I turned to the sound. And watched Luka come hopping out of the forest. He stood on his two feet like a man. But he hopped like a rabbit. Scratching the thick fur on one leg, he grinned at me as he came near.
I didn’t grin back. “Where is Marissa?” I demanded. “Where is my sister?”
He tilted his head and stared at me, confused.
“Marissa!” I screamed at him. “Where is Marissa?”
“Over here!”
I jumped when her voice leaped out at me. “Where are you?” I called.
I saw a flash of her red hair. Then she poked her head out from behind a wide, leafy bush.
“Over here,” she repeated. “You were still asleep. So I thought I’d explore.”
“You scared me to death!” I admitted. I began trotting through the tall grass and weeds, eager to join her. “Where are we?” I demanded. “What happened to Ivanna’s cabin?”
Marissa shrugged. “Beats me. I woke up—and here we were.”
Behind us, Luka growled.
I turned and saw him pawing the dirt, like a dog. “Do you think he’s part human?” I whispered to Marissa.
She didn’t seem to hear me. She pointed to a spot between two trees. “I found a path over there. Do you think we’re supposed to follow it?”
“I don’t know what we’re supposed to do,” I replied shrilly. “Did Ivanna ever explain the test? No. Did she ever tell us the rules? No. Did she ever tell us what we’re supposed to do to pass the test? No.”
Marissa’s eyes narrowed in fear. “I think we’re supposed to stay alive,” she said softly. “I think that’s how we pass the test.”
“But where do we go? What do we do?” I cried. I could feel myself start to lose control. I felt angry and frightened and confused—all at the same time.
Luka uttered another growl. He stopped digging up the dirt and came staggering over to us, standing up like a human.
If he shaved off all the fur, put on some clothes, and got a haircut, he’d look like a young man, I thought. As I stared at him, he started to wave and point.
“What is he doing?” I asked Marissa.
She stepped up beside me and stared at him too.
Luka grunted excitedly. He waved a furry hand at us and jabbed his other hand toward the trees.
“I think he wants us to follow him,” I said.
“Yes,” Marissa agreed. “Remember—Ivanna said he would be our guide.”
Grunting and waving, Luka headed for the trees.
I held back. “Can we trust him?” I asked.
Marissa shrugged. “Do we have a choice?”
Luka stepped onto a path that led through the forest. The path curved behind a clump of tall, yellow-leafed bushes. I saw his head bobbing above the bushes. Then he disappeared.
“Hurry!” I tugged my sister’s arm. “We’d better not let him get out of sight.”
I glanced down and saw two black backpacks on the grass. I bent down, grabbed one, and unzipped it. Empty.
I handed the other backpack to Marissa. “Ivanna must have left these for us,” I told her. “They’re empty. But I guess we should take them.”
We pulled the backpacks onto our backs. Then we jogged to the path and hurried to catch up with the bouncing, hopping Luka.
He stopped to sniff a weed. Then he continued shuffling along the path.
We followed close behind. Two or three times, he turned back to make sure we were following.
The path curved between prickly weeds and tall reeds. We passed a small, round pond that reflected the blue sky. The air became warmer and wet. The back of my neck felt hot and prickly.
We entered a cluster of trees with smooth, white trunks. The trees grew close together. The smooth bark of the trunks felt cool against my hot hands.
“Where is he taking us?” Marissa whispered.
I didn’t answer her. I didn’t know. I only knew that Luka was leading us deeper and deeper into this forest.
We squeezed our way through the white-trunked trees. And came out in a large, grassy clearing. Small gray rocks poked up from the grass. The slender white trees formed a circle around the clearing.
My boots crunched over the ground as I followed Luka across the grass. I looked down to see what made the crunching sound.
And discovered that the ground was covered with large brown nuts.
I picked one up. “Check this out,” I called to Marissa. I turned and saw that she had picked up two of them. “They must have fallen off the white trees,” I said.
