Ghost: Mysterious Monsters (Book four)

by Slater, David Michael; Sorghienti, Mauro;

  MYSTERIOUS MONSTERS

  Book 4:

  Ghost

  For Mom and Dad

  Mysterious Monsters: Ghost

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, places, incidents, and dialogue are the product of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real, or if real, are used fictitiously. Unless otherwise intended, any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, either living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © April 2019 by David Michael Slater

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  For more information, to inquire about rights to this or other works, or to purchase copies for special educational, business, or sales promotional uses please write to:

  Corgi Bits is an imprint of Incorgnito Publishing Press

  A division of Market Management Group, LLC

  300 E. Bellevue Drive, Suite 208

  Pasadena, California 91101

  FIRST EDITION

  Printed in the United States of America

  ISBN: 978-1-944589-32-5

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  INTRODUCTION

  Ghost

  Dear Readers,

  Beware: This book may be haunted. At the very least, the story it contains might get under your skin. You should seriously consider putting it back where you found it and just walking away.

  Or has the Mattigan kids’ search for mysterious monsters taken over your lives the way a Sasquatch, an alien, and a vampire have taken over their basement? If so, I apologize, but there is still time for you to find a much safer story.

  How about one of those books you help create? That way, it can be all about five-foot-tall gummy bears, or labra-cocker-doodle-spaniel-poodles, or those stripy knee-socks with finger toes — if those are the kinds of things that float your boat. Because who needs to read about bedrooms full of tombstones or black shadows that leap into the bodies of innocent children?

  You do?

  Well, it’s your decision. I just hope you know what you’re doing.

  If you’ve met Maddie (12), Max (10), and Theo (8), then you know that they’ve been making all kinds of decisions — many, lately, without their father’s knowledge. Of course, that might be expected since they’re spending their summer vacation traveling around the country looking for mysterious monsters at the exact same time that he’s trying to prove they don’t exist.

  What could possess otherwise normal kids to seek out the sort of creatures that make the rest of us quake in our stripy knee-socks with finger toes?

  Discuss among yourselves.

  When you’re ready to leap in, you’ll find these mysteriously motivated Mattigans back in Portland after a rather creepy adventure in Louisiana. Right now, they’re having fun with their new (but super-secret) housemates.

  Well, two of them are having fun. The third is acting a bit odd. As a matter of fact, since the moment they got home, he hasn’t seemed quite himself.

  But you’ll discover that on your own.

  If you’re willing to risk it.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Fishing

  “Hand over your nine.”

  “How do you do that!” Max moaned, slapping a card down on the table. He slid it over to his sister, bitterly. “That’s three in a row!”

  “Maddie skills,” Maddie said, smiling.

  “Maddie luck,” Max grumbled.

  Max and Maddie were playing Go Fish with their new housemates in the latest secret room they’d set up — the Game Room. They were thinking that a library should be next, and why not? Max’s room was about to explode with books, so he needed more space anyway, and there were so many unused rooms in their enormous basement that nobody had ever bothered to count them. Best of all, their father almost never came down here.

  Maddie turned to the alien sitting across from her. His large, almond-shaped eyes blinked at her over his fanned-out cards. He’d ditched his military disguise in favor of the old track suits Maddie had found in her father’s closet. In this setting, he looked like a retiree in a rest home’s rec room — a retiree without a nose, anyway. “So, J-Rod,” Maddie said. “Let’s see. Any twos?”

  “I’m afraid not,” he said after glancing at his hand. “Sorry about that.”

  “Darn! And, you’re not the least bit sorry.”

  “As you Mattigans like to say,” J-Rod replied, “true story.” He smiled with his strange slit of a mouth and added, “Go fish.”

  When Maddie failed to fish her wish from the draw pile, J-Rod turned to the pale and upright figure in the fancy black suit seated next to him. “Dracula,” he said, “would you perhaps have a one?”

