Traps and Specters (28 page)

“Hold on!”

Their heads rocked and they shot forward as the sasquatch hit. The tube rose slightly off the ground and then bounced as it landed, throwing Noah and Ella off balance. They quickly stabilized themselves and kept crawling along the spinning wall.

“Go! Go!”
Noah said.

As they rolled forward, playground equipment zipped past: a spiral slide, a freestanding rock wall, a swinging gate. Noah peered out through the cutouts and spotted the Descenders standing side by side. They were less than twenty-five yards away now, the defeated sasquatches lying all around them.

The sasquatch rammed into the tube, which went airborne again. As the tunnel touched down, it took off with more speed than ever. Noah felt the web of fractures beneath his fingers. It was growing, branching in new directions.

Ella and Noah were moving in near-perfect unison now. As they closed to within fifteen yards of the Descenders, the sasquatch delivered another blow to the crawl tube, which split in two and veered off in opposite directions, Ella in one half and Noah in the other. Ella's tube rolled to a halt by Sam, Noah's by Solana. The four teenagers spun to face the sasquatch, who skidded to a stop in front of them, wood chips piling onto its big feet.

With a smirk, Sam said, “Hi there.”

Hannah sprang into the air and delivered a kick to the monster's chin, dropping it to the ground, where it shuddered once and then lay perfectly still.

Solana squatted beside Ella's tube and peered inside. She nodded and stroked her fingertips along the plastic curve. “Inventive, I'll give you that.”

Ella crawled out and staggered to her feet. Her gold headband was turned sideways and her Lasso of Truth was coiled around one of her boots. As she rearranged her wardrobe, she stuck out her tongue at Solana in a way that was only half playful.

The Crossers turned to the open doors. This wasn't over. Charlie Red had to be stopped. His capture would surely lead the Secret Society to DeGraff. And Megan and Richie were alone in the school.

Sam took off running toward the building and the group followed. One by one, they passed through the open doorway into the dark and dangerous halls of Clarksville Elementary.

CHAPTER 57

T
he sasquatch raised its arm to strike at Megan, who covered her head with her arms and turned sideways in a feeble effort to protect herself. As she did, she felt something tug at her waist, and her pirate sword dropped to the ground and bounced a few times like a stiff fish out of water. The sasquatch gave a quick, nervous grunt and took a small step back.

Megan saw a chance, however minuscule. She snatched up the sword and thrust the plastic point of its blade directly between the eyes of the sasquatch. The monster gave another startled grunt and pulled back its head a few inches.

“Avast, ye scallywag!” Megan said, the words finding their own way onto her tongue. The long sword trembled in her unsteady hand.

The sasquatch let out a slow, rumbling growl, its gaze shifting from Megan to the sword. Its nostrils twitched as it sniffed the air in front of the fake blade. It suddenly seemed uncertain about everything.

Megan thrust the sword forward, causing the sasquatch to jump aside and crumple the frame of a fallen desk. She stepped into the space she'd opened and steered herself around the front of Ms. Sara's desk, positioning the distant classroom door behind her. The sasquatch turned as well, its gaze bouncing from Megan to the tip of the sword, which continued to hover inches in front of its face.

A hint of hope raised the volume of Megan's voice: “
Avast!
Stay away you … you
filthy thing
!”

The sasquatch clenched its fists, growled, but did nothing else. It believed in the danger of her sword.

Megan retreated toward the door, carefully maneuvering around twisted steel and shards of laminate desktops. She stepped over books and notepads and half-empty boxes of colored pencils. The sasquatch followed, crushing anything in its path. As it realized where she was headed, it flexed its outstretched arms and roared, raining spit all around. Megan tightened her grip on the sword and wagged its tip at the sasquatch.

“Don't!”
she cautioned as she steered her way through the debris. “Just keep away!”

She crossed the remainder of the room, walking backward the whole time. As she moved through the doorway into the dimly lit hall, the sasquatch did, too. She turned toward the distant media center and headed that way. The sasquatch followed, its hunched back dragging along the ceiling.

Her rearward steps found a rhythm, and she moved more quickly, the sasquatch growing more and more irritated. At the end of the hall, the beast cocked its arms and seemed ready to lunge forward. Megan stopped it by swinging her sword in a long arc. The sasquatch dropped back on its huge heels. Megan again wagged the plastic blade, threatening more. She stepped into the two-story hallway in front of the media center. The sasquatch tried to circle her, but she kept it at bay by following its movements with the point of her sword.

By the time Megan neared the lower-el wing, the sasquatch couldn't contain its rage any longer. It swung at Megan, who instinctively ducked. Though the blow missed her, it struck her sword. The sasquatch pulled back its arm with a nervous snort and examined it. When it realized it wasn't injured—that Megan's sword wasn't a real weapon—it grabbed the plastic blade out of her grasp and cast it aside.

As Megan turned to run, the sasquatch seized the calf of her leg. Then, for Megan, Clarksville Elementary was overturned as she was lifted feetfirst into the air.

CHAPTER 58

R
ichie stared through the vent at the shadowy eyes of the sasquatch. At any moment the beast might crush him. Richie had to do something—but what? He was trapped in the steel confines of his locker with nothing but his books and his half-empty pocket of nerd-gear.

An idea struck him. His nerd-gear …

He fumbled through his shirt pocket and plucked out his squirt pen. He aimed the barrel at a slit in the vent and pressed the spring-loaded push-button, and ink streamed into the sasquatch's eyes. As the beast roared and reached for its face, Richie pushed open the locker, slamming the door against the monster's forehead. He crouched low, squirmed through the sasquatch's legs, and bolted across the hall, where he slipped into one of the few undamaged lockers and silently eased the door shut. In the new darkness, he stared out through the vent.

The sasquatch swiped at its face and staggered about. It shook its head and tried to blink away the ink. Then it stared into locker 518 and realized Richie was gone. Roars of anger rocked the hallway, and the sasquatch charged up the upper-el wing, undoubtedly thinking Richie had gone that way. Richie lost sight of it through the locker vent, and a moment later he heard a deafening clang of metal. Silence followed. Then footsteps. Someone or something was headed toward him. The sasquatch? Charlie Red? In a panic, he aimed his squirt pen at the vent. The footsteps grew louder and louder. Then a shadowy figure filled Richie's view. The locker door sprang open, and Richie sent a spray of ink into the air. The ink didn't connect with a sasquatch or Charlie Red, because standing in front of him was Ella.

Richie eased back his thumb and the stream of ink slowly went limp and then stopped altogether. “Oops.”

Ella stared down at the fresh stain on her dress, her jaw hanging open. After a long, silent moment, she said, “Are you freaking kidding me?”

“I thought you were a sasquatch!” Richie explained.

Ella's eyes grew wider. “Dressed as
Wonder Woman
?”

“I … I freaked out. I'm sorry!”

Ella seized Richie by his oversized collar and yanked him into the hall. “C'mon, doofus! You spend enough time in the lockers during the week.”

As they charged up the hall, Richie saw what had happened to the sasquatch—the Descenders. Standing at the end of the upper-el wing were Sam, Hannah, and Solana. Noah was there, too. The sasquatch lay in a heap beside a row of dented lockers.

“Where's Megan?” Richie asked.

“Don't worry,” Ella said as they joined the other Crossers. “Tameron's got it covered.”

CHAPTER 59