Read Floors #3: The Field of Wacky Inventions for Free Online

for heating the pancake griddle.”
    Merganzer pulled a key card out of his jacket pocket and tried to hide the fact that he was whispering something to someone, but Leo heard.
    “Unplug griddle, pronto. It’s probably starting to overheat.”
    “Check,” a small voice came back. “Unplugging griddle.”
    Leo wondered who it was, but there was no time for that. Merganzer was already talking again.
    “Leo and Remi have seen inside the top floor of the Whippet. It’s my private library, and I’m very happy to have it here on the grounds at last. It will no longer be the top of a hotel but, instead, the foundation of myvery own private hotel. The rest of the floors will be made from the roofs each of you brought with you to the field of wacky inventions.”
    “But they’re all scattered around,” said the dapper Mr. Whitney. “That’s not a hotel at all. It’s just a bunch of hotel floors sitting in a field. And also, I’ve never been inside the top floor of the Paddington Hotel. It’s not possible to get in there.”
    Everyone began to complain about the same problem. The top floors of all the hotels had always been secret floors, floors that could not be entered. None of the floors had windows, only ladders leading to the roof.
    “You all climbed to the roofs of your respective hotels last night for a reason. I wanted you here, with me, so that we could unlock them together. Some of my greatest inventions reside inside these structures, and the time has come to put them all together.”
    Merganzer turned and faced everyone. “We must stack these floors and make a new hotel!”
    “You, Merganzer D. Whippet, are off your rocker,” Mr. Pilf said. “This entire operation is outrageous!”
    “I’m inclined to agree,” E. J. Bosco added. “No one told me I was going to be kidnapped and forced into a dangerous competition when I took the job. I’m a hotel manager, not a superhero.”
    “I know a superhero,” Remi said. “Captain Rickenbacker. He’s got a cape.”
    “Who asked you?!” Bosco screamed, and being the size and shape of a gigantic walrus, it scared Remi a little bit.
    “Please don’t yell at the children,” Merganzer said sternly. “We’ll have none of that, and I won’t be giving any more instructions. I’ll be making myself scarce, because I have big, big things to work on. But for those of you who think this is a fool’s errand, know this: Whoever gets to the top of this hotel first will run all my hotels. I’m expanding into Europe. And Japan. The Ukraine is very promising. Someone needs to run the Whippet Empire here at home, and that someone is going to be one of you.”
    Now everyone — Mr. Pilf, Alfred Whitney, Miss Sheezley, and Miss Harrington — was singing a new tune. Even to the grumpy walrus-man E. J. Bosco, the idea of running an empire of hotels strewn across all of New York City was too enticing for words. It would almost surely mean a huge pay raise, stock options, and a seat at the pinnacle of the travel industry in America’s most important city. It was, as Merganzer was fond of saying, big — very big indeed!
    But Leo and Remi were thinking of something altogether different. They couldn’t have cared less aboutowning or running more hotels. All they could think about as they looked around the field of wacky inventions was what lay hidden inside each floor and how much fun it would be to stack them one on top of the next.
    “Is this the part where you say the game is afoot ?” Mr. Whitney asked with a sly smile. Leo and Remi liked this Alfred Whitney character. He was like Sherlock Holmes and he had an excellent, slow voice that was deep and commanding.
    “I believe you’re right, Mr. Whitney,” Merganzer said. And with that, he turned and wandered off in search of ducks or electric eels or twelve-foot chickens, calling over his shoulder: “The game is afoot! May the best man, woman, or child win!”

M ost of the hotel managers stared awkwardly at one