Monsters, Inc. Junior Novel

by Disney Book Group

  But before Sulley and Mike heard what else Dr. Frasenburger had to say, the TV set suddenly tipped forward. It fell onto the floor with a crash. A little girl’s familiar head peeked over the toppled set.

  “Uh-oh,” she said.

  “Aaaaah!” Mike and Sulley screamed. They jumped behind a chair. The little girl began to walk toward the terrified monsters.

  “It’s coming! It’s coming!” Mike cried fearfully. His voice was muffled by the snorkel tube that he was using to breathe through. Mike wasn’t taking any chances with kid germs. He’d placed a metal strainer over his eye and armed himself with a giant can of disinfectant spray.

  Sulley and Mike scrambled over to the window. Outside, helicopters circled Monstropolis, searching for the dangerous child. Mike yanked down the shade. They certainly didn’t want anyone to find out the kid was in their apartment.

  Just then the girl popped up from behind a chair and ran toward them, babbling happily.

  The monsters dodged out of the way. The girl reached up and tugged at the window shade, which flapped open. Peering out the window, the little girl waved at the helicopters.

  Mike grabbed a broom and used it to lift the child away from the window. As soon as he’d moved her, Mike quickly sprayed disinfectant on the spot where she’d been standing. But no sooner had the girl jumped off the broom than she discovered Mike’s CD collection. The CDs were arranged in neat little piles. The girl reached toward them.

  “No!” Mike cried. “Don’t touch those, you little—”

  The girl pulled a single CD from the middle of a tall pile. The entire stack collapsed.

  “Oh!” Mike moaned. “Those were alphabetized….” Mike lifted the strainer from his eye. “It’s all right,” he reassured himself. “As long as it doesn’t come near us, we’re gonna be okay.”

  Just then the little girl popped up next to Mike and sneezed on his arm.

  Mike screamed and began to wildly spray disinfectant at the spot where she’d sneezed. Unfortunately he had the can turned the wrong way. The spray hit him right in the eye. “Ahhh!” He screamed in pain.

  Meanwhile, the girl was creeping toward Sulley. He moved backward until he was pressed up against a chair next to the fireplace. Suddenly the child babbled and pointed to a teddy bear sitting on the mantel.

  Sulley grabbed the teddy bear. “Oh, here—you like this?” he asked. “Fetch.” He threw the teddy bear over the child’s head. She chased it.

  Mike, whose eye was bright red from the disinfectant, gasped when he saw the girl holding his bear. “That’s it!” he declared. He ran over and swiped the bear out of the little girl’s hands. “No one touches little Mikey!”

  The girl whimpered. Her eyes filled with tears.

  “Mike, give her the bear,” Sulley said in a cautious tone. But Mike held tight. The girl opened her mouth and…screamed!

  Mike and Sulley covered their ears. Suddenly the lights in the apartment flared up.

  Outside, the circling helicopters turned and began to fly in the direction of their apartment.

  Panicking, Mike dropped the teddy bear and ran to shut the window shade again. “Make it stop, Sulley!” he cried, peeking out the window.

  Sulley picked up the bear and offered it to the girl. “Here, see the bear? Nice bear.”

  But it was no use. She cried even harder. The lights continued to blaze. Desperately Sulley began to sing a song and make the bear dance.

  “Keep it up! You’re doing great!” Mike said. Slowly the girl stopped crying. The lights in the apartment returned to normal. The helicopters began to fly away. Sulley and Mike breathed a sigh of relief.

  But Sulley was still holding the bear, and now the little girl wanted it. She reached out, but it was high up in Sulley’s big hand. Frustrated, she began to cry again.

  “Sulley, the bear! Give it the—” Mike ran forward. Just then he hit a slick spot on the floor. “Whooooahh!” Mike flew into the air and landed in a garbage can.

  The little girl let out a big belly laugh. Suddenly all the lights in the entire apartment building surged even brighter than before. Then they burned out!

  “What was that?” Sulley asked when the girl stopped laughing.

  “I have no idea, but it would be really great if it didn’t do it again,” Mike replied. At this rate, the CDA would find them in no time. The little girl started to giggle again.

  “Shhhh,” Sulley said to the girl, putting a furry finger to his lips.

