Hello again R. L. Stein Story Club members. I'm Ivy, your ghostly host and keeper of those

strange and spooky tales from the hidden vault of R. L. Stein. Today is another chilling tale.

This creature features story club members might make you reconsider

where you swim for relaxation. It's one I call from beneath. The cool water felt unbelievably

good against Renee's skin. It was the middle of August and so hot, the kind of hot where you

could drink five cans of orange soda and still

have waterfalls of sweat running down your back.

But as Renee swam further from the muddy shore of Lake Halcyon, the summer heat seemed

to melt away.

Don't let Eddie get you.

Darren Graves, her friend, stood on the shore in his baggy swim trunks and watched Renee

swim. He wore a devilish

grin on his face. Eddie was the nickname of the monster that supposedly lived in the lake. For years,

people had tried to prove there was some kind of creature that lurked beneath the dark waters of the lake.

Some even took photographs, though most of those pictures were blurry,

and usually turned out to be a mossy log or some driftwood that poked lazily out of the water.

There are no monsters, Renee thought. Everyone with half a brain knows that.

Not if he gets you first, Renee hollered back at Darren as she swam further out into the middle of the lake.

Fump! Something hard and scaly stroked the bottom of Renee's foot under the muddy waters.

If it was really Eddie, Renee knew she was too far out in the middle of the water to save herself.

She'd never be able to swim fast enough.

What would she do? Her 11 years of life flashed before her eyes. Runei had known Darren for two

...