12. Just in Time

JUST IN TIME 12 Sam was sure he had just solved the puzzle. A huge smile spread across his face, and he exclaimed, "I think the switch is hidden behind the one thing we look at every day. Sometimes, like, a hundred times a day!" Lucy's and Antonio's eyes darted to the wall. "The clock!"

Many things in the classroom had changed over the years. But the clock had not. It hung high on the wall behind Ms. Grinker's desk. "Only two degrees left!" Lucy shouted from over by the thermometer. Time was running out! "I've got this one!" Antonio said, as he scrambled up on to the desk. Papers fell to the water-soaked floor. "If Ms. Grinker saw you climbing on her desk, she'd feed you to Orson Eerie herself," said Lucy.

Antonio jumped from the desk to the bookshelf behind it. From there, he could reach the clock. He grabbed hold of it. It was ice-cold. "Only one degree left!" Lucy announced. "Hurry, Antonio!" yelled Sam. The clock was stuck tight to the wall. Antonio tugged, and tugged, and tugged. Then— CRACK!

The clock came free. It smashed down to the snow-covered floor. Leaning forward, Antonio peeked through the hole that clock had kept hidden. "I see a metal switch!" Antonio said. "Pull it!" Sam shouted. "We're almost out of time!" Antonio reached in and pulled the switch. Nothing happened. Lucy looked around. "Um, why isn't anything—" HISSSS!!!!! The radiator shrieked. The walls rumbled. Heat began to flood the room.

"We did it! The heat is back on!" Sam exclaimed. "It already feels warmer!" Lucy said. Antonio jumped down from the desk. "We stopped Orson Eerie from coming back!" The three friends were about to high-five when they heard a loud BANG. Sam teetered toward the door. He looked out into the hallway, just in time to see the front doors fly open. A dark cloud of snow and rain and hail came spinning into the hall! Sam saw that this storm was different. He gasped. "It's Orson Eerie," he said. "He's an icy, monstrous tornado!"