“What… was that?” said Harris.

Before Eddie could answer, the door began to open again, this time more quickly. The gap grew wider as the darkness inside the basement revealed itself to him. Instinctively, Eddie reached out his hand and stopped the door. He began to push it closed.

But something pushed back.

Wide-eyed, Eddie pressed all his weight against the metal door. It slammed shut with another wham! Eddie turned around and leaned his bag against it. He tried to speak, but his voice caught in his throat. Harris stared at him. Then the door rattled as whatever was on the other side gave it one hard jolt. Eddie screamed and pressed his back into the metal, his feet sliding on the slippery ground.

The night was quiet for a moment. Harris shook his head. He opened his mouth to speak, but Eddie was thrown forward as the thing in the basement resumed its assault. Harris slammed himself against the door, stopping it from swinging wide open. Eddie recovered, and the two boys pressed it shut with all their strength. The door bounced again and again as the thing on the other side fought back, ferociously trying to escape. Then suddenly it stopped.

After a moment, Harris whispered through his teeth, “You picked that flower.”

“Yeah, but not on purpose!”

“So what?” Harris said. “You shouldn’t have come down here.”

“I was looking for clues to the code!”

“We already knew that some of the things in Nathaniel Olmstead’s books were real. Thanks to you, we know the Gremlin’s Tongue gremlin is real too!”

Eddie knew Harris was right. He shuddered, imagining the creature listening to them from the other side of the door, inches away. They wouldn’t be able to stand there holding the door shut forever, especially if the pounding started again. Even though he hadn’t meant to pick the flower, Eddie’s face flushed in shame. He should have been more careful. Anyone who’d read Nathaniel Olmstead’s books knew that to pick a Gremlin’s Tongue would release its keeper.

At least now Eddie knew the Olmstead Curse was most definitely real-not that he’d had many doubts after what happened at the lake in the woods. “I don’t hear anything,” he said. “Is it gone?”

Harris pressed his ear to the door. He listened for a moment, nodded, then said, “Now might be our only chance.”

“To do what?”

“Run,” Harris whispered, grabbing Eddie’s wrist and pulling him away from the door.

Cold air rushed into Eddie’s lungs as he took a huge breath and raced up the stairs behind Harris. By the time they reached the top, the door at the bottom had swung open again.

Wham!

Eddie didn’t wait to see what had been behind it. Together, the boys ran toward the front of the library, their feet smacking against the concrete sidewalk. They dashed around the corner toward the main entrance. Eddie’s own bike sat quietly next to the rhododendrons. He noticed that Harris had chained his bike to the rack. No time to unlock it. As they raced up the front steps, Eddie whispered, “Please be open. Please be open. Please be open.” He stretched out his arms to push the front door, but just as he was about to fling the full force of his weight against it, the door swung inward.

“Ugh!” two voices cried in unison, as together Eddie and the person on the other side of the door tumbled to the floor.

Harris scrambled into the library behind them. He slammed the door shut and leaned his weight against it, panting.

After a moment, Eddie noticed that the person on the floor was Maggie Ringer. The books she’d been carrying were scattered across the rug. She winced in pain as she tried to sit.

“I’m so sorry!” Eddie exclaimed. “We were running from-”

Harris nudged Eddie’s leg with his foot.

“We were just running. Like… for fun?” He struggled to his feet. After he stood up, he offered his hand to Maggie, who still seemed to be in shock.

“Great. Well, next time, it might be more fun for me if you look where you’re going,” she said.

“Are you kids okay?” The librarian, Mrs. Singh, came out from behind her desk. “Why are you standing like that?” she said, looking at Harris.

“We’re fine,” said Harris, pressing his back against the door. Just then, something slammed against the glass. Harris screamed, then quickly composed himself, bracing the door even harder. His sneakers slid a bit on the rug. He squeezed his eyes shut and said, “Just fine.”

“What the heck is that?” shouted Maggie. She pointed at the door, just beyond Harris’s feet. Through the glass, Eddie saw what Maggie was looking at. He clutched at his mouth to hold back a scream.

On the library’s top step stood a creature unlike anything he’d ever seen. It was about a foot tall. Its skin was bruise-purple. Twists of vine and clumps of dirt and dead leaves littered its greasy green hair, which hung from its head almost all the way down to the ground. Other than this strange cape of thick hair, the creature was naked. The gremlin watched them for several seconds with its yellow catlike eyes, then smiled viciously with its wide greenish lips. It raised its little hand, as if to wave, then brought it down hard against the glass.

Wham!

The door rattled, and once again, Harris screamed.

“A rabid monkey?” said Eddie, feeling foolish even as the words came out of his mouth.

“Does this door lock?” Harris asked quietly.

Mrs. Singh flittered forward, keeping her wide eyes on the thing on the doorstep. “A monkey?” she said, her voice trembling into a weird operatic register. “That is not a monkey.” She reached around behind Harris and turned the latch. “Excuse me, please,” she said. Something inside the door clicked. It was now locked, so Harris stepped away from it.

“Thanks,” Harris said to Mrs. Singh. Turning around, he saw the creature staring at him. The thing opened its mouth and tried to bite the glass. Its tiny purple stump of a tongue flipped and flopped like a dissected worm, sliming the door with saliva. Then, from two small pockets on either side of its mouth, several thin green tendrils began to unfurl, their barbed tips tapping and scratching at the breath-fogged glass.

Holding her hand to her mouth, Mrs. Singh uttered a horrified squeak. “I’m calling the police!” she cried, running back toward her desk.

The creature smacked the door with its hand again. This time, the glass cracked a bit. The thing’s mouth-tendrils squirmed to the edge of the door, as if searching for a way inside. The three kids scrambled away.

“That is not a monkey,” Maggie repeated.

“What are we going to do?” said Eddie, glancing toward Mrs. Singh. “We’ve both read The Curse of the Gremlin’s Tongue, Harris. You know the police won’t be able to help us.”

Harris shook his head in frustration. Then his face lit up. “You’re right!” he said. “The police can’t help. But you can!”

“Me?” said Eddie. “How?”

“You know how! You were the one who picked the flower. He wants to eat you!”

Eddie felt nauseated. “So? That’s not a solution! He can’t eat me!”

“I know that. We won’t let him,” said Harris, pulling Eddie away from the door. Maggie stayed behind, fascinated by the little monster who continued to watch them from the other side of the glass. “You picked the flower. Only you can send him away. Don’t you remember how?”

Eddie racked his brain. He knew the answer to this question. He’d only just reread the book a day ago. The answer hit him. “Right!” said Eddie. “I’ve got to speak to him in his own language.”

“Exactly,” said Harris.

“Hello, Wally?” said Mrs. Singh from behind her desk, holding the phone to her ear. “Come quickly. We’ve got another problem.” She glanced at them and said, “You kids, uh… stay calm.”

Another problem? Eddie didn’t have time to think about what she meant by that. He smiled and nodded at her. “We’re calm,” he said, then quickly turned back to Harris. “I need to put the flower under my tongue,” he whispered. “That way, he’ll understand what I say.”