Howell rubbed his whiskers. “Dangle them over a pit of flaming sewage?”
“Nah,” Nurse Bilgewater said. “Too easy.”
“Make them sleep on the tower tonight during the thunderstorm?” Fronk said.
“Yeah. In metal pajamas,” Nurse Bilgewater said.
“I know,” Miss Threadbare said. “Have them serve food to the party guests.”
Mr. Howell elbowed Miss Threadbare. “Serve them as the food to the party guests, you mean.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE SUMMONING
“Aren’t they adorable!”
A giantess ballerina pinched Cody’s cheek.
“I love bunnies,” said a werewolf with an eye patch. “Soft and crunchy.”
The boys were all dressed as pink bunny rabbits. Miss Threadbare added bow ties as a special touch. They were stuck serving party food to the ghoulish guests.
“Why would monsters bother with costumes?” Mugsy muttered.
“Do your job, rodent.” Nurse Bilgewater gave Cody a kick. “Serve snacks!”
“Everyone, follow me for the Bowling with Skulls tournament,” Fronk yelled.
“Bobbing for rotten apples, this way,” Nurse Threadbare cried. “Beulah, keep an eye on those boys.”
“Figures I’d get stuck here babysitting you twerps,” Nurse Bilgewater said. She hopped up and down to get a better view of what was happening at the party. “It’s the gladiator fights. Big Bosephus challenges reigning champion, Immortal Mabel. Hot diggity!”
She cracked her knuckles, then glared at the boys. “What do I need to watch you for?” she said. “Come with me.” Bilgewater led them back inside and up to the infirmary, then locked them inside. “You can rot here, runts. I’m off to challenge the winner of the Bosephus-Mabel fight.”
Her footsteps died away.
“They can keep their stupid old party,” Cody muttered.
“Wish we could get back to Farley’s room,” Carlos said. “Our costumes are there, and there is some candy left.”
“Only the crummy stuff,” Ratface said.
Just then, something clinked onto the floor, just under the door. Ratface ran over to see. “It’s a key!” He picked it up and stuck it in the lock. “It works!”
“But who put it there?” Sully said.
Ratface looked up and down the hall. “I don’t see anybody.”
Rasputin scampered into the room and jumped up onto Cody’s shoulder.
“What are we waiting for?” Carlos said. They tiptoed through the halls to Farley’s room. Cody didn’t see much point in it. Why put on a silly vampire suit, when he was about to become a vampire?
They reached Farley’s room. Uncle Rastus sat in a different spot from where they’d left him. Weird.
They zipped off their bunny suits and put on their own monster costumes. Victor was an ancient Roman dude in a toga. Mugsy was a skeleton, Carlos was a Mad Hatter, Ratface was a pirate, and Sully was the Tin Man. Cody put his vampire suit on, complete with Farley’s cape.
“There’s still some candy corn here,” Mugsy said, pawing through the candy wrappings. “Ooh! And some butterscotch, and fire bombs, and the gross root beer ones. Come and get ’em!”
The other boys dived into the candy mess and started gobbling, but Cody didn’t have the heart for it. He just sat on Farley’s bed, feeling depressed. It was too late for his friends to save him. He knew it was. He was turning into a vampire, and he’d be a vampire forever. These might be his final moments of being a kid and not a monster. He felt too gloomy to try to enjoy them. What would his future be like? His eternal, deathless future . . . Because he’d never live a life, nor grow old and die. He’d be an evil monster for an endless eternity. Would he have to get a job here at Splurch Academy? Where else could he go? Cody Mack, vampire cafeteria boy, forever.
Cody’s eyelids grew heavily. He stretched, feeling suddenly sleepy.
Cody’s head drooped forward.
He slipped into a trance.
“We’ve got to help Cody, guys!” Carlos cried. “Cody, man, snap out of it!”
“Never mind Cody,” Sully said. “Look at the rat! He’s . . . gesturing! He’s making Cody move! C’mon, guys, we’ve got to follow them!”
Rasputin waved and beckoned. Cody followed, his arms outstretched. The other boys followed, terrified.
