17

It felt like the school was waiting for us.

As we stood huddled in the entrance, the empty, brightly lighted corridor seemed to beckon us inside. It took all my effort not to turn around and beat it out of there as fast as I could. But we couldn’t abandon the other kids.

I took a deep breath and started down the hall, Jessie and Frasier right behind me. Our footsteps echoed like drums on the tiled floor even though we were all wearing sneakers.

The door to the school office stood open like always. My heart started to thump. What if the principal, Mr. Burgess, was lurking inside to pounce on us?

I gestured at Frasier and Jessie to wait while I checked it out. No sense all of us getting captured at once. I pressed against the wall and sneaked up close to the office window. Slowly I moved my head to look inside.

CR—ACK!

My feet left the ground as I jumped in panic at the sharp noise, my heart clattering against my ribs.

“Sorry,” whispered Frasier. “I stepped on a pen. Somebody must have dropped it.”

So much for sneaking quietly. But lucky for us nobody was in the school office. The office was so neat it didn’t look like anybody ever worked there. The desks were cleared and the computers were covered. There was a fine layer of dust over everything.

The back of my neck prickled as if somebody was watching. But I could see there was nobody there. Absolutely nobody. We hurried past the office.

Jessie looked behind her nervously as we headed for the nearest classrooms, our footsteps echoing in the silence. The classroom doors were open.

“It looks like they left in a hurry,” said Jessie, looking around at tipped-over chairs and books and papers scattered on the floor.

“It looks like they were dragged out of here,” said Frasier, hefting his bat, his eyes darting.

The empty blackboards stared at us like blank, mocking eyes.

“Maybe they took the kids to assembly,” Jessie said in a small, hopeful voice.

I didn’t think so but Jessie was right. We had to check everywhere. The assembly room door was closed. No sound came from inside. Frasier reached past me and flung open the door. Clouds of dust swirled up in the empty dimness, making us sneeze.

“Well, now we know they’re not in the school,” said Frasier.

“Yes, but we saw them come,” said Jessie. “And the only ones who left the school were the townspeople with their shovels.”

There was a door at the end of the short hallway next to the assembly room. “I guess we don’t have any choice,” I said, pointing to the door. My stomach felt like it was filled with lead.

A sign on the door read:

BASEMENT ACCESS FORBIDDEN. CUSTODIAN ONLY

Slowly, dragging our feet, we started toward the door. I tried to make my mind go blank so I wouldn’t have to think about what might be waiting for us. We were just outside the door when something crunched.

The sudden sound startled me but it was only something Jessie stepped on. “What’s this?” she asked, stooping to pick it up. “Oh!”

She was holding something out in her palm. It was a little plastic barrette like a first-grader would wear.

Now we knew the kids had come this way. All three of us stared at it for a second, thinking of those terrified little kids being dragged into the basement where tentacled aliens waited for them.

We turned back to the door, totally determined. And totally scared. I reached out for the doorknob, expecting to find it locked. But the door opened at my touch.

We looked down into blackness. Frasier fumbled for his flashlight. When he switched it on, we started down, our pounding hearts loud in the darkness.

Frasier swung the flashlight around but it didn’t penetrate any farther than the bottom of the stairs. We stuck together, taking the steps one at a time. The quiet was so thick I just knew there was something inside it waiting for us.

I strained my ears, trying to hear some sound down below.

Then suddenly the silence shattered with a terrifying noise!

RRRRRRROOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRR! GGGGGRRRRR!

We grabbed at each other as the beast rushed at us up out of the basement, claws scraping the cement floor.

GGGGGGGRRRRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRR!