Professor Gargoyle Read Online Free PDF Page B

doorbell. Poor old man.”
    Upstairs, something toppled over with a crash. It sounded like Pip and Squeak had found their way into Robert’s closet.
    “What was that?” his mother asked.
    “Nothing,” he assured her. “Just some books falling off my bed. I’ll go take care of it.”
    When Robert returned to his room, Pip and Squeak were hiding in their nest box, their heads buriedunder the paper scraps. “You need to be quiet when I’m not here,” he warned them. “Do you understand me? If my mother finds you, she will freak out.”
    Pip squeaked and Squeak bobbed his head, so Robert wished them a good night and pushed the box back under the bed.
    When he woke the next morning, the box was empty.

    Robert leapt out of bed. He searched under his bed, inside his closet, even in his desk drawers. Since his mother had already left for the day, Robert was free to run about the house, shouting their names. “Pip! Squeak! Pip and Squeak!” But there was no sign of them.
    He remembered what Professor Goyle had taught him: A rat’s jaws were powerful enough to chew through brick, concrete, or lead pipe. A rat could squeeze through spaces as narrow as a half inch. It wouldn’t have been hard for Pip and Squeak to escape the house. Maybe Robert hurt their feelings when he reprimanded them the night before. Maybe they decided to go live somewhere else.
    He ate a quiet breakfast at the kitchen table, brushed his teeth, and then grabbed his backpack, ready to walk out the door. Then he felt a familiar weight shifting inside the bag. He unzipped the main pouch and there they were, Pip and Squeak, grinning up at him.
    “You want to come with me?” he asked. “Back to school?”
    Pip nodded. Squeak chattered his teeth.
    Robert didn’t like the idea. He hadn’t thought about Glenn Torkells all weekend—his new pets had been a nice distraction—but he knew the bully would want revenge.
    “You have to promise me you’ll be absolutely quiet,” he told them. “No squirming around. If anyone notices something screwy, I won’t be able to protect you.”
    Pip and Squeak seemed happy with this arrangement. Robert zipped them into his backpack and headed out the front door.
    Lovecraft Middle School was an eight-block walk from his house. When Robert arrived on campus, he immediately saw that something was wrong. In the parking lot were five police cars and two news vans. Over by the bike rack, a television reporter was holding a microphone and addressing the camera about “a terrible tragedy that’s rocked this quiet little community.”
    Robert quickened his pace, approaching the main entrance. The large digital screen beside the front doors had a new message:
    MISSING STUDENT
    Seventh-grader Sylvia Price has been reported missing. If you have any information, please tell a teacher or dial 911.
    Next to the words was a photograph of a young girl with long red hair. Robert recognized her as one of the twins from Professor Goyle’s class.
    For the rest of the day, it was hard for Robert to concentrate on anything else. The hallways were filled with hearsay and gossip. Sylvia had run away to live in New York City. Sylvia was abducted by a hitchhiker. Sylvia was last seen walking in the woods behind Lovecraft Middle School. The truth was anybody’s guess.
    Most of Robert’s teachers were upset by the news, and Mr. Loomis seemed genuinely angry. “You kids need to use common sense!” he said, stomping around his classroom in a lime-green sweater vest. “Don’t talk to strangers! Watch where you walk at night! Be careful around people and places you don’t know!”
    Robert knew all this already. Teachers had beenwarning him about stranger danger since he was five years old. But everyone in his class listened without protest. They understood that Mr. Loomis was simply frustrated, that he was trying to prevent a terrible thing from happening again.
    At lunchtime, Robert went outside to the athletic stadium and shared a ham