Chapter 4

Shirley was unconscious for a while, but when she woke, she saw she was in an unknown place. Shirley said, "Where am I?" Shirley looked out a broken window to the other room and saw the ninja she fought. Shirley said, "So he's Electric Starfish." Shirley snuck out the shattered window, and into the same room the ninja was in. Shirley quietly walked on the support beams of the building and saw a staircase. Shirley said, "If I can get to those stairs, I can escape." Shirley slipped, grabbed the support beam, and almost fell to the sofa where the ninja was sitting. Shirley climbed back up to the support beams and quietly crawled across them. The ninja said, "I wonder how our future performer is doing?" The ninja went to the room where he put Shirley and saw she was gone. The ninja said, "Where'd she go? I better find her before Electric Starfish finds out she escaped." While the ninja looked for Shirley, she slid to a sofa on her rope. Then Shirley saw that the ninja would see her if she ran for the staircase, so she opened a door instead. Shirley didn't know that water was coming out from under the door.

When Shirley opened the door, a bunch of water burst out and flooded almost the entire building. While the building was overflowing with water, Shirley swam to the bottom, holding her breath. Shirley saw another door and tried to open it but couldn't. Shirley saw a battering ram floating to the surface, grabbed it, and used it to open the door. When Shirley opened the door, all the water poured out of the building. When the flood was over, Shirley coughed for a while and shook her soaking-wet hair. Then she lay down because her heart was beating and breathed in and out because she was scared. The ninja got up on his knees and crawled around, looking for Shirley. Shirley turned her head and saw the ninja looking for her. Then Shirley got back up, ran off, and hid in another room. Shirley said while breathing scared, "I think I'm safe in here." Shirley was scared against a wall while breathing deeply when she heard a sound from above her. Shirley cast her flashlight on the ceiling and saw a bunch of bats. Shirley kept breathing, scared, while trying to stay quiet so she wouldn't disturb the bats. Shirley was almost entirely calm when the ninja kicked the door open, saw Shirley, and scared all the bats. The bats flew right above both Shirley and the ninja. Then Shirley ran out of the room screaming while trying to get the bats away. Shirley ran for her life, screaming, but the bats chased after her.

Shirley ran for the stairs, but the ninja chased after her. Shirley opened the door, ran down the stairs, and reached a dead end. Then Shirley looked up and saw that the ninja was coming. Shirley said, "Well, I'm a goner." Shirley looked to the side and saw a small chute. Shirley said, "I don't know where that goes, but it's my only exit." Shirley ran up to the line, jumped, and slid down it. When Shirley got to the bottom, she landed in a dumpster. Shirley said, "Well, what do you know? I jumped down the garbage chute." Shirley climbed out of the dumpster covered in garbage. Then she went to her hotel room, showered, and washed all the trash off her. She heard a knock on her door when she exited the shower. Shirley got dressed, answered the door, and saw it was Rex. Shirley said, "Hi." Rex said, "Hi. May I come in?" Shirley said, "Sure." Rex walked into Shirley's hotel room, sat on Shirley's bed, and talked. Rex said, "Why did you storm off after the circus?" Shirley said, "I had something to do after the show." Rex said, "Like walking in the House of Mirrors." Shirley said, "Fine, I was afraid you might have thought I felt something between us." Rex said, "You mean something like this." Rex leaned near Shirley and kissed her cheek. Shirley said, "Wow. I guess you like me." Rex said, "You know it." Shirley said, "Where were you this morning?" Rex said, "At the Hawaii Animal Shelter, I work part-time there." Shirley said, "Cool." Rex said, "Well, I have to go now." Shirley said, "OK, bye." Rex said, "Bye."

Rex left Shirley's room, and Shirley sat alone on her bed. While she was sitting there, Shirley found a tape on her bed. Shirley put the recording in her tape recorder, pushed play, and listened. The recording said, "Shirley, you better not interfere with my plans anymore." Shirley said, "Who is this?" The tape said, "In case you're wondering who I am, I go by Electric Starfish. If I see you trying to solve this case, you'll never solve another case again." Shirley pushed the stop button on her recorder and put the tape in her backpack. Shirley said, "Sounds like Electric Starfish is onto me, but who is he?" Shirley went back to the carnival and took a look around. Shirley walked by the games to look for clues but needed help finding something. When the security guard cast a light on Shirley, Shirley looked for clues. The security guard said, "Hey you, freeze." Shirley ran for her life, and the security guard chased after her. Shirley ran into the big top, but the security guard ran after her. When the security guard got in, he didn't see Shirley. Shirley peered out from under the bleachers and saw that the security guard was looking for her.

Shirley crawled under the bleachers quietly so the security guard wouldn't see or hear her. Shirley quietly jumped off the bleachers and ran out of the big top. When Shirley got out of the big top, she went to the tent where she saw everybody vanish. Shirley approached the box that everybody had walked in and investigated. Shirley said, "There's got to be an explanation about how The Campaign Prank Squad, Mr. Fletch, and Sherry vanished." Shirley turned the knob on the box and opened the door. Shirley looked inside the box and saw that it was pitch black inside. Shirley said, "It's too dark in there; I can't see a thing." Shirley took her flashlight from her backpack, turned it on, and walked inside the box. Then, the box shut and locked Shirley in. Shirley said, "There's nothing in here." Later, the box opened up and let Shirley out. Shirley left the box and saw that she wasn't in the tent. Shirley said, "Where am I?"

A lamp turned on itself and showed Shirley a videotape on a desk. Shirley took the tape and looked at it. Shirley said, "How am I supposed to play this?" An overhead light turned on over a TV with a VCR. Shirley put the tape in the VCR and pushed play. The videotape showed somebody in the shadows, so Shirley only saw his eyes. The guy on the video said, "Shirley Holmes. If you're watching this, I am Electric Starfish." Shirley screamed in terror. Electric Starfish said, "I noticed you're still trying to find me. Too bad you'll never figure out who I am, where I'm hiding, or what I'm up to." Shirley said, "We'll see about that." The video stopped and ejected out of the VCR. Shirley took the tape out of the VCR and put it in her backpack. Then somebody pulled a lever that opened a trap door underneath Shirley, and she fell. Shirley slid down a slide, up it, and down it again. Shirley slid around on the ramp and fell off it. Then, the bottom of the merry-go-round opened. Shirley slid out of it and crashed into the ring toss game booth.