25 - Attack of the Mutant (4 page)

“Don’t you ever say hi?” she complained, rolling her eyes.

I said hi. Then I repeated what I had said about the Invisibility Curtain. I
told her I read about it in the newest
Masked Mutant
comic, and that the
comic may be giving clues as to what was happening in real life.

Libby listened to me intently, not blinking, not moving. I could see that she
was finally starting to see why I was so excited about finding this building.

When I finished explaining everything, she put a hand on my forehead. “You
don’t
feel
hot,” she said. “Are you seeing a shrink?”

“Huh?” I pushed her hand away.

“Are you seeing a shrink? You’re totally out of your mind. You know that—don’t you?”

“I’m not crazy,” I said. “I’ll prove it. Come with me.”

She edged closer to the window, as if trying to get away from me. “No way,”
she declared. “I can’t believe I’m sitting here with a boy who thinks that comic
books come to life.”

She pointed out the window. “Hey, look, Skipper—there goes the Easter
Bunny! He’s handing an egg to the Tooth Fairy!” She laughed. A mean laugh.

“Ha-ha,” I muttered angrily. I have a good sense of humor. But I don’t like
being laughed at by girls who collect
High School Harry & Beanhead
comics.

The bus pulled up to the bus stop. I hoisted my backpack and scrambled out
the back exit. Libby stepped off right behind me.

As the bus pulled away, sending out puffs of black exhaust behind it, I gazed
across the street.

No building. An empty lot.

“Well?” I turned to Libby. “You coming?”

She twisted her mouth into a thoughtful expression. “To that empty lot?
Skipper, aren’t you going to feel like a jerk when there’s nothing there?”

“Well, go home then,” I told her sharply.

“Okay. I’ll come,” she said, grinning.

We crossed the street. Two teenagers on bikes nearly ran us over. “Missed ’em!” one of them cried. The other one laughed.

“How do we get through the Invisibility Curtain?” Libby asked. Her voice
sounded serious. But I could see by her eyes that she was laughing at me.

“In the comic book, people just stepped through it,” I told her. “You can’t
feel it or anything. It’s like a smoke screen. But once you step through it, you
can see the building.”

“Okay. Let’s try it,” Libby said. She tossed her ponytail over her shoulder.
“Let’s get this over with, okay?”

Walking side by side, we took a step across the sidewalk toward the empty
lot. Then another step. Then another.

We crossed the sidewalk and stepped onto the hard dirt.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Libby grumbled. We took another step. “I
can’t believe I’m—”

She stopped because the building popped into view.

“Ohhh!” We both cried out in unison. She grabbed my wrist and squeezed it
hard. Her hand was ice-cold.

We stood a few feet from the glass entrance. The bright walls of the
pink-and-green building rose above us.

“You—you were right!” Libby stammered, still squeezing my wrist.

I swallowed hard. I tried to talk, but my mouth was suddenly too dry. I
coughed, and no words came out.

“Now what?” Libby asked, staring up at the shiny walls.

I still couldn’t speak.

The comic book is
real
! I thought. The comic book is real.

Does that mean the building really belongs to The Masked Mutant?

Whoa! I warned myself to slow down. My heart was already racing faster than
Speedboy.

“Now what?” Libby repeated impatiently. “Let’s get
away
from here—okay?” For the first time, she sounded really frightened.

“No way!” I told her. “Come on. Let’s go in.”

She tugged me back. “Go in? Are you
crazy
?”

“We have to,” I told her. “Come on. Don’t stop to think about it. Let’s go.”

I took a deep breath, pulled open the heavy glass door, and we slipped
inside.

We took one step into the brightly lit lobby. My heart was pounding so hard,
my chest hurt. My knees were shaking. I’d never been so scared in my life!

I glanced quickly all around.

The lobby was enormous. It seemed to stretch on forever. The pink-and-yellow
walls gave off a soft glow. The sparkly white ceiling seemed to be a mile above
our heads.

I didn’t see a reception desk. No chairs or tables. No furniture of any kind.

“Where
is
everyone?” Libby whispered. I could see that she was
frightened, too. She clung to my arm, standing close beside me.

The vast room was empty. Not another person in sight.

I took another step.

And heard a soft
beep.

A beam of yellow light shot out of the wall and rolled down over my body.

I felt a gentle tingling. Kind of a prickly feeling, the kind of feeling when
your arm goes to sleep.

It swept down quickly from my head to my feet. A second or two later, the
light vanished and the tingly feeling went away.

“What was
that
?” I whispered to Libby.

“What was
what
?” she replied.

“Didn’t you feel that?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t feel anything. Are you trying to scare me or
something, Skipper?”

“It was some kind of electric beam,” I told her. “It shined on me when I
stepped forward.”

“Let’s get out of here,” she muttered. “It’s so quiet, it’s creepy.”

I turned my eyes to the row of elevators against the yellow wall. Did I dare
take a ride on one? Was I brave enough to do a little exploring?

“It—it’s just a big office building,” I told Libby, trying to work up my
courage.

“Well, if it’s an office building, where are the workers?” she demanded.

“Maybe the offices are closed,” I suggested.

“On a Thursday?” Libby replied. “It isn’t a holiday or anything. I think the
building is empty, Skipper. I don’t think anyone works here.”

I took a few steps toward the elevators. My sneakers thudded loudly on the
hard marble floor. “But all the lights are on, Libby,” I said. “And the door was
open.”

She hurried to catch up to me. Her eyes kept darting back and forth. I could
see she was really scared.

“I know what you’re thinking,” she said. “You don’t think this is just an
office building. You think this is the secret headquarters of that comic book
character—don’t you, Skipper?!”

I swallowed hard. My knees were still shaking. I tried to make them stop, but
they wouldn’t.

“Well, maybe it is,” I replied, staring at the elevators across from us. “I
mean, how do you explain the Invisibility Curtain? It was in the comic book—and it was outside this building.”

“I—I can’t explain it,” Libby stammered. “It’s weird. It’s
too
weird. This place gives me the creeps, Skipper. I really think—”

“There’s only one way to find out the truth,” I said. I tried to sound brave,
but my voice shook nearly as much as my knees!

Libby followed my gaze to the elevators. She guessed what I was thinking. “No
way!” she cried, stepping back toward the glass doors.

“We’ll just ride up and down,” I told her. “Maybe open the elevator doors on
a few floors and peek out.”

“No way,” Libby repeated. Her face suddenly appeared very pale. Her green
eyes were wide with fright.

“Libby, it will only take a minute,” I insisted. “We’ve come this far. I have
to explore a little. I don’t want to go home without finding out what this building is.”

“
You
can ride the elevators,” she said. “I’m going home.” She backed up
to the glass doors.

Outside I saw a blue-and-white bus stop at the curb. A woman climbed off,
carrying a baby in one hand, dragging a stroller in the other.

I could run out the door and climb right onto that bus, I thought. I could
get out of here, safe and sound. And be on my way home.

But what would happen when I got home?

I would feel like a coward, a total wimp. And I would spend day after day
wondering about this building, wondering if I had actually discovered the secret
headquarters of a real supervillain.

If I jumped on the bus and rode home now, the building would still be a
mystery. And the mystery would drive me crazy.

“Okay, Libby, you can go home if you want,” I told her. “I’m going to ride
the elevator to the top and back.”

She stared at me thoughtfully. Then she rolled her eyes. “Okay, okay. I’ll
come with you,” she murmured, shaking her head.

I was glad. I really didn’t want to go alone.

“I’m only doing this because I feel sorry for you,” Libby said, following me
across the marble floor to the elevators.

“Huh? Why do you feel sorry for me?” I demanded.

“Because you’re so messed up,” she replied. “You really think a comic book
can come to life. That’s sad. That’s really sad.”

“Thank goodness High School Harry and Beanhead can’t come to life!” I
teased. Then I added, “What about the Invisibility Curtain? That was real—wasn’t it?”

Libby didn’t reply. Instead, she laughed. “You’re serious about this!” she
said. The sound of her laughter echoed in the enormous, empty lobby.