“They look like walnuts. But they’re bigger than eggs!” she declared. “I never saw walnuts this big!”
“They feel so hot!” I exclaimed. I glanced up at the sky. “I guess it’s from the sun beating down on them.”
“Hey—! Whoa!”
Marissa’s cry made me look up.
I saw a gray creature scamper across the clearing.
At first I thought it was a dog or a very large cat. Then I realized it was a squirrel. It carried one of the large nuts in its front paws. And it hopped quickly toward the trees, its bushy gray tail floating behind it like a pennant.
I turned as Luka let out a hoarse cry.
I saw him stand straight up. I saw his eyes go wide with excitement.
He let out another cry. Leaned forward. Reached out both hands.
And started to chase after the squirrel.
The squirrel saw Luka coming. It dropped the nut and took off at full speed into the white trees.
Luka dropped to all fours and galloped after it.
“No, Luka—come back!” Marissa shouted.
“Come back! Come back!” we both called. “Luka—come back!”
16
Marissa and I both let out worried cries. Then we took off after Luka, into the clump of trees.
“Luka—! Hey, Luka!” I called. My voice bounced off the trees. It echoed all around me.
“Luka—! Hey, Luka!”
The cry repeated and repeated, echoing loudly.
I could hear his growl up ahead. And I could hear him thrashing his way through the trees as he chased the fat squirrel.
“Luka—come back!” Marissa’s cry echoed all around the forest, too.
As we called after him, it sounded as if there were dozens of us in the forest, all chasing after him, all frantically calling for him to stop chasing that squirrel and come back to us.
“Whoa!” I cried out as I tried to slip through the narrow space between two white tree trunks—and my backpack caught between the trees.
“Ow!”
It snapped me back. I staggered and nearly fell.
Mister Klutz. For a change.
“Luka! Hey—Luka!” I could hear Marissa’s cry up ahead of me now.
I tried to slip through the trees again, and the backpack caught again. I pulled it free and found another, wider opening.
A few seconds later, I caught up with my sister. She had stopped running. She leaned against a tree trunk, breathing hard.
“Where is he?” I cried. “Do you see him? Where did he go?”
“I—I lost him,” Marissa replied breathlessly. “I don’t even hear him anymore.”
I listened hard. The forest was silent now. No footsteps. No growls. The leaves above us brushed together, making a soft, whispering sound.
“But how could he run away?” I cried. “He’s supposed to be our guide!”
“I think he really wanted to catch that squirrel,” Marissa said quietly.
“But—but—” I sputtered. “He can’t just run away and leave us all by ourselves here.”
Marissa sighed. “I think he just did.”
“We have to find him!” I cried. “Come on. We have to keep going. We can’t let him—”
Marissa shook her head. “How can we find him, Justin? Which way should we go?”
“We’ll follow his footprints,” I replied. I lowered my gaze to the ground. A thick carpet of brown leaves spread over the dirt.
> No footprints.
“I think he was heading that way,” I said, pointing to the trees.
Marissa shook her head. “I don’t think so.” She pushed herself away from the tree trunk. “He’s gone, Justin.”
I spun around, frantically searching for him. For any sign of him.
“Hey—what’s that?” Marissa called.
“Huh?” I turned back to her.
“In your back pocket,” she said, pointing. “What is it?”
Confused, I reached into the back pocket of my jeans—and pulled out a folded-up sheet of paper. My hands were sweaty and stuck to the paper. But I unfolded it quickly.
“It’s some kind of a note,” I told Marissa. “In a tiny handwriting.”
“Well, read it!” she cried.
My eyes slid to the bottom of the page. “It-it’s from Ivanna,” I stammered excitedly.
“What does it say?” Marissa demanded impatiently.
I steadied the page between both my hands and read the note out loud to both of us:
“DEAR KIDS,
KEEP LUKA WITH YOU, AND YOU WILL PASS THE TEST. DO NOT LET HIM OUT OF YOUR SIGHT. BE CAREFUL NOT TO LOSE HIM—OR YOU ARE DOOMED.”
