The Creature from Club Lagoona by R.L. Stine Read Free Book Online Page B

drowning! I realized.
    Then everything went black.

11

    M y nose itched. I opened my eyes. A hard, round brown thing pressed against my face. I moved my head slightly.
    I stared at a large coconut. My body lay sprawled on the edge of a lake.
    I sat up slowly. My swimsuit was still soaked. Sand stuck to my face and body.
    A nearby bush full of red flowers shook violently.
    I scrambled to my feet, ready to run.
    â€œIs that you, Tad?” a voice called from the bush.
    Neal!
    I let out a huge sigh of relief. “Are you okay?” I asked. I picked my way through the tangled roots and vines toward the bush. Shells crunched under my feet.
    Neal crawled out slowly. “Yeah, I’m fine. But what happened? Where are we?”
    I glanced around. Palm trees and tropical plants surrounded us. Above us was blue sky. “It looks like a jungle,” I reported.
    Neal rubbed his head. “We were swimming in the bottom of the Atlantis pool, by the drain,” he remembered. “Then something grabbed us, and we were pulled through some sort of tube. I thought I was drowning!”
    I nodded. “Me too. But how did we end up here?”
    Neal shook his head. “More important, where is here?”
    â€œOnly one way to find out,” I figured. We decided to explore. Tall bushes, spiky plants, and gnarled tree roots surrounded us.
    Thwack! “Ouch!” I yelped. A thick, heavy leaf whacked me in the face.
    â€œYikes!” Neal cried. He stumbled over a low vine.
    I found a stick and tried to beat a path through the thick vegetation. Neal followed. Sweat beaded up on my forehead.
    Tough work!
    After a while Neal took a turn beating back the plants.
    â€œShh!” I grabbed his arm to stop him.
    â€œWhat?” Neal whispered.
    We stood dead still and listened.
    â€œVoices,” I murmured. I pointed in the directionthey seemed to be coming from. We crept on our hands and knees through the thick underbrush.
    I peered through the bushes into a small clearing. I could see bright colors: purple and orange, red and lime green. Were they flowers? Birds?
    No! They were bathing suits! My parents’ bright, ugly bathing suits!
    I leapt up. “Mom! Dad!” I screamed.
    They turned around as I pushed through the bushes. But my parents weren’t alone! Everyone who vanished from the pool stood in the clearing. Polly, Mark and his family, the two kids in scuba gear. Even the diver from the first day.
    â€œNeal!” a man called.
    Neal followed close on my heels. “Dad! Mom!” he cried as we stumbled out of the thick undergrowth.
    After we all hugged one another, everyone started chattering at once.
    â€œThe creature!” Polly’s high voice rose above the rest. “In the deep end! It’s horrible. It pulled us down the drain!”
    â€œShh.” Mom squeezed Polly tight. “It’s over now. It’s gone. We’re all here. We’re together and safe.”
    We were together, all right. But I wasn’t so sure about the safe part.
    â€œWe’ve got to find a way out of here,” I declared.
    â€œWe searched around this area for one,” Dad told me. “But we haven’t had any luck yet.”
    â€œWell, let’s search some more,” I suggested.
    Dad agreed. He nodded. “Everyone, stay together,” he called.
    I gripped my stick. Dad and I led the way.
    Whack! I sliced at the thick undergrowth. We moved through the jungle slowly in a long line.
    Whack! We trudged silently along. The jungle seemed to stretch on forever.
    Thunk! I hit something. Something big and hard. I stopped. Neal banged into me from behind.
    â€œWhat was that?” Dad shouted.
    â€œI don’t know,” I answered. The thick plants and vines completely hid whatever it was I smacked. I prodded it with my stick. “There’s something solid.”
    I reached out my hand and felt through the plants. “It feels like a wall,” I told the