Mia’s father had a laboratory, but she had no idea what was in it. Her dad always closed and locked the door when he went in. She knew that he used it to do projects for work. He never told Mia what these projects were. One night, Mia approached the door to the laboratory. She stopped and thought, “ I wonder what crazy experiment he is doing now.” Suddenly, she heard a loud noise. It sounded like an evil laugh. The noise scared her, so she walked quickly back to her room. The next night, her friend Liz came to her house. When Liz arrived, Mia told her about the night before. “ Oh, it was terrible,” she said. “Why don’t we see what is in there?” Liz asked. “ It will be a fun adventure!” Mia felt nervous about going into her father’s laboratory, but she agreed. As always, the door was locked. They waited until Mia’s father left the laboratory to eat dinner. “ He didn’t lock the door!” Liz said. “ Let’s go.” The laboratory was dark. The girls walked down the stairs carefully. Mia smelled strange chemicals. What terrible thing was her father creating? Suddenly, they heard an evil laugh. It was even worse than the one Mia heard the night before. What if a monster was going to kill them? Mia had to do something. She shouted for help. Mia’s father ran into the room and turned on the lights. “ Oh, no,” he said. “You must have learned my secret.” “Your monster tried to kill us,” Mia said. “ Monster?” he asked. “You mean this?” He had a pretty doll in his hands. The doll laughed. The laugh didn’t sound so evil anymore. “ I made this foryour birthday. I wanted to give it to you then, but you have it now. I hope you like it!