The Big Nap Read Online Free Page B

nudged me. "A hypnotist!" she whispered.
    "What?" I said. "You don't think that Waldo...?" I chuckled. "Waldo couldn't hypnotize anyone. His magic is so lame, he couldn't put his foot to sleep if he sat on it."
    But while we watched, the salamanders grew slack-jawed.
    "Raaaise your right haaand," said Waldo.
    Both of the kids raised their left hands.
    "Yooour other riiight," said Waldo.
    They obeyed. I looked closer at my classmate, the doofus in the top hat. I'd always thought of Waldo as just a garden-variety nerd. Did he really have the hypnotic power to make a zombie?
    Or was he so clueless he couldn't make toast without an instruction manual?

    The bell rang. We had to get to class. But I was definitely going to keep an eye on that furball.

    Math class—what a way to start the day. If you ask me, it's a close second to bamboo shoots under the fingernails.
    But my teacher, Mr. Ratnose, wouldn't agree. He stood before the class, burbling like a kindergartner who's brought his booger collection for show-and-tell.
    "Okay, class, listen carefully," he said. "A man gave one son ten cents and another son fifteen cents. What time is it?"
    Math is one mystery I don't care if I ever solve. I looked around—slowly, so I wouldn't draw the teacher's attention. I had expected Snooze City, but instead, most of my classmates were watching Mr. Ratnose like he was their favorite TV show.
    "Shirley Chameleon?" he asked.
    "Math good," she slurred.
    "Uh, yes," said Mr. Ratnose, "it is. Anyone else?"
    A paw shot up. "Let's see, ten plus fifteen is twenty-five cents ... the man gave a quarter to two ... so the time is one forty-five!"
    I glanced over. It was Igor Beaver, professional teacher's pet. He and Mr. Ratnose chuckled together.
    A math joke—yuck.
    Our teacher addressed the rest of us. "Get it?" he said. "One forty-five ... a quarter to two?"
    Deafening silence. Sammy the weasel smirked at me. Waldo frowned and fiddled with his pencil.
    Mr. Ratnose's smile slipped from his face, bounced off the desk, and hit the floor, bruising itself badly.
    "Open your geometry books," he snarled. "Let's get down to business."
    As he prattled on about polygons, I eyeballed the class again. Many faces wore the same goofy stare as Bo Newt's. Math class could drive anyone around the bend.
    But if my hunch was right, more than boredom was at work here. Someone sinister was enslaving my classmates.
    Yesterday, I saw only a couple of stiffs, but today we had enough to cast a musical remake of
Flesh-Eaters over Broadway.
    This case was bigger than Eena's problem. It was time to get off the dime.
    I had to figure out who was behind the zombie epidemic before Mr. X figured out I was after him.
    Or else this private eye would end up in a chorus line, dancing the zombie mambo.

9. Wall-to-Wall Waldo
    Recess came not a minute too soon. I was itching for action like a warthog in poison-ivy pants.
    First things first. Time to grill Waldo like a bug on a porch light.
    I beat him out the door and waited down the hall.
    At recess, Waldo usually liked to practice his dorky magic tricks down by the playground. But not today. He was going to spill the beans first, and no disappearing act could save him.
    Waldo slouched down the hall with his big bag o' magic.
    "Waldo!" I said. "Just the furball I wanted to see."
    "
Hur, hur.
You want me?" he said.
    I hooked an arm through his and led Waldo alongside the building.
    "Oh," he said, "you wanna watch my tricks?"
    I sneered. "No, mister, I've had enough of your tricks."
    "What do you mean?"
    "It's time to come clean ... Mr. Hypnotist."
    Under heavy bangs, Waldo's eyes darted left and right, like frightened rabbits in a thicket. "I-I don't know what you're talking about," he said.
    I crowded him against the wall. "Someone's been turning students into zombies around here—someone who knows hypnosis."
    Waldo gulped. "Wasn't me," he said.
    "Oh, no? How many hypnotists do you know at Emerson Hicky?"
    I stared him