Free The Attack of the Aqua Apes by R.L. Stine

out of your mind!” Glen jumped to the other side of the room.
    â€œCome on, Mac!” Scott yelled again, ignoring Glen. “Come get me, you dumb aqua ape!”
    Mac fluttered his wings. He bared his teeth. He let out one, loud, angry screech. And then he dove from the top of the refrigerator—straight at Scott.
    Scott swung the frying pan and prepared to slam Mac the same way he would a fast ball. Just as Mac came about an arm’s length away, Scott swung as hard as he could. A direct hit!
    Mac sailed across the kitchen and slammed into the opposite wall with a splat. Then he crumpled to the floor, stunned.
    â€œWe’ve got to put him in something quick—before he wakes up,” Scott told Glen.
    â€œThen what are we going to do with him?” Glen asked. He bent down and started digging through one of the lower cabinets.
    â€œNothing. You know how he gets all dry and wrinkly when he’s out of the water too long?”
    â€œYeah,” Glen answered, moving on to the next cabinet.
    â€œWell, I bet if we keep him trapped out of water, he’ll dry up completely. He’ll turn back into one of the crystals.”
    â€œMaybe,” Glen answered. He didn’t sound convinced.
    Scott noticed the cookie jar on the counter.
    â€œWe’ll put him in this,” he said as he grabbed the jar.
    Mac started to moan.
    â€œHurry up! Hurry up!” Glen warned.
    Scott quickly opened the jar and dumped all the cookies out onto the counter. Then he tiptoed over to Mac. “Just pick him up and put him in here,” Scott whispered to Glen.
    â€œI’m not picking him up,” Glen said.
    â€œI smashed him,” Scott insisted. “You pick him up!”
    â€œI’m not touching him!” Glen screamed.
    â€œFine.” Scott grabbed the aqua ape by the tip of one wing and dropped him in the jar.
    â€œNow what?” Glen asked.
    â€œTape!” Scott answered. He grabbed a roll of heavy-duty tape from the junk drawer. “Hold the lid on,” Scott ordered. Then he used the whole roll to tape the top on the jar.
    â€œI’m going to get some more tape,” Scott announced. “Just to make sure.”
    â€œWell, hurry up!” Glen screamed after him. “Before he wakes up and chews through this thing.”
    Scott dashed out to the garage and came backwith a roll of clear tape, a roll of electrical tape, and two rolls of masking tape.
    â€œI thought I heard him scratching around in there,” Glen said. “He’s waking up.”
    Scott and Glen wrapped the entire cookie jar in tape. They didn’t hear another sound from Mac.
    When all the tape was gone, they took the jar up to Scott’s room and stuck it all the way in the back of his closet. They piled some old clothes in front of it. Then they shut the closet door behind them.

25

    â€œL isten,” Scott said to Glen three days later. He shook the cookie jar near Glen’s ear.
    Glen listened. “I don’t hear a thing,” he told Scott.
    Scott shook the jar again, closer to Glen’s ear. “Do you hear it now?” Scott asked.
    Glen started to shake his head no. But he stopped himself. “Yeah,” he answered. “It hardly sounds like anything at all.”
    â€œI think it worked,” Scott said. “I think Mac’s dried up into a little crystal again.”
    â€œI don’t know,” Glen replied nervously.
    â€œIt’s been three whole days since he’s been outof water.” Scott was trying to convince himself as much as Glen.
    â€œWhy can’t we just throw this stupid cookie jar in the garbage and forget about it?”
    â€œBecause we’ve got to make sure that he’s really gone,” Scott told Glen. “And we’ll never know for sure unless we look.”
    â€œI don’t want to look!” Glen insisted.
    â€œWe’ve got to do it, Glen,” Scott said, even though he