Furry smiled back. “Some of the dogs didn’t want to go,” he said. “And their owners weren’t too happy with me, either.”
Thankfully, the owners changed their tunes when Furry and Flo brought their pets back to them. Since no one recognized human Furry as the dog that had led their pets astray, the people treated the three of them like they were heroes. They thanked Curtis, Furry, and Flo for bringing their pets back safe and sound.
When Flo saw the golden retriever’s owner, she suddenly remembered where she’d seen him before. “Was that the dog you saved from getting hit by the taxi a while back?” Flo whispered.
“Yeah,” Furry said with a grin. “Rocky owed me a favor. We’re even now.”
Once the truck was empty and every dog was accounted for, Flo looked at her watch. They’d been gone from school for way too long. Uh-oh, she thought. We’re in major trouble.
“Um, Curtis,” Flo said. “Do you think you could give us a ride back to school?”
* * *
Back at Raimi Elementary, Furry snuck in through the front door, still holding his hall pass. Flo ran along the side of the school as quickly and quietly as possible. In moments she found the window to the nurse’s office and peeked in. The cot with the crinkled paper on it was just like she’d left it.
“Perfect,” Flo whispered. She set her lunchbox down for a moment and tried the window. It didn’t budge.
Uh-oh, she thought. She tried again and again, straining her muscles, but it was no use. The window was locked. When she looked up again, she saw Janice, the school nurse, standing in the window looking out at her.
Flo smiled and waved sheepishly. “Um, hi?” she said.
* * *
Flo got into a whole mess of trouble that night at home. The nurse had called her mom and told her all about Flo’s first-day disappearing act. As punishment for sneaking out, Flo wasn’t allowed to watch TV for a month.
“I’m really disappointed in you, Flo,” Mom said over dinner that night. “This is not the right way to start off at a new school. You know better.”
“I said I’m sorry, Mom,” Flo said, looking down and picking at her fish sticks. “I won’t do it again, I promise.”
“I know you won’t,” her mom said. “I just don’t understand why you felt the need to leave school in the middle of the day.”
Flo was quiet. She couldn’t tell her mom about the skeletons, or the Bone Talisman, or that Furry had been involved. Instead, she just shrugged. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “It was dumb.”
When Flo refused to explain why she’d left school, her mom sent her to her room. When she still wouldn’t talk, Mom sent Flo to do the laundry.
“When the load is washed and dried, you’ll fold it, put it away, and go to bed,” Mom said.
“But Mom, it’ll only be like seven o’clock!” Flo protested.
Her mom insisted and pointed to the door. Flo could tell from the look on her face that arguing wouldn’t get her anywhere, so she gathered up the dirty clothes and trudged down to the basement laundry room.
Thirty minutes later, Flo sat on top of one of the washing machines as it ran through the rinse cycle. She was angry at just about everything.
Stupid skeletons, stupid crack, stupid locked window, Flo thought. She wanted to tell her mom what had happened, but she knew she couldn’t. It was too dangerous for Mom or anyone to know about the crack. Plus, it was Furry’s secret to share, not hers.
Furry suddenly appeared in the doorway. “Hey,” he said. “Are you okay?”
Flo scowled. She didn’t feel like talking to anyone at the moment — not even her best friend.
“Did you get in trouble?” Furry asked. He wore only a pair of shorts and had the portal shard necklace around his neck. He held something behind his back.
Flo kept quiet.
“I’m really sorry,” Furry continued. “But at least we stopped them. It could’ve gotten ugly if those boneheads were tearing through the city. You know?”
“Yeah,” Flo muttered. “I guess. But couldn’t we have at least waited until after school? Then maybe my mom wouldn’t be so mad at me.”
Furry shrugged. “By then it might’ve been too late.”
Flo was quiet again. She stared at the floor.
“I brought you an orange Popsicle,” Furry said, pulling his hand out from behind his back. “It’s the last one.”
