium burst out of the stairwell. He pointed a finger at us. “You can get away from me — but you can’t escape The Menace!”

The Menace? Who was that? Did I know that name?

No time to think about that now. “Come on.” I grabbed Jackson’s arm and pulled him to Slide Number 4. I dove through the doorway, into total darkness, and dropped onto the slide.

Jackson was right behind me.

We both sat with our legs straight ahead — and started to dive down.

The slide was steep with curve after curve. Like riding a pretzel, I thought.

Hot wind brushed back my hair as I slid down.

I listened for Cranium. But I couldn’t hear anything over the rush of wind and the whir of our bodies against the smooth, curving slide.

Down … down …

“I — I don’t like this!” Jackson cried behind me.

“It’s taking forever!” I shouted.

We spun around another curve, curling down sharply into even deeper blackness.

“Jillian —” Jackson’s voice trembled. “Jillian — I think we picked the Doom Slide!”