Eerie Elementary #2: The Locker Ate Lucy! (A Branches Book) Read online

  Sam squinted. They were in a large room.

  There were tall pillars around the sides of the

  room and piles of junk all over the floor. The

  air felt damp. It smelled moldy.

  “We must be in the basement,” Sam said,

  getting to his feet. He was covered in goo. His

  sneakers made squishy sounds with every step.

  Then Sam heard a different noise. The

  boys turned toward it.

  An old lunch cart was coming out of the

  darkness. Its wheels squeaked, echoing against

  the basement walls. It weaved slowly from side

  to side.

  Goose bumps covered Sam’s skin. Antonio

  inched closer to Sam.

  No one was pushing the lunch cart.

  It was moving on its own.

  The lid opened and closed.

  CLICK CLACK! CLICK CLACK! CLICK CLACK!

  The lid snapped like a mouth as it rolled

  toward them. And it wasn’t stopping!

  “We’re about to become school lunch!”

  yelled Sam.

  Sweat poured down Sam’s forehead. He had

  never been so scared in his life. The lunch cart

  rolled toward him and Antonio. Then, just as

  it was about to hit them, the boys jumped out

  of the way.

  THE DARK

  BASEMENT

  6

  SLAM!

  The cart crashed so hard into the wall it

  shattered! Pieces of plastic showered Sam and

  Antonio.

  Antonio’s jaw hung open. “Um, Sam . . .

  Maybe we should go back . . . to get help,” he

  said.

  Sam shook his head. He knew that the

  school was trying to scare them into giving

  up. But he was not going to let that happen.

  Lucy was counting

  on them.

  Besides, he knew they must have fallen twenty

  feet from the vent before they landed in that

  pile of goo. He didn’t know how they would

  ever get out of this basement.

  Sam turned to his friend. “Antonio, we

  are deep inside the school now! I bet even

  Mr. Nekobi never made it this far. This is our

  chance to learn the secret of Eerie Elementary.

  If we can figure out what keeps it alive, we can

  learn how to beat it!” Sam said.

  “But, Sam —”

  “And we must rescue Lucy!” Sam continued.

  Antonio swallowed. “You’re right.”

  Sam and Antonio began tiptoeing across

  the basement. Their hearts were pounding.

  Antonio shone the light as they walked. Goo

  ran down the walls. It dripped from the ceiling.

  Torn-up jackets and shredded backpacks lay

  across the floor. Bent and twisted bicycles

  lay in heaps. Everything looked like it had

  been chewed up.

  It was like they were inside a body. And

  Sam thought that if Eerie Elementary was a

  body, then this basement must be its stomach.

  Sam looked around and said, “It looks like

  the school has just been eating backpacks and

  bicycles and stuff. Mr. Nekobi really has done

  a good job of protecting the students.”

  “You’ve done great, too!” Antonio said. “If

  you hadn’t saved us at the class play last Friday,

  I’d be down here!”

  “Come on, let’s finish this,” said Sam.

  The friends tiptoed along. Then Antonio

  grabbed Sam’s arm.

  “Look!” Antonio said, pointing.

  “What?” Sam asked. He followed Antonio’s

  beam of light over toward a rusty metal desk.

  “It’s him. It’s Orson Eerie!” Antonio yelled.

  Antonio was shining the light at a picture

  frame on the desk. Inside, there was an old

  black-and-white photo of a man.

  “Geez, Antonio!” Sam said. “You scared

  me! I thought you meant Orson Eerie was

  here! Like, real, back to life, in person!”

  Sam felt around on the wall until he found

  a light switch. He flipped it on.

  Two light bulbs flickered on.

  THE FACE OF

  ORSON EERIE

  7

  The light was dim, but Sam could see that

  this corner of the basement was a sort of office.

  There were charts hanging from the walls and

  papers on the desk. Everything was covered

  in a thick layer of dust.

  The boys stepped closer

  to the desk. Sam picked up

  the picture frame. “You’re

  right,” Sam said. “Look

  at the glasses and the

  creepy mustache.

  This is Orson

  Eerie!”

  “I don’t think anyone has been here in a

  long, long time,” Antonio said, picking up a

  newspaper. “This is from 1938! That’s older

  than my grandmother! That’s older than, like,

  my grandmother’s grandmother!”

  “Whoa,” said Sam. “And what is this?” A

  large piece of blue paper lay out on the desk.

  “It looks like a blueprint,” Antonio said.

  “Like a drawing of a building.”

  “That makes sense. This big room looks

  like our gym. See?” said Sam, pointing to the

  blueprint.“It’s like a map of Eerie Elementary.”

  Suddenly, a girl’s voice called out, “HELP!”

  “Lucy!” Sam and Antonio said at once.

  Lucy’s cries were coming from beyond

  a large metal door. It was at the far end of

  the dark basement. A sign on the door read

  heating and cooling room.

  “Let’s go!” Sam said.

  The boys quickly stuffed everything they

  could fit into their pockets: papers, a small

  book, and the blueprint. But as soon as they

  did, everything in the basement came to life!

  HELP!!!

  WHOOSH! A dodge ball flew at Sam. Sam

  grabbed Antonio by the wrist. “Come on!”

  Sam shouted, ducking beneath the ball.

  “Let’s go get Lucy!”

  Sam dodged chewed-up Frisbees

  that rocketed toward him! Antonio

  jumped over roller skates that shot

  toward his legs like cannonballs!

  The school was loud! Sam thought it sounded

  like a stomach rumbling! The walls shook and

  the floors shifted! Sam and Antonio stumbled

  from side to side. Backpacks opened wide and

  threw rulers, pencils, and books at them.

  The Heating and Cooling Room door was

  just ahead. “Keep running!” Sam yelled.

  But Antonio stopped in his tracks.

  Sam looked back. Something

  long that looked like a spear

  was headed for Antonio. A

  whiffle ball bat!

  Sam pulled Antonio behind

  a large pillar.

  B

  R

  R

  R

  G

  GL

  L

  L

  !

  !

  !

  !

  The bat flew past.

  “Okay, now I’m mad,”

  Antonio said. “Let’s find

  Lucy and get out of this

  crazy basement!”

  Sam peeked

  around the pillar.

  “We just need to

>   reach that door.”

  “But who knows

  what’s waiting for us

  on the other side?”

  asked Antonio.

  “There’s only one way

  to find out,” said Sam.

  WHOOSH!

  Sam and Antonio charged toward the

  Heating and Cooling Room. Sam ripped the

  door open, then quickly shut it behind them.

  CRASH! A hundred mad chewed-up things

  slammed into the closed door.

  LUCY!

  8

  Sam caught his breath and looked around

  the room.

  One wall was covered with a maze of rusty

  old pipes. The pipes were alive! They moved

  like an army of snakes. As they twisted, they

  scraped together, making a screeching noise.

  “Lucy!” Sam yelled, pointing. His friend

  was suspended in midair, hanging upside

  down. One of the pipes was wrapped around

  her ankle.

  “Guys! You found me! Please get me down

  from here!” Lucy shrieked.

  Lucy calling for help made the school

  angrier. The pipe around Lucy’s ankle began

  flinging her through the air.

  “That pipe is throwing Lucy around like a

  doll!” said Antonio.

  “Hang on, Lucy!” Sam yelled.

  Sam and Antonio began climbing the

  giant wall of pipes. Unlike the basement,

  this room was not covered in goo. The

  metal pipes were dry, and the boys were able

  to grip them. Sam could feel water rushing

  through the pipes. These pipes must pump water

  throughout the school, thought Sam.

  Antonio leapt off one pipe and grabbed the

  pipe around Lucy’s right ankle. He tugged,

  trying to pull her free.

  “I’m coming!” said Sam.

  “The pipe is wrapped so tight!” Antonio

  yelled, as he tugged.

  “HELP!” Lucy cried.

  Antonio pulled harder, but then —

  KLANK!

  The pipe jumped in his hand, throwing him

  to the ground. “Argh!” Antonio said, getting to

  his feet. “It’s no use!”

  Sam jumped down. There has to be a way

  to make that pipe let go of her, he thought. He

  looked around the room. The school’s water

  heater stood in the corner.

  Sam’s dad was a plumber, so

  Sam knew all about this stuff.

  This water heater warmed

  the water. Then it pumped the

  warm water throughout the

  school. A wheel on the front

  controlled how fast the water

  moved through the pipes. If I

  turn that wheel, I can slow down

  the water! Maybe that will weaken the pipes and

  make them let go of Lucy, Sam thought.

  Sam grabbed the wheel. It was

  rusty and stiff. Finally, it started

  turning. But it wasn’t helping.

  Lucy was flung around faster!

  “What are you doing,

  Sam?!” yelled Antonio.

  “STOP! You’re

  making it worse!”

  Lucy screamed.

  She was being

  whipped through

  the air at lightning

  speed. Faster and

  faster! Sam had to

  free his friend

  before it was

  too late!

  The school kept flinging Lucy through the

  air. Back and forth. Back and forth. Sam got an

  idea: I must be turning the wheel the wrong way!

  “Hang on!” he shouted.

  Sam spun the big wheel in the opposite

  direction. The water began draining from the

  pipes. It was working! The pipes were losing

  their energy. They were becoming weaker.

  Then the pipe around Lucy’s ankle loosened

  its grip. And it dropped her!

