Eerie Elementary #1: The School Is Alive! (A Branches Book) Read online

  Jack Chabert

  By Jack Chabert

  Illustrated by Sam Ricks

  1

  2

  Read all about

  Eerie Elementary!

  1: IT BEGINS ................................................1

  2: MR. NEKOBI ...........................................................9

  3: TICKTOCK, TICKTOCK ................................14

  4: SOMETHING AWAKENS ................................18

  5: THE SKELETON ................................................24

  6: THE DANGER IS REAL ...................................28

  7: BELIEVE ME! .......................................................34

  8: INTO THE DARKNESS ...................................40

  9: HERO? .....................................................................45

  10: THE MACHINE ................................................49

  11: SOMETHING BIG .............................................56

  12: BEAST FROM BELOW ..................................58

  13: WORM MOUTH ................................................67

  14: EAT THIS! ...........................................................76

  15: SAM GRAVES, HALL MONITOR ............86

  table of Contents

  To the greatest hall monitor in the history of

  hall monitors, Matthew McArdle — JC

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of

  this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or

  stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any

  means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express

  written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic

  Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Chabert, Jack, author.

  The school is alive! / by Jack Chabert ; illustrated by Sam Ricks.

  pages cm. — (Eerie Elementary ; 1)

  Summary: Sam Graves discovers that his elementary school is alive and

  plotting against the students, and, as hall monitor, it is his job to

  protect them — but he will need some help from his friends.

  ISBN 978-0-545-62392-6 (pbk.) — ISBN 978-0-545-62393-3 (hardcover) —

  ISBN 978-0-545-62394-0 (ebook) 1. Elementary schools — Juvenile fiction.

  2. Best friends—Juvenile fiction. 3. Horror tales. [1.

  Schools — Fiction. 2. Best friends — Fiction. 3. Friendship — Fiction. 4.

  Horror stories.] I. Ricks, Sam, illustrator. II. Title.

  PZ7.C3313Sc 2014

  813.6 — dc23

  2013034498

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-62394-0

  Text copyright © 2014 by Max Brallier

  Interior illustrations copyright © 2014 by Scholastic Inc.

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.

  SCHOLASTIC, BRANCHES, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered

  trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  First Scholastic printing, July 2014

  Book design by Will Denton

  Edited by Katie Carella

  1

  This is HORRIBLE!" said Sam Graves.

  He was holding up a shiny orange sash. "I can't

  believe I have to wear this."

  It was Monday morning, and Sam and his

  best friends Antonio and Lucy were standing

  in front of their lockers. They were waiting for

  the bell to ring.

  IT BEGINS . . .

  1

  2

  "Wait, you're a hall monitor?!" Antonio said.

  "I didn't even know Eerie Elementary had hall

  monitors."

  Sam kicked at the floor. "They do now. And

  it stinks! The principal called my mom last night

  and said I had been chosen. Ugh. It's going to

  be terrible. I have to stand in the hallway and

  yell 'Get to class!' and 'No skateboarding!'"

  "Well, at least you get to wear that cool

  orange sash," Lucy teased.

  Sam stuck out his tongue.

  RIIIIING!!

  "Come on, that's the bell!" Antonio said.

  Sam frowned. "You guys go ahead. I have to

  make sure everyone has gone into class."

  "We'll see you inside!" Lucy shouted.

  Within moments, the hallway was totally

  empty. Totally empty, except for Sam.

  He began walking the halls. Sam looked

  through the double doors to the outside. He

  saw a classmate by the playground.

  4

  "Hey, Bryan!" Sam called out. "The bell

  rang. You should . . . um . . . get to class!" Bryan

  frowned at Sam. Then he ran past him into

  the school.

  See? Everyone hates the hall monitor, thought

  Sam. He was about to close the door when a

  cold breeze blew past. He saw that Bryan had

  dropped his hat near the playground.

  My teacher won't mind if I sneak outside for a

  second, thought Sam.

  The air outside was like ice. Orange and

  red leaves whipped across the ground. Sam

  shoved his hands into his pockets. He could

  see his breath. It looked like little ghosts were

  dancing through the air in front of him.

  Sam looked up at the school building. He

  thought it looked like an old castle made of

  crumbling, red brick. The paint on the doors

  and windows was chipped. Big, black crows sat

  on the roof, watching Sam. The whole thing

  gave him the willies.

  7

  Sam didn't want to be out there any longer

  than he had to. He ran over to the playground.

