He got smaller and smaller. The Thieving Wench melted into the clouds.
9
CHANGES
For a long time, everyone stood staring at the sky.
“The ghosts are gone!” breathed Olivia.
“Yes,” said Otto.
The others ran up to congratulate them. Everyone jumped in the air with joy. Only Otto seemed glum.
“What’s with you?” asked Olivia. “Your plan worked, didn’t it?”
“Yeah,” said Otto. “But it took both of us to move the switch. You pulled me off the moving floor. And if you hadn’t found me in the Mirror Maze, I’d still be there. I couldn’t have done any of this without you.”
There was a long pause. Finally, Otto cried, “I hate you!” And he ran out of the park as fast as he could go!
The next few days were troublesome ones for the folks in Boogle Bay. Otto wasn’t talking to Olivia. Olivia wasn’t talking to Otto. But they were both talking to everybody else about each other.
Just when people thought they’d had about all they could take, Uncle Tooth knocked on the door of Otto’s Monster Clubhouse.
“May I come in?” he asked.
“Sure,” said Otto.
“I thought it was for members only,” said Uncle Tooth.
“You can come in,” said Otto.
Uncle Tooth crawled inside. “I see.”
He sat next to Otto. “There’s plenty of room for two in here,” said Uncle Tooth.
“You know, before Olivia came to Boogle Bay, we used to do things—just the two of us.”
“Yeah. Wasn’t that great?” said Otto. “Now she’s always butting in!”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Uncle Tooth went on. “Maybe if Olivia felt more included, she wouldn’t hang around us all the time.”
“I don’t get it,” said Otto.
“I mean, she’d probably want some time to herself, once in a while.”
“I doubt it,” Otto replied. “I’ll bet if we included her, we’d never get rid of her!”
“You might be surprised,” said Uncle Tooth. He got to his feet. “Well, listen, think about what I said. I’ll be over at Auntie Hick’s if you need me.”
“Thanks,” said Otto.
Otto sat and thought for a while. It was kind of difficult having a monster club all by himself. He couldn’t ask Ducky Doodle to join. Doodle was too much of a scaredy-cat. His other friend, Quentin Quack, was away for the summer. That left only Olivia. He had to admit, she had guts! “And I’d still be president!” thought Otto.
An hour later, Otto came around to Auntie Hick’s store.
“Olivia’s up in her room,” Auntie Hick told him.
Otto went upstairs and knocked on the door.
“I don’t want to talk to you,” Olivia said.
“Listen—I’m sorry. Okay?” said Otto. “I really want you to have this.”
Otto handed her an envelope.
“What’s this?”
“Open it.”
Inside was an official membership card for Otto’s Monster Club.
“Wow!” cried Olivia. “Can I really be in it?”
“Uh-huh,” said Otto. “If you want to.”
“We could call it Otto and Olivia’s Monster Club,” said Olivia.
“No, we couldn’t … I mean, I’ll think about it,” said Otto.
“Okay, I’ll join! Can we hunt for monsters right now?”
“Sure,” said Otto.
They hurried downstairs. Sedley Mether was there, talking to Auntie Hick and Uncle Tooth.
“Guess what?” he said. “I’ve just bought Laugh in the Dark. I’m going to advertise it as Boogle Bay’s genuine haunted house—home of an actual ghost sighting!”
“Cool!” said Otto. “Well, we have to go.”
“Where are you off to that’s so important?” asked Uncle Tooth.
“It’s Top Secret,” Olivia replied. She and Otto giggled and raced out the door.
The next day, Otto, Olivia, and Uncle Tooth all went to Playland together.
Sedley Mether was hawking T-shirts that said, I’VE LAUGHED IN THE DARK.
Uncle Tooth bought two. One for Otto. One for Olivia.
Today, the sun was shining in a cloudless sky. The ghosts seemed very far away. But Otto knew that if it wasn’t ghosts, it could be vampires. If not vampires, werewolves. Around every corner was a monster waiting to be discovered.
He and his partner, Olivia, would hunt them down and expose them.
They were the Monster Club!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Geoffrey Hayes grew up in San Francisco, where he still lives. When he was a boy, Geoffrey and his brother Rory made up stories about their collection of stuffed animals.
When Geoffrey got older, he put some of these stories into books, like the one you’ve just read.
So far, he has written over thirty books for young readers.
When he isn’t writing, Geoffrey likes to dance, go to movies, and play games on his computer.
House of the Horrible Ghosts Page 3