Free The Creature from Club Lagoona by R.L. Stine Page A

screaming your head off! You okay?” Mark asked.
    I laughed. “I am now.”
    â€œHow was the game?” Neal asked.
    â€œAwesome!” I replied truthfully. “Totally advanced graphics. It was so real.” I gazed at them. “You guys were in it!”
    â€œWe were?” Neal shouted.
    â€œThis I have got to see!” Mark exclaimed.
    â€œHey, no time now,” Neal interrupted. “The Sink or Swim relay starts in a few minutes.
    â€œGo Guppies!” Mark shouted.
    We all high-fived.

18

    I t was great to leave the dark arcade. The sun was blazing. Colors seemed even brighter than they had before.
    â€œSo, the virtual reality was scary, huh?” Neal asked as we walked over to the Atlantis pool.
    â€œYou got that right,” I agreed.
    â€œHow did they put us in the game?” Mark wondered aloud.
    â€œI think I know!” Neal answered. “Remember those pictures they took when we checked in?”
    I thought back. Right. The receptionist snapped a photo of us on that first day.
    â€œI asked them what they needed the pictures for,” Neal explained. “They said they scan them intocomputers and use them for all sorts of stuff. Special buttons, T-shirts, signs.” He grinned at me. “I guess they use them to scare us kids in virtual reality.”
    I kept staring at everything around me. It all seemed kind of unreal after the game.
    Club Lagoona looked just the same. Only a little smaller. Even the Atlantis pool wasn’t as big as in the game.
    â€œHey, Guppies, over here!” Barry shouted.
    The sight of Barry and the Atlantis pool made me shudder. In the game, Barry was really evil. He sent us to the deep end even though he knew the creature would capture us.
    I couldn’t help but still feel a little afraid of him. Even though I knew he wasn’t really a bad guy.
    But I couldn’t help thinking about the deep end. The whirring drain. The tentacle . . .
    Snap out of it! I ordered myself. It was just a game!
    I gazed around the huge pool area. People gathered on both sides of the pool. Banners and flags whipped brightly in the warm breeze.
    â€œHey, Tad, there’s your family,” Neal said. “They’re sitting next to mine.”
    Neal and I waved. Mom, Dad, and Polly waved back.
    The back of my neck tingled. I turned toward Mark. “Where are your parents?” I asked him.
    â€œEaten,” Mark said.
    â€œHuh?” I gasped.
    â€œEating,” he shouted above the noise of the crowd. “I think they’re still eating lunch.”
    â€œOh,” I muttered, feeling really stupid.
    Then I remembered being scared by that mechanical shark and seeing the diver disappear.
    I thought about that funny little man who kept giving me those warnings.
    I remembered thinking the seaweed was some kind of monster with tentacles.
    Boy, what a jerk I was!
    Well, now that I had been scared out of my wits playing that game, nothing could bother me. I realized how silly all my fears were.
    Including my fear of the water.
    I gazed across the Atlantis pool. I felt very calm. I was even looking forward to the race.
    That was a first! I realized. Me—eager to swim!
    Barry lined us up for our relay. Me first. Then Neal. Then Mark.
    I moved into the starting position Barry taught us.
    Bang!
    I sprang from the side of the pool. The last thing I saw before I hit the water was the funny little man with his bucket of chlorine. Did he wink?
    I cut into the water smoothly.
    I could hear everyone in the crowd shouting.
    â€œGo, Tad!” Polly’s voice shrieked above all the others.
    â€œYou can do it, Tad!” Mom chimed in.
    â€œGive it your best, Tad!” My father’s voice boomed. “You’re way in front! Keep going!”
    I didn’t worry about the swimmers in the other lanes. I focused on the end of the pool, where I would turn and go back to tag Neal.
    I was nearly halfway across the