The scratching grew louder. The eyes stared up at me. Yellow eyes. Glowing in the darkness.

I heard a creature scrabble over the floor. Felt something warm and furry brush against my leg.

Were they raccoons? Rats? I didn't want to know.

Another one brushed against me. They were all starting to scrape around on the sewer floor. They were growing restless.

I forced myself to breathe. Turned.

And started to run.

Get me out of here! I thought. Get me out of here before they attack! My sneakers slid over the damp, slimy floor.

"Please let me find my way out of here," I prayed as I stumbled through the darkness.

"Oww!"

My knee slammed into something hard.

I cried out and reached for something to lean on. And caught hold of the ladder.

"Yes! Yes!" I cried happily.

Ignoring my throbbing knee, I scrambled up the slimy rungs. Up, up, up toward the light.

"Daniel—help me out!" I cried.

Daniel leaned down and grabbed my hands. He helped pull me out of that awful hole.

I fell on to the pavement and nearly sobbed with relief.

Daniel dropped down next to me. "Did you get it?" he asked eagerly. "Did you find it?"

I wiped my sludge-covered hands on my jeans. "No," I told him. "No Grool."

"I should have gone down there," he declared. "I definitely would have found it." "You definitely would have been terrified!" I replied angrily. "There were

animals down there. Rats, maybe. Dozens of them."

"Yeah. Sure," he said, rolling his eyes. He sighed. "Now what do we do?" He kicked a pebble across the street.

I sighed. "Don't worry—we'll find the Grool."

"But how?" he cried. "We can't even find Killer. We'll never find a little sponge."

I had never seen Daniel this upset. "Daniel, the police will find Killer. I know they will," I said softly.

"We must have missed the sponge," he said, ignoring my words. "We have to check everywhere again."

We started to search again. In the street. In the grass. Behind hedges. Under trees. Carlo appeared as we were about to give up. He was walking fine. He examined

his mangled bike. Then he helped us with our search.

The afternoon sun was settling behind the trees. The air felt cooler. Evening was approaching.

I sank down on the sidewalk, feeling totally hopeless.

The warning in the encyclopedia kept running through my mind. Was it possible? Could it be true? If we didn't find the Grool, would my life really be over by tomorrow?

"There it is!"

Daniel's excited shout interrupted my frightening thoughts. "There it is!" my brother cried happily. "I see it! I see the Grool!"