  He was near the swings

  when something grabbed

  his ankle.

  Sam looked

  down. His feet

  were sinking into

  the sand!

  Now, of

  course, feet do

  sink into sand.

  But not like

  this! Something

  was pulling him

  under.

  "HELP!" Sam shouted.

  The sand was up above his sneakers. He

  reached down to try to pull his feet free. The

  sand was wet!

  Quicksand?!

  This was just like the quicksand from the

  old Tarzan movies Sam's dad made him watch.

  But Sam was pretty sure that quicksand was

  found in jungles in the movies, not on real-

  life playgrounds!

  "Help! The playground is eating me!" Sam

  shouted.

  The sand was up to his knees now. Sam

  fought and kicked. He watched as Bryan's hat

  was swallowed up by the sand.

  It was no use.

  The cold, wet sand was up to his waist.

  Sam squeezed his

  eyes shut as he was

  pulled down,

  deeper and

  deeper. . . .

  9

  Just as the quicksand was a
bout to swallow

  Sam, a hand grabbed his wrist! His eyes shot

  open. It was Mr. Nekobi, the old man who

  took care of the school.

  Mr. Nekobi tugged. Sam was yanked free.

  Sam gasped for air. "The playground sand,"

  Sam said. "It just tried to eat me!"

  MR. NEKOBI

  2

  10

  Mr. Nekobi slowly got to his feet. He was

  out of breath, too. His face looked like a piece

  of paper that someone had balled up and then

  tried to flatten again. He stared at Sam. His eyes

  were small and gray. A chill went up Sam's spine.

  Mr. Nekobi growled, "You should be more

  careful. Or you won't last long as hall monitor,

  Sam Graves."

  "Be careful of what? Be careful because

  other parts of the school might try to eat me?!"

  Sam said. Then he paused. "Wait — what does

  my being the hall monitor have to do with

  this? And why do you care if I stay on as hall

  monitor or not?"

  Mr. Nekobi began walking away. Over his

  shoulder, he said, "Because I'm the one who

  chose you."

  "What does that mean?" Sam asked.

  But Mr. Nekobi didn't answer. He simply

  turned the corner, out of sight.

  Sam shook his head, thinking, This has been

  the weirdest day of my life! And it's only 8:30 in

  the morning!

  He needed to tell Lucy and Antonio about

  the quicksand and about creepy Mr. Nekobi.

  But first he had to ditch the orange sash. Sam

  darted inside and flung open his locker.

  Whoa!

  He stumbled back and threw his hand over

  his nose. His locker stunk!

  13

  The smell coming out of Sam's locker

  reminded him of rotten chocolate milk or

  something. "Yikes, what did I leave in here?"

  he asked.

  Sam shoved the sash inside his locker. Then

  he knew what it smelled like: really bad breath.

  Sam slammed his locker shut. He rushed

  into Ms. Grinker's classroom. Ms. Grinker was

  short and thin, with frizzy gray hair. She was

  listing everyone's parts for Friday's class play

  on the board.

  Sam slid into his desk between Antonio and

  Lucy. He whispered, "Guys, the freakiest thing

  just happened. I got trapped in quicksand on

  the playground!"

  Lucy scrunched up her forehead. Antonio

  scratched his chin. Then they both tried not

  to laugh.

  TIC

  K

  TOCK, TICKTOCK

  3

  "If it happened to you," Sam whispered,

  "you wouldn't be laughing."

  "Sam! Lucy! Antonio!" yelled Ms. Grinker.

  All three kids faced front.

  "Please pay attention," Ms. Grinker said. "I

  am still giving out the parts for Peter Pan."

  "I'm playing Peter Pan!" Antonio whispered

  to Sam. He had a big smile on his face. He

  always did. He was the happiest kid Sam knew.

  "And I'm playing Wendy," Lucy whispered.

  "Sam Graves, you'll be playing Noodler.

  He is one of Captain Hook's friendly pirates,"

  said Ms. Grinker. Sam nodded but all he could

  think about was the man-eating playground.

  16

  As the day wound down, Sam stared out the

  window. An old oak tree was blowing in the

  breeze. It was moving strangely. Sam leaned

  forward on his desk. The tree looked like a

  giant oak hand, waving at Sam.

  Sam shivered. Then he looked at the clock

  across the room. How long until this day is over?

  he thought.

