Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3 THE JUNIOR MONSTER SCOUTS RAN up and up and up and up and up and up the stairs. There were a lot of stairs. There were so many stairs that they had to stop halfway to catch their breath. "How many stairs are there!?" said Wolfy. "How tall is this tower?" See? It was a very tall tower with a lot of stairs. "I'm dizzy," said Franky.

And they were spiral stairs. That means that they went in a circle, up and up and up and... you get the idea. When they got to the top of the stairs, they found the door to Doctor Frankenstein's

laboratory closed. There was a sign on the door. It read: AWAY ON MAD SCIENTIST BUSINESS. PLEASE RETURN TOMORROW. "Nobody is home," said Vampyra. Wolfy scratched his head. "But we heard —" "HELP!" "That is Igor Junior!" said Franky. "And he's inside!" Franky gripped the doorknob and pulled. The door did not budge. He grabbed it with both hands and pulled harder. It still did not budge. Wolfy wrapped his arms around Franky, and they both pulled. It budged a teeny bit. Vampyra wrapped her arms around Wolfy, and all three of them pulled. It budged a teeny bit more. "Igor Junior!" called Franky.

"Franky?" said Igor Junior from the other side of the door. "Push the door!" Franky said. He did. He pushed. They pulled. And then... the door popped right open, spilling them all into one tangled pile of monsters. "We heard your cry for help!" said Vampyra. "And we rushed here to help you!" said Franky. "Up a lot of steps," Wolfy grumbled. Igor Junior wrung his hands. "Thank you, Junior Monster Scouts, but I'm in so much

trouble! I don't know if you can help. I don't know what to do!" "What's wrong?" said Franky. "Yeah," said Vampyra. "What's the problem?" Igor Junior pointed back into the laboratory. "Look," he said. Doctor Frankenstein's laboratory was an absolute disaster. Imagine what your room would look like if you pulled out every toy you had and spread them all over the floor. Then you threw your clothes around your room. Then you pulled every sheet, pillow, blanket, and stuffed animal off your bed. Then you tossed everything up in the air and let it lie where it fell. That would be a disaster. But it would still not be as bad as what the laboratory looked like. Tables were turned over. Beakers and vials and jars lay on the floor. Gears ground and groaned. Strange coils hissed and spit

sparks. Smoke drifted through the room, and green flashes of light pulsed. A jagged bolt of lightning struck the opening in the ceiling, and crackling arcs of electricity raced down the chains dangling from above. It was a disaster. A dangerous disaster. "What happened?" said Franky. Igor Junior buried his face in his hands and moaned. "Pop and Grandpa told me," Igor Junior said. "They told me and told me and told me." "What did they tell you?" Vampyra said. "They said, 'Igor Junior, don't touch that lever.'" "Let me guess...," said Wolfy. "Yep," said Igor Junior. "I touched that lever."