  Amazingly, the child seemed to understand. She held a tiny finger up to her own mouth. “Shhhh,” she said. She grinned at Sulley.

  A little while later, the girl was sitting on the living room floor, happily drawing pictures and munching pieces of cereal that Sulley tossed to her from across the room.

  Sulley, however, was not as happy. He sat in a chair with his head in his hands. “How could I be so stupid?” he asked. “This could destroy the company.”

  “Who cares about the company? What about us?” said Mike. “That thing is a killing machine!” He pointed to the tiny girl, who was now spinning in circles, shaking her pigtails from side to side.

  “La la la la la,” she sang.

  Mike shuddered. “I bet it’s just waiting for us to fall asleep and then…Wham! We’re easy prey, my friend. We’re sitting targets.”

  “Uh,” the toddler grunted, falling down on her bottom.

  Suddenly Mike snapped his fingers. He knew how to get them out of this mess! “Okay, look, I think I have a plan here,” he told Sulley. He took a piece of paper and began to draw. “Using mainly spoons, we dig a tunnel under the city and then release it into the wild.”

  Sulley looked at him. “Spoons,” he said in disbelief.

  Mike crumpled the paper and tossed it onto a pile of wadded-up plans. He put his head down on the desk. “That’s it. I’m out of ideas. Hot-air balloons—too expensive. Giant slingshot—too conspicuous. Enormous wooden horse—too Greek!” He sighed.

  Sulley looked down at the girl. She held up a drawing she’d made of herself and the big blue monster. Then she put her crayon down and yawned.

  “Uh, Mike, I think she’s getting tired,” Sulley said.

  “Well, then why don’t you find someplace for it to sleep while I think of a plan?” Mike snapped.

  Using pieces of cereal, Sulley led the girl into his bedroom. She followed him, picking up the cereal and popping it into her mouth with one hand. In the other hand she carried one of her drawings.

  Sulley spread sheets of newspaper on the floor and poured a small pile of cereal on them. “Okay,” he told the child. “I’m making a nice little area for you to—”

  The girl giggled. Sulley turned around and saw that she’d climbed onto his bed.

  Sulley ran to stop her. “Hey, that’s my bed. You’re gonna get your germs all over it.” But the girl wasn’t moving. “Ah, fine.” Sulley sighed. “My chair’s more comfortable anyway.” He started to leave the room.

  But before he could go, the little girl cried out and pointed nervously at the closet.

  “It’s just a closet,” Sulley told her. “Will you go to sleep?” The girl held up the drawing she’d made. Sulley looked at the paper.

  “Hey, that looks like Randall,” he said. Suddenly he realized that it was a picture of Randall. He must be the girl’s assigned monster! She thought Randall was going to come out of the closet and scare her.

  “Oh, boy,” said Sulley. “How do I explain this?” Sulley crossed over to the closet and opened the door. The little girl squealed and pulled the covers over her head.

  “No monster in here,” Sulley told her confidently. He stepped inside the closet. “Well, now there is. But I’m not gonna scare you. I’m off duty.”

  The girl peered into the closet. She wasn’t quite convinced.

  “Okay, how ’bout I sit here until you fall asleep?” Sulley suggested, pulling a cinder block up in front of the closet. He put his hands together and pretended they were a pillo
w. “Go ahead, go to sleep.” He made some snoring noises to encourage her.

  The girl giggled. Seconds later, she was fast asleep.

  Sulley heaved a sigh of relief. He looked at the little girl. She was actually kind of cute, he thought. He returned to the living room. “Hey, Mike. This might sound crazy, but I don’t think that kid’s dangerous,” he said.

  “Really?” Mike answered. “Well, in that case, let’s keep it. I always wanted a pet…that could kill me!”

  “Look,” Sulley said calmly, “what if we just put her back in her door?”

  “What?” Mike said. He looked at Sulley as if he’d lost his mind.

  “Think about it,” Sulley said. “If we send her back, it’s like it never happened. Everything goes back to normal.”

  “Tell me you’re joking,” Mike said. Sulley shook his head. Mike stared at his friend. Sulley had lost his mind. “That is a horrible idea!” Mike exclaimed. “What are we gonna do, march right out into public with that thing? Then I guess we just waltz right up to the factory, right?”

