18

The earsplitting noise drowned out the pounding of my heart. We ran for the top of the stairs. I could feel the breath of the monster on my neck.

But as we tumbled up out of the doorway there was a CLICK! The tremendous noise dropped off and settled into a low rumble.

Frasier started to laugh. Jessie and I looked at each other, feeling foolish. “The furnace!” we all cried at once.

“But why would the furnace come on in the summertime?” asked Jessie as we got to our feet.

“Hot water,” said Frasier, testing his flashlight to make sure it still worked. “Or maybe the aliens like things really warm.”

If that was supposed to be a joke it wasn’t very funny. But we started back down the stairs, feeling even more rattled than we had the first time. The furnace shut down before we reached the bottom and the silence seemed to rush back in, wrapping us like a blanket.

I shivered although the air down here was hot, hotter than outside.

Jessie found a light switch on the wall at the bottom of the stairs and clicked it on. The sudden brightness made us blink. Fluorescent lights sprang on all over the basement.

We froze. Would Mr. Burgess or some of the zombiefied teachers rush out to capture us? We edged back toward the stairs but nothing happened.

“I don’t think there’s anybody down here,” said Frasier. “It’s too quiet. No way you could keep all those kids quiet.”

I shuddered, remembering Billy being dragged away and Mrs. Downey gulping down the room key. I thought there were probably plenty of ways to keep a whole school full of kids totally quiet.

“Come on,” said Jessie. “Let’s look around.”

We passed through a storeroom and the furnace room and some more rooms full of boxes and supplies. The glaring lights made sharp shadows and we jumped every time a pipe gurgled but we didn’t find anything.

“There’s no kids down here,” said Frasier. “Nobody’s been doing any digging. We’re wasting our time.”

He was right, there was no sign of anyone. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was in the air.

“They have to be somewhere,” said Jessie. “And what about that barrette I found?”

Frasier shrugged. “So some little kid dropped it after assembly. It’s probably been there since last spring.”

Jessie nodded reluctantly. I sighed, feeling defeated. Then suddenly all the hairs on my arms lifted straight up. “Wait!” I cried, dropping to my knees. A shiver passed through me. “Look at this!”

There was a small clod of dirt smeared next to a tall box of paper towels. I spun around, looking for more. “There!”

It was only a little but it was definitely earth. Someone had carefully swept it up. If I hadn’t been staring so intently at the floor I would have missed it.

“Here’s more,” said Jessie.

We followed the faint trail of earth to the far wall of the basement. Wooden crates filled with school supplies were piled high against the wall. Without speaking we started pulling aside the crates.

Almost immediately I smelled earth and something else. A strange, cinnamon-spicy smell that made the blood in my veins turn icy.

Frasier gasped. “I smell aliens,” he said, his voice cracking shrill.

Then Jessie pulled aside a crate and cried out. We stood looking at what was behind it. A large hole in the wall leading into emptiness.

We pulled more crates away and stared in dread and amazement. A tunnel. The basement wall had been hacked through.

Frasier directed the beam of his flashlight into the tunnel. But the darkness swallowed it instantly.

“I think I see something,” said Jessie, darting inside before I could stop her. She disappeared beyond the flashlight beam. Her voice traveled back to us. “We don’t have any choice,” she said, her voice echoing. “We have to follow this tunnel wherever it goes.”

My heart sank even though I already knew she was right.

Frasier’s flashlight beam wavered. “Who says?” he challenged defiantly.

Jessie emerged from the tunnel, a smear of dirt on her cheek, her mouth set. “This does,” she said, sticking out her hand. She was holding a brand-new pencil box, its top cracked and caked with dirt.

“They dragged the kids through this tunnel,” I said bleakly. “Back to Harley Hills. Back to the mothership.”

Jessie nodded. “And we’ve got to save them.”