The Slime That Would Not Die by Laura Dower Read Free Book Online Page A

might be.
    Unfortunately, Oswald Leery didn’t have one in this box.
    â€œI wonder where all the doors in this room go,” Damon said.
    Lindsey reached for one knob, but Stella cried, “Don’t! You don’t know what’s behind there!”
    â€œIsn’t that the idea?” Lindsey said with a smile. She moved over to a curious-looking set of yellow double doors.
    The plaque on the doors read: SCREENING ROOM.
    With a loud crank, the yellow double doors started to move. They were on some kind of mechanical track and they were opening themselves in slo-mo.
    I stepped forward before everyone else. It was pitch-black inside.
    I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face!
    As I moved inside the room, everything wobbled and before I could find my bearings, the entire floor gave way.
    Before I could stop myself, I was falling down, down into the darkness.

CHAPTER 10
    DOCTOR LEERY, I PRESUME?
    I screamed as I fell. It was so dark that I couldn’t even see where I had fallen. Then suddenly I bounced against something slippery. This was a slide!
    As I twisted down the loop, I squealed like I was on a roller coaster. I could feel wind on my eyeballs. This was like the best amusement park ride ever. I was beginning to wonder if it would ever stop.
    And then it did.
    Just as quickly as I’d dropped onto the slide, I was deposited into a plush chair facing an enormous screen. I was in some kind of futuristic movie theater! There was a creaking noise, and the chair lurched and moved over a little. Stella, who had dropped down after me, was positioned in a chair to my left. She just stared ahead like she’d been hypnotized or something. Or maybe she was just completely freaked out.
    I know I was.
    On the right side of me, another chair slid into place under the slide chute. Then Lindsey came sliding down into it. Damon slipped into another chair after her.
    I always thought the multiplex in Riddle was impressive. After all, it has something like twelve different screens. But the theater at Leery Castle put that place to super-shame. This screening room was WOW all the way.
    Our chairs were positioned so close to the screen, I figured we could practically see the actors’ nose hair. Obviously, that was the best way to view any Bs. The closer, the grosser, the better the B! I remember reading that somewhere once in an old issue of B-Monster Galaxy magazine. It sounded like a cheer.
    As the lights inside the screening room faded to a pale glint, a face popped up on the screen.
    Oswald Leery!
    â€œWelcome to my castle, Jesse, Stella, Damon, and Lindsey. I am sorry that I cannot be with you today,” Leery said.
    His voice echoed. I glanced around. I could barely see in the darkness, but I knew the four of us had the same exact facial expression: freaked. Leery was up there, saying our names and talking directly to us!
    â€œMy friends, our beloved town of Riddle is in grave danger,” Leery continued. “Back in the days before my family started making movies here, Riddle was a simple town. No one worried much about danger or horror. But when I invented B-Monster Vision, something strange happened. Riddle changed. Everything changed. For all these many years, I have guarded a deep secret.”
    I sank down into my chair. Secret? I loved secrets!

    â€œLet me start at the beginning,” Leery said. “I want you to understand a little bit about my world.”
    Grainy old photos of Desmond and Lucas Leery projected onto the oversize screen. We saw photos of old movie sets and actors dressed in all sorts of funny costumes. Then we saw grown-up photos of Leery directing on the very same movie sets we knew. Photos from Crabzilla , Tuskadon , and Bog Beast flashed on-screen. The B-Monsters looked fun and fake, of course, just the way they always had.
    â€œI grew up on movies,” Leery’s voice narrated as the photos faded one into the other. “My father and