The Word Eater (9 page)

Lucia looked out at her friends with a stone face, willing them to keep their cool. She could see the questions in their eyes: What was she up to? Would Mr. Mack catch on?

Mr. Mack was staring hard at the writing, unwilling to admit that he didn't know Bellitan. “Write it in English, too,” he finally said.

Underneath the Bellitan words, Lucia wrote:

“Does that look right?” Mr. Mack whispered to Boris, who shrugged. Mr. Mack walked over to the youngest kid in the factory, a baby-faced eight year old. “Is that right?”

Lucia stared at the boy, praying he wouldn't crack. To his credit, the little boy nodded and smiled.

Mr. Mack told all the children to copy the letters
in their books, and he grabbed Lucia's arm. “You come with me.”

She rooted her feet to the floor and scrutinized his face with unblinking eyes. “Where to?”

“You little—” Mr. Mack swallowed the scream rising in his throat, realizing that it wouldn't do to get angry. “I found a box of books we should be using. You can distribute them.”

Lucia pulled her arm away and followed him out the double doors. As they walked down the long hallway, Lucia kept her eyes peeled, suspicious. They stopped at a door labeled:

“Here we are,” Mr. Mack said. He punched a code into a small box on the side of the door, and the lock clicked open. “You'll find a box of books to the right of the door. Just bring it back to the factory.” He smiled, and before Lucia could object, he pushed her inside.

The door slammed shut, and Mr. Mack laughed. He pulled the fake sign off the door and stuck the real one back on.

Lerner had five minutes before the first bell rang, so she ran to the sanctuary of the library. There was Bobby Nitz hunched at the computer. He had obviously come to school early, probably avoiding the whole bus scene. She was relieved to see that he was okay. Overnight, she'd dreamed up some terrible scenarios in which he was driven away by his angry father. Anyway, it was all her imagination. He looked perfectly fine—his feet jiggling under his chair as usual.

She stood for a moment noticing his mud-caked shoes, his untied laces, and saw how alone he was. To be a SLUG was bad enough, but to be Bobby Nitz had to be the worst. At least SLUGs had the potential to make friends with other SLUGs; nobody wanted to make friends with Bobby. He was the first one everybody suspected of doing something wrong. Because of her, the MPOOEs were planning something against him. It wasn't right. It was like his dad blaming him for Ripper's disappearance. She should warn him about the MPOOEs. That was the right thing to do. So how come she wasn't doing it?

“Good morning, Cookie.” Mrs. Popocheskovich emerged from her office holding a cup of coffee and a stack of newspapers. “How's that worm book?”

“Not too helpful,” Lerner said. “I think the worm I found hasn't been written about yet.”

Mrs. Popocheskovich smiled. “You maybe discovered a new species, eh?”

Lerner nodded. An idea was worming its way into her mind. Maybe it was the guilt, but she couldn't stop thinking about Bobby. He had nothing. She didn't exactly have a hundred new friends, but she did have Marie to write to. And at home, there were her parents and good old Martha. Every person should have something good in his life—even Bobby Nitz. She wished that instead of getting rid of Ripper, she could have made him less vicious.

That was it!

“Mrs. Popocheskovich,” she said with growing excitement. “Do you know how Attackaterriers become Attackaterriers?”

Mrs. Popocheskovich set her papers down. “From worms to dogs. Lerner, what is sitting on that brain of yours?”

“Haven't you ever noticed the ads?” Lerner picked up a newspaper and leafed through it until she saw an Attackaterrier advertisement. “See!” She pointed to the ad. “They get mean by some ‘Attacka' method. So what if you could take the ‘Attacka' out of Attackaterrier. What would you have left?”

“Terriers?”

“Yes! And that would be great, wouldn't it?”

“Well, I must admit I feel bad for those dogs. They don't look like they're having so much happy, if you know what I'm saying.”

Lerner grinned. “Thanks, Mrs. Popocheskovich!”

“You're so much welcome,” the librarian smiled. “But for what did I do?”

Lerner hurried past Bobby to her carrel in the back. She pulled out her experiment notebook and wrote a new experiment.

