Edward Lee - Monster Lake

It was a crazy idea, she knew, and a scary one, but she knew that if she was careful, she could do it.

But then she thought about that big black salamander again and remembered how big it was—over three-feet long!—and that toad that had jumped out at her—it was pretty big too, now that she thought about it. Trying to catch something that big would be hard or maybe even impossible. The things would try to bite her if she got too close or tried to pick one up, and, besides, what could she use to catch one with? A bucket? A big plastic garbage bag? she wondered. But, no, she couldn’t see any way to do that without the risk of getting bitten, and she sure didn’t want to get bitten by one of those ugly things!

But—

Wait a minute! she thought next. There was a way she could show her parents without actually catching one, wasn’t there? Downstairs in one of the cabinets in the den, her father had a digital camera, and it had a built in flash so it would work in the dark.

I could take some pictures of the toads and salamanders! she realized. And then show them to my parents. Then they’d have to believe me!

What a great idea!

Patricia, excited now, got out of bed and quickly put on her shorts, T-shirt and sandals. Then she sneaked downstairs. All the lights were out, and she knew her parents had gone to bed hours ago. She tiptoed through the hall to the den, careful not to make any noise, and after only a minute or two, she found her father’s digital camera in one of the cabinets. There it is! she thought.

Then she grabbed the camera and snuck out of the house.

««—»»

It didn’t take her long to get to the woods behind Terri’s house; she’d jogged the whole way. And even though it was the middle of the night, she didn’t have any problem seeing. The moon was full and very bright and it lit up Terri’s backyard quite well. Even when Patricia entered the narrow path between the trees, she could see just fine; the moonlight reached down through the high branches and illuminated the walkway.

Her footsteps crunched over the gravel. The path wound down through the woods until it ended at the boathouse and the creaky-planked pier. Patricia stood still a moment, at the front of the dock, and glanced out. The lake looked perfectly black, with squiggles of white moonlight floating on the surface. Tiny green-glowing dots, thousands of them, blinked on and off in between the trees and over the lake—lightning bugs. And just the sound of the lake itself seemed so intense, the shrill, pulsating chorus of crickets. For a moment there, standing on the wooden dock, Patricia felt as though she were the only person in the world.

The windows of the boathouse were dark.

She felt creepy looking at it, for the boathouse reminded her of all the things that had been happening lately—bizarre things, scary things, things that couldn’t be explained. But that was the reason she’d come down here, wasn’t it? To take some pictures that would prove what was going on.

So I better get on with it, she told herself. The sooner I get some pictures, the sooner I’ll be out of this creepy place and back home where it’s safe.

She looked out over the pier’s rail, to examine the lake shore, and sure enough, she saw lots of toads and salamanders. They’re huge! she thought, amazed. But unfortunately, they were too far away for her to get a picture of them. She needed some close-ups, showing the fangs.

Then Patricia’s heart skipped a beat when she walked around to the front of the boathouse.

A long black salamander with big yellow dots on its back was sitting there on the pier, in the same place she and Terri had seen the salamander this morning.

Only this one was even bigger…

And when it raised its wide, black head and opened its mouth, Patricia could see the fangs all too well. She jumped back, almost shrieked. The salamander’s pointed, white teeth were easily as long as Patricia’s fingers!

Her first impulse was too run. But that would defeat the whole purpose of coming down here, and then she remembered how slow salamanders were. Don’t be scared, she ordered herself. Even if it tries to chase me, I can out-run it easy. And I’ve got to get that picture!

Patricia remained where she stood. She raised the camera to her eyes, leaned over, and when she did so, the salamander’s mouth opened even wider. Perfect! Patricia thought. It was just what she wanted! Then she put her finger on the camera’s button, began to press it down, and then—

The salamander jerked around very quickly and slithered over the side of the pier into the water before Patricia could snap the picture.

Oh, man! she thought. He’s gone!

The toads and salamanders on the shore were just too far away, and she sure didn’t want to walk down there. It was all muddy and wet; her feet would sink in the mud, and she’d make a mess of herself. She frowned in frustration, realizing that coming down here had been a total waste. But…maybe not.

Just then she got an idea.

The boathouse, she realized.

Terri had told her that there were more toads and salamanders in the boathouse, in glass tanks in the backroom. Of course, the boathouse door was locked, but then Patricia also remembered how Terri had cleverly opened it with her library card.

And it just so happened that Patricia had her own library card in her pocket right this moment.

Can’t hurt to try, she thought, taking out her card. The moon shined right on the door; Patricia could see how the wedged bolt went into the slot of the doorframe. She thought back, remembering how Terri had done it, and then she did the same thing, slipping the card against the bolt. She pushed down gently, working the card deeper until the bolt started to move.

click!

Patricia couldn’t believe it! The door opened just like that! Well, that was sure easy, she thought. She went into the front room and turned on the lights. One down, one to go, she thought, and then went to work on the next door, the backroom door, marked DO NOT ENTER.

This one was harder, and it took longer, but in only a few minutes of jiggling the library card—

click!

—this door opened too.

“Wow,” she muttered to herself once she got the light on. “Terri was right.” Three of the room’s walls were lined with metal shelves, and on the shelves were dozens of square, glass tanks. In each tank there was either a toad or a salamander, giant ones, like the one she’d already seen. And they all had fangs…

But before Patricia could raise the camera and start taking pictures, she noticed something else.

What is…that?

On the floor, toward the other end of the room, there was a big trapdoor, with large metal hinges and a lifting ring. Why would they have a trapdoor in the floor? she wondered. It couldn’t lead to a basement because she knew the only thing under the boathouse was water.

What could be down there?

Well, that was one question she couldn’t answer, because the trapdoor had a large, heavy-duty padlock on it. There was no way she could use the library card on that —it needed a key.

And then she noticed something else.

More shelves, she saw. On the next wall. Only these shelves contained glass bottles instead of glass tanks, and the bottles were filled with this mucky-looking stuff.

Yuck! Patricia thought when she picked up one of the bottles to have a closer look. The bottle was heavy and felt slightly warm, and when she shook it, the gunk in the bottle barely moved at all. What is that stuff? she wondered. It looks like mud, only it’s yellow. It had a small label on it that read REAGENT 7c . Reagent, she remembered. One of the words they’d looked up in her father’s dictionary. In fact, all of the yellow bottles had labels with the same word. But then, when she looked closer, she noticed a few bottles full of green gunk, and these bottles had a different label. COUNTER-REAGENT , they read. Another one of the words they’d looked up.