Movie Menace Read online

  “No clue,” I said, dodging a pack of giggling tweens sipping on slushies.

  “We just need to think like a couple of teenage girls,” Buzz said. “It’s like an acting exercise!”

  “Okay, you’re the actor, right?” I said. “So where are they?”

  Buzz looked thoughtful for a second. Then he shrugged. “Okay, I give up,” he said. “I’m not that good an actor.”

  “Maybe they’re in a shoe store.” Frank paused, staring into the nearest storefront. “Girls like shopping for shoes, right?”

  Yeah, we were pretty hopeless. And the mall was huge—two stories, probably two hundred stores. We could have wandered around all day and never found them.

  But just then we heard a commotion. Shouts. Squeals. Excitement.

  “Sounds like something’s happening upstairs.” I hurried toward the nearest escalator.

  “Think it’s them?” Buzz asked as he and Frank followed.

  “Let’s find out,” Frank said.

  When we reached the top of the escalator, for a second I still couldn’t move. That was because a crowd was gathered in the aisle nearby.

  “Excuse me. Pardon me,” I said, pushing my way through.

  “Harmony!” a young woman shrieked into my ear. At about five zillion decibels. My entire head vibrated from the sound.

  But at least I knew we were on the right track. “Come on,” I called over my shoulder to Frank and Buzz. “I think they’re here.”

  We fought our way to the center of the crowd. That’s where we found Harmony and Anya. They were backed up against a display of bath salts outside a makeup store. A mall security guard was doing his best to keep the crowd at bay. But it was a losing battle.

  Most of the shouting seemed to be for Harmony. I guess Anya wasn’t famous outside geeky circles yet. Still, she looked pretty freaked out as she stared at the hysterical fans.

  Harmony saw us first. She nudged Anya and pointed, then waved at us. The security guard helped usher us through to them.

  “Wow,” Harmony exclaimed when we got there. “Am I glad to see you guys!”

  Anya just nodded, her eyes wide and nervous.

  “Same here.” I pulled out my phone. “I’d better call Jaan and let him know you’re okay.”

  Harmony looked puzzled. “What do you mean? Didn’t Stan tell him where we went? Vivian was going to ask him to let everyone know.”

  “Stan?” Frank glanced at me. “I didn’t even see him in the room, did you?”

  I shrugged. What difference did it make? “The important thing is we found you,” I said.

  “Sorry if we worried anyone,” Anya said. “We didn’t mean to cause trouble.”

  “It’s okay.” Buzz glanced around. “But we’d better get you back before these fans start a riot.”

  Anya nodded. “It’s kind of scary, isn’t it?” she said softly. “I’m just glad they’re paying more attention to Harmony than to me. I’m not sure I’m ready for this sort of thing.”

  “Don’t worry, you get used to it,” Harmony told her.

  Anya didn’t look too convinced.

  More security guards had finally arrived to help. They were holding the crowd back. Still, tons of people were screaming Harmony’s name and jumping up and down, trying to get her attention.

  Then I heard a male voice shout Anya’s name. Anya heard it too. Her head whipped around, trying to see who’d said it.

  A second later a huge slushy cup came flying straight at her.

  “Look out!” Frank shouted.

  Too late. The cup hit Anya in the forehead, slopping icy blue slushy drink all over her!

  Booking It

  I spotted someone racing away. “There!” I yelled. “It was him!”

  Not waiting for a response, I took off. I heard Joe’s shouts for Buzz to stay with the girls, then his footsteps pounding after me.

  I kept my eyes on the guy I was chasing. He was average-size, wore ordinary sneakers and jeans, but the rest of him, including his head, was covered by a dark gray hoodie.

  “Stop!” I yelled.

  He didn’t stop. He didn’t even look back. He just dodged through the crowd of shoppers.

  “Sorry,” I said breathlessly as I pushed myself through the people.

  Just ahead, I saw the guy vault over a bench and skid around a corner. Joe and I followed.

  Now we were in another arm of the mall. This one had a wider aisle. In addition to the stores on either side, there were a bunch of kiosks all down the center.

  “Great,” Joe panted in my ear. “Obstacle course.”