  Sulley nodded, lost in thought. He was already coming up with his own plan.

  First thing the next morning, Mike, Sulley, and the kid were marching through a crowded Monstropolis street. They’d disguised the girl in a purple monster costume made from the upholstery on Sulley’s living room chair. Sulley carried the little “monster” behind his back.

  “I can’t believe we are waltzing right up to the factory!” Mike exclaimed as they walked along. He yanked the child’s hood down lower on her head. “Sulley,” he begged his friend, “a mop, a couple of lights, and some chair fabric are not gonna fool anyone. Just think about a few names: Loch Ness, Bigfoot, the Abominable Snowman. They’ve all got one thing in common, pal—banishment! We could be next!” Even more than he feared kids, Mike feared being sent off to live in the human world.

  “Don’t panic. We can do this,” Sulley told him as they reached the Monsters, Inc. building.

  But inside the lobby, the two friends were in for a surprise—the place was crawling with CDA agents! The head agent was talking to Mr. Waternoose. As Mike and Sulley watched, he held up the charred remains of the duffel bag that Sulley had used to carry the girl into the restaurant. The Monsters, Inc. logo was printed on the side.

  “This was recovered at the scene,” the agent informed Waternoose.

  “Don’t panic. Don’t panic!” Sulley said through clenched teeth.

  “Don’t tell me not to panic!” Mike said out the side of his mouth.

  “Boo!” said the little girl. Somehow she’d gotten away—and she was headed straight for Waternoose! She tugged on one of his large crab legs.

  “Oh! Hello, little one!” Waternoose said, looking down and patting her on the head. “Where did you come from?” The costume worked! He thought she was a little monster!

  Sulley and Mike rushed over to him. Waternoose looked up at them. As he did, the hood of the girl’s costume fell off. Her face was showing! Mike and Sulley gulped.

  But Waternoose didn’t notice. “James!” he said to Sulley. “Why don’t you stop by the simulator after lunch today and give us a scare demonstration?” He wanted Sulley to show some new scare recruits what it took to be a top Scarer.

  “Oh, sir, uh, today might be a little—” Sulley started. But before he could finish, Waternoose was distracted by the CDA agent.

  “I’ll see you this afternoon, James,” Waternoose said, turning away.

  “Great,” Mike said sarcastically.

  Sulley picked up the girl, and the three started to leave. Just then a CDA agent passed them. His kid detector buzzed loudly.

  “Halt!” the agent cried. He grabbed an innocent monster who happened to be passing at the same time. While the agent was distracted, Mike and Sulley beat a hasty retreat to the locker room.

  “Come on! The coast is clear!” Mike whispered, peering around a row of lockers. Nervously the trio moved into the locker room.

  “Wait here while I get its card key,” Mike said in a low voice. He turned to head out the door.

  “But she can’t stay here,” Sulley said. “This is the men’s room.”

  Mike stopped and looked at his friend. “That is the weirdest thing you have ever said,” he told Sulley. “It’s fine! Look, it loves it here! It’s dancing with joy!”

  Sulley looked at the little girl in the monster costume. She was indeed doing a little dance.

  “I’ll be right back with its door key,” Mike said.

  As Mike left, the little girl kept dancing, holding the flippers of her costume close to her body.

  Sulley chuckled. “That’s a cute little dance. It almost looks like you’ve got to—”

  The hood of her costume fell back. The little girl’s face was scrunched up. Suddenly Sulley understood—she had to go to the bathroom.

  “Oh,” he said.

  While Sulley waited, the girl hummed cheerfully inside a bathroom stall. Finally the humming stopped. Sulley heard a flush. He waited for a moment, but she didn’t come out.

  “You’re finished, right?” Sulley called. He opened the door. But no one was in the stall!

  Sulley rushed to the toilet and looked at the water swirling down the drain. Had she fallen in? Just as he was about to jam his arm into the toilet bowl, he heard a laugh behind him. Sulley spun around.

  “Boo!” said the little girl. Whew! Sulley sighed with relief. She grinned and giggled. Then she took off down the row of stalls. She wanted to play hide-and-seek!

