"Noooo!" I shrieked.

His mouth twisted in horror, Carlo yanked his arm from the gerbil cage—and shoved it in my face.

"Oh!" I gasped.

Carlo wiggled his hand in my face and began to laugh. His hand was perfectly okay.

"You are horrible!" I yelled. "That is so completely not funny. It's sick!" Carlo and Daniel collapsed with laughter.

"Excellent joke!" Daniel grinned. "Hey, Carlo. Give me a... hand! Haw, haw, haw."

He and Carlo slapped each other high fives. "Way to go, dude!" Daniel cried. I glared at the dumb, immature brats.

"You know, guys, this isn't funny," I said seriously. "We don't know what kind of creature the sponge is."

"We don't know what kind of creature you are, either!" Daniel announced with a big grin.

"If I'm a creature, you're a creature's baby brother!" I shot back.

"Hey, I have an idea," said Carlo, winking at Daniel. "Maybe you should put the sponge on a leash and take it for a walk. The exercise will give it an appetite!" He hooted with laughter.

He really cracked himself up.

"But it doesn't have legs," Daniel chimed in.

"She can roll it down Maple Lane!" Carlo suggested. More laughter.

"That's it, you guys. Get out!" I shouted. "Leave me and the sponge alone! Now!"

Slapping each other another high five, Daniel and Carlo turned to leave.

I could hardly wait for them to go. I needed to be by myself for a while. To sit and figure out what I should do with the little round creature.

But before Carlo and Daniel got out the bedroom door, a scream made me nearly jump to the ceiling.

I turned to see Carlo hopping frantically up and down on one foot.

"Oh, right," I said. "Like I'm going to believe another one of your stupid jokes." Carlo, his face twisted in pain, pointed wildly to his foot. Falling back onto the

bed with a groan, he yanked off his sneaker. Blood oozed through his white sock.

"A nail!" he gasped. "I stepped on a nail!"

I dropped my eyes to the sneaker on the floor.

A long nail had poked through the thick rubber sole—and into Carlo's foot! Weird, I thought. Where did a nail come from?

"Hey, it's really bleeding!" Carlo wailed. "Do something!"

I searched around frantically for something to use as a bandage. As I did, my eyes rested on the sponge in the gerbil cage.

"Whoa!" I cried.

The sponge quivered and shook.

It shook with what seemed like joy!

And it breathed—so loudly that I could hear the eerie sound from the other side of the room!

Whoa-ahhh. Whoa-ahhh.

As I wrapped an old T-shirt around Carlo's foot, two questions ran through my mind—what in the world is happening here? Why did the sponge creature suddenly get so excited?

I wouldn't find out the frightening truth about the sponge creature until the next day.

When I learned it, I understood why there were so many accidents in our new house.

And it made me wish that I had never opened that cabinet, never reached under the sink, and never found the spongy... thing.

Because now it was too late. Too late for us all.