  “Go left,” I told him.

  Joe nodded and peeled off, sprinting along the left side of the row of kiosks. I stayed to the right. That way, Hoodie Guy couldn’t duck into a store to hide without one of us seeing him.

  He was still running. I saw him swerve around a kiosk crammed with stuffed animals, only he slipped and crashed into it. Fluffy kittens, ducks, and unicorns went flying everywhere.

  “Hey!” the girl working there cried. She glared at me as I reached the kiosk. “Stop!”

  “Sorry,” I called as I raced past. I almost tripped on a stuffed puppy, but caught myself just in time.

  That cost me a few seconds, though. When I looked up, the guy was disappearing around another corner.

  Joe and I got there at the same time. “That way!” Joe blurted out, pointing.

  The guy was just leaping over the edge of a railing. Onto the escalator below.

  We followed. An old guy with a cane stepped out in front of us, heading toward the escalator.

  “Look out!” Joe cried, throwing himself aside just in time.

  “Oh, dear!” the old man said disapprovingly.

  “Come on!” I yelled to Joe. “If we lose sight of him before he gets downstairs, we’ll never find him!”

  We reached the down escalator at the same moment as a huge group of little kids. It looked like some kind of birthday party, with lots of little girls in pink hats.

  “Oh, no!” I moaned as they all poured onto the steps ahead of us. There was no way we could push our way through that mob. Not without causing some serious pink mayhem.

  But Joe didn’t slow down. “Follow me!” he called over his shoulder.

  Vaulting over an especially slow-moving kid, he jumped—right onto the escalator’s handrail!

  “Whoa!” he exclaimed. He teetered from side to side, his sneakers squeaking on the rubbery, moving handrail. For a second I thought he was going to fall. If he went one way, he’d crash down to the floor below. If he fell the other way, he’d take out half the birthday party. A couple of little girls screamed. So did at least one of the adults with them.

  Then Joe found his balance. He started moving, half running and half sliding down the steep handrail.

  I shrugged. If he could do it …

  “Aaaaaah!” I cried as I leaped onto the handrail. I tried not to look down. Let Joe call me an Eagle Scout if he wants—there was no way I’d squish those kids. If I lost my balance, I was going to throw myself the other way.

  But I kept my balance. Scooting down that narrow railing wasn’t easy. It was sort of like surfing on the world’s narrowest board … or skateboarding after losing two or three wheels. I got as far as I could, and then jumped the rest of the way.

  I landed hard right beside Joe. He was already looking around.

  “There he is!” he cried.

  I spotted Hoodie Guy too. He was darting into a large sporting goods store. Maybe we could trap him in there.

  “Let’s go!” I yelled.

  Joe and I raced into the store. It was one of those big, echoey places. Shelves and bins full of balls, bats, nets, sneakers, and all kinds of other sports equipment filled the aisles.

  Hoodie Guy was still in view near the front. He was right next to a huge bin stuffed full of dozens—possibly hundreds—of multicolored tennis balls.

  He looked back at us, but his hood still covered his face. �
��Stop!” I yelled.

  Hoodie Guy did stop—just long enough to shove his shoulder into the bin of balls. It tipped, sending a rainbow of tennis balls bouncing right at us! “Aaaah!” Joe cried, fending off the balls.

  I did the same, ignoring the yells of the store’s employees and customers. Through the rain of balls, I saw our target dart back out of the store entrance. “He’s getting away!” I cried. “Come on!”

  We ran, tripping over the balls rolling everywhere. By the time we hit the mall aisle, Hoodie Guy was twenty yards away and moving fast.

  “Hurry!” Joe called. “It looks like he’s heading for the food court!”

  We actually made up some ground as we raced along the aisle. Whoever this guy was, he was no sprinter.

  Then he hit the food court. The first food stand was a pizza place. Half a dozen tempting-looking pies were set out on the counter. Hoodie Guy paused and grabbed one—a large pepperoni, by the looks of it.

  “Hey!” the pizza guy yelled.

  Hoodie Guy ignored him. He turned and flung the pizza, sending it flying right at us like a big, cheesy Frisbee.

