The Beast 2 by R.L. Stine

Author:R.L. Stine
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Publisher: Aladdin

13

I sprang to my feet. “You mean to say you can bring people back in time, but you can’t return them?” I cried.

“Yes,” he replied sadly. “I’ve got the back part down pat. It’s the forward part I’m a little shaky on. Can’t get the hang of it at all.”

He pulled a gold watch from the pocket of his trousers. He tapped the glass face. “It’s time to rest up. Only ten more minutes until the next show.”

“What if we don’t want to do the show?” I demanded.

He paused in the doorway and turned. “But you must. You have no choice. And you, Princess”—he waved long white-gloved fingers over at Ashley—“kindly stop making up your own answers to the audience’s questions. Just stick to the script.”

Ashley snatched off her silver cap and shook out her blond hair. “And what if we don’t stick to the script?” she demanded.

“Listen to me.” His voice fell to a deadly whisper as he moved closer to her. “Princess or no princess, you will do as I tell you. Is that crystal clear, Princess?”

“Yes, sir!” Ashley gave a sullen salute.

Captain Time glared at Ashley. “The last troublemaker found himself in a large tank of cold water covered with slimy green scales.”

So I was right! Captain Time did turn that boy into a fish!

Captain Time might be a genius. But he was an evil genius, I decided.

“Do we have an understanding?” he asked.

We both turned to the Captain at the same time and snapped to attention.

“Yes, sir!” we barked.

“As soon as Captain Time left, I ran to the door and peered around the corner.

The hallway was empty.

I signaled to Ashley. “Come on. Let’s go!”

Her eyes widened in fear. “You heard him. The show’s about to begin. We have to get ready. He always starts on time.”

“Who cares? You mean to tell me you want to sit around here for the rest of your life doing eighteen shows a day? Let’s get out of here,” I urged.

Ashley tucked her hair neatly back into her cap and sighed wearily. “Forget it, James.”

I shook my head in confusion. “Forget it?” I repeated. “You mean you don’t want to escape?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to, James. But how far do you think we would get wearing these trick-or-treat costumes?”

I stared at our costumes. We sparkled like a pair of foil-wrapped human hoagies.

Ashley had a point.

“Besides,” she added sensibly, “getting out of here won’t help us get back to our time.”

I nodded and chewed my lower lip. “The time machine is in this building—right?”

“So the best thing we can do until we can get near it,” Ashley explained, “is to behave like Captain Time’s good little Children of the Future. That way he’ll trust us. Or at least forget about us—”

“Long enough for us to find a way out of here back to our own time,” I finished for her.

So Ashley and I huddled together on the couch while she gave me a crash course on how to answer the audience’s questions about the future.

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