Monster Lake by Edward Lee Read Free Book Online

This
toad’s teeth were so large that even with its mouth closed, the
teeth stuck out past its lips like sharp, white fangs…
    Taped to the front glass of the tank was a
white sticker, which read in neatly typed letters:
     
    COUNTER-REAGENT 6b ADMINISTERED
     
    … and then there was a
date.
    The date was yesterday.
    Terri remembered the words
on the computer in the other room, especially the word reagent. But she didn’t
know what that meant, nor did she know what counter-reagent meant.
    She turned away, and then noticed something
else.
    Right there, in the middle of the floor…
    What is that? she wondered.
    A square outline cut into the wood-plank
floor.
    A trapdoor, she realized.
    Yes, that’s what it was: a trapdoor. She
would love to know what was under it, but there was a big lock on
it, and it wasn’t any kind of lock she’d ever be able to open with
her library card. It was a large, heavy-duty padlock, the kind of
lock you needed a key to open.
    What is under there? she had no choice but to wonder.
    But she was definitely determined to find
out, and she wanted to find a lot of things out. How could her
mother and Uncle Chuck explain this? Giant toads and salamanders,
with teeth? Weird bottles of yucky-looking yellow gunk? Locked
trapdoors on the floor?
    What was going on here?
    But she didn’t let her burning curiosity
stall her any longer. She remembered the time…
    She had to get out of here, and fast!
    She quickly pulled the door closed, heard
the bolt click shut. She turned, moved quickly toward the outer
boathouse door, and—
    Froze in her tracks.
    A figure was standing in the doorway, its
arms crossed, and its foot impatiently tapping the floor.
    Uncle Chuck.
     
    ««—»»
     
    Uncle Chuck didn’t say
anything, not one word for the whole time they were walking back up the trail to the
house. Terri felt an inch tall; if there was one thing she knew
about grownups, it was this: you could always tell how mad they
were by how silent they were. The less they said, the more mad they
were.
    And Uncle Chuck wasn’t
saying anything.
    Terri knew she was in big, big trouble
now.
    They went in the house through the back
sliding door. Then Uncle Chuck slammed the door shut.
    “ Sit down, young lady,” he
said in the coldest voice she’d ever heard.
    Terri sat at the kitchen table, her hands in
her lap.
    “ I thought we had an
understanding, Terri,” Uncle Chuck said, still standing up with his
arms crossed, still tapping his foot.
    “ I’m sorry,” was all Terri
could think to say.
    “ You’re sorry? ” he said in a sarcastic tone.
“What good is being sorry going to do if you fall into the lake and
drown?”
    “ I can swim,” Terri feebly
answered. “I won the 7th Grade swim meet last year, remember? I got
a First Place ribbon.”
    “ Don’t get smart, young
lady—”
    Oh, yes, Terri knew she was in big trouble,
all right. Because that was one other thing she knew all too well
about grownups. When they called you “young lady” instead of your
name—that meant BIG trouble.
    “— that’s beside the point,
and you know it,” Uncle Chuck continued in his cold, cold voice. “I
don’t care how well you can swim. I can’t believe you disobeyed us.
That’s just not like you. Now—” Uncle Chuck’s foot kept tapping
away on the floor— tap-tap-tap,
tap-tap-tap —“I want to know how long you
were down there.”
    “ Just a little while,”
Terri said.
    “ Just a little while,”
Uncle Chuck repeated.
    tap-tap-tap, went his foot.
    “ And haven’t we told you
many times to never go down to the lake unless you were with an adult? Haven’t we
told you many times to never go into the boathouse? Hmmm?”
    “ Yes,” Terri
peeped.
    “ Then, why, young lady? Why
did you do it?”
    Terri couldn’t look up at her Uncle Chuck.
“I…,” she began, but then she paused. What could she say? It
occurred to her that she could lie to Uncle Chuck, she could maybe
make up a story, she could