Augmented Reality by Victor Appleton (most recommended books .TXT) 📕

phones and aimed them toward the east. I scanned the horizon until I spotted a tall figure lumbering through Shopton. From the murmurs coming from the audience, I could tell that most of them had spotted it too.

My phone vibrated harder and the chatter from the audience grew louder as the beast tromped into view. Even coming from a different direction, it made its usual beeline toward the school.

“Did you add any more animations?” I asked Amy.

“Wait for it,” she replied, never taking her eyes off her screen.

Suddenly, my phone rattled in my hands as an old biplane buzzed overhead. The audience gasped in surprise as the plane motored toward the beast. I laughed as its machine gun opened fire on the giant creature.

“Good one,” Sam said. “Just like in King Kong.”

“Thank you,” Amy replied.

As the plane zipped by, the beast swiped at it with its buzz-saw arm. The appendage connected and the plane blew up in a ball of fire. A few audience members clapped.

Then something else flew into the sky. A cartoon watermelon sliced through the air, falling short of the approaching behemoth.

“Too soon!” Noah shouted, shaking his head. “There’s always someone.”

A few academy students laughed, but everyone else held their fire.

The creature roared as it marched even closer. My phone nearly buzzed out of my hand with each step.

Then, just before it reached the school, Noah gave the order. “Now!” he shouted.

Suddenly, the sky was alive with lines of cartoon loot sailing toward the creature’s mouth. There were giant cantaloupes, T-bone steaks, ham hocks, and comically huge strawberries. Every one of them streamed into the beast’s mouth. Even though the spectators could merely watch the show, every academy student present launched collected loot from their phones. My phone vibrated again as the behemoth let out a loud belch.

The sky cleared, but the beast continued toward the school. I didn’t understand. Noah and I had spent the day making sure all of the loot was collected. He told me about every hiding spot, and we made sure we collected whatever wasn’t found by the other students. According to Noah’s program, all of that should have been enough to truly feed the beast.

“I don’t understand,” I said. “That should’ve done it.”

Amy glanced at me and rolled her eyes. “Noah’s probably holding back. He told me he wanted to show some of the school’s destruction to the audience.”

Sam shook her head. “Show-off.”

Just as before, the towering beast began cutting into the school with its spinning buzz saw. Sparks flew as chunks of the building fell away. I heard a few audience members gasp as large slabs of concrete seemed to hurtle toward them.

I glanced up at Noah just in time to see him tap his screen. I aimed my phone at him to see another line of loot stream away from his phone and toward the beast. The animated food items poured into the creature’s mouth just before another belch made my phone vibrate.

Then something new happened. The beast halted its attack. It pulled a large white napkin from out of nowhere and dabbed at the corners of its grinning mouth. Then it tossed the napkin away and broke into a dance.

I laughed as a thumping beat blasted from my phone’s speakers while the beast performed all the latest dance moves. It dabbed, flossed, and then went into a few routines that must not have gone viral enough for me to recognize.

The audience laughed and then erupted into cheers.

“Yeah!” I shouted as I joined in.

I caught Noah’s eye and gave him a thumbs-up. He grinned back at me and danced along with the towering beast. I laughed so hard, I nearly dropped my phone. Sam and Amy joined me as we danced along with him.

I was thrilled for my best friend’s success. He may not have become a reality star, but he was the star of this show!

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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First Aladdin paperback edition March 2021

Text copyright © 2021 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Cover illustration copyright © 2021 by Kevin Keele

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Cover designed by Heather Palisi

Interior designed by Mike Rosamilia

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Appleton, Victor, author.

Title: Augmented reality / Victor Appleton.

Description: First Aladdin hardcover edition. | New York : Aladdin, [2021] | Series: Tom Swift Inventors’ Academy ; 6 | Audience: Ages 8 to 12. | Summary: Tom Swift Inventors’ Academy is hosting an Invention Olympics, but Tom suspects that the crew filming a new reality show about the academy may be planning something nefarious.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020030069 (print) | LCCN 2020030070 (eBook) | ISBN 9781534468894 (paperback) | ISBN 9781534468900 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781534468917 (eBook)

Subjects: CYAC: