by David Lubar
Riley, who seemed unaware he was being followed, walked past the last block of houses in town, turned off the main road, and headed down a narrow road with fields on one side and woods on the other.
“Maybe he lives in a tent,” Norbert said.
“Or a tunnel,” Andrea said.
It turned out she was right. Riley cut away from the road and headed into the woods, following a barely visible trail. About two hundred yards in, he knelt and lifted a flap that covered an entrance.
He went inside.
Norbert and Andrea exchanged glances. This was stranger than they’d expected, and a bit creepy. They both wanted to leave, but neither wanted to be the one who suggested they go back home. So they tiptoed to the edge of the hole, where a steep slope ran into the darkness beneath the ground, but they went no farther, at first.
Down below, they heard Riley say, “Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! I brought you a present.”
Curiosity beat caution. Norbert and Andrea each took a single step forward.
That turned out to be one step too far.
Slimy hands grabbed their ankles and yanked them into the tunnel. More hands grabbed them from all sides and carried them deeper under the ground. The darkness finally gave way to light when they entered a chamber where green, glowing moss coated the walls. Norbert and Andrea might have been happier if they hadn’t seen what awaited them.
Creatures the height of toddlers surrounded them. They looked like eyeless worms with three pairs of arms and one set of legs. Past them, dominating half of the cavern, a bug that looked like Riley, if Riley had been inflated to twenty times his size and painted with buckets of slime, stared down with five pairs of insect eyes above a mouth filled with tiny black teeth.
Beneath this monster an egg the size of a beach ball emerged with the sound of a shoe being pulled free of mud. Workers carried the egg to a pile of other eggs. The eggs all pulsed, as if eager to hatch.
“See, I do have a mom,” Riley said. “You were right, Norbert. She’s sitting on eggs. And I have lots of brothers and sisters.” Riley pointed to the creatures who were holding Norbert and Andrea. “They haven’t gone into their cocoons yet. When they come out, they’ll look like me.”
Norbert and Andrea were now too terrified to think. The creatures dragged them toward Riley’s mom, who opened her mouth, but not to speak.
“I love you, Mom,” Riley said. He tossed the carnation aside. “I hope you like what I brought.”
As the carnation hit the ground, Norbert and Andrea realized that the flower wasn’t the present. The flower was a trick to get them to follow Riley.
They were the present. And, ironically, that present had no future.
STARSCAPE BOOKS BY DAVID LUBAR
Novels
Emperor of the Universe
Flip
Hidden Talents
True Talents
Monsterrific Tales
Hyde and Shriek
The Vanishing Vampire
The Unwilling Witch
The Wavering Werewolf
The Gloomy Ghost
The Bully Bug
Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie series
My Rotten Life
Dead Guy Spy
Goop Soup
The Big Stink
Enter the Zombie
Story Collections
Attack of the Vampire Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales
The Battle of the Red Hot Pepper Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales
Beware the Ninja Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales
Check Out the Library Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales
The Curse of the Campfire Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales
In the Land of the Lawn Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales
Invasion of the Road Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales
Strikeout of the Bleacher Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales
Wipeout of the Wireless Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales
Teeny Weenies: The Boy Who Cried Wool and Other Stories
Teeny Weenies: The Eighth Octopus and Other Stories
Teeny Weenies: Freestyle Frenzy and Other Stories
Teeny Weenies: The Intergalactic Petting Zoo and Other Stories
Teeny Weenies: My Favorite President and Other Stories
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DAVID LUBAR credits his passion for short stories to his limited attention span and bad typing skills, though he has been known to sit still and peck at the keyboard long enough to write a novel or chapter book now and then, including Hidden Talents (an ALA Best Book for Young Adults) and My Rotten Life, which is currently under development for a cartoon series. He lives in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, with his amazing wife, and not too far from his amazing daughter. In his spare time, he takes naps on the couch. You can sign up for email updates here.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
BILL MAYER is absolutely amazing. Bill’s crazy creatures, characters, and comic creations have been sought after for magazine covers, countless articles, and even stamps for the U.S. Postal Service. He has won almost every illustration award known to man and even some known to fish. Bill and his wife live in Decatur, Georgia. They have a son and three grandsons. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Fishing for Pets
Pack Rats
Rising Waters
The Wish List
The Haunted Camp
Milk-Bottle Magic
Hat Trick
Cookies for Sam
Passed Over
Figured Out
Easter Boogey
The Invention of Mothers
Starscape Books by David Lubar
About the Author and Illustrator
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
FISHING FOR PETS AND OTHER STORIES
Copyright © 2020 by David Lubar
Illustrations copyright © Bill Mayer
All rights reserved.
A Starscape Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
120 Broadway
New York, NY 10271
www.tor-forge.com
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-18783-3 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-18784-0 (ebook)
eISBN 9781250187840
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].
First Edition: May 2020