  THE

  HORRIBLE TRUTH

  9

  “Ahhhhhhhh!” yelled Lucy,

  falling.

  At the last moment, Lucy

  grabbed ahold of a lower-

  hanging pipe. Antonio helped

  her get down. “You’re okay,”

  Antonio said.

  Lucy wiped some sweat

  from her forehead. “So,” she

  said, “what took you guys so

  long?”

  Sam and Antonio smiled.

  Their friend was safe.

  “What is all that?” Lucy

  said, pointing to the papers

  sticking up out of Sam and

  Antonio’s pockets.

  “Oh, yeah!” Sam said.

  “We found this creepy office

  back there. It was full of lots

  of old junk!”

  “Maybe that blueprint will show us

  how to get back upstairs,” said Antonio.

  “Good thinking!” said Lucy. “You

  find a way out of here while I dig

  through this other stuff.”

  Sam, Antonio, and Lucy took a seat

  on the floor and got to work.

  “Look at this!” Lucy said, holding

  up a red leather book. “This is Orson

  Eerie’s journal. It sounds like he was

  some sort of mad scientist!”

  “Whoa,” Antonio whispered.

  “What else does his journal say?”

  Sam asked.

  Lucy’s eyes darted over the pages. After a

  minute, she lowered the book and said, “As

  Orson Eerie grew old, all he cared about

  was the idea of endless life. In his last journal

  entry, he writes, ‘I’ve done it! I’ve found a way to

  live forever.’”

  Sam remembered something. “Lucy, do

  you still have the library book?”

  Lucy’s eyes lit up. “Yes!” she said. She slipped

  her backpack off her shoulder and handed the

  book to Sam.

  “Look!” Sam said, flipping to the page

  where he had left off that morning. “It says

  Orson Eerie was an architect — someone

  who designs buildings. And, oh, man — he

  designed Eerie Elementary!”

  “Wait a minute,” said Antonio. “A mad

  scientist designed our school? No wonder it’s

  crazy creepy!”

  Sam, Antonio, and Lucy were silent.

  The only sound came from

  the water heater. It sounded

  like a heart beating.

  It was then that Sam Graves

  understood the terrible truth about Orson

  Eerie and about Eerie Elementary.

  Ba BUMP, Ba BUMP.

  Ba BUMP, Ba BUMP

  .

  Ba BUMP, Ba BUMP.

  “I get it now!” Sam yelled, holding up the

  blueprint and the book. “It all makes sense.

  Orson Eerie designed this school so that he

  could stay alive forever. That’s why we couldn’t

  find a grave for him in the town graveyard! He

  never died! He became the school!”

  “Wait,” Antonio said. “So you’re saying —”

  TRAPPED!

  10

  “Orson Eerie is Eerie Elementary!” Sam

  said. “He is the walls and the floors. He is the

  lockers and the pipes. He is everything! That’s

  why the school took you this morning, Lucy!

  It sensed that we found that library book! It

  knew we were close to finding out the truth!�
��

  Lucy’s face went white. “This whole thing . . .

  It’s terrifying. . .”

  Sam agreed. It was almost too crazy to

  believe! But it did make sense. It explained

  everything.

  CLACK!

  The lock on the Heating and Cooling

  Room door slid into place, trapping them!

  Then Eerie Elementary started going crazy.

  The walls began to vibrate! The pipes began

  shaking and clanking again! And the floor

  cracked open!

  The friends stumbled back.

  “What’s happening?!” Lucy screamed.

  “Now that we’ve uncovered its secret,” Sam

  yelled, “the school will never let us out!”

  Antonio jumped back. “My feet are getting

  wet!”

  Water bubbled up through the crack

  in the floor. It was rising up fast.

  “We don’t have much time!” Sam

  yelled. The water was over his sneakers.

  Lucy yanked on the door handle,

  but it wouldn’t unlock. “We’re stuck!”

  Sam gulped.

  The water rushed up through the

  floor fast. It was already above their

  knees. And there was no way out.

  The three friends kicked their feet to stay

  above water. Soon, they’d touch the ceiling!

  The water would fill the entire room.

  KLANG!

  BANG!

  KLONK!

  The pipes were banging loudly. Sam could

  barely think.

  SLIPPERY ESCAPE

  11

  “Wait! These pipes go all throughout the

  school!” said Sam. He pointed at one big pipe.

  It was broken. “Guys, climb inside that big

  pipe! I’ve got an idea!”

  “Are you crazy?!” Lucy yelled.

  Antonio shook his head. “No way. I’m not

  climbing into that old pipe! We don’t know

  where it will take us! And I don’t want to get

  squeezed again!”

  “It’s our only choice!” Sam said.

  Antonio looked at Sam, then groaned.