When Flo didn’t respond, he looked upset. “Are you mad at me?” he asked.
“No,” Flo said. “I’m just mad that it’s our job to keep the bad stuff out. I think it’s getting worse.”
Furry nodded. “Yeah. I sometimes think I should just go back to where I belong. Let the portal seal itself up.”
“No!” Flo cried. “You can’t!”
“I might have to,” Furry said. “If the portal stays open, who knows what will come out of there next! I’m making your world dangerous just by being here.”
“I know,” Flo said. “But still . . .”
Furry looked at Flo with his eyebrows raised.
“I don’t want you to go,” Flo whispered.
Furry opened his mouth to say something when a sharp CRACK! suddenly sounded from behind the dryers. The back wall glowed a brighter blue, and Furry and Flo exchanged a knowing look.
“Not again!” Flo cried. “We just got rid of the skeletons!” She hopped off the washing machine and headed for the crack. Furry followed, and together they squeezed into the space behind the dryers.
Flo gasped at what they saw. A skeletal hand reached up through the portal crack. But it didn’t seem to be trying to climb out. Instead, it simply held a folded piece of paper.
Furry and Flo just stared at it for a minute. Then Furry stepped forward.
“No,” Flo cried. “Don’t! It’s a trap!”
“No,” Furry said. “I think it’s a note.” He reached out and snatched the paper from the bony fingers. As soon as he did, the skeletal hand slipped back into the crack and disappeared. The blue glow faded a bit, and the crack seemed to shrink slightly.
Flo stood behind Furry as he unfolded the note. Over his shoulder, she read the five, short words scratched on the paper in messy black ink:
THE AUTHOR
Thomas Kingsley Troupe writes, makes movies, and works as a firefighter/EMT. He’s written many books for kids, including Legend of the Vampire and Mountain Bike Hero, and has two boys of his own. He likes zombies, bacon, orange Popsicles, and reading stories to his kids. Thomas currently lives in Woodbury, Minnesota, with his super cool family.
THE ILLUSTRATOR
Stephen Gilpin is the illustrator of several dozen children’s books and is currently working on a project he hopes will give him the ability to walk through walls — although he acknowledges there is still a lot of work to be done on this project. He currently lives in Hiawatha, Kansas, with his genius wife, Angie, and their kids.
THE BIG HAIRY SECRET
The two of them sat quietly for a few moments, then Furry spoke up. “Want to see something awesome?” he asked.
Flo didn’t want to seem too interested, but she did like things that were awesome. “Okay,” she said with a shrug. “I guess.”
Furry led Flo over to a cramped space behind the dryers. Rusty pipes ran overhead and lint balls covered the floor. Near the wall, a thin, blue line made a jagged slash across the floor. It almost seemed to be glowing.
“What is that?” Flo asked. She couldn’t pretend to be disinterested anymore. The blue line was pretty cool.
“It’s a crack in the floor,” Furry said.
“I see that. Why is it glowing?” Flo asked.
“How should I know?” Furry replied. He crouched down and leaned in close. The light shining from the crack bathed his face in an eerie blue light.
And just like that, Flo forgo
t all about the Popsicles.
Furry and Flo is published by
Capstone Young Readers
A Capstone Imprint
1710 Roe Crest Drive North Mankato, MN 56003
www.capstoneyoungreaders.com
Text and Illustrations © 2014 Stone Arch Books
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on the Library of Congress website.
Summary: When an army of skeletons come pouring out of the mysterious basement crack and start wreaking havoc, it’s up to Furry and Flo to deal with the undead army once and for all!
ISBN 978-1-4342-6397-1 (library binding)
ISBN 978-1-62370-048-5 (paper over board)
ISBN 978-1-4342-9245-2 (eBook pdf)
ISBN 978-1-62370-206-9 (eBook)
Artistic effects:
Shutterstock/Kataleks Studio Background Image
Book design by Hilary Wacholz
The Skeletons in City Park Page 4