Those must be Squirrel’s parents! Fisher realized. I almost forgot—he said they’re coordinating the festival. That’s why everything is so perfect.
Fisher then saw someone he’d never expected to see.
“We have to hide,” he told Ava in a panic, quickly taking the spare ghost sheet from Squirrel’s backpack and putting it on.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because my mom is here,” he explained, pointing toward the steps of Town Hall.
She was walking through the crowd, examining each child’s eyes behind their masks to see if it was him.
“Why are you so afraid of your mom?” Ava questioned.
“Because I’m supposed to be grounded—and she sort of hates Halloween,” Fisher explained. “I snuck out tonight to go trick-or-treating. If she finds me, she’ll kill me.”
The two of them navigated through the crowd, looking for any sign of the monsters.
“Maybe they went somewhere else,” Ava suggested.
“They have to be here,” Fisher said. “Their trail led right to Town Square.”
Just then, the mayor walked up to the microphone at the front of the stage.
“Good evening, boys and ghouls!” he addressed the crowd of young trick-or-treaters and their parents. “It’s now time to announce the winners of this year’s Halloween Games.”
Ava smiled.
“It’s trophy time,” she said, already moving toward the stage.
“Ava, wait a minute,” Fisher said, gripping her shoulder. “Do you smell that?”
She sniffed the air and cringed at the foul odor, killing the sweet autumn scent of pumpkins and candy.
“Sewage?” she whispered.
Fisher nodded. He looked around and pointed to the opened sewer lid in the middle of Main Street outside the barbershop.
Ava’s eyes widened.
The mayor continued, “In first place this year is—”
Just then, someone in the crowd screamed.
“Hey! Someone just stole my candy!”
Then another person shouted, “Me too!”
And another, “Yeah, me too!”
Fisher heard a familiar cackling, like a crazed birthday clown, echo through the stage speakers.
Champ! Fisher thought. His appetite is growing.
Fisher turned to look for Champ but stumbled into someone behind him.
He peered up through the eyeholes of his ghost sheet and froze.
His mom stared down at him, like the grim reaper searching for the next soul to harvest. She glanced down at his shoes, and her eyes widened in recognition.
“Fisher?” she said.
She reached down to lift the sheet. But before she could remove it, a bone-chilling grrraaaaagggghhhh sounded from the stage!
10
Festival of Horrors
Onstage, the dehydrated swamp creature slimed the mayor’s wife, who stumbled off the stage and onto a hay bale. He then picked up the mayor and threw him out into the crowd like a sack of potatoes.
The crowd gasped in horror and fled in all directions.
Fisher watched as the swamp creature jumped off the stage, guzzled up the water from the bobbing barrels, and then splashed into the historic fountain. After soaking up all the water, he shot an enormous amount of slime into the crowd, covering them with the stinging goo. Screams of pain filled the night.
After the creature ran out of ooze, the invisible candysnatcher gathered up the coins remaining at the bottom of the fountain and used them to empty the gumball machines in the nearby toy shop. He then chewed each gumball at a superhuman speed and stuck them on the ground so that they’d stick on the bottoms of people’s shoes, and he even put them in people’s hair.
Just as Fisher was about to run to help the innocent victims, the vegetarian vampire stampeded through the pavilion, feasting upon all the newly carved jack-o’-lanterns, gobbling up the apples from the bobbing barrels, and chomping up every corn cob in the corn maze.
All the while, Squirrel’s parents watched in horror as the community event they had spent an entire year planning fell apart. They had no idea their sensible, organized son was one of the monsters behind the chaos.
Fisher glanced at his mom, who watched the spectacle with a detached sense of horror. Knowing he didn’t have much time before her attention turned back to him, he grabbed Ava’s arm and escaped into the crowd.
His mom called after him, “Fisher! Come back! You don’t know what you’re getting into!”
There’s no turning back now, he decided. The Halloweeners—and the town—need my help.
“Your friends are nuts!” Ava said accusingly.
“Those aren’t my friends,” Fisher corrected her. “Those are something else. Champ, Pez, and Squirrel are trapped somewhere inside them.”
“What are we going to do?” Ava asked.
“We?” Fisher questioned.
“Yeah, we,” Ava said. “But only because you owe me a trophy.”
As the crowd fled into the nearby streets, Fisher heard an unnatural noise coming from the opposite direction. It was loud. And rhythmic. And the monsters heard it too, because they quickly stopped and perked their ears toward it.
“What’s that sound?” Fisher asked.
“It sounds like . . . music,” Ava said, perplexed.
In perfect synchronization, the monsters hurried away from the square and toward the edge of town, following after the music.
“Nothing’s on that side of town except for—”
Ava paused and looked at Fisher.
“Except for what?” he asked, afraid of the answer.
“The high school!” she shouted. “The monsters are going to the Halloween dance!”
11
School of Nightmares
Fisher and Ava pedaled through town, the wind whipping against their faces. The Hallows Eve moon was muffled by clouds hanging over the forest.
