4. A Strange Discovery

A STRANGE DISCOVERY 4 Sam and Lucy watched in horror. Something inside the vent had hold of Antonio. Sam was about to grab him when Antonio flashed a big grin. "Just teasing!" Antonio said. "I got you guys good!" Lucy threw her hands up in the air. "You scared us!"

"There is something down here, though," Antonio said as he felt around inside the vent. He pulled out a book. "Weird," Sam said. Antonio got to his feet and held up the book. It was covered in a layer of dust an inch thick. "Why would this be in the vent?" Sam and Lucy stepped closer. The book looked ancient. It looked one hundred years old, at least. Lucy's eyes scrunched up tight and— "AHH-CHOO!" Lucy sneezed again, blowing the thick layer of dust into the air.

The friends could see the book cover now: STRANGE SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS TO DAZZLE AND AMAZE The old book's pages seemed to crack as Antonio opened it. The smell of wet dog and damp basement spilled from the book. Suddenly, Sam had that feeling in his stomach again. The feeling that something bad was going to happen. "Look!" Lucy said, pointing. There was handwriting on the first page of the book. The writing looked very old-fashioned and fancy.

The friends leaned closer and squinted. But before they could make out the strange writing... FWOOOM! The book leapt from Antonio's hands! It shot up into the air! The friends jumped back. The book flapped open and closed. Dust showered them. The book bobbed twice in the air, then began zipping down the dark stacks.

"It's flying!" Sam exclaimed. "Orson Eerie must be controlling it," Antonio said, huddling close to Sam and Lucy. "Books normally don't fly." "Nothing in this school is normal," Lucy replied. In an instant, Sam knew that this book was important. For some reason, Orson Eerie didn't want them getting their hands on it. "Guys!" Sam shouted. "Don't let that book get away!"