  17

  Sam could hear the clock:

  How can I hear the clock from all the way over

  here? he wondered.

  Then the sound of the clock changed. Sam

  no longer heard ticktock, ticktock, ticktock. The

  sound became Ba BUMP . . . Ba BUMP . . .

  Sam was even more confused. That doesn't

  sound like a normal clock. But I do know that

  sound. . . .

  It sounded like a beating heart!

  18

  Sam covered his ears. But he couldn't get

  away from the sound of the clock. Not until —

  RING!

  The day was over. Sam followed the other

  kids into the hall. He grabbed the hall monitor

  sash from his stinky locker.

  SOMETHING AWAKENS

  4

  19

  "See you tomorrow,

  Sam!" Lucy said. She and

  Antonio threw their backpacks over their

  shoulders and ran outside.

  Sam sighed. He wanted to run home, too.

  He wanted to plop down on the couch and

  fall asleep. Then he wanted to wake up to learn

  this whole day had been a terrible nightmare.

  But instead he had to go on hall monitor duty.

  Sam stood near the third-grade

  lockers. The only thing keeping

  Sam awake was the cool chill across

  his neck. It felt like the school was

  breathing on him. Sam saw that he

  was beneath an air vent.

  Brrrr!

  There were no teachers around. So Sam

  thought there'd be no harm in sitting down. He

  slipped into a chair just outside the principal's

  office. I'll only rest here for a minute . . . .

  But soon Sam's eyelids felt heavy. They were

  closing. Sam was falling asleep.

  22

  When Sam woke up, he was

  beyond confused The halls were .

  dark — nearly pitch-black.

  What time is it? he wondered,

  standing up.

  Sam rubbed his eyes. He ran

  to the end of the hall. He peered

  through the big double doors. It

  was black as midnight outside.

  How long was I asleep? My

  mom is going to freak out, thought

  Sam. I have to get home now!

  He yanked on the doors, but

  they were locked.

  "Hello?" Sam whispered. "Is

  anyone here? I fell asleep and —"

  CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

  Sam spun around. All of the

  locker doors flung open, one

  after the other, all the way down

  the hall!

  23

  Sam jumped back.

  His heart was pounding.

  CLANG!

  CLANG!

  CLANG!

  All the locker doors

  slammed shut again!

  Sam was really hoping

  this was just a nightmare!

  He spun back around.

  He tugged as hard as he

  could on the doors.

  But it was no use.

  He was trapped.

  Trapped inside

  Eerie Elementary.

  24

  The double doors flew open, knocking Sam

  to the floor. Then they slammed shut again.

  He was still trapped inside the school. "Ouch!"

  Sam yelled. Everyone knows you can't get hurt in

  a dream, so this must be real!

  He needed to escape! The school was

  coming to life all around him!

  THE SKELETON

  5

  25

  Sam ran into his classroom. He

&nb
sp; threw his hands against the large

  window. He was hoping to see

  someone, anyone, who could

  help him.

  All he saw was the giant

  oak tree blowing in

  the wind.

  But it wasn't windy. Sam saw other

  trees and none of those trees were

  blowing. And the leaves on the ground

  weren't whooshing around at all. The

  only thing moving was that tree!

  Could the tree be alive? Sam thought.

  SMASH!!

  The glass window shattered. Sam

  fell to the floor as one of the tree's long,

  twisted branches came crashing through.

  It wrapped around Sam's leg.

  Sam began hitting the branch.

  Whack! Whack! Whack!

  Finally, the branch's grip loosened.

  Sam was able to crawl away. Behind

  him, he heard the branch scraping

  across the floor like fingernails on a

  chalkboard. The tree was reaching

  for him, trying to pull him back.

  He pushed his way through fallen desks. He

  stumbled back into the hallway. Pieces of glass

  crunched beneath his feet. Then —

  CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

  All the locker doors were slamming open

  and shut at once. All the classroom doors were

  doing the same thing.

  But worst of all was what Sam saw next: A

  figure stood at the end of the hallway. It had a

  body like a skeleton.

  Lights flashed and doors clanged. But the

  figure didn't move. It just stood there, perfectly

  still, staring at Sam.

  A

  ll of the sudden, the figure started running

  toward Sam. It was Mr. Nekobi!

  "What's happening?!" Sam shouted.

  "No time to explain! Get down!" Mr.

  Nekobi yelled.

  One of the hallway fire hoses had come

  to life!

  THE DANGER IS REAL