She set Fip down on the letter
A
. “Here's a little breakfast,” she whispered, and then thought to herself that it wasn't little at all.

Lucia was hit with blinding sunlight and a horrible stench at the same time. She blinked, covering
her mouth and nose. She was outside. But where? And why did Mr. Mack push her out here?

She looked down. That's where the smell came from! She had stepped right into a pile of dog poop. A sick feeling crept into her stomach. She looked up, her eyes adjusting to the light.

Twenty pairs of eyes met hers. Yellow eyes. Attackaterrier eyes.

Every muscle froze. She knew where she was. She was inside one of the large Attackaterrier pens in the back of Mack Industries. Behind the dogs was a tall chain-link fence. Behind the fence was an empty field. No one was in sight.

“Nice doggies,” she said, her voice trembling.

The dogs, all twenty of them, growled.

Out of the corner of his eye, Bobby watched Lerner, or rather, he watched her feet jiggling under her favorite carrel in the back. In the middle of the night, he had remembered that Lerner told Ripper she had a surprise named Fip. Now he was determined to find out what it was all about. He'd searched on the Internet under every possible spelling of the name.
Fhip. Fip. Fipp. Phip. Fhiph. Fiph
. All he learned was that FIP stands for Feline Infectious Peritonitis, which was some kind of virus that cats get. He was just about to give up when Lerner had arrived, looking like she was going to pop.

The bell was about to ring. He crept around the Fiction section to the very back of the library. The
XYZ
shelf ended right behind Lerner's carrel. He crept over to the
Z
s. Lerner's back was to him. He stood on a footstool and read her experiment over her shoulder.

Slowly, the pieces began to fit together. He didn't have all the pieces, so the picture wasn't seamless. But he figured that Lerner had some magic creature called a Fip that ate words and made things disappear. Things like Ripper. Now she was going to do something with Attackaterriers. Bobby didn't really care for Attackaterriers, but he knew right away that the Fip creature was an incredible find.

He climbed down from the stool. He had to get that Fip.

In the hot and brilliant sunlight, Lucia Torrez broke into a sweat. Stay calm, she told herself. Maybe they'll think you're too skinny to eat. Then she remembered dogs
like
bones.

She took a step backward. The dogs took a step toward her.

“Nice doggies,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes. “Please, for once, be nice doggies.”

Lerner's forehead was damp with sweat. What was Bobby Nitz doing behind her? He probably didn't see anything, but it made her nervous. She watched Fip's body as he munched. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry.

Fip tried as hard as he could, but the letters were stickly in his throat. It was hard to eat with her alarm chemicals blasting.

Fip had eaten
A-t-t-a-c
. Hurry up, Lerner thought. The bell is going to ring.

The dogs began moving toward Lucia as if they were of one mind, their white teeth gleaming in the sunlight.

Without turning around, she tried turning the doorknob. Locked. Three dogs led the pack, their eyes pinned to Lucia, their tongues hanging out, their stubby tails vibrating like electric
drills.
Closer.
Closer
.
Closer
.
Closer
.
Closer
.

Lerner could feel Bobby Nitz creeping up behind her. Closer and closer. He had seen Fip! Fip was almost finished eating, but she couldn't wait. She'd have to make a run for it.

The bell rang. Lerner jumped up, knocking Bobby to the floor, and ran out the door, holding her notebook in front of her like a tray. She ran down the hall and ducked into the girls' rest room and looked at her experiment. Fip had done it! He had eaten
Attacka
!

Lerner grinned and put him in his bottle. “Good going, Fip!” she said. “Now we have to find out if it worked!”

Lucia screamed. The dogs leaped for her, giving off some kind of strange, shimmering light. She crouched and closed her eyes, expecting to feel the pounce of nails and teeth.

Instead, a wet tongue licked her cheek.

She opened her eyes. All around her, terriers were panting and wagging their tails!

Lucia didn't move. One of the dogs nuzzled her shoulder.

“Nice doggies?” she whispered.

“Yip! Yip!” barked the dogs, cheerfully.