  It was easy to dodge it. But it cost us another second or two. That gave the guy time to race ahead into the main part of the food court. It was a big, round area with food stalls around the outside and tables crammed into every inch of space in the middle. The tables were packed. Lots of people had set shopping bags beside their chairs too. There was no easy path through.

  The guy we were chasing seemed to realize it too. He jumped onto a table—and started jumping from one to the next! Wails of anger and dismay rose from all around. Guess he was taking out a lot of lunches along the way.

  “Think someone will grab him?” Joe panted as we skidded to a stop.

  “We can’t count on it.” I glanced around. “He can’t go very fast that way, anyhow. Let’s go around.”

  Joe nodded. We each went a different direction, taking the aisle between food shops and tables.

  It was a gamble. Hoodie Guy was taking the shortcut straight across the circular area. Going around the outside was a lot longer. I pushed myself as fast as I could, hoping to cut him off. Halfway around, I glanced in to see how far he’d gotten.

  “No!” I shouted.

  Hoodie Guy had turned around—and was heading back the way he’d come!

  “Joe!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “He’s going back!”

  I had no idea if he heard me. Probably not. It was pretty noisy in there, with people talking, food-making equipment clanging and steaming, and of course the Muzak pouring out of the mall speakers.

  Spinning around, I sprinted back toward the food court entrance. I got there just in time to see Hoodie Guy racing away.

  “He went back!” Joe called from somewhere behind me.

  “I know!” Not waiting for him, I took off. Thirty yards ahead, Hoodie Guy spun around another corner.

  I raced around too—just in time to see him duck into a storefront. It was a bookstore. There were racks of sale books across part of the front, leaving only a narrow entrance.

  I smiled. This was our chance! We had him trapped.

  “Is he in there?” Joe asked breathlessly, skidding to a stop beside me.

  “Yeah. Stay here and guard the entrance so there’s no way he can slip out. I’m going in!”

  “Wait!” Joe said.

  But I didn’t. I hurried inside.

  The bookstore was kind of claustrophobic. The register and some tables filled the front part. The back section was filled with tall shelves packed with books forming narrow aisles. The place was like a maze.

  I stayed low as I crept along the front, peering down each aisle. If the guy burst out and tried to push his way past me, I’d be ready.

  I didn’t see him, so I picked an aisle at random. Maybe he was hiding out in back, or keeping just ahead of me, dodging from one aisle to the next. Whatever. He couldn’t get away as long as Joe was guarding the entrance.

  Creeping slowly down the aisle, I held my breath and listened for footsteps.

  I was almost at the next cross path when I heard a weird noise from the next aisle. It was sort of a scraping sound accompanied by heavy breathing.

  “Hey!” I called. “Who’s there?”

  The noise came again. Screeee …

  That was when I noticed the bookcase above me moving. It was starting to topple. Books slid out and were crashing down as the huge bookcase fell straight toward me!

  A Shocking Development

  “I’m going in!” Frank yelled.

  “Wait!” I said.

  But he ignored me. Nice. He dodged through the maze of tables piled high with books, disappearing behind a stack of dictionaries. Who even uses those anymore?

  I thought about following him inside. But I knew that would be stupid. As long as one of us was at the entrance, Hoodie Guy couldn’t get away. We had him trapped. All we had to do was flush him out, and he was ours.

  I just wished it was Frank doing the guarding, and me doing the nabbing.

  The woman behind the counter was staring at me. She looked suspicious. I smiled innocently, then pretended to look at some books on a nearby table.

  But I was so impatient I couldn’t focus. Why was taking Frank so long?

  Then I heard someone call my name. But it wasn’t from inside the store—it was from the aisle outside.

  Buzz was hurrying toward me, with Anya and Harmony right behind him.

  At least I guessed it was Anya and Harmony. Both girls were wearing enormous dark glasses and floppy straw hats. Anya had also wrapped a weird shawl around her entire torso and practically half her legs. Probably to hide the slushy stains.

  “Nice disguises,” I said when they reached me. “Very inconspicuous.”

  Buzz grinned. “Did you catch the guy who threw the slushy at Anya?”