It made me feel a little braver. I laughed, too.

What’s the big deal? I asked myself. So you’re going to take an elevator
ride. So what?

It’s not like The Masked Mutant is going to jump into the elevator with us, I
assured myself. We’ll probably peek out at a lot of boring offices. And that’s
all.

I pushed the lighted button on the wall. Instantly, the silvery elevator door
in front of us slid open.

I poked my head into the elevator. It had walls of dark brown wood with a
silver railing that went all the way around.

There were no signs on the walls. No building directory. No words at all.

I suddenly realized there were no signs in the lobby, either. Not even a sign
with the name of the building. Or a sign to tell visitors where to check in.

Weird.

“Let’s go,” I said.

Libby held back. I tugged her by the arm into the elevator.

The doors slid shut silently behind us as soon as we stepped in. I turned to
the control panel to the left of the door. It was a long, silvery rectangle
filled with buttons.

I pushed the button to the top floor.

The elevator started to hum. It jerked slightly as we began to move.

I turned to Libby. She had her back pressed against the back wall, her hands
shoved into her jeans pockets. She stared straight ahead at the door.

“We’re moving,” I murmured.

The elevator picked up speed.

“Hey!” Libby and I both cried out at the same time.

“We—we’re going
down
!” I exclaimed.

I had pushed the button to the top floor. But we were dropping. Fast.

Faster.

I grabbed the railing with both hands.

Where was it taking us?

Would it ever stop?

The elevator stopped with a hard
thud
that made my knees bend. “Whoa!”
I cried.

I let go of the railing and turned to Libby beside me. “You okay?”

She nodded. She stared straight ahead at the elevator door.

“We should have gone up,” I muttered tensely. “I pushed
up
.”

“Why doesn’t the door open?” Libby asked in a trembling voice.

We both stared at the door. I stepped to the center of the elevator. “Open!”
I commanded it.

The door didn’t move.

“We’re trapped in here,” Libby said, her voice getting shrill and tiny.

“No,” I replied, still trying to be the brave one. “It’ll open. Watch. It’s
just slow.”

The door didn’t open.

“The elevator must be broken,” Libby wailed.

“We’ll be trapped down here forever. The air is starting to run out already.
I can’t breathe!”

“Don’t panic,” I warned, struggling to keep my voice calm. “Take a deep
breath, Libby. There’s plenty of air.”

She obediently sucked in a deep breath. She let it out in a long
whoosh.
“Why won’t the door open? I
knew
we shouldn’t have done this!”

I turned to the control panel. A button at the bottom read OPEN. I pushed it.
Instantly, the door slid open.

I turned back to Libby. “See? We’re okay.”

“But where
are
we?” she cried.

I stepped to the doorway and poked my head out. It was very dark. I could see
some kind of heavy machinery in the darkness.

“We’re in the basement, I think,” I told Libby. “There are all kinds of pipes
and a big furnace and things.”

“Let’s go,” Libby urged, hanging back against the elevator wall.

I took a step out the door and glanced both ways. I couldn’t see much. More
machinery. A row of metal trash cans. A stack of long metal boxes.

“Come on, Skipper,” Libby demanded. “Let’s go back up. Now!”

I stepped back into the elevator and pushed the button marked LOBBY.

The door didn’t close. The elevator didn’t move, didn’t hum.

I pushed LOBBY again. I pushed it five or six times.

Nothing happened.

I suddenly had a lump in my throat as big as a watermelon. I really didn’t
want to be stuck down in this dark basement.

I started pushing buttons wildly. I pushed everything. I pushed a red button
marked EMERGENCY five or six times.

Nothing.

“I don’t
believe
this!” I choked out.

“Let’s get out and take a different elevator,” Libby suggested.

Good idea, I thought. There was a long row of elevators up in the lobby.
We’ll just get out of this one and push the button for another one to come down
and get us.

I led the way out into the dark basement. Libby stayed close behind me.

“Oh!” We both let out low cries as the elevator door quickly slid shut behind
us.

“What’s going on?” I demanded. “Why wouldn’t it close before?”