Lou reached out and pushed at Nina’s back. She shrieked as Lou shoved her and then lost her footing. Nina fell face-first into the sludge on the tunnel floor. “UGH!” she cried. “My clothes!”

There was enough room now for Lou to crawl over her and down the chute by herself, but there was no way Lou could leave Nina behind.

Marcus called out to them from the bottom of the slope. “What’s taking you two so long?”

Lou didn’t want to risk him crawling back inside to get them, so she called out, “Coming!” She grabbed the bottom of Nina’s feet and pushed with all her strength. Crying, Nina slid a few inches. Lou crept forward and then shoved at her again. This time when Nina slid, she didn’t stop. The sludge was too slick. Nina vanished down the slope, screaming as if she were careening to the bottom of a waterslide.

Crunch!

Lou scrabbled through the muck. She needed to push herself forward, but the walls were too slippery. She closed her eyes, spread her fingers out, and pressed down. Swiping her arms downward, Lou propelled herself forward like a bullet. The light at the end of the passage grew brighter and wider, and then Lou was tumbling across a stone floor into a new space.

She was lying on her back, bruised and battered and struggling for breath, when another crunch echoed out from inside the tunnel and a massive wave of the black sludge poured from the opening in the wall and spread in a giant puddle all around her.

The stench was dizzying. More so than before. Lou was too shaken to move.

Moments later, after wiping her face clean, Lou opened her eyes to find Marcus, Cal, and Sadie leaning over her, holding out their hands to help her up.

But Nina was off by herself, crouched against a wall, slathered in gunk and wearing an expression of shock.

CHAPTER 23

AFTER LOU HAD gotten to her feet, Nina called out to the group. “Is everybody happy? We’re not in the kitchen anymore, but is this place any better?” She ran both hands through her long hair, squeezing the foul liquid from it. “At least before I didn’t smell like my little brother’s diaper bin!”

“This is awful,” said Rufus, shuddering.

Cal piped up. “But we’re not worrying about what might be hiding in the fridge anymore. So that’s good. Right?”

“If you say so,” answered Sadie. She turned her ukulele over and drained the goop that had collected inside it.

“It is good,” said Marcus. “We’ve got to stay calm. And quiet. We don’t want the house to know where we are.”

“Where are we?” asked Rufus.