by P. J. Night
“Rocko’s a big dog, but he’s nothing to be afraid of,” Mrs. Marcuzzi said to the girls. “You know that, Maggie.”
“Mom, have you seen Rocko’s teeth?” Maggie argued. “They’re huge. And he’s all slobbery. Besides, we didn’t know it was only Rocko.”
“Yeah,” added Laurel. “What if it was the—the Marked Monster?”
As Mrs. Marcuzzi laughed again, Brittany shot Laurel a dirty look. This time, Jenna was with Brittany. Laurel should’ve known better than to say that. Now Mrs. Marcuzzi was going to go all Mom on them.
“The Marked Monster! Are those stories still going around?” Mrs. Marcuzzi said, shaking her head. “I haven’t thought about the Marked Monster in ages.”
“It’s just a stupid story Jenna told,” Brittany said.
“What do you know about the Marked Monster, Mrs. M.?” Jenna asked.
“Maybe I’ll tell you girls over breakfast,” Mrs. Marcuzzi replied. “But I don’t see any reason to scare you more than you already are.”
Suddenly everyone heard a loud thud from outside, and the sound of Mr. Marcuzzi shouting. With a look of alarm, Mrs. Marcuzzi ran over to the window, with the girls following right behind her.
Mr. Marcuzzi had fallen backward in the mud, and Rocko had jumped up on him and was covering his face with slobbery dog kisses!
“Oh no. This is not good,” Mrs. Marcuzzi said, but even she had to laugh. Maggie and her mom had the same loud, infectious laugh—just like they had the same dark, curly hair—and the sound always made Jenna laugh even harder. “Maggie, I’m going to go outside and help your dad. I think this calls for some hot chocolate—what do you think, girls? Sound good?”
“I’m on it,” Maggie said through her giggles. “Come on—we have marshmallows and whipped cream!”
“What’s going on?” Maggie’s little sister, Sarah, asked from the hallway as she rubbed her eyes sleepily.
“Nothing. Go back to bed,” Maggie said rudely as she walked right past Sarah.
“Rocko got out and scared your sister and her friends,” Mrs. Marcuzzi explained, “so Daddy’s trying to put him on a leash and take him home. But Maggie is right. You need to go back to bed, sweetie.”
“Well, I was in bed, but they woke me up,” Sarah complained. “Now I can’t sleep.”
Mrs. Marcuzzi sighed. “Go to the kitchen,” she said. “The girls are going to make some hot chocolate. A cup of warm milk will help you get back to sleep.”
Sarah flashed Maggie a smug grin as she joined the rest of the girls in the hallway.
“Mom. No,” Maggie said firmly. “You promised. This is my sleepover. Sarah is not allowed to crash it!”
“It’s just five minutes,” Mrs. Marcuzzi said. “I’ve got to go out to help your father with that dog. Go. And don’t fight.”
Maggie sighed heavily as she stormed off to the kitchen. Jenna followed behind her, smiling a little at Sarah as she passed her. As usual, Jenna felt torn when Maggie and Sarah started fighting. On the one hand, Maggie was Jenna’s best friend, so of course she was always going to take her side—no matter what.
But on the other hand, Jenna was a little sister too—so she knew where Sarah was coming from. Jenna’s big brother, Jason, was always ordering Jenna to go to her room or stop bugging him, even if she was minding her own business, like reading a magazine in the living room while he played video games with his friends. It was totally unfair, but at this point, Jenna was used to it.
Besides, it wasn’t like she had some burning desire to play Alien Robot Kung Fu Attackers with Jason and the guys. Jenna imagined it had to be even worse for Sarah, who would obviously love to get her nails painted and hang out with the older girls at the sleepover.
But if Maggie didn’t want Sarah around, Jenna wasn’t going to argue with her about it. That wouldn’t stop Jenna from giving Sarah some marshmallows from her hot chocolate, though. She could do that much, at least.
In the kitchen, Maggie got out a large glass pitcher and filled it with milk. Then she started heating it in the microwave while she searched for the hot chocolate mix in the pantry. “Got it!” she finally announced. “Jenna? Can you get the whipped cream out of the fridge?”
“Sure thing,” Jenna replied.