  “No vones!” the vampire triumphantly declared. He’d really taken to Go Fish. When J-Rod failed to fish his wish, Dracula looked at the biggest player at the table, the one so heavy he needed two chairs to sit on. “Qvatchy?” he began. “You have maybe a qveen?”

  Bigfoot looked down at his cards, but didn’t say anything. Then he looked up at Dracula with his dark brown eyes. Then he looked around at everyone else. Then he looked back at his cards again. They looked tiny in his massive paws.

  “Qvatchy,” Dracula urged. “If you have ze card, you must hand over ze card. Ze rulez is ze rulez.”

  Bigfoot let out a long, pained groan, but then he shook his huge head.

  “Okay,” Dracula sighed. “If you don’t have ze card, you don’t have ze card. I go feesh.”

  Max and Maddie looked at each other and smiled, still amazed that the Sasquatch was a million times smarter than they’d thought he was. J-Rod had figured it out while they’d been in New Orleans.

  “Look at zat!” Dracula cried, showing everyone the queen he’d picked out of the draw pile. “I feesh my weesh! I get anozer turn!”

  Bigfoot growled in annoyance.

  “Take zat, feesh opponents!” Dracula bragged, looking over his cards. After a moment, he looked up and asked, “Zeo, you have maybe a king?” Theo didn’t reply, so Dracula waited a moment and asked again.

  “Theo,” Maddie said, raising her voice when her youngest brother still didn’t respond. He was holding his cards, but doing that head tipping-back-and-forth thing people do when barely keeping themselves from nodding off. “Theo!” she shouted. When he finally looked at her, she said, “Why are you so tired?”

  “Cause it’s seven in the morning?” he muttered, maybe half awake now.

  “But you’re always up this early.”

  “Maybe I didn’t sleep very well last night?”

  “You’ve been sleeping through everything we’ve done since we got back from Louisiana. Have you not slept for three days?”

  “Maybe I have and maybe I haven’t. What are you, the sleep police?”

  “Maybe I am and maybe I’m not,” Maddie snapped. “You actually look kind of pale,” she added, getting up. She headed to his side for a closer look. “Are you feeling sick?”

  “I’m fine!” Theo protested when she put the back of her hand on his forehead.

  “Tell me what’s going on, Theo.”

  “I AM FINE!”

  “Now that you mention it,” J-Rod said, “his face does look a little bloodless.”

  At this, Bigfoot cocked a furry eyebrow toward Dracula.

  “Vaaat,” the vampire said, tossing his cards on the table and standing up to face Bigfoot, “is zat look supposed to
mean?”

  The Sasquatch shrugged and grunted, as if to say, Just sayin’.

  “I think Dracula is a little sensitive about the blood-sucking thing,” Maddie tried to explain to Bigfoot. “He did take his cure, after all.”

  “Maybe ze boy is allergic to hairy rugs!” the vampire roared.

  “Goooooaaar!” Bigfoot growled, standing up to face Dracula himself — all eight feet of him. His cards fell to the table as he did so.

  “Alright everyone,” J-Rod said, also standing up. “No need to argue. Let’s just keep Go Fishing.”

  “Ah ha!” Max cried, jumping to his feet. He pointed to a queen revealed among the Sasquatch’s cards.

  “Ruh oh,” Bigfoot grunted.

  “Ze hairy rug did have a qveen!” Dracula gasped, reaching for the card. Bigfoot grabbed it first, though, and held it up over his head. The vampire jumped up and down to get at it, but, tall as he was, there was no way he could reach it.

  “That was a serious violation of the rules,” J-Rod shouted over the Sasquatch’s grunts and growls and the vampire’s shouts, “but I don’t think violence is the answer!”

  “Monsters,” Max sighed.

  “Theo,” Maddie said, ignoring all of the chaos, “you can’t be falling asleep all the time. It’s not —”

  “I MISS MY MOTHER, OKAY?”

  At this, the chaos in the room suddenly ceased. Dracula and Bigfoot stopped fighting over the card. Then, unsure what to do, they both sat down.

