"I don't even know where to start looking." I sighed.

"Maybe it fell out of the basket when I hit the tree," Carlo suggested. "Maybe it rolled somewhere around here."

Daniel tugged on my sleeve. "Come on," he urged. "Let's start looking."

Carlo stood up. "I'd better get home," he said. He limped away. Luckily, his house was on the next block.

Daniel and I hunted all over the block. In doorways, underneath cars, in flower beds—anywhere the Grool might have rolled.

No luck.

As we were about to give up, I spotted a sewer grating a few feet away from Carlo's bike. Could the Grool have tumbled down there?

Daniel saw the sewer, too. "Kat? I'll bet it rolled down into the sewer! It's down there. I know it is!"

I dropped to the pavement. On my stomach. I peered into the darkness through the grating.

"It's way too dark to see anything," I reported. "Somebody will have to go down there."

"Uh... somebody? Maybe... maybe I could go," my brother offered in a shaky voice.

Daniel acts really brave. But I know he's afraid of a lot of things. Like dark sewers.

He'd freak out down in the sewer.

"No. I'll do it," I said. "The Grool knows me better."

We lifted off the heavy grate. I felt around with my sneaker. It slid against a narrow ladder built into the side of the sewer.

"I guess this is the only way down," I said softly. "Here I go."

Slowly, I lowered myself into the dark wet hole. The ladder rungs were wet and slippery. The walls were thick with sewer slime.

"This place really stinks!" I called up. "I can't believe I'm doing this." Squishhhhh!

As I reached the sewer floor, my sneaker landed on something wet and oozy. "Gross!" I screamed, pulling my foot back up.

"Are you okay?" Daniel called from above. He sounded ten miles away.

"Yeah," I shouted back. "I think I stepped in a pile of slime. Wow, it's really dark down here."

I carefully touched my feet down again, and gripped the ladder tightly with one hand—afraid I would never find my way back if I let go.

It's too dark, I realized. I'll never find the Grool down here. Then I heard it.

Whoa-ahhh. Whoa-ahhhh. Breathing!

Whoa-ahhh. Whoa-ahhhh. The Grool! But where?

I held my breath and stood completely still. I concentrated really hard, trying to figure out exactly where in the inky blackness the breathing came from.

Whoa-ahhh. Whoa-ahhhh. Somewhere to my right?

I knew I had to walk over there and snatch the Grool. But I was afraid to let go of the ladder. Finally, I decided to count my steps there, find the Grool—then count the same number of steps back to the ladder.

I swallowed hard and let go of the ladder. I stepped into the blackness and started counting.

"One... two... three... four..."

The breathing sounded a little closer. "Five... six..."

I stopped. I listened hard.

"Huh?" I cried to myself. "What's that scratching sound?" Then I saw the eyes. Not the Grool's small, round eyes. Big, bright eyes. Several pairs of them. All glowing at me in the dark.