by Jack Chabert
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.