The library was absolutely quiet. Then, one by one, the Oozmas entered the huge room, weaving carefully around the tables. They followed Mike as well as they could, slowly, trying desperately¹ not to make a sound. Heel to toe, heel to toe.

The second event of the Scare Games was under way. Across the room, flags were hanging from the arms of a tall statue. The goal of the event was to sneak² across the library and remove a flag without alerting the librarian. She was as strict as they came: fifty feet tall, stern, with tentacles³ just waiting to grab noisy students. Her glasses were thick and her eyesight was poor, so she had to rely almost entirely⁴ on her sense of hearing. If team members made noise and attracted her attention, she'd toss them out. The last team with a flag left still dangling⁵ on the statue would be eliminated.

The Greek Council president and her vice⁶ president were watching from a side room overlooking the library. "We are at the halfway⁷ point of this event, and things are getting interesting," the president whispered to the crowd of onlookers⁸. Everyone held their breath as the sorority girls from HSS reached the statue. The girls quickly snatched their flag and raced out of the library, passing the test. Of course, the RORs had already gotten their f lag and passed, too. "Only two teams left," whispered the president. "Who will make it out with their flag and who will be eliminated?"

The vice president continued. "In a real scare, you do not want to get caught by a kid's parent," he whispered. "And in this event, you do not want to get caught by the librarian."

The librarian pressed a scaly⁹ finger to her lips and said, "Shhh. Quiet."

Terri scoffed¹⁰ and whispered, "I'm not afraid of some old librarian!" Just then, a student sneezed. The librarian whipped around toward the sound and seemed to become even larger and more terrifying. She grabbed the student in her tentacles.

"I said, quiet!" she snarled¹¹ at the poor student.

Then she hurled¹² the student upward, through a hole in the library's glass dome¹³ ceiling. The student flew into the air, then dropped down into the trees outside and landed in a stream. Onlookers cheered and howled.

Mike looked at his frightened teammates and whispered, "Do exactly what I do." They nodded and crept slowly through the library, mimicking¹⁴ Mike's every move.

Sulley looked from his team to the EEKs, who were gaining speed. "FASTER!" Sulley whispered impatiently, trying to move his team along.

But Mike held up his hand. "Slow and steady," he told the team.

"Slow and steady," Art whispered, holding up his hand, imitating Mike exactly.

Sulley groaned¹⁵ in frustration¹⁶ as they each relayed the message down the line exactly as Mike had said it. Finally, he just couldn't take the Oozmas' snaillike pace a minute more. He bolted toward the flag, leaving his teammates behind.

Mike's eye went wide. "Sullivan!" he whispered.

"Sullivan!" Art whispered.

"Sullivan!" Terri and Terry whispered.

Mike shushed the team. "Shhh!" Art whispered to Terri and Terry.

"Shhh!" the brothers whispered to Don, who whispered it to Squishy.

Mike shook his head and sighed.

They all watched as Sulley ran to a ladder that was fastened on a track against the bookshelves. He climbed to the top and pushed the ladder so that it slid across the shelves toward the flag. Mike gasped¹⁷ as the librarian whipped her head around. She adjusted her glasses but didn't seem to notice Sulley. "Hmmm," she murmured suspiciously, and then returned to her work.

Sulley was near the flag now but not quite close enough. He inched forward, extending his arm toward the flag. He was almost touching¹⁸ it when the bottom of the ladder began coming off its tracks. A moment later, both Sulley and the ladder fell to the ground with a thunderous CRASH!

 

图书馆里鸦雀无声。OK会的成员们挨个儿进入大厅，小心翼翼地绕开桌子行走。他们尽可能安静地跟在麦克后面慢慢地走着，极力不发出任何声响——由脚跟到脚尖，再由脚跟到 脚尖。

现在进行的是“惊吓杯”的第二场比赛。图书馆里，一座高高的雕像手臂上挂着各队的旗子。这轮比赛的目标是，在不惊动图书馆管理员的情况下摘下旗子。管理员不苟言笑地看着大家走进来。她足有五十英尺高，表情严肃，触角时刻准备去抓住那些吵闹的学生。她视力很不好，戴着厚厚的眼镜，大多数情况下只能靠听觉。如果团队里有人发出声音让她听见，她就会把他们全都扔出去。雕像上悬挂的最后一面旗子所属的队伍将被 淘汰。

希腊议会的会长和副会长在位于图书馆上方的侧廊房间观看比赛。“这场比赛已经过半，可真是越来越有意思了。”会长对着观众们小声说道。所有人都屏气凝神，只见黑丝丝姐妹会的姑娘们来到了雕像前，迅速抓过旗子跑出图书馆，通过了比赛。当然，精吓会队也早已拿到旗子完成了比赛。“只剩两支队伍了，”会长悄声说道，“究竟哪支能成功夺旗，哪支会惨遭淘汰呢？”

副会长继续低声说：“在实战中，你不能被小孩的父母逮到。而在这场比赛中，你绝对不能被图书管理员逮到。”

只见管理员伸出一根长有鳞片的手指放到嘴唇上说道：“嘘，安静。”

泰瑞小声嘲笑着说：“一个老馆员有什么好怕的！”刚说完，一位学生打了个喷嚏，管理员迅速转向声音的方向，看起来愈发庞大而吓人。她用触角一把抓住了那位学生。

“我说过了，安静！”管理员对着那个可怜的学生咆哮道。

然后她将那个学生高高举起，从图书馆圆顶玻璃天花板上的一个洞口扔了出去。那学生被扔到空中，然后落在外面的树上，最后掉进小河里。观众们发出一阵欢呼和叫喊声。

麦克看着惊恐万分的队友小声说：“我做什么，你们一定要照做。”队友连连点头，跟在麦克后面蹑手蹑脚地缓慢前进，模仿着他的每一个动作。

毛怪看了看自己的团队，又看了看熔岩城姐妹队，只见她们已经开始加速。“快点儿！”他强压着声音急躁地说，想让自己的队伍也加快速度。

但麦克举起他的手向队员们示意，说道：“慢一点，稳一点。”

阿拱也举起他的手，精准地模仿着麦克低声说：“慢一点，稳一点。”

正如麦克叮嘱的那样，队员们一个一个完全模仿着他，把他的话和动作从队伍前一直传到了队伍末尾。毛怪非常懊丧，开始抱怨起来。最终，他再也不能忍受OK会队员蜗牛一样的脚步，于是丢下队友，自己朝旗子冲过去。

麦克的眼睛瞪得老大，小声喊道：“苏利文！”

“苏利文！”阿拱也小声喊道。

“苏利文！”泰瑞和泰锐也小声喊道。

麦克示意队伍安静下来。“嘘！”阿拱小声告诉泰瑞和泰锐。

“嘘！”泰锐兄弟小声告诉老唐，老唐同样小声告诉史乖宝。

麦克摇摇头，叹了口气。

他们看着毛怪跑向书架旁的一个梯子，梯子的底端固定在一个轨道上。毛怪爬到梯子顶端，推动梯子，让顶部越过书架朝旗子滑去。这时，管理员突然转过头，麦克被吓得倒吸了口气，幸好她只是扶了扶眼镜，似乎并没有注意到毛怪。“嗯……”管理员狐疑地咕哝了一声，又转回去继续工作。

毛怪离旗子很近了，但还是够不到。他又向前挪了一点，准备伸手去拿旗子。眼看就要够到了，梯子的底端突然脱离了轨道。片刻之后，随着一阵雷鸣般的“轰隆”声，毛怪和梯子一起砸到了地面上。

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