[14] Scream Machine

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"Ariana! Wake up!" Charlotte screamed in her ear

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"Ariana! Wake up!" Charlotte screamed in her ear.

"Huh, what? I'm awake!" Ariana sat bolt upright.

A piece of paper stuck to her face. She tore it off and set it on the table in front of her.

"What'd I miss?" Ariana asked.

"You missed me explaining my gizmo," Charlotte said.

"Oh, well what's it do?" Ariana asked glancing around at Jasper, Henry, Ray, and Schwoz.

"It creates energy from sound. Jasper come here. Put that mask over your mouth," Charlotte ordered.

"Ooh, a mask!" Jasper put the mask over his mouth.

"Now, watch as I take the Shock Rod that Schwoz made and do this," Charlotte shocked Jasper.

Jasper screamed into the mask and a hula dancer on the gizmo began to spin.

"Cool," Ariana said.

"Whoa, what made it work like that?" Henry asked Charlotte.

"Sound."

Charlotte explained in detail how her gizmo had done it but Ariana couldn't be bothered to listen. She was too tired for smart things. Ariana was about to go back to sleep when Schwoz grabbed an airhorn and put it up to Charlotte's mask. She stood up next to Henry.

"Hey, that's probably not a good idea," Ariana added her protests to the others.

Schwoz didn't listen to any of them. He pressed down and the sound made the hula dancer spin erratically. Loud music came out of it and it started to smoke.

"Schwoz, stop!" Henry said.

"Stop why? Look how the hula girl is-."

The gizmo exploded. They were all thrown to the ground and Henry landed on top of Ariana so the two were face to face. He stared at her for a second.

"Get off," Ariana grumbled shoving Henry.

"You okay?" Henry asked staggering to his feet and then offering a hand to help her up.

"Yeah," Ariana took his hand. "But Charlotte's gizmo isn't."

They looked at the machine. It was still on fire. The two grabbed fire extinguishers and sprayed it.

"Don't blame yourself," Schwoz patted Charlotte's shoulder.

Charlotte glared at him.

***

"Should we do something?" Henry asked.

Charlotte had been trying to bend Schwoz into a pretzel for the last ten minutes.

"I say we give her another five minutes," Ariana said.

Henry rolled his eyes.

"Alright that's enough," Ray said.

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