“Cody’s possessed!” Ratface whispered.
They made their way up the stairs leading to the topmost tower. Outside, the sky was thick with dark, gathering clouds. The winds whipped at their cardboard costumes as they stood there, watching the rat lead Cody on.
“Shouldn’t we stop them?” Carlos said. “What if Cody gets hurt?”
Just then, Cody took the beetle out from under his clothes. It began to glow with a bright golden green light. Cody began doing weird squatty dance moves.
“Hi-ya bee-tle na-vel fluff,” Cody chanted in a high voice. “Come on, bee-tle, do your stuff!”
The beetle’s golden wings flew open.
Brrrzzzz went the wings, sounding like propeller blades on an airplane. Its glow began to pulse to the beat of Cody’s chanting. Cody stomped and jumped and danced to the beat.
“Gol-den bee-tle from the past,
Do your hoo-doo, do it fast,
Big fat bee-tle, weighs a ton,
Make your ma-gic. Get it done.”
Black clouds churned overhead. Thunder rumbled in the distance.
Down on the grounds, the monsters whooped and hollered at their party, unaware of the gathering storm above.
Mugsy tugged on Cody’s cloak. “Cody,” he cried. “Whatever you’re doing, stop it!”
But Cody repeated his chant.
The sky grew thicker and darker with deadly black clouds, a whirling vortex of sinister Nature.
Cody’s vampire cloak flapped in the howling wind. His vampire fangs gleamed.
Brrrzzzz went the beetle’s wings.
A bolt of lightning split the sky.
It struck the tower!
Cody collapsed. The glowing beetle went dark, and slipped back under Cody’s shirt as he toppled to the ground.
Where the lightning struck the tower stood a monster. A huge, fearsome monster. It radiated with power.
“Yikes!” Ratface cried. He hid behind Mugsy, his knees knocking together.
“Mommy!” Mugsy yipped.
“Sully,” Victor said slowly, “what . . . is . . . that?”
Sully looked white as a sheet. “It’s Ram-m-m-mut the D-destroyer.”
Victor gulped. “Thought so.”
The monster took no notice of the kids. He flexed his gigantic muscles, roared, and then vaulted over the top of the tower and leaped onto the grounds below.
“What’s he doing?” Mugsy cried. “Where’s the crocodile guy going?”
“Never mind him,” Carlos said. “What about Cody? Look at him!”
Cody’s eyes opened slowly. He blinked. “What happened?” He looked around. “How’d I get here?”
“It was the rat that made you do it,” Sully said, pointing to Rasputin. “He put you under a spell!”
Rasputin reared up on his hind legs and hissed at Sully. His little fangs shone in the gleam of a second bolt of lightning far away. Then he turned and disappeared through a gap in the tower stones.
“What do you mean, it was the rat?” Cody said. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“Don’t you see?” Sully said. “The vampire. The sleepwalking. The beetle. The little bites. Rasputin’s fangs. Haven’t you figured it out? Rasputin is the vampire, Cody. Rasputin is Farley!”
CHAPTER TWELVE
THE PLAN
“That’s impossible,” Ratface said. “Rasputin’s not Farley. Farley’s asleep in his crypt. We saw his mother put him there.”
“Then who’s been biting Cody?” Sully said. “And why did Rasputin act so weird tonight?”
“The only way Rasputin could be Farley . . .” Victor began.
&n
bsp; “. . . is if they’ve brain-swapped,” Mugsy said. “Whoa.”
“A vampire rat!” Ratface said.
Cody was still in a daze. He wasn’t sure which way was up. And, he was thirsty.
Mugsy waved his hands in the air. “Wait. Wait. The Recipronator plunger-thingy was destroyed. Remember? Farley dropped it and smashed it?”
“Aha,” Sully said, “but think back, guys. Remember? Rasputin was on his shoulder when he dropped it. And Cody was right there next to them. They all sort of fell down in a heap together. Before it smashed.”
“Wasn’t that when the rat bit Cody?” Carlos said. “On his hand? That bite that just won’t go away?”
