Zeuglodon Read Online Free PDF Page A

so I started kicking and flailing my arms around and hitting him with my elbows, and if I could have got to him, I would have bitten him, too.
    Perry rushed forward like a hero and tried to grab the briefcase that the Creeper was holding onto, but the Creeper fought him off with his free hand, with Perry bobbing back and forth, and all the time we were backing up toward the window. Old Sally ran into the room clutching a broom and looking as much like an army as any single person can look. Brendan followed behind her, carrying the gummidgefish globe with both hands like he was going to smash the man with it. Then Hasbro dashed in, barking like a mad thing, but very confused and distracted by the hole in the floor until he saw that it was the Creeper who was causing the problem and went after his boot again. Old Sally slammed the Creeper with the broom right on the side of the head, and he grunted and jerked back. My feet left the floor as he picked me up to shield himself from the broom, shouting, “Stop!” so loud that everyone did stop, including Hasbro.
    Brendan was holding the gummidgefish globe over his head, and Old Sally gripped her broom like a spear. Perry was breathing hard and kind of shaky. Nobody could do anything without hurting me, or without the Creeper hurting me. He shuffled backward a couple of steps, carrying me even closer to the open window. He pitched the briefcase backward out into the rain, and for an awful moment I thought he was going to throw me out the window too. Instead he sort of twisted me around and stared at me. I hoped to never see a face like that again, it was so mean and ugly and hateful.
    “Mark my words,” he said in an evil way, “I’ll know you again, pillbug,” and he dropped me onto the floor right then and there and slid out through the window quick as a wink. Old Sally threw the broom, though, and it hit him square in the back, and although he jerked a little and grunted, it didn’t stop him. He picked up the briefcase and ran along the side of the museum in a downpour of rain, heading toward the ocean. Perry grabbed the gummidgefish globe out of Brendan’s hands, because it looked like Brendan was going to throw it through the window, just out of excitement. If it broke, the invisible gummidgefish eye would have been lost forever in the weeds, because it’s very nearly impossible to find an invisible eye once it’s gotten lost.
    Old Sally helped me up, and we headed straight out of the workroom and toward the front door of the museum, just as it swung open and Uncle Hedge and Mr. Vegeley came in, a minute too late. One good thing, though—they were carrying the Feejee Mermaid, safe and sound.
    “He came back!” Old Sally shouted at them, and she pointed in the direction he had gone just moments before. Mr. Vegeley set down the Mermaid and both of them turned straightaway and went back out into the rain toward the tunnel, moving wonderfully fast for their size. We followed behind them now, Hasbro, too, because nobody had time to tell us not to, and we plunged right into the tunnel with Uncle Hedge leading the way.
    The first thing we did was slow down, because it was dark in among the vines and mustard plants, with only a little daylight showing through. The farther we got down the tunnel, the darker it became. It was still kind of dry in there despite the rain, which shows you how thick the vegetation was. You had to stick right to the center, because if you got over to the side of the tunnel, the thorns on the berry vines would scrape you. As it was they kept snatching at my hair and jacket.
    “This is no good,” Uncle Hedge said, stopping at last. He looked behind him and was surprised to see us. “You children go back. Now,” he said. He wasn’t smiling when he said this, and we turned around and started back like he told us. I didn’t mind, because the rainwater had started dripping from the tangle of vines overhead now, and was running down my neck and