Other Books by Jake Gosselin and Laura Gosselin
The Pinkaboos: Bitterly and the Giant Problem
Prologue
Belladonna waved ’bye to her friends and walked up the path to her little home. It wasn’t much, just a tiny castle with a mini drawbridge and a moat filled with singing jellyfish. Her jellies weren’t singing today, just humming happily to themselves.
Belladonna was used to hurrying home to start reading a new book, but she hadn’t been this excited since she got her hands on her first spellbook. Tonight, she’d be reading the book her teacher, Miss Viper, had lent her, When Frights Become Nightmares.
Rushing inside, Belladonna performed her usual ritual for getting ready to read. She closed the door
and locked it, pushed her comfy chair next to the fireplace, and grabbed an assortment of snacks, piling them on the table next to her chair. Then she flicked the switch that turned on her sign out front, which read “Do Not Disturb: Terror Technician at Work.” She settled into her chair, pulled the book out of her backpack, and laid it on her lap.
The book felt heavy for its size, as if its words carried a weight all their own. Belladonna opened it as though it might be filled with angry spiders. The pages were old, dry, and yellow. Some were torn, and several had handwritten notes in the margins (completely spider-free, thankfully).
She flipped through it, scanning the drawings and some of what was written. It was broken into three chapters: chapter 1, “Why Frights Become Nightmares”; chapter 2, “How Frights Become Nightmares”; and chapter 3, “How to Stop a Nightmare.” Belladonna liked to do things in the proper order, so even though she really wanted to jump straight to chapter 3, she turned to chapter 1, page 1, and began to read.
Inside every fright is the desire to help a little girl. Frights receive so much happiness from helping young human children that they will sacrifice anything to take care of them. But sometimes a fright finds she isn’t very good at helping children overcome their fears. This is very dangerous for a fright. If she gives up on trying to help her little girl, the fright may eventually turn into a nightmare and live on the fears of girls instead of on their courage, as most frights do.
Wow. Nightmares live on the fears of children? Frights live on courage? Only one paragraph in, and Belladonna already felt like her glasses were going to fall right off her face.
Belladonna grabbed a few extra reading candles from her drawer and set them up on the table beside her. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep until she had read the whole book. She flipped through the pages, noting how many there were. It was going to be a long night.
Chapter 1
Ava dribbled the basketball on the large, empty court. The sound of the ball echoed through the stadium.
She was alone on the court, and this wasn’t like her usual basketball games. Normally, she could hear her mom and dad cheering from the stands, excited teammates yelling—Coach Hicks calling out words of support. But today, for some reason, she was alone.
She dribbled the ball a few times, looked up at the basket, took a deep breath, and shot.
Swish, the ball went in the net.
Ava grabbed the ball again and began dribbling. Where was her team? Where was Coach Hicks?
She looked up at the basket again, took a deep breath, and . . . suddenly the lights went out.
“Hey!” Ava yelled. “What’s going on?” No one replied.
“Hello, can someone turn the lights back on?” Ava called into the darkness.
“OoooOOOOOOooooooooooooo!” she heard in reply.
Ava froze. She gripped the basketball to her chest in terror. She felt a tap on her back and spun around, but there was no one there.
“Who are you?” Ava screamed. “Go away!” Then she saw them—glowing ghosts flying through the air around the basketball hoop. They flew closer to her and began circling as if to tease her. “OoooOOOOOOooooooooooooo!” they moaned.
Ava put her hands over her ears and closed her eyes.
“Stop it. Go away!”
The ghosts continued to fly, groaning and whispering, “Aaaava! Aaaava!”
Ava started to cry. “Please, no more of this,” she sobbed. “I can’t take it.”
Suddenly the lights turned back on and the ghosts disappeared. Ava blinked as her eyes adjusted to the lights. She was still shaking with fear, but at least the ghosts were gone. The basketball court was quiet. Her arms were sore from clutching her basketball so tight. She wanted to go home. She wanted to see her mom and dad.
Then she heard the sound of another ball. Someone was dribbling a basketball nearby. She looked around, but she was still alone.
Perhaps her teammates were here. She ran toward the door of the court to where the sound was coming from. Oh, how happy she would be to see a friend or her coach—anyone but the creature who walked in.
There, standing in the doorway, was the strange, winged girl Ava had seen so many times before. She walked through the open door, slowly bouncing a basketball.
“No,” Ava murmured. “Not you.”
“That’s not a nice way to greet an old friend, now is it?” the girl said, smiling.
She bounced the ball a few more times, then suddenly threw it at Ava’s head. The ball changed in the air. Eyes popped open on the surface and an angry mouth screamed as it hurtled toward her, disappearing in a puff of smoke just before it hit Ava in the face.
“Ha!” the girl laughed. “Did I scare you?”
“Y—yes,” Ava stuttered. “You did.”
“Good,” the girl sneered. “I’m doing my job properly then.” With that, her wings stretched out—they were shades of purple, black, and gray—and Ava quickly realized they could have been beautiful if they had not been so tattered. They flapped wildly as the girl lifted herself off the ground. Once in the air, she began shooting fireballs at Ava’s feet. Ava screamed and ran behind the bleachers for cover. She looked up as the girl hovered overhead, looking down at her.
“Who are you?” Ava yelled up at her. “What do you want from me?”
“Forgive me, I don’t think I’ve ever formally introduced myself. My name is Vex,” she said as she bowed dramatically. “And I am your nightmare.”
Chapter 2
Back in the Land of the Frights in a classroom at Fright School, Miss Viper pressed a button on her remote. The screen showing Ava’s dream switched off, and with a flick of Miss Viper’s wand, it disappeared.
The class, filled with little frights of all shapes and tooth sizes, gasped in unison.
A large fright with pink horns sitting at the back of the class shouted, “That was very, very bad, Miss Viper!”
“Yes, Abyssma,” Miss Viper sighed. “This assignment is our most difficult yet.”
Seated in the front, one fright seemed extra nervous. Miss Viper turned to address her.
“Do you see what you’re dealing with, Belladonna?” Miss Viper asked.
Belladonna sat at her desk, eyes wide as saucers. Her small hands still gripped the sides of her desk. Her face was frozen in a nervous half-grin—as if she were trying to laugh it all off—but watching Ava’s scary dream had really freaked her out.
For hundreds of years, frights at Fright School had learned how to enter the dreams of little girls and scare away their nightmares. This was Belladonna’s first assignment, her first little girl, and she was worried. She was going to have to deal with the school bully—a former fright tur
ned nightmare, Vex.
“Miss Viper, I don’t know how to scare Vex away from Ava,” Belladonna said, panicked.
“Did you read the book I gave you?” Miss Viper asked.
“Yes,” Belladonna stated proudly. “It was batty!”
The class giggled until Miss Viper was forced to give her famous class-quieting stare before continuing.
“So you know what to do?” Miss Viper asked.
“Well, sort of. I know that I have got to find a way to stop Ava from being afraid of Vex,” Belladonna said, then thought for a second. “But I have no idea how to do that.”
“Ava was Vex’s little girl last term,” Miss Viper