The boys all stared at one another. Sully started pacing around the tower in circles. The storm still raged overhead, and the monsters’ shrieks and whoops almost drowned out the thunder.
“What if . . .” Sully said, “what if Farley and Rasputin brain-swapped at just that moment, while Rasputin bit Cody?”
“A three-way swap?” Victor said. “Vampire-rat-boy? That’s crazy!”
“But it’s the only thing that makes sense,” Sully said. “Cody dreams about Farley. Cody sleepwalks and finds the bug in the basement. Maybe . . . maybe because Farley was a rat, he hung out in the basement, and found the funky bug. He discovered the bug had powers. He controlled Cody by turning him into a vampire, because Rasputin—I mean, Farley—always cuddled up under Cody’s chin at night!” Sully pointed an accusing finger at Cody’s neck bites. “Dude, you’ve been sleeping with the enemy.”
“Don’t forget the food!” Mugsy added, hopping up and down. “Cody wants blood because he’s part vampire, and he wants cheese because he is part rat!”
Cody gradually felt his head clear. “No way, man,” he said. “That’s nuts. No way is Rasputin Farley. Rasputin’s my friend.”
“You didn’t see him just now,” Sully said. “Hissing and showing us his fangs. He’s a vampire rat, all right. And he’s got you under mind-control because you’re turning into one of his vampire minions. We all saw him put you in a daze and bring you up here. But what I want to know is, why?”
“Um . . . what did I do while I was in a daze?” Cody said. “Besides come up here?”
“Oh, not much,” Sully said, shrugging. “Only summon an ancient Egyptian demon god of wrath with your fashion necklace.”
“I summoned a what?” Cody gasped. “Where? Who? How? Are you sure?”
“Hey, don’t be so mean to Cody,” Carlos said. “He’s had a bad day.”
“He’ll have a worse day if Farley bites him again,” Sully warned.
“How will we ever catch Rasputin?” Victor asked. “He knows we’re onto him now. He’ll just hide. We’ll never find one smart rat in this big dump.”
“There must be a way,” Sully said.
“How do you kill a vampire, anyway?” Victor asked.
“We use garlic,” Sully said. “And a stake through his heart.”
“There’s lotsa garlic down in Griselda’s kitchen,” Ratface said. “Want me to go get some?”
“Let me think,” Sully said.
Cody tried to think, too. It was so creepy knowing he’d been hypnotized. But, this was a matter of life or death! Being alive . . . or being un-dead.
“If everything you’re saying is true, Sully,” Cody said, “about Rasputin being Farley, and mind-controlling me, then what I want to know is, why did he want me summoning this Egyptian demon whatever-he-is?”
Sully snapped his fingers. “Now you’re onto something. What’s Farley’s game? What does he want with this demon bozo?”
“Uh, Sully,” Mugsy said. “I wouldn’t go calling him bozo. That Ramut guy, he looks like he could fry you with his eyeballs.”
“Let’s all pretend we’re Farley,” Sully said. “What do we want if we’re Farley?”
“Let’s not and say we did,” Ratface said.
“Cody’s life is on the line,” Carlos said.
“Okay, fine,” Ratface said. “If I’m Farley, I want to drink some poor kid’s blood.”
“If I’m Farley, I want to bust out of the underground crypt and get free,” Victor said.
“If I’m Farley, I want my brain back,” Mugsy said. “Or my body. Whichever.”
“A-ha,” Sully said. “But you can’t do any of those things, because you’re trapped in a crypt, and your brain’s inside a rat, and the Recipronator is smashed. So what’s the only thing that can help you now?”
They looked at one another. “A god?”
“But where is Ramut now?” Victor asked.
They all peered down over the tower railings.
The other monsters hadn’t noticed the demon. They cavorted around bonfires and ate skewers of roasted . . . something.
“There’s the entrance to the Farley family crypt,” Cody said. “Right in the middle of their party!”
“If the Egyptian god reaches Farley first, he’ll use his god-powers to give Farley and Rasputin their brains back, and there’ll be no stopping Farley then,” Sully said.
“Nor will there be any way to save Cody,” Carlos added.