17
Marissa and I made our way slowly back to the clearing. The grass swayed under a soft breeze. Our boots crunched over the large nuts in the grass.
I still held Ivanna’s note in my hand. I glanced over it one more time, hoping it didn’t say what it said. Then I angrily balled it up and tossed it away.
Marissa trudged along beside me. The sun beat down on us. We were both sweating.
“Maybe if we wait here, Luka will come back,” Marissa said.
“He isn’t coming back,” I groaned. “He is probably miles away, still chasing after that squirrel.”
“Then what do we do next?” Marissa demanded. “How do we pass the test?”
I let out an unhappy sigh. “We can’t pass the test. You heard what the note said. We’re doomed.”
“Well, we can try,” she insisted. She started across the clearing. I followed her.
We had taken six or seven steps when I heard a startling sound. A loud snap, like a pencil being broken in two.
Then a crack—soft at first, and then louder.
I stopped and whirled around. I expected to see Luka come bounding out of the forest.
But I saw only the tall, white trees. No one there.
I heard another sharp snap. Then another. And another.
And then I heard cracking all around.
The earth is cracking open!
That was my first thought. I pictured the ground splitting apart. A dark hole opening up. And Marissa and me falling, falling down into it.
The Pit With No Bottom!
I wished Dad had never told us that story!
Now Marissa grabbed my shoulder and pointed down. “Justin—look!”
I gazed down. The ground hadn’t split open. But the snapping and cracking echoed all around.
Louder. Louder.
“Ohh!” I let out a frightened moan as I realized to my horror that the grass was moving.
I could feel it move under my feet.
“What’s happening?” Marissa cried, still holding on to me. “That sound—!”
The cracking grew louder, rising up from the ground. Now it sounded as if all the trees were cracking apart.
The grass swayed and bent.
“It’s—the nuts!” I cried to Marissa. “Look! They’re all cracking open!”
I covered my ears against the sound.
And stared at the nuts, bouncing and trembling all around our feet.
Cracking open. Splitting apart.
Hundreds and hundreds of them. The whole clearing. The ground shaking as they all cracked apart.
Cracked into pieces. Crumbled around us.
We stared in amazement at the cracking nuts. And then, Marissa and I both screamed in shock when we saw what came climbing out.
18
Staring down as a nut split open, I saw gnashing teeth. Tiny black eyes. A twitching black nose.
The creature pushed itself up. I saw spindly front legs.
A slender body of gray fur.
And those teeth. Snapping. Gnashing.
“A mouse!” I choked out.
“Hundreds of them!” Marissa cried.
The nuts were splitting apart. All across the clearing. So many of them, it made the grass quiver and the ground appear to shake.
I stood frozen in place, watching mice hatch around my feet. They pushed out slowly, poking their heads out first. Sniffing the air. Trying out their pointy teeth.
The nuts rocked onto their sides. Cracked apart. Gray bodies slithered out. Sticklike back legs kicked their way out from the empty shells.
“They’re not nuts—they’re eggs!” Marissa wailed.
“But mice don’t come from eggs!” I protested.
Marissa raised her eyes to me, her face twisted in shock. “I guess no one told these mice!”
A mouse scampered over my boots. Mice were scurrying through the tall grass, making the grass whisper.
Another gray body slithered over my boots.
“Let’s get out of here!” I cried to Marissa. I grabbed her arm and started to pull.
But so many mice scampered over the grass, so many gray bodies slithered at our feet—we couldn’t move.
Shrill squeaks rose up from the grass as the creatures found their voices. “Eee eee eee eee!” The sound surrounded us. Grew louder, louder. Until it drowned out the whisper of the grass. Until it forced Marissa and me to cover our ears.
“Eee eee eee eee!”
“We have to run!” I shouted.