  “Working on it.” I shot a look into the store. Still no sign of Frank. “Do me a favor, okay? Hang here and make sure he doesn’t leave. He’s wearing a dark hoodie.”

  “Okay, sure,” Buzz said, looking kind of confused.

  Harmony had lowered her dark glasses. She was staring at me.

  “What are you, some kind of real-life superhero?” she asked. “I thought you were just an extra.”

  “Oh, that’s Joe for you,” Anya said with an awkward little laugh. “My boyfriend Frank says they used to play superhero at camp all the time….”

  I didn’t stick around to hear any more. With luck, we wouldn’t need our cover stories much longer anyway. At least if Hoodie Guy, whoever he was, turned out to be the one causing all the trouble.

  I dove into the store, looking for Frank and our target. Jogging past the first few aisles, I didn’t see either of them.

  Suddenly I remembered my class ring gadget. I glanced at it. Should I use it to locate Frank?

  Then I caught movement just inside the next aisle. I stepped over, thinking it might be Frank or the other guy.

  But it wasn’t. It was a girl. A really, really cute girl around my age. Sort of bookish, but in a hot way. She’d just pulled a book off the shelf.

  “Hi,” she said when she saw me looking.

  “Hey.” I returned her smile. “What are you reading?”

  Before she could answer, I heard a sound: sort of a scraping, and then some grunting. It was coming from a couple of aisles down.

  Oops. I suddenly remembered where I was and what I was supposed to be doing.

  “Uh, excuse me,” I told the girl, taking off.

  I followed the sounds to the right aisle. When I glanced in, I saw him. Mr. Hoodie! He was bent over what looked like a broom handle wedged against the bottom edge of one of the bookcases. He grunted, and the broom handle squeaked against the floor.

  The tall bookcase swayed a little. He was obviously trying to use the broom as a lever to tip it over. Why? I didn’t think too much about that at first. I was too psyched—I had him! There was no way he could outrun me from this clos
e.

  I was about to dive down the aisle after him. Then …

  Creak!

  The bookcase tipped a little farther. I heard books slide off and crash down in the next aisle.

  That was when I realized what he must be doing. “No!” I shouted.

  The guy glanced over. I still couldn’t see his face in the shadow of the hood. But I wasn’t really looking anymore either. I’d already seen that it was too late. The force of gravity was taking over—that bookcase was going down.

  I leaped toward the next aisle and dashed around the corner. Frank was standing at the far end. He was staring at the tipping bookcase, frozen in place.

  “Frank!” I yelled. Then I sprinted down and flung myself at him.

  “Oof!” He grunted as I tackled him hard. We both flew out the end of the aisle and hit the ground in the cross aisle.

  A half second later, there was a loud crash as the bookcase fell. Books scattered everywhere. The bookcase hit the next one in line, making it sway a little. But it stayed upright. Whew!

  “Whoa,” Frank said, pushing himself to stand. “That was close. Thanks, bro.”

  “Anytime, bro.” I heard the sounds of voices as people hurried toward us. Soon we were surrounded.

  “Are you okay, you guys?” Buzz asked anxiously.

  Uh-oh. As soon as I saw him—along with Harmony and Anya—leaning over us, I realized what it meant. In all the commotion of the bookcase collapse, everyone had come running. That meant nobody was guarding the store entrance.

  We’d lost Mr. Hoodie.

  “All’s well that ends well, as they say.” Jaan shook his head. “But perhaps it might be prudent if we packed up and headed back to the city a little early, hmm?”

  It was a few minutes after the bookstore incident. Frank and I were back at the convention along with the others. Anya had apologized for scaring everyone, insisting it was all her fault.

  Now Jaan seemed ready to call it quits on the whole FanCon thing. I couldn’t say I blamed him. I was already trying to figure out a cover story so that Frank and I could stay behind and keep investigating, when Vance spoke up.

  “No way!” he said, sounding annoyed. “I’m supposed to be part of another panel this afternoon. It’s the one called ‘Old Worlds, New Faces’—it’s about new characters brought in to add excitement to existing franchises. From what I hear, it’s going to be very popular. Why should I have to miss it?”