  “Theo,” said Maddie, taken off-guard, “of course, you do. We all do. But…” She didn’t know what else to say, so she sat down, too.

  “But she’s been gone for two years,” Max said, taking his seat, as well.

  “I know,” Theo sighed, slumping into his chair with his eyes still half-closed. “Don’t you think I know?”

  There were a long few moments during which no one said anything.

  Finally, J-Rod said, “You Mattigans are not alone. I miss my mother, too. And my father, for that matter. Of course, I never knew either one of them. At least, I don’t think I did.”

  Theo’s eyes still looked heavy, but at least interested now. “I guess I shouldn’t complain so much,” he admitted.

  “Vait,” Dracula said, looking more than just interested. “You, too, Vrody?” he asked. “You do not know your parents?”

  At this, Bigfoot let out a howl and pounded the table.

  “Vat? Not you, too, Qvatchy?”

  Bigfoot nodded vigorously.

  “But, how is zis pozzible?”

  “What does it mean?” Max and Maddie asked at the same time.

  “I’m not sure,” J-Rod said. “But I’ve just decided right here and now that, even though I’ve had no luck so far investigating my own background, I am going to find all our parents.”

  “Even our Mom?” Theo asked, his eyes actually opening wide for a moment.

  “Absolut—” J-Rod started to say, but his cell, which was sitting on the table, began flashing a bright red light. “Red alert!” he cried, jumping back to his feet.

  “What does that mean?” the kids asked, jumping to their feet, too.

  “It means we know where your father is! He’s coming downstairs!”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Motel Mattigan

  “Stay calm,” J-Rod whispered, but Bigfoot couldn’t help himself. He tossed the game table aside like it was made of paper. Then, yelping way too loudly, and sounding quite a bit like a frightened little girl (an eight-foot-tall little girl covered in fur, anyway), he stomped out of the room with his long, hairy arms flailing dangerously about.

  Dracula turned into a bat and flew out right behind him.

  “It seems our evacuation procedures need some work,” J-Rod said to the kids. Then he hurried out, too.

  “Crikey,” Maddie whispered. “This is not good.” Her brothers just stared at her, offering nothing but wide-eyed… nothing.

  “Mattigan offspring?” Marcus called from somewhere in the basement.

  “Dad!” Maddie cried, realizing that they better do something, and fast. Something that didn’t involve staring at each other like a bunch of deer in headlights. She rushed out of the room, shouting, “We’ll come find you!” Her brothers were right behind her.

  “Is that you, Maddie?”

  They could hear him getting closer. Why was he in the basement?

  “We’re over here!” Max called as he ran. He had no plan in mind, except to get far away.

  But because the kids were panicking, and because the basement was a maze, they wound up running in a circle. They ended up in the hall outside their secret rooms. But there they saw J-Rod making his way through the exit at the end of it, the one leading into the woods of Forest Park. They hoped he was the last one out.

  “Offspring?”

  “Dad!” Maddie yelped, trying to catch her breath. Marcus was there. He’d found them. “What are you doing down here?”

  “What do you mean?” their dad asked. He was still in his robe with his un-brushed Mattigan hair looking even crazier than normal. A mug of coffee steamed in his hand.

  “I — I mean,” Maddie said, “you just never come down here.”

  “Why are you guys running around down here?” Marcus asked back. “Who knows what kind of creatures live in this crazy labyrinth. Did you see that bat?”

  “Yeah, scary!” Maddie said, though she realized it was a mistake right away.

  “Well, I’ll find a broom or hockey stick or something down here and — ”

  “Don’t!” Max cried. “I mean, don’t bother — it flew out the door.”

  “Oh, good,” Marcus said. “I was worried for a second it was the vampire from New Orleans.” He laughed, but stopped when he saw everyone’s faces go pale. “What?” he asked. “You all look like you’ve seen a ghost. Which brings me to the point,” he added without waiting for an explanation. “I saw Theo’s blanket at the top of the basement steps and figured you might be down here. Why are you playing down here? You could get lost and starve to death!” Marcus was joking again, but he looked like he wanted to know the answer.