Sarah perched on one of the tall stools at the island in the middle of the kitchen. “I want marshmallows and whipped cream on my hot chocolate!” she announced.
“Well, you’re not getting them,” Maggie said as the microwave beeped. She pulled the pitcher of hot milk out and poured some into a mug. “I believe Mom said that some ‘warm milk’—not hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows—would help you get back to sleep.”
As Brittany started to giggle, a look of outrage crossed Sarah’s face.
“Oh, who cares, Maggie?” Jenna asked quickly as she dumped a spoonful of chocolate powder into Sarah’s mug. Then she leaned over and whispered into Maggie’s ear, “Don’t give her a reason to make a scene and get your mom all mad at us.” Maggie just nodded, but Jenna could tell that she saw her point.
The rest of the girls loaded up their hot chocolate with marshmallows and whipped cream, just as Mr. and Mrs. Marcuzzi walked back in the front door.
“I swear, if they don’t fix their fence soon—” Mr. Marcuzzi was saying.
“Well, it was the right thing to do, bringing Rocko back,” interrupted Mrs. Marcuzzi. “It’s not safe for a dog to wander around in the middle of the night like that. What if he got hit by a car?”
“Maybe they could fix their fence already,” Mr. Marcuzzi said, walking into the kitchen with Mrs. Marcuzzi. Jenna tried not to smile at the mud that was splattered all over his clothes. “Then Rocko wouldn’t get out at all.”
“Hey, Dad,” Maggie called out. “You want some hot chocolate?”
“Uh, no thanks, kiddo,” Mr. Marcuzzi replied. “Shouldn’t you girls be getting back to bed?”
“Yeah, we will,” Maggie replied. “We just wanted to make sure you got Rocko home and everything.”
“And didn’t get caught by the Marked Monster!” cracked Brittany.
“The Marked Monster?” asked Sarah, perking up. “What’s that?”
“It’s nothing,” Mrs. Marcuzzi, giving the older girls a look that told them to keep quiet. “Sarah. Back to bed. Now.”
“But I—”
“Now.”
Still grumbling, Sarah slid off the stool and trudged back to her room. When Mrs. Marcuzzi’s voice sounded like that, nobody argued with her.
“The rest of you, try to keep it down, okay?” Mrs. Marcuzzi asked with a smile. “You don’t have to go to sleep, but you can’t keep everyone else up.”
“Yes, Mrs. Marcuzzi,” Maggie’s friends replied in unison.
“Let’s go up to my room,” Maggie said. “We can finish our hot chocolate there.” The other girls followed Maggie up the stairs and through the hall to her bedroom.
“So what do you want to do now?” Laurel asked. “More scary stories?”
“No, I’m sick of scary stories,” Brittany said. “How about we—”
“Jenna! Your arm!” Maggie suddenly exclaimed.
Everyone turned to stare at Jenna’s arm. Bright red blood was soaking through the sleeve of Maggie’s T-shirt.
“Oh no! I’m sorry, Maggie!” Jenna exclaimed. “I didn’t realize it had started bleeding again. Ugh, look at all this blood on your shirt!”
“Don’t worry about it,” Maggie said. “Brit, where’s the first-aid kit?”
“I left it downstairs,” Brittany replied. “I guess you needed that Band-Aid after all, Jenna. I’ll go grab some.”
“Yeah,” Jenna replied. “I guess so.” She twisted her neck to get a better look at the cut. It had started throbbing again as blood oozed down her arm, and the smell of the blood—thick, with a metallic tang—filled Jenna’s nose.
She wasn’t usually the type to get grossed out by the sight of blood. But this cut wasn’t usual, either. It was al
most like it could stop—and start—bleeding at will. Jenna’s blood started to clot; she could see it in glob form, thick and gelatinous. It would quiver if she touched it.
She closed her eyes.
“Jenna?” Laurel’s voice sounded very far away.
“Jenna! You should sit!” Maggie said urgently, pushing Jenna down onto the bed. “Are you okay?”
Jenna shook her head, as if to clear it. “Sorry. I just got kind of light-headed there for a second.”
When Brittany returned, she didn’t say anything as she carefully placed a square of sterile gauze over the cut and wrapped it with medical tape. “There,” she said, examining her work. “That should help.”