“We’ve got to get to Farley’s body and destroy it with garlic and stuff before Ramut finds the crypt,” Carlos said.
“To the kitchens!” Ratface cried. “We haven’t got a second to lose!”
They raced down the stairs and through the corridors until they reached the kitchen. Ratface threw open the cupboards.
“Garlic,” Sully said. “We want garlic.”
“Garlic croutons?” Mugsy aked.
“Not that,” Sully said. “Real garlic.”
“Ummm . . . what does real garlic look like?” Victor asked.
“Well, I’ll bring these, too,” Mugsy said. “They’re hard as rocks. Could be a weapon in a pinch.”
Ratface tugged on Cody’s vampire cape. “Um, Cody,” he said, “we’re not really going out there, are we? Out into the middle of the Halloween party?”
“It’s the only way to reach Farley’s crypt,” Cody said.
“But they’ll eat us!” Ratface wailed.
“No, they won’t,” Sully said. “We look like monsters in our costumes.”
“Um, yeah, right,” Ratface said.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THE HALLOWEEN PARTY
Back in the infirmary, they opened the windows and looked down at the monsters’ party.
“What are they doing?” Mugsy whispered.
“It looks like some of them are playing Twister,” Carlos said, pressing his face against the glass. “The squid-looking thing is winning.”
“It’s time to launch our attack,” Cody announced.
“Been nice knowing you all,” Victor said. “Let’s get moving.”
For a second nothing happened. Then shrieks and wails began ringing out all over the monsters’ party.
“Run!” Cody cried.
The boys skidded into the hall and out the doors, then bolted onto the dark grounds.
Rotten-egg stink reached their noses. Ketchup squirts, pepper dust, dead bugs, and fire extinguisher foam filled the air. Cody hoped the monsters wouldn’t see them through the booby-trap haze.
“Hey! What are those kids doing here? Get ’em!” bellowed a voice.
“Run! Run!” Cody gasped. They clutched their flimsy costumes and sprinted for the safety of Farley’s tomb.
A loathsome, growling voice pierced the pandemonium. “I smell children, Bilgewater,” it said. “You said you were fresh out. Lemme at ’em!”
“Tasty, juicy, crunchy children,” came another voice. “The feisty ones squirm in the belly for a long time after you swallow ’em.”
“There’s the tomb, up ahead,” Cody whispered.
Cody stumbled backward toward the crypt. His fangs were still sharp, and he still wanted to bite something. He snarled at any monsters he could see, then shook his head to try to shake off the vampire spell. He turned, hurried on, and leaped into the opening of
the crypt. Down, down, down the dark stairs he fell, and the other boys tumbled after.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE CRYPT
Cody was sore all over from his fall.
It was cold in the crypt, and dark. The noise and shrieks from the party aboveground faded. The cold, dark dust of the crypt muted the noise. It smelled like emptiness and decay and death.
It smelled like home for a vampire.
Cody almost liked it. He shuddered.
He couldn’t see much except the walls of a narrow passageway leading somewhere he sure didn’t want to go.
A bat fluttered by his face and up the stairway.
“Nothing bit you,” Sully said. “You landed on a rat skeleton.”
“That’s it. I’m done,” Ratface panted. “Get me outta here.”
“Not so fast,” Carlos said. “We’ve got a job to do, and we’re not leaving till it’s done.”
“That’s right,” Mugsy said. “We’ve got garlic and steak, and we know how to use them.”
There was a pause.
They all looked at one another.
“Well, go ahead, Cody,” Victor said, giving Cody’s shoulders a shove. “You first. You’re vampire now. This should feel like home to you.”
Cody took a deep breath and stepped forward. Crunch went his sneakers on the little bones and leaves that lined the floor. A rough wooden door blocked the entryway to the crypt itself. He took another deep breath and pushed it open.
The hinges squealed loudly enough to wake the dead. The boys jumped.
Then, one by one, they went inside.
Dim, flickering light from torches on the walls moved like probing fingers across their faces, while sheets of cobwebs stirred in the air currents made by the boys’ breathing.
Curse of the Bizarro Beetle #2 Page 5
