They Came From Planet Q (3 page)

People were really talking now. Apparently, the credit card machines were all still down. Jesse pointed out that credit cards can be erased by high levels of magnetism.

Up ahead of us, the metal toy parade continued, cymbals clanging. We followed it.

“Leery says there's safety in numbers,” Stella reminded us. “So we must stick together, no matter what.”

We moved through the sea of frenzied people as quickly as possible, eyes fixed on the parade as best we could. After a few yards, when the toys switched direction, we did, too. I jumped onto a bench to see where the toys were headed. The others jumped onto the bench with me.

“Look!” I cried, pointing. “The toys are headed toward the center of the mall. Why are they going to the center of the mall? What's there?”

“Something magnetic?” Stella asked.

“Our B-Monster?” Jesse said.

I snapped a photo and turned to Damon to find out what he thought.

But he wasn't there.

“Damon?”

I spun back around the other way.

“DAMON?”

I craned my neck to see where he'd gone and nearly tripped over a kid in the process. My camera fell to the floor and the flash went off.
Snap! Snap! Snap!

“DAMOOOOOOON!”

“Anyone see where Damon went?” Jesse asked.

“Green shirt! Twelve o'clock!” Stella howled, pointing over the heads of the crowd.

Lucky for us, Damon's neon “Tuff Guy” T-shirt made him easy to spot, even among all this chaos.

We raced over and caught up to him in no time.

“What are you doing, Damon?” Stella howled.

“We do things together. We're Monster Squad; not Chicken Squad.”

“I'm not a chicken,” Damon said. “I was just getting a head start . . .”

“Nice lie,” Stella huffed and assumed her Ninja pose. “I mean, nice
try
.”

“Hey!” I yelled. “The toys are flying!”

All those metal toys suddenly became airborne as if they were attached to some kind of invisible bungee cord. It was amazing to watch.

Up, up, up . . .

We stopped dead in our tracks. I grabbed Jesse's arm so hard I probably twisted off all the freckles.

Directly above us, the ceiling had ripped open. There was a gaping hole the size of a football field.

“Wow,” I said. “It's not every day that the ceiling of our local mall opens wide and says
ahhhhh
.”

“I've never seen anything like this on the
Science Man
show,” Jesse said. He tried to look up into the hole, but there was dust and debris floating around in the air. It made it hard to see anything.

“It's like there's a giant magnet in the sky pulling all the metal objects its way,” Damon noted.

We all squinted and tried to see what might be hanging over the mall ceiling.

And then, just like that, we felt a spray of water rain down on our heads.

“What in the middle of Riddle was THAT?” I gulped.

The center of the mall is all about the enormous Petroglyph fountain. People sit on the ledge to take a break from shopping. They toss in coins for luck. They make wishes.

But at that very moment, that fountain was going bonkers. All the coins were spouting through the air!

“This is just like those lawnmowers in Australia!” I said.

All around us, the mall fountain gushed and sprayed. For a split second, I wondered if all those coins spewing into the air might just come crashing back down onto our heads. Talk about pennies from heaven!

“So now that we know there is some magnetic B-Force up there, with the power to suck up all the toys and steel beams and coins from inside the mall, what can we do about it?” asked Stella.

My body shook. I didn't know anything right now except that the water was cold and I was a bundle of nerves. Watching all these metal objects get sucked into the sky really did make me wonder if the world was going to end. I could only imagine how scary all this B-Force (even just a little of it) must have looked to a non-Monster Squadder.

“Should we get out of here like everyone else?” Jesse asked cautiously. I sensed a little fear in his voice.

I knew Damon was ready to run. I was literally holding him back. I hooked my arms through his.

But it was all for nothing. Because leaving now was definitely
not
an option.

“I think we should go up and investigate,” I said. “There are all sorts of secret passages and places inside this mall. If there's a big magnet out there, it must have left some clues on the roof, right?”

“That hole is waaaaaay up high,” Damon said. “How do we get all the way up there?”

“Well,” Jesse said thoughtfully. “We could all get dressed in metal suits and then the giant magnet will pull
us
up . . .”

“JESSE!” Stella yelped. “Would you get serious?”

“Look, there are all sorts of secret passages in the mall,” I said. “My dad has maps of the entire mall complex in his office. We could check out the maps and see what's marked on the different levels. Maybe we'll be able to locate our B-Monster that way.”

As we stood there, the Toy Mania alarm finally stopped ringing and the fountain stopped running water. Everything stopped, actually . . . except the pounding of my chest.

And then, like a cannon, a voice boomed behind me and I nearly fell over onto the ground.

“Lindsey Monica Gomez! What are YOU doing here?!”

I turned and saw Dad. I could tell he was mad because his neck was cherry Popsicle red.

“Answer me. What are you doing here?”

“Dad!” I said. “We were up at the food court when we heard noises and we—”

“G-g-got scared,” Damon interrupted.

“Correction.
You
got scared, Damon,” Stella said.

“Scared?” Dad said, tugging on his shirt collar. “Well, I should say so! The entire mall is being evacuated. My guys are rounding up people in the mall. The fire and rescue team is coming in. Just look at this place! This is dangerous and intense . . .”

Dad's walkie-talkie crackled.

“Whoa,” Damon said. “Your
dad
is the one that's intense.”

“Lindsey, I need you and your crew to vamoose . . . NOW!” Dad barked, checking his walkie-talkie again. “Evacuation orders mean
everyone
, young lady, even the daughter of the head of security.”

Dad asked Big Wally, the biggest security guard on the team, to escort us all the way out of the mall.

“Great,” Stella whispered to me as we moved toward the door. “We are just about to ID the B-Monster—and this happens.”

“Wait! Dad!” I said, turning back. “I know we're just kids, Dad, but I think you should know there's something else going on . . . something magnetic is . . .”

“LINDSEY!”

The boys glared. I knew I shouldn't have hinted at our mission, but I had to say something! We couldn't just leave! We couldn't just let ourselves be escorted from the scene of the B-Monster!

“Go home, Lindsey,” Dad said sternly. Big Wally took me and the others by the arms.

I wanted to tug myself loose and run back to make one final plea to Dad, but just then the building shuddered.

Lights flickered.

And the whole place went dark with a loud
hisssssssss
.

“POWER! OUT!” someone yelled. I heard Dad yell, too. We were in a cave with voices shouting out in the darkness.

Damon found me first. “W-w-what's going on?” he squealed, clinging to my side like a vine. “Is this it? Is this the end of the world?”

“WHERE IS EVERYONE?” Stella yelped. She was close by, but where?

“I'm over here,” Big Wally boomed.

“Me too,” Stella said.

“Did the floor just move?” Jesse cried. “Because I felt the floor move.”

“Oh noooooooo!” Damon wailed. I think he wanted to run away, but he couldn't even see a foot in front of him.

Once again, the building shimmied and shook.

“Lindsey!”

I heard Dad's voice and then he was next to me. Just like that. Somehow, in the muddle of the darkness, he found me.

“Lindsey, honey, are you okay?” Dad whispered softly. He's just as good at being sweet as he is at being firm. “Look, I want you to stay calm. There have been these faint tremors all week at the mall and just a little while ago, security reported a crack in the atrium ceiling, but we have a backup . . .”