The Genius Files #4 by Dan Gutman Page A

!”
    â€œWhat’s your point?” Pep shouted.
    â€œOh,” Dr. Warsaw said, “you might say it’s a metaphor for our inability to react to changes that occur gradually.”
    â€œYou’re crazy!” Coke shouted. “And that story is terrible!”
    â€œLet us out of here!” shouted Pep.
    â€œOh, I’ll let you out,” Dr. Warsaw said, his mood darkening. “But first tell me something. Where’s mywife? Where’s your aunt Judy? You must know where she is. I haven’t heard from her in three days. What did you do to her?”
    â€œWe didn’t do anything to her!” Coke said defiantly.
    Dr. Warsaw went over to a control panel on the wall, about ten feet from the vapor cabinets.
    â€œI think I’ll just turn the heat up a little,” he said. “Maybe that will help you remember. They say the healing vapors are also good for the memory.”
    He turned a dial, causing a spray of hot vapor to shoot up inside the cabinets. Sweat was starting to bead up on the twins’ faces. A few salty drops fell into Coke’s eyes. They stung.
    â€œIt’s hot!” Pep yelled. “It’s so hot!”
    â€œ Now are you ready to tell me what you did to my wife?” asked Dr. Warsaw.
    â€œIt wasn’t our fault!” Pep yelled at him. “We were at Graceland—”
    â€œNo, Pep!” Coke shouted. “Don’t tell him!”
    â€œShut up, Coke!” Pep said. “Aunt Judy was dressed up as an Elvis impersonator, and she pulled a gun on us, for no reason. I knocked the gun out of her hand with a Frisbee and she chased us. She found us in our RV, and she started waving lighted matches around like a crazy person. One of them set my brother’s backpack on fire. But she didn’t know thatthe backpack was full of fireworks. We jumped out just before the fireworks ignited, and the whole RV exploded. We never saw Aunt Judy again.”
    Silence. Coke and Pep looked at Dr. Warsaw, expecting him to lash out at them in anger. Instead, his shoulders heaved and he began to weep.
    â€œSo that’s it,” he blubbered. “Judy was the love of my life. We were going to be together forever. And now she’s gone.”
    It was hard to feel sorry for him, and the twins didn’t. Locked inside the steaming vapor cabinets, they just stared at the pathetic man.
    After a few minutes of sobbing, Dr. Warsaw pulled himself together. Once again, he looked like the face of indescribable evil.
    â€œI see,” he said, nodding his head. “I get the picture. At The House on the Rock you kids destroyed my iJolt, which was my life’s work. And you almost killed me in the process. Then you killed Archie Clone, my young apprentice, in Washington. And now, you tell me you killed my wife! What is wrong with you two? Do you think it’s normal for children to go around killing people?”
    â€œIt was self-defense!” Pep shouted.
    â€œYou killed your own aunt!” Dr. Warsaw shouted back.
    â€œShe was trying to kill us!” Coke shouted.
    â€œWhy don’t you drop the little charade?” said Dr. Warsaw wearily. “You’ve done enough. You’re not innocent little kids.”
    â€œB-but . . .”
    â€œI’m through playing childish games,” Dr. Warsaw said, going back to the control panel. “Now it’s time to finish you off once and for all.”
    â€œNoooooooooo!”
    â€œThe part of the brain that controls thirst and hunger is called the hypothalamus,” Dr. Warsaw said as he fiddled with the knobs. “It also controls the body’s core temperature. Normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. I think I’ll just turn this up a little more.”
    â€œWe don’t want to hear your biology lesson!” Coke shouted as he struggled desperately to open the vapor cabinet.
    â€œThe body cools itself by sweating, and allowing that