  Max and Maddie, however, had barely heard anything after the part about Theo dropping his blanket on the steps. Both regretted making him feel better about carrying it around again. They glared at their little brother to show their outrage at his carelessness, but he didn’t notice since he appeared to be falling asleep on his feet.

  “Hello?” Marcus prodded.

  “This new case,” Maddie said, turning back to her dad. “Can we go upstairs and talk about it? Right away? We want to know all about it.”

  “Is something wrong, Theo?” Marcus suddenly asked, finally noticing his youngest son standing there with his eyes closed. “Theo?”

  “He’s — tired,” Maddie said. “Didn’t sleep well last night.”

  “Alright, then. Let’s go up and talk. You won’t believe this one. It’s about a kid who supposedly summoned a ghost. Right here in Oregon, actually.”

  “We’re in!” Theo shouted. His eyes had jolted wide. He finally looked awake and alive. “Let’s go!” he cried, sounding like it was the most important thing in the world to him. “Let’s take the case!”

  Max and Maddie looked at Theo hard, both trying to show him that he was doing the right thing, but overdoing it. A lot.

  “I guess we have one vote,” Marcus said. “Come on. I’ll show you what’s happening.” He turned and took exactly one step, but then he stopped. “What’s that?” he asked, pointing to what was clearly the tip of a branch sticking out from under Bigfoot’s door.

  “That? Nothing,” Maddie said. “Let’s go check out this ghost kid before Theo’s head explodes. He’s big into ghosts lately. He’s like ghost-crazy. He’s—”

  “Humph.”

  Ignoring this, Marcus moved to open the door, but Max stepped in front of him. “It’s totally nothin
g, Dad,” he said. “We all really want to hear about this ghost thing. There’s been too much ghost-believing lately in our world. And Marcus Mattigan, professional skeptic, needs to do something about it.”

  “You guys are up to something,” Marcus said. “Or I’m not the host of Monstrous Lies with Marcus Mattigan.” He was smiling again, but he was also going to open that door. He gently moved Max aside and did just that.

  “What in the world?”

  “We can explain,” Maddie said. Her stomach was twisting in knots, the way it did whenever she lied.

  “Please do,” Marcus said. He was looking around the room, amazed to see that it was filled with hundreds of pounds of branches and leaves.

  “Um—” Maddie said. She had nothing.

  “Nature room,” Max said.

  “Nature room?” Marcus repeated.

  “Yeah, nature room. For visitors.” Max said this even though he wasn’t entirely sure what it meant.

  “For visitors,” Marcus said, sounding skeptical.

  “Yes!” Max confirmed, waiting for the idea to finish taking shape in his head. Finally, it did. “We’re setting up a — resort down here. Come look at the other rooms.”

  “What’s that?” Marcus was now pointing to a rather large patch of brown fur buried in the branches and leaves.

  “That’s just a rug,” Maddie said, only now realizing that Bigfoot had not gone out into the woods. “In case anyone wants to nap. In nature. Indoor nature.”

  “Is it moving?”

  “No!” Max scoffed. “That’s just the wind.”

  “The wind? Wait — what’s this?” Marcus had noticed, just inside the door, a huge stack of magazines. He stepped inside to pick one off the top and discovered it was one of those ridiculous tabloids that printed the kind of “news” he was always trying to prove was fake. He used them to research the latest hoaxes. The headline on the magazine he’d grabbed was “Orphanage Hiding Vicious Shark-Baby.” He showed it to Max and Maddie, and waited for the explanation.

  “You know,” Max said, shrugging. “Guests. They get bored, right? And you have so many of those magazines. We didn’t think you’d mind.” But he was thinking that they were going to have to do something about Bigfoot’s obsession with those tabloids.