Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom (Wayside School 4)

“If you hear a kachooga, followed by one, two, and then three boops, you should . . .” She stopped and blew a cloud of dust off the page, then tried to find where she had left off. “. . . one, two, and then three boops, you should run for your lives. A Cloud of Doom is about to destroy everything.” She dropped the book. “Everybody outside!” she ordered.

Another BOOM shook the classroom so hard that the clock fell off the wall.

The children ran to the door, but it wouldn’t open.

“The paper clip closet must have fallen over!” said Dameon. “It’s blocking the door!”

“Paper clip closet?” asked Mrs. Jewls. She glared at Jason.

“Sorry,” he said.

Jason couldn’t keep a secret.

Todd, Maurecia, Dameon, and Allison all pushed together, but the door wouldn’t budge.

“Let Stephen in there,” urged Kathy. “He’s been doing all those push-downs.”

With Stephen’s help, they pushed the door open.

Sirens wailed from the closet, which lay on the ground. A smoke screen filled the area.

In the light of Mrs. Jewls’s candle, they could see that the chains and steel bar had been shattered. Paper clips were strewn all over the floor.

Benjamin and Rondi started picking them up.

“Leave them!” shouted Mrs. Jewls.

Now they knew it was serious.

Mrs. Jewls told everyone to hold hands as she led the way down the staircase.

Paul grabbed Leslie’s pigtail.

“What are you doing?” she demanded.

“It’s either that or your hand,” he said.

“Okay, then,” Leslie agreed.

The kachooga booping continued as more loud booms shook the school.

A gust of wind blew out Mrs. Jewls’s candle, and the class continued down in darkness.

Joe stepped on a skateboard, which somebody had left in the middle of the stairs. He fell, pulling John down with him. Who pulled down Dana. Who pulled down Jenny. Who pulled down Rondi. Who pulled down Terrence. The chain reaction ended with Dameon pulling down Mrs. Jewls.

The class lay sprawled across the stairs as the school shook around them.

“We’re doomed!” Mac wailed.

“Look!” exclaimed Bebe.

A door had opened, and there was a light coming from inside a classroom.

A teacher stood in the doorway. “Quick. Come inside,” she beckoned. “You’ll be safe here.”

She had a long fingernail on her pinky.

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