“What are we going to do once we catch your friends? I mean, the monsters,” Ava asked, her broomstick knocking back and forth like a pendulum on the back of her bike.
“I don’t know. But somehow, we have to warn everyone at the dance. The more the monsters eat, the bigger their appetites are becoming.”
As they traversed through the streets, Fisher saw candy wrappers scattered all over the ground, half-eaten pumpkins on every porch, and fire hydrants spraying from every corner.
When they arrived at the high school, they dropped their bikes in the parking lot and ran toward the building. They found the side door open and the chain and lock broken into pieces on the ground.
The monsters were already inside.
Fisher and Ava hurried after them. Once inside the school, they stopped to observe the mess already left behind by the monsters.
Dozens of lockers were open, with candy wrappers and veggie snacks scattered across the floor. Several water fountains had been flooded, creating large, slick puddles. Fisher noticed claw marks ripped across an advertisement for the all-night monster marathon taped to the wall, and he shook his head at the irony.
“These guys are fast,” Fisher said.
“They’re usually pretty slow,” Ava joked, nearly slipping in a puddle outside the boys’ locker room.
Right then, at the other end of the hall, the cafeteria doors swung open as if someone, or something, had just passed through them.
“Let’s split up,” Fisher suggested. “I’ll search the locker room, and you search the cafeteria.”
He handed her a walkie-talkie. She stared down at it like it was some alien device.
“Do you know how to use it?” he asked.
“Of course I know how to use it,” she said. “I . . . I just don’t know how to turn it on.”
Fisher smirked, then flipped the “on” switch.
“Keep it on channel nine. We can talk every thirty seconds, just so we know the other is okay.”
Ava nodded, and they both understood the other was afraid.
A few moments later, Fisher heard Ava’s voice buzz over his walkie-talkie.
“I found the vampire,” she whispered. “He’s in the cafeteria, eating the frozen vegetables out of the deep freeze. What should I do?”
“Just keep an eye on him,” Fisher called back. “Until I can think of a plan.”
“You don’t have a plan?” Ava questioned.
“Not yet,” he admitted.
“Well, you’d better come up with something fast, Sherlock. We’re already in way over our heads.”
Ava clicked off.
Cautiously, Fisher crept into the boys’ locker room. The showers were turned on, but the dehydrated creature was nowhere in sight. Fisher continued through a cloud of thick steam and opened the green door to the Olympic-size pool. As soon as he stepped into the pool area, he saw the creature sitting at the bottom of the deep end, absorbing all the water through his gills.
He’s going to drink up the entire pool, Fisher thought, quickly hiding behind a nearby trophy case.
He glanced out the window to the football stadium. A light was on in the concession stand, and candy boxes and soda were being flung around.
And there’s Champ!
Fisher soon noticed the wall above the trophy case, where a dozen framed photographs showcased the championship swim teams from the past decade. In each one, the same coach was standing with his arms crossed proudly beside his team.
That must be Pez’s dad, Fisher thought, glancing over at Pez. No wonder Pez feels so much pressure to win at everything.
Fisher pressed the talk button on his walkie-talkie, and informed Ava, “I found Pez—and Champ.”
“Now what?” she said. “The vampire has almost finished off all the frozen fruits and vegetables. We won’t be having Brussels sprouts for lunch on Monday.”
Fisher looked around and noticed the metal speaker panel on the wall next to him.
“Maybe I should try talking to them,” he told Ava. “Maybe Champ, Pez, and Squirrel can somehow still hear me.”
He opened the panel and pushed several buttons, trying to find the one that activated the microphone that connected to the school intercom. Before Ava could reply, music began blaring over the school intercom.
The swamp creature flinched and climbed out of the pool.
“What happened?” Ava’s voice called over the walkie-talkie.
“I think I hit the wrong button,” Fisher said. “I was trying to find the—”
“Umm, Fisher?” Ava interrupted. “Your vampire friend is looking right at me. His ears look all weird, kind of like those wild animals on the Discovery Channel right before they attack a helpless victim.”
“Uh-oh. Same with the swamp creature,” Fisher replied. “But . . . I think he’s just listening to the music. He’s standing at the edge of the pool, staring up at the speaker.”
Fisher glanced out the window, and no longer saw any movement in the concession stand. It appeared that Champ had gone off to find another candy stash.
Just then, the swamp creature exited the door on the opposite side of the pool.
Oh no! Fisher thought. He’s heading to find the music!
Before he could warn Ava, her voice called over the walkie-talkie, “Fisher, the vampire’s headed straight toward the dance. Meet me there before—”
A loud cackle jeered over the walkie-talkie.
Followed by a strange gurgling noise.
“Ava?!” Fisher yelled.
But there was no answer.
12
Monster Mash
As soon as Fisher stepped into the gym, he felt more afraid of the dancing teenagers than he was of the monsters. He could feel the costumed high schoolers glaring at him as he looked around for Ava. But she was nowhere in sight.
