The earth beneath it seemed to dissolve away. A red glow and a gassy smell rose up from it. Then suddenly—flames leapt up! Danny shrieked. Josh bellowed, “JUUUUUMP! Jump NOW! Before it’s TOO LATE!!” Danny was on a little shelf of ground with the computer booth just behind him. The shelf was beginning to crumble away. Incredibly, Petty had built some kind of collapsing pit over a gas fire trap! He had to jump now, or there would be nothing left to jump from. Below him, in the widening chasm, there were hissing and grinding and whining noises. Flames were shooting up higher. He shoved the lunchbox down his shirt, coughing as the gas caught in his throat. It was now or never. Danny jumped. He leapt across the fire pit, his arms waving frantically through the air. He crashed into the rough edge of the crumbling floor. He would have slipped into the pit if Josh hadn’t grabbed his wrists and pulled him up. “Come on!” screamed Josh. He looked terrified. And he had every reason to be.
