13. Sold!

SOLD! 13 "Got IT!" Sam exclaimed as he finally grasped the money jar. The instant Sam had the jar in his hands, the rushing river of paint began to dry up. "The paint's starting to separate!" Antonio shouted.

Globs of paint leapt up onto the wall and back into their paintings. Blank canvases were full of color again! The hall monitors bumped across the dry floor and bounced to a stop.

The paint had been a raging river— and then it was a trickling stream— and then it was nothing at all. Sam cradled the jar. "We've got to get to the auditorium!" Lucy said. They jumped to their feet and sped down the halls. They were out of breath when they finally burst through the auditorium doors. Sam saw Ms. Winter holding Orson Eerie's self- portrait. She asked, "Which lucky buyer will go home with this?" "We will!" Sam shouted. "We have one hundred dollars to buy the painting!" The audience gasped.

"SOLD!" Ms. Winter announced. "This painting now belongs to our hall monitors, Sam, Lucy, and Antonio! It's wonderful seeing our students' love of art!" Sam, Lucy, and Antonio hurried toward the stage. Change rattled as they climbed the steps. "How will you three decide whose house to hang the painting in?" Ms. Winter asked.

"We're going to keep it at school," Sam said. "So everyone can see and enjoy it." Once they gave Ms. Winter the money jar, the painting would be theirs. As Sam held out the jar, a scream came from the audience! Then another! And another! Everyone was jumping up and pointing at the floor. "What's happening?!" Ms. Winter cried.

Sam saw wet clay oozing up everywhere. It pushed through cracks in the floorboards. Just then, Sam spotted his clay dinosaur sculpture near them on the stage. It looked wet again, and it looked like it was melting! It was seeping through the stage— and at the same time, clay was rising up through the auditorium floor!