Don't Close Your Eyes! Read Free Page B

it's late. I'm toast. I'm really tired.”
    “Come on, dude,” Nicky said. “No sleep tonight. We'll play some video games.”
    “Yeah. I'll get some nacho chips and drinks downstairs,” Tara said. “We'll pretend it's an all-night party.”
    “Just don't fall asleep, Max.” Nicky stared hard at me. “You can't fall asleep until we figure out how to get rid of Inkweed.”
    “Right,” Tara said. She clutched my shoulders. “Max, if you fall asleep, we're all doomed.”

7
    I STAGGEREDDOWNTO breakfast a little after seven-thirty.
    Mom, Dad, and Colin were already at the table. Mom glanced up from her coffee mug. “You look tired this morning, Max,” she said.
    Well, duh. Of
course
I looked tired. I was up all night playing video games. I watched the sun come up.
    Colin scooped cereal into his mouth, making loud slurping and chewing noises.
    Dad raised a grapefruit half and squeezed the juice into his open mouth. He never eats his grapefruit. He just squeezes it until it looks like a limp rag.
    Colin burped really loudly.
    “Stop it, please,” Mom said softly, lowering her coffee mug.
    “Max taught me how to do that,” Colin said.
    Yawning, I plopped down beside Colin. I was in no mood for his dumb jokes.
    Dad finished squeezing his grapefruit and tossed it across the room, into the sink. “Two points!” he shouted.
    My dad is a big, loud, red-faced Mack truck of a guy. He's a pretty good dad. But he's huge, and he thinks he's tough. And he thinks I should be macho and tough like Colin and him.
    Fat chance.
    I yawned again. My eyelids felt heavy. I reached for the salt to sprinkle on my scrambled eggs.
    “Are you bringing your phys ed grade up?” Dad asked me.
    “Huh?” I blinked at him.
    “Max, you promised you'd try out for the swim team to impress your coach. Remember?”
    I rolled my eyes. “Dad, I get all A's. The kids call me Brainimon. They all call me to help them with their homework because I'm the class brain. And all you care about is my C in phys ed.”
    Dad pulled up his shirt sleeve and flexed his biceps in my face. When he flexed his right bicep muscle, it made his dragon tattoo appear to spit red flames.
    “There's nothing more important in life than being fit,” Dad said. He picked up another grapefruit half and squeezed it into his mouth until it was dry. Pulp ran down his chin.
    He waved the limp grapefruit rind in my face. “Canyoudothat?”
    “Uh … I can do it with a grape!” I said.
    It was a joke, but no one laughed.
    “I can do it with Max's head,” Colin said.
    Dad grinned at him. “Colin, you always set a good example for Max,” he said.
    “I know,” Colin said. He turned to me. “There's something on the back of your pants, Max. Stand up.”
    “Excuse me?” Normally, I wouldn't have fallen for Colin's dumb trick. But I was so tired, I obeyed. I stood up.
    “No, I was wrong,” Colin said. “No problem.”
    I didn't see him slip my plate of scrambled eggs onto my chair. So I plopped down and sat on my eggs.
    Dad tossed back his head and roared with laughter. Colin joined him.
    “Maxie, don't play with your food,” Mom said.
    I opened my mouth to protest. But something terrible happened.
    I felt it rise from my chest … and into my throat.
    And then it spewed from my open mouth. A gusher of thick black ink.
    Like a strong spray from a garden hose, it doused the table.
    I struggled to close my jaw. But the force of the spray kept my mouth open wide.
    The ink covered the table, splashed onto Mom, Dad, and Colin, and puddled on the floor.
    “Stop it! Stop it!”
    I heard their screams.
    But I was helpless.
    I couldn't stop.

8
    DR . WELLESGRUNTED . HE pressed the stethoscope to my bare chest.
    “Yaaaiiii!”
I let out a cry.
    “I keep it in the freezer,” he said. “I like to see the look on people's faces.”
    He was joking. Dr. Welles has a good sense of humor. He's young and blond and good-looking. He looks more like a tennis player than a doctor.
    But