The Accidental Keyhand Read Online Free PDF

Tiffany. “I thought you liked realistic.”
    Before Dorrie could answer, Tiffany jumped off the table, teeth bared, and thrust the tip of her blade in the general direction of Dorrie’s face.
    As the Academy students scattered in surprise, Dorrie instinctively raised her own sword. Though she managed to keep Tiffany’s blade away from her head, it came down hard on her hand. Yelping, Dorrie stumbled backward, falling over Moe’s cage and toppling it. In slow-motion horror, Dorrie watched the door fly open and the mongoose streak away with an angry yowl. Tiffany and her friends broke into wild laughter.
    â€œNo, Moe!” shouted Rosa, scrambling after him, her inhaler bouncing to the ground. “Come back!”
    Lavinia, Justin, and Marcus fanned out in pursuit as the mongoose disappeared around the corner of the bathrooms. Dorrie heaved herself to her feet and began to sprint after them.
    â€œNice chicken-out!” jeered Tiffany.
    â€œIt’s not a chicken-out,” called back Dorrie as she skid to an indecisive halt. “I have to help catch him. I’ll be right back!”
    â€œI’ll give you ten minutes,” Tiffany yelled after her as Dorrie, running again, reached the bathrooms. “If you don’t come back, then it’s a total forfeit.”
    Still holding the borrowed sword, Dorrie took off again.
    â€œAnd then I’ll still come after you to get my points,” bellowed Tiffany.
    Dorrie dashed around the corner and back out into the festival crowd. None of her friends were in sight, but people had begun to run around in panicked circles, lifting their knees high.

CHAPTER 3
    THE DISAPPEARING FLOOR

    â€œMoe!” Dorrie called desperately, catching sight of the mongoose streaking toward the street.
    She darted after him, nearly colliding with Marcus. “Really?” he panted, running alongside her, “Park mayhem isn’t enough for him?”
    The mongoose crossed the street amid squealing traffic and bounded up the steps of the Passaic Public Library. Tail twitching, he twined through the legs of a man trying to edge through the library’s front door with an armload of books, and disappeared.
    â€œScuggans will kill us for this!” Dorrie cried as they shot across the street after Moe. She raced up the library steps two at a time, her duffel bag bouncing on her back.
    â€œYou maybe,” Marcus shouted from behind her.
    Inside the library’s main reading room, Dorrie stopped short, and Marcus plowed into her. Moe was nowhere to be seen. At the circulation desk, Mr. Scuggans, thickest in the middle and tapering at both ends, stood with his back to them, stapling a xeroxed photograph to a bulletin board lined with other photographs. A large sign above them proclaimed: “Do not check books out to these persons.” A sizeable gap existed between the words “these” and “persons.” As Mr. Scuggans’s head swiveled to one side to scrutinize, his hair slid to the other side like a fried egg on a hot skillet.
    â€œSo he does wear a toupee!” Marcus hissed in Dorrie’s ear.
    While Mr. Scuggans readjusted it, Dorrie and Marcus hustled for the cover of the Romance section and then slunk in different directions, whispering Moe’s name.
    Dorrie saw him first, digging hopefully in a large flowerpot. Before she could snatch him up, the majestic honking of a goose began to blare from the phone in her pocket in echoing blasts. Moe shot off behind the circulation desk in a cloud of dirt, as Dorrie clawed for the phone’s off button. Abrupt silence followed, as if the visiting goose had been shot out of the sky.
    â€œWhat. Was. That?” Mr. Scuggans demanded in a deadly voice.
    Red-faced, Dorrie slowly eased into view, Tiffany’s sword behind her back.
    Mr. Scuggans glowered at her, his lips drawn up into an unamused bundle. “I should have known.”
    Dorrie’s eyes darted