8 THE GLUE FACTORY

CHAPTER 8 THE GLUE FACTORY Alexander, Rip, and Nikki hurried across town. "The monsters are more active than ever!" said Nikki. Swallowed! Tangled!

De-bricked! Snipped! Slimed! Timber! Torched! The three friends eventually reached the old abandoned glue factory. "Whoa," said Nikki. "The factory's enormous!" "And half the roof is smashed in," said Rip. "I bet from the meteor," guessed Alexander.

The friends squeezed through a rusty gate and tiptoed around the outside of the building. The doors were padlocked, and the windows were boarded up.

"Hey there's our way in," said Nikki. Huge garage door Long, deep scratches Bite mark? Open a crack Alexander, Rip, and Nikki crawled inside on their bellies. They found themselves in total darkness. PLIP-PLIP! Water dripped from the ceiling. "Jampire, what can you see?" asked Rip. Nikki peered into the darkness. "Empty glue bottles and junky old machines," she said. "But no sign of Ms. Vanderpants." There was a colorful glow in the distance.

Alexander and Rip followed Nikki into an enormous room. Rusty metal beams stretched up to the ceiling. Huge vats of glue lined one wall. The last vat pulsed with an eerie rainbow glow. "You guys?" said Alexander. "Why is the sparkle glue glowing?" "Alexander Bopp?! Is that you?" whispered a familiar voice from above. Alexander looked up, and gasped.

Principal Vanderpants had been stuck to a steel beam with a glob of rubber cement. "What are you doing here?!" she demanded. "We came to rescue you!" yelled Rip. "Oh, Ripley," said Ms. Vanderpants with a sigh. "Now who's going to rescue you?" BWAAAAR-NAWR-HAWR!!! A horrible laugh echoed through the factory. Just then, a huge green monster jumped out from behind the glowing vat. SPARKLE GLUE