“Thanks,” Jenna replied, grateful for Brittany’s take-charge attitude.
“You should take it easy,” Brittany said seriously. “Just rest and relax so that your cut will stop bleeding.”
“Weird cut, huh?” Jenna said, looking at the bandage. “It didn’t seem like a big deal.”
“Yeah,” Brittany agreed. “It must be deeper than it looks. Or maybe that’s just what happens when you get marked by the Marked Monster!”
Brittany said that last part in such a funny, spooky-sounding voice that everyone started to laugh.
“Oh, because of the claw, you mean?” Jenna asked, suddenly feeling anxious, but forcing herself to laugh too. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I guess I did get marked by the Marked Monster!”
Brittany turned back to the other girls. “We should watch another movie now,” she announced. “So that Jenna can chill and hopefully this cut can stop bleeding already. We wouldn’t want the Marked Monster lured here by the smell of blood!”
“Gross,” Maggie said, wrinkling up her nose. “No offense, Jenna. You know I love you, even when your arm starts bleeding all over my shirt.”
“I’m really sorry about that,” Jenna said again.
“Jenna! Forget it. I’m just messing with you,” replied Maggie.
“I’m ready for a movie,” Laurel spoke up.
“Don’t think that watching a movie now will get you out of Truth or Dare later,” Brittany said, waggling her finger in Laurel’s direction. Everyone laughed again; it was no secret that shy Laurel hated Truth or Dare. She could never decide between picking a dare or promising to tell the truth—probably because she knew that Brittany saved the worst dares and questions just for her.
“I’m ready for a movie too,” Jenna spoke up, grinning at her friends. She knew the goofy comedy Maggie had rented would be just the thing to take her mind off that stupid cut.
And the creepy feeling she got whenever she thought about the way that huge, growling dog had shown up right after she got it.
And the way she’d felt a cold wave of fear when Brittany said that she had been marked … marked by the Marked Monster.
A few hours later, everyone else was asleep.
Everyone except Jenna.
She lay on the floor, in her aqua sleeping bag, with her favorite pillow scrunched under her head, and listened to the stillness of the house. It was always so strange, the sounds an unfamiliar house made in the middle of the night—soft clicks and sighs, the rattle of the radiators as hot water gurgled through them, the humming of the fridge as it kicked into a cold-air cycle. Quiet sounds that Jenna never noticed during the day, or at her own house.
But now, in the middle of the night, with everyone else fast asleep, those noises seemed louder than ever.
Jenna sighed quietly and tried to roll onto her left side—but a burning pain in her arm immediately reminded her why that wasn’t an option. For her entire life she’d been sleeping on her left side. And now she couldn’t, all thanks to that stupid scratch from that stupid claw. Jenna was starting to wish she’d never found the stupid thing.
It was official: She couldn’t sleep. Jenna decided to close her eyes and count backward from one hundred. It had worked before, when she found herself sleepless in the middle of the night. Maybe it would work tonight.
One hundred, she thought.
Ninety-nine.
Ninety-eight.
Ninety—
No warning for it, but the feeling of falling so fast that screaming wasn’t an option, because there was no air left in her lungs—
Wait. Where am I?
It is so dark here.
And so quiet.
Nothing moves, not the grass, not the leaves, not even my—
What was that?
Eyes watching.
Waiting.
Run away.
Run, Jenna, run, run, run!
But she was falling again, falling down and—and—
It was a mouth, a wide-open mouth, waiting to catch her, with fangs that would pierce and teeth that would rip, and oh, it’s going to hurt me. Someone help me! Anyone? Anyone?
The sound of her own voice, screaming, shattered the thin veil between dream and reality, so that Jenna, in her terror, could no longer tell which was which. The only thing she knew was that the danger was pressing down on her, and that she could not escape.
It had marked her as its very own.
Strong hands grabbed Jenna’s shoulders and shook her; shook her hard. She could hear voices, calling her name—distantly, at first; and then closer—right in her ears—
“Jenna! Jenna, wake up!”
Jenna opened her eyes and immediately closed them again. The overhead light was on, and it seemed … unnaturally bright. Blinding, even.
“Jenna!” Maggie said in an urgent whisper. “Wake up!”
Again, the hands shaking her shoulders, ripping her out of the dream and bringing her back to a familiar place. A safe place.
Jenna took a deep breath and opened her eyes.
Three pairs of eyes stared back at her, all filled with concern. And … fear?
As she exhaled, Jenna pushed herself up on shaky arms. “I’m sorry,” she said with a waver in her voice. “What happened? I had some kind of … nightmare, I think….”
“Yeah, you just started screaming, and it was really freaky,” Maggie said in a rush. “You know how deeply you sleep—”
Jenna nodded. It was an old joke that she could sleep through just about anything—thunderstorms, fireworks, even an earthquake when her family went to California for a vacation one summer.
“Well, it was really hard to wake you up,” Maggie finished. She glanced over her shoulder at the door. “I’m kind of expecting my mom to charge in here any second now.”
“That bad?” Jenna asked, grimacing.
No one said anything, but from the looks on their faces, Jenna could figure out the answer to her question.
“Jenna?” Laurel asked. “Do you … remember? What you were dreaming about?”
A frown flickered across Jenna’s face. “Oh. It was so stupid,” she began, taking another deep breath in hopes of quieting her pounding heart. She forced herself to laugh. “Guys, I had a dream about … the Marked Monster!”
She laughed again, but no one else did.
“It’s kind of funny, actually,” she pressed on. “I don’t remember all of it, but I think I was back in the clearing in the woods—well, no, actually, I was falling, but at some point I was in the clearing, and then when I was falling again, it was like the Marked Monster was going to, I don’t know, catch me in its mouth or something. What’s up with that, right? Totally bizarre!”
Suddenly Brittany joined in Jenna’s laughter. “Jenna! You freaked yourself out with your own story!”
“No!” Jenna said. “I’m not freaked out. It was just a stupid dream.”
“I don’t know, Jenna,” Brittany teased, her blue-gray eyes twinkling with mischief. “You sound pretty scared to me.”
“Whatever. It was a scary nightmare, but I’m not scared now.”
“If you say so,” Brittany said in that same singsong voice she used whenever she teased people. It drove Jenna crazy—just as it had all the years she’d known Brittany. And in a sudden flash, Jenna was
willing to do just about anything to make Brittany shut up.
“Well, if I was scared, would I suggest we camp out in the clearing next weekend?” Jenna said loudly.
“Shhh!” Maggie whispered, glancing at the door again.
Jenna lowered her voice as she continued. “Seriously, guys, let’s do it! Let’s camp out in the clearing behind my house. We can solve the mystery of the Marked Monster once and for all!”
“What mystery?” Laurel asked.
“You know, if it exists or not,” Jenna said, and the more she spoke, the more excited she started to feel. “You heard Mrs. Marcuzzi. This story’s been around forever. We can camp out in the exact spot where I found the claw, and we’ll stay up all night and see if we can find the Marked Monster. Maybe Jason will let me borrow his camera!”
“Keep dreaming,” Maggie said with a laugh. Jenna rolled her eyes, even though Maggie was probably right. Jason never let her borrow his stuff—especially not the fancy video camera he’d gotten for his birthday.
“Forget Jason, we can just take a video with my cell phone if the Marked Monster shows up,” Brittany said, holding up her shiny pink phone.
Maggie and Jenna exchanged a smile as Maggie subtly flashed four fingers at Jenna. Brittany was the first one of their friends to get a cell phone; she mentioned her cell so often that Jenna and Maggie had started keeping track. This was the fourth time tonight.
“I’m in,” Maggie said.
“Really?” Laurel asked. “I don’t know about camping out, guys. Why don’t we just, like, sleep over at Jenna’s house?”
“Oh, Laurel, you’ll love it!” Jenna exclaimed. “We camp out every summer in this clearing behind my house that’s surrounded by these enormous pine trees. You, like, can’t even see civilization when you’re there. It’s awesome.”
“Yeah!” Maggie chimed in. “We roast marshmallows, and Jenna’s mom grills up the best hot dogs, and then we stay up really, really late and watch for shooting stars.”
“That does sound cool,” Laurel replied slowly. “It’s just … I’ve never been camping before. I don’t have any camping stuff.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Brittany announced. “You can borrow anything you need from me.”