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Chapter 17
The library was absolutely quiet. Then, one by one, the Oozmas entered the huge room, weaving carefully around the tables. They followed Mike as well as they could, slowly, trying desperately not to make a sound. Heel to toe, heel to toe.
The second event of the Scare Games was under way. Across the room, flags were hanging from the arms of a tall statue. The goal of the event was to sneak across the library and remove a flag without alerting the librarian. She was as strict as they came: fifty feet tall, stern, with tentacles just waiting to grab noisy students. Her glasses were thick and her eyesight was poor, so she had to rely almost entirely on her sense of hearing. If team members made noise and attracted her attention, she’d toss them out. The last team with a flag left still dangling on the statue would be eliminated.
The Greek Council president and her vice president were watching from a side room overlooking the library. “We are at the halfway point of this event, and things are getting interesting,” the president whispered to the crowd of onlookers. Everyone held their breath as the sorority girls from HSS reached the statue. The girls quickly snatched their flag and raced out of the library, passing the test. Of course, the RORs had already gotten their f lag and passed, too. “Only two teams left,” whispered the president. “Who will make it out with their flag and who will be eliminated?”
The vice president continued. “In a real scare, you do not want to get caught by a kid’s parent,” he whispered. “And in this event, you do not want to get caught by the librarian.”
The librarian pressed a scaly finger to her lips and said, “Shhh. Quiet.”
Terri scoffed and whispered, “I’m not afraid of some old librarian!” Just then, a student sneezed. The librarian whipped around toward the sound and seemed to become even larger and more terrifying. She grabbed the student in her tentacles.
“I said, quiet!” she snarled at the poor student.
Then she hurled the student upward, through a hole in the library’s glass dome ceiling. The student flew into the air, then dropped down into the trees outside and landed in a stream. Onlookers cheered and howled.
Mike looked at his frightened teammates and whispered, “Do exactly what I do.” They nodded and crept slowly through the library, mimicking Mike’s every move.
Sulley looked from his team to the EEKs, who were gaining speed. “FASTER!” Sulley whispered impatiently, trying to move his team along.
But Mike held up his hand. “Slow and steady,” he told the team.
“Slow and steady,” Art whispered, holding up his hand, imitating Mike exactly.
Sulley groaned in frustration as they each relayed the message down the line exactly as Mike had said it. Finally, he just couldn’t take the Oozmas’ snaillike pace a minute more. He bolted toward the flag, leaving his teammates behind.
Mike’s eye went wide. “Sullivan!” he whispered.
“Sullivan!” Art whispered.
“Sullivan!” Terri and Terry whispered.
Mike shushed the team. “Shhh!” Art whispered to Terri and Terry.
“Shhh!” the brothers whispered to Don, who whispered it to Squishy.
Mike shook his head and sighed.
They all watched as Sulley ran to a ladder that was fastened on a track against the bookshelves. He climbed to the top and pushed the ladder so that it slid across the shelves toward the flag. Mike gasped as the librarian whipped her head around. She adjusted her glasses but didn’t seem to notice Sulley. “Hmmm,” she murmured suspiciously, and then returned to her work.
Sulley was near the flag now but not quite close enough. He inched forward, extending his arm toward the flag. He was almost touching it when the bottom of the ladder began coming off its tracks. A moment later, both Sulley and the ladder fell to the ground with a thunderous CRASH!