Captain Awesome and the Trapdoor Read online

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Sally asked Eugene with a smile.

  “The secret trapdoor!” Eugene exclaimed.

  “I don’t want to go any place that has the words ‘secret’ and ‘trap’ in its name,” Charlie said.

  “We won’t have to,” Eugene said, “because the Sunnyview Superhero Squad will! Time to get MI-TEE!”

  The kids changed into the world’s greatest heroes who weren’t Super Dude.

  CAPTAIN AWESOME!

  NACHO CHEESE MAN!

  SUPERSONIC SAL!

  “I’m not allowed to climb on any of the furniture,” Captain Awesome said. “So we’ll have to climb on each other’s shoulders and make a Superhero Tower Stack.”

  “I can be on the bottom,” Nacho Cheese Man offered. “These legs are packed with cheese-powered muscles!”

  Captain Awesome started to lead the group toward the stairs, but then Supersonic Sal suddenly pulled them both back onto the couch.

  “Look!” she whispered.

  The three of them peeked over the top of the couch and saw the dynamic duo of difficulty!

  PARENTS!

  VEGETABLES!

  Eugene’s mom and dad were in the kitchen preparing dinner.

  “Do you know what this means?” Captain Awesome sank back behind the couch.

  “We have to give up our quest?” Nacho Cheese Man asked.

  “No! It means I’m having peas and broccoli for dinner! Yuck! Who serves two kinds of vegetables?” Captain Awesome said. “Looks like we’ll need to use all one hundred percent of our Super Sneak Tiptoe powers to get to the secret trapdoor. If my parents see Captain Awesome, they’ll totally freak out and think I’m here because a giant two-headed octopus crawled up from the toilet and kidnapped their son.”

  “I hate when that happens.” Nacho Cheese Man sighed.

  The heroes wiggled their toes and stood up. But before they could tiptoe a single step, Eugene’s mom looked over and said, “Is that you, Eugene?”

  “Quick! Use your mind-erasing brain-wave blast!” Captain Awesome whispered to Nacho Cheese Man.

  Before Nacho Cheese Man could fire off a brain wave, Eugene’s mom entered the living room. “Oh! Captain Awesome! I didn’t know it was you. We meet again.”

  Captain Awesome leaped before his mom and struck a heroic pose. “Don’t worry! Eugene was not kidnapped by a two-headed octopus that crawled up from the toilet! He’s just, uh, studying many school things at his friend Charlie’s, and that’s why you won’t find him in the house no matter how hard you look.”

  “Um, okay. Then I guess I won’t look for him,” Eugene’s mom said. “So, to what do we owe this honor? It’s not every day we get real live superheroes in our home. Is Miss Pinky Head trying to, um, do pink things to the world or something?”

  “Her name’s Little Miss Stinky Pinky, Mrs. McGillicudy,” Supersonic Sal corrected.

  Suddenly Captain Awesome’s super-brainpower kicked up an awesome idea! “We’re here because we need your help!” Captain Awesome declared. “There’s a secret trapdoor that we need to investigate, but, um, well, I’m kinda not allowed to climb on the furniture, so . . .”

  “You need my help opening it?” Eugene’s mom asked.

  “Pleeeeeeeeeeease!” the three heroes said in unison.

  Eugene’s mom led the Sunnyview Superhero Squad to the trapdoor. She pulled the hanging cord to reveal . . .

  A STAIRCASE!

  “Be careful now,” said Eugene’s mom. “I’m not sure if that’s just a trapdoor to our attic . . . or a gateway to the other side of the universe.”

  The three wide-eyed heroes peered into the darkness above them.

  “I think I’d rather fight the two-headed octopus from the toilet,” Nacho Cheese Man whispered.

  Captain Awesome was about to agree, but then he thought about Bunky Buddy and his other missing toys and took a cautious step onto the ladder.

  Captain Awesome led the Sunnyview Superhero Squad into the darkness.

  He did his best to be brave, but he had a feeling this might be even worse than eating two types of vegetables for dinner.

  “There’s a light switch on the wall at the top of the stairs,” Eugene’s mom called up to them.

  Captain Awesome, Supersonic Sal, and Nacho Cheese Man lunged for the switch at the same time. A lone bulb flickered to life and created a dim overhead glow. Deep, dark shadows appeared on the walls.

  “I don’t think this is much better,” Nacho Cheese Man said with a gulp.

  “Remember what Super Dude said in number nineteen?” Captain Awesome asked.

  “There can be light in the darkness . . . ,” Supersonic Sal began.

  “If you just have courage,” Nacho Cheese Man finished.

  “Anyone getting filled with a burst of Super Dude courage?” Captain Awesome asked.

  “I think so,” Nacho Cheese Man replied. “Or I might just be getting gassy from all the cheese I ate.”

  Captain Awesome stepped further into the attic. Supersonic Sal and Nacho Cheese Man exchanged a nervous look, then followed.

  As their eyes adjusted to the dim light, their fears suddenly faded away. What had looked like mysterious figures in the darkness were actually just . . . boxes! Stacks and stacks of boxes higher than any block tower Eugene had ever made filled the attic. Some boxes looked new. Others looked old and dusty. Each box had a label.

  Supersonic Sal pulled a small box from a stack. “It says ‘Eugene’s first haircut.’ You don’t think they kept the hair from your first haircut, do you?”

  Supersonic Sal opened the box. There wasn’t any hair. . . . Just pictures of a one-year-old Eugene getting his haircut.

  “You better hope those pictures never fall into Meredith Mooney’s hands. Talk about giving a supervillain the ultimate weapon!” Nacho Cheese Man said with a laugh. He was clearly feeling better now!