“But the ground is covered!” Marissa shrieked. “If we run—”
“YOWWWWW!” I let out a cry as I felt a mouse drop inside my hiking boot. Its tiny feet scratched through my wool socks.
I bent down to pull it out—and saw two more mice clinging by their teeth to my pants cuff.
“Hey—” I tried to bat them away.
Lost my balance.
Fell to my knees.
Justin the Super Klutz strikes again.
Mice scurried over my hands. I felt one climb up my sweatshirt sleeve, onto my back.
“Hellllp!” Marissa and I both cried out at the same time.
I turned and saw her bent over, hands raised, struggling to pull two mice from her hair.
Another mouse chewed the bottom of her sweatshirt. Two more mice climbed a leg of her jeans. Mice clung to her backpack.
“Helllp me! Ohhhh—helllp!”
Still on my knees, I struggled to push myself up. But a mouse slithered under my sweatshirt. I felt its prickly feet move across my chest. Then I felt a sharp stab of pain in the middle of my back.
Did it bite me?
Mice jumped onto my shoulders. Crawled over the back of my neck. Swarmed over my backpack.
Swinging both hands wildly, I tried to brush them off me.
But there were too many of them.
Squeaking. Snapping. Clinging to my clothes. My wrists. My hair.
“Helllllp! Hellllp!”
I pulled a mouse from my ear. And tossed it across the grass.
I could feel a bunch of them crawling over my bare skin under my sweatshirt. Another sharp bite made me cry out—and I dropped facedown onto the grass—onto more mice!
I tried to swat the mice away. Tried to swat them and push them and grab them and tug them off me.
But there were too many. Way too many.
I turned and saw them swarming over Marissa. She cried out as she spun around, swinging her arms. Trying to shake the mice off.
I wanted to help her. But I couldn’t get up.
My whole body tingled and itched.
The squeaking, chattering mice swarmed over me, holding me down. Prickling me, scratching me, biting me—until I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe.
19
“Off! Get of
f!” I managed to cry.
I swiped at my face, slapping two mice off my cheeks. I pulled one, squeaking and squirming, from my hair. Pulled another one off my forehead.
I kicked my legs and swung my arms, frantically trying to free myself.
“Oww!” I let out a wild shriek as a fat, gray mouse scratched at my ear.
I reached up. Grabbed it. And squeezed.
The mouse gave a soft groan—and collapsed.
“Huh?” I felt something hard above its furry gray belly. Like a bump.
I slapped away two other mice and examined the one in my hand. I pushed the tiny, hard bump. The mouse started to squirm and struggle.
I pushed the bump again. The mouse slumped in my hand, silent and still.
“It’s an on-off switch!” I screamed.
I turned to Marissa. She had fallen to her knees. Dozens of mice swarmed over her. They covered her sweatshirt. They crawled through her hair.
“It’s an on-off switch!” I shouted to her. “Marissa—squeeze the button on their front. You can turn them off!”
I grabbed a mouse off my neck. Squeezed the button. Shut it off.
I swiped up two more and turned them off.
“They’re not real!” I cried happily. “The mice—they’re fakes! They’re little machines!”
Marissa climbed to her feet. She was brushing mice off her clothes. Clicking them off. “Weird!” she exclaimed. “Justin—this is so weird!”
“We’ve got to get out of here,” I told her. “We’ve got to find Luka.”
Marissa tugged a mouse off the back of her neck and clicked it off. “Do you think this was the test?” she asked. “Do you think we passed it?”
“I don’t know,” I replied. My eyes searched the trees. “I don’t care about the test right now. I just want to get away from these dumb mechanical mice.”
I brushed two more off the front of my jeans. Then I reached for Marissa. I pulled a mouse off her shoulder, clicked it off, and tossed it away.
Then we both started to run for the trees.
Mice scurried under our feet. Their shrill squeaks echoed all around us.
We stepped on them as we ran. But we didn’t care. We knew they weren’t real. We knew they were mechanical.