  Sulley watched as the child hid in a stall. “Where did she go?” Sulley said loudly, playing along. “Did she disappear? Did she turn invisible? I just have no idea.” He crossed over to where she’d hidden. “Gotcha!” he said, opening the door. But the stall was empty.

  The little girl peeked out from a stall two doors down. “Hey!” Sulley said. “You’re good!”

  Meanwhile, Mike was trying to charm Roz into giving him the card key for the little girl’s door. “Roz, my tender oozing blossom,” he said, leaning into her station. “You’re looking fabulous today. Is that a new haircut?”

  Roz looked back at him, expressionless.

  “Come on, tell me. That’s got to be a new haircut. New makeup? You’ve had a lift? You’ve had a tuck? You’ve had something?”

  Roz continued to stare at him.

  “Listen,” Mike said at last, “I need a favor. Randall was working late last night out on the Scare Floor. I really need the key for the door he was using.”

  “Well, isn’t that nice,” Roz said. “But guess what? You didn’t turn in your paperwork last night.”

  “He didn’t? You mean, I didn’t?” Mike said in surprise.

  “This office is now closed,” Roz said. She slammed the front panel of her desk shut—right on Mike’s fingers.

  “Aaahhh!” He squealed in pain.

  Mike returned to the locker room empty-handed, only to find Sulley crawling around the bathroom floor on his hands and knees.

  “Ready or not, here I come!” the big monster said, peering under the stalls.

  “What are you doing?” Mike asked.

  Sulley jumped to his feet. “Uh, I’m looking for the kid.”

  “You lost it?” Mike cried.

  “No, she was just…” Sulley started to explain. Just then the little girl ran up and clung to Sulley’s arm. “Here she is,” Sulley said, lifting the arm with the kid attached.

  The girl whimpered. “What’s the matter?” Sulley asked. But then he realized Randall had just entered the locker room! In a flash, the three ran into a stall and shut the door. A second later, Randall came into the bathroom.

  Fungus was right behind him. “Randall, what are we going to do about the child?” he asked in a worried whisper.

  “Shhh!” Randall said, grabbing Fungus’s chin and clamping his mouth shut. He looked around the locker room. Suddenly he disappeared!

  Slam! The door to a bathroom stall banged open. Slam! The next do
or opened. Randall was kicking in the doors to each of the stalls! Sulley, Mike, and the little girl crouched on the toilet in their stall, holding their breath.

  But just as Randall was about to kick in their door, Fungus popped up in front of him. He held up a newspaper. “It’s on the front page!” he exclaimed. “I did a simple calculation, factoring in the size of the sushi restaurant. The child may have survived!”

  “Well, until we know for sure, we’re gonna act like nothing happened,” Randall told Fungus. “You just get the machine up and running. I’ll take care of the kid. And when I find whoever let it out…they’re dead!”

  “They’re gone,” Sulley whispered as soon as Fungus and Randall left the bathroom. Suddenly there was a splash. Mike had fallen into the toilet.

  “Ewww,” said the little girl.

  But Mike wasn’t thinking about his wet feet. He was thinking about what Randall had said. “This is bad. This is so very bad,” he muttered as the trio hurried down the hall back to the Scare Floor.

  “What were they talking about? A machine?” Sulley wondered.

  “Who cares?” Mike answered him frantically.

  “Look, don’t panic,” Sulley told him. “All we have to do is call her door down and send her home.”

  When they reached the Scare Floor, Mike and Sulley whistled casually, trying to attract as little attention as possible. “You got her card key, right?” Sulley asked Mike out the corner of his mouth.

  “Of course I have her card key,” Mike lied. As they walked past a group of assistants, he reached out and stole a key from one of their folders.

  At their workstation, Mike slid the card into the slot. The rack above the Scare Floor powered up. Sulley and Mike waited nervously for the door to slide into position.

  “Take care of yourself. And try not to run through any more closets,” Sulley whispered to the little girl.

  A door landed in the station. Sulley blinked. “Mike, that’s not her door,” he said.

  “Of course it’s her door!” Mike said. He opened it. Yodeling came piping out.

  “No,” Sulley said. “Her door was white. And it had flowers on it.”