  Captain Awesome scanned the boxes. One said WEDDING DRESS. Another was labeled EUGENE’S ART. There were boxes marked OLD BOOKS, HALLOWEEN DECORATIONS, and PHOTO ALBUMS. There was even one old worn box that said COLLEGE.

  “It’s like my parents have a museum up here,” Captain Awesome said.

  Captain Awesome pulled down a box labeled EUGENE’S BABY PHOTOS to make sure Supersonic Sal and Nacho Cheese Man wouldn’t look through it. Nothing worse than pictures of me as a drooling baby with food all over myself, he thought.

  But once Eugene had pulled down the box, it revealed a shocking surprise. . . .

  A hidden box that said: TOP SECRET!

  The three heroes stared at the mysterious box in silent awe, as if it were a giant dancing cookie.

  “Should we open it?” Nacho Cheese Man asked.

  “What if it’s a trap? An actual trap. Not like this door that we thought was a trap,” Supersonic Sal said.

  “That’s a risk I’m willing to take for my old toys,” said Captain Awesome. He slowly reached out for the lid of the top secret box, and just as he was about to touch it, Nacho Cheese Man yelled.

  “By the hole in my Swiss cheese! Look!” he cried.

  Eugene and Sally looked at where he was pointing. There, in the far corner of the attic was a box labeled . . .

  “EUGENE’S OLD TOYS!” they all said at once.

  The trio ran to the box, hoping this was the end to their long and heroic search.

  This was it. Captain Awesome slowly, carefully pulled up one side of the box top. Then the other. Inside were . . .

  TOYS!

  And not just any toys . . . EUGENE’S TOYS!

  “Look! It’s Arrrr2-D2 the robot pirate!” Captain Awesome pulled an old action figure from the box.

  “And the Slime-osaurs from Dino Slime Island!” Supersonic Sal grabbed three gooey dinosaurs from the box. “It’s Tricera-glops, Tyranno-slimeus Rex, and Ooze-odactyl!”

  “And Don’t Squeeze the Clown! That game always gave me the creeps,” Nacho Cheese Man said.

  They pulled toy after
toy from the box. Spuds the Cowboy Potato! Blockhead and his Blockmobile! And even Stuffy Rabbit!

  Captain Awesome built a castle using the Blockhead Building Blocks he found in the box, and Supersonic Sal launched an attack with Cowboy Battle Bots and Cyborg Ninjas. Nacho Cheese Man swooped in with a Super Dude Transmorpher Jet and saved the day, chasing the Cowboy Battle Bots and Cyborg Ninjas back into the box.

  It may have been only a few minutes, or it could’ve been hours. . . . The time slipped past without anyone paying much attention as they dug deeper and deeper into the box, pulling out one forgotten treasure after another.

  After Supersonic Sal won the second game of Bees in My Cheese, Eugene’s mom called out from downstairs, “Captain Awesome? Any chance you know if Eugene has come home yet? It’s time for dinner! Can you tell him we’re having pizza?” And then she added in a quieter voice, “And peas and broccoli.”

  “Okay, Mrs. McGillicudy, I’ll look for him,” Captain Awesome called back. “But if I do find him, do you think his friends can eat dinner here too?”

  “I’ll text their parents now and ask, just in case they’re already here with Eugene,” Eugene’s mom called back.

  “We are!” said Nacho Cheese Man, excited to have pizza. “I mean, they are. Eugene’s friends.”

  “What are we going to do with the toys?” Supersonic Sal asked.

  Captain Awesome took a quiet moment to look at the memories scattered on the ground before him.

  “I think they should go back into the box,” Captain Awesome answered. “I loved playing with them again, but the box says ‘Eugene’s Old Toys,’ and the box is right. Most of them are from when I was in first grade. We can always play with them if we want, but I think my parents’ attic museum is the best place for them.”

  “That’s very brave of you,” said Supersonic Sal.

  The heroes quickly put the toys back in the box and returned it to its place. Eugene felt good knowing that they’d always be up here, like old friends who’d have his back if he needed them to.

  With everything once again in its place, the three heroes changed back into Eugene, Charlie, and Sally. Then they went downstairs and enjoyed an awesome pizza dinner that can only be described as . . .

  MI-TEE!*

  *In fact, it was so MI-TEE that they totally forgot about the top secret box they’d left behind in the darkness of the attic. That would have to wait for another day.

  About the Author and Illustrator

  When STAN KIRBY was six years old, he tied a beach towel around his neck and became Super Commander Beach Boy. He tried his best to protect sand castles from the waves, keep seagulls away from his french fries, and keep the beach clean. When Stan’s not creating the awesome adventures of Captain Awesome, he loves reading comic books, eating okra, and hang gliding (but not at the same time).

  GEORGE O’CONNOR’S cover—as a mild-mannered clerk in one of Gotham’s most beloved children’s bookstores—was completely blown when his first picture book, KAPOW!, exploded onto the scene. Forced to leave the bookselling world behind, he now spends even more time in his secret Brooklyn, New York, hideout—where he uses his amazing artistic powers to strike fear in the hearts of bad guys everywhere!

  Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids

  Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Stan-Kirby

  Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/George-O’Connor

  Little Simon

  Simon & Schuster, New York

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  LITTLE SIMON

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division • 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 • www.SimonandSchuster.com • First Little Simon hardcover edition March 2019 • Copyright © 2019 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. • All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. • LITTLE SIMON is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and associated colophon is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. • For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected]. • The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com. • Designed by Jay Colvin. • Jacket illustrations by George O’Connor • Jacket illustrations copyright © 2019 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  This book has been cataloged with the Library of Congress.

  ISBN 978-1-5344-3315-1 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-5344-3314-4 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-5344-3316-8 (eBook)