A giant banner stretched across the middle of the gym:
MHS HALLOWEEN DANCE
Onstage, a local band called the Cryptkeepers was playing Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” Behind them, the high school dance team—the Goaltenders—was dressed as zombies, doing the moves from the classic music video.
So this is what we’ll do on Halloween once we’re too old to go trick-or-treating? Fisher mused.
He looked around for his mom but didn’t see her anywhere.
Just as Vincent Price’s monologue began, Fisher felt someone tap on his shoulder.
He turned and was surprised to see . . .
“Ava!” he cried out, and hugged her. “I thought you were a goner.”
She pushed him away and held up her walkie-talkie.
“The batteries died. Next time, check them before our lives depend on them,” she said.
Fisher sighed, relieved. He didn’t want to admit it, but he had figured she was sloshing around in the belly of the vampire at that very moment.
Right then, the door next to the bleachers opened and three grotesque silhouettes appeared. Even though Champ was invisible, he still somehow cast a shadow over the gym floor.
“There they are!” Fisher said, pointing in their direction.
The swamp creature, the vegetarian vampire, and the invisible candysnatcher peered out over the crowd, covering their ears at the sound of the loud music.
“We have to get to the stage,” Fisher told Ava. “To warn everyone!”
“Looks like your friends are a step ahead of you,” Ava said, pointing toward the stage. The monsters were climbing up onto it in a hurried rage.
Just as the vampire and creature were about to push over the band’s speakers to stop the music, the song ended.
And a new one began.
The monsters then did something so unexpected, so strange, that Fisher was certain he was dreaming.
The monsters . . .
. . . began to dance.
They tapped their toes in unison, possessed by the music. As they hopped off the stage and swayed toward the center of the gym, the invisible candysnatcher grabbed a top hat, cane, and cloak from a freshman dressed as a magician and swung it over his shoulders. The makeshift costume floated in midair as he danced between the vampire and the creature.
“Are they . . . dancing?” Ava questioned, blinking twice to make sure her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her.
“Affirmative,” Fisher said, just as stunned as she was.
“What song is this anyway?” Ava asked.
“Are you kidding? It’s the ‘Monster Mash!’” said Fisher, who was a connoisseur of all things Halloween. “I thought you were supposed to know everything.”
“Everything except obscure Halloween songs,” she said. “Anyway, it looks like they like this one.”
Fisher watched as the monsters shook their heads from side to side and moved their hideous feet in synchronized motions. It looked like they had been practicing for months.
Soon, the crowd circled around them and began chanting “Mon-sters! Mon-sters! Mon-sters!” all while throwing their fists into the air.
“Wow, who are these guys?” Fisher overheard a teenage girl say nearby. She was dressed like Rey from Star Wars.
“What a great illusion,” her friend, a Lady Gaga look-alike, agreed.
“Yeah, their costumes are really amazing,” a third girl added.
Fisher watched as the vegetarian vampire attempted to do the Transylvania Twist, the swamp creature did the Wobblin’ Goblin, and the invisible candysnatcher seemed to be doing something like the moonwalk.
The entire crowd soon joined in.
“This can’t be happening,” Fisher whispered.
“Denial. It’s the first stage after experiencing trauma,” Ava said matter-of-factly.
Then Fisher noticed something.
In the far corner of the gym.
The climbing rope.
It hung from the ceiling like a limp noodle.
His eyes brewed with revelation.
“Come on,” he said to Ava. “I have an idea.”
They hurried to the nearby equipment closet and sorted through balls, mats, and weights. Fisher soon found the spare climbing rope coiled up in the corner. But just as he was about to drag it out of the closet, he saw his mom enter through the door across the gym and start talking to the principal.
Fisher quickly hid in the closet, hoping his mom hadn’t seen him.
She had a panicked look on her face as she spoke, and Fisher suspected she was explaining to the principal that she couldn’t chaperone the dance tonight because she had to keep looking for her son. Fisher then noticed that she was the only person in the gym—and probably in the whole town—who wasn’t wearing a costume.
Two teachers stepped in front of the closet and peered across the gym at his mom. Fisher overheard them.
“Can you believe she came back to town after all these years?” one teacher said to the other.
“I heard she got a divorce and had to move into her old family home,” the other teacher replied.
“That’s terrible,” the first teacher said. “Especially after what happened.”
After what happened? Fisher wondered.
Fisher watched as his mom left the gym, and part of him wanted to tell her he was okay.
“Are we going to do this or what?” Ava interrupted his trance.
“Sorry. Yeah, let’s move,” Fisher replied.
Together he and Ava dragged the thick climbing rope out of the closet and through the crowd to where the monsters were dancing.
“We have to at least act like we know what we’re doing so that we blend in,” Ava said, moving from side to side.
“But—I don’t know how to dance,” Fisher confessed.
“It’s easy. Just move around like this,” she said, then began gyrating her arms and legs like someone in a workout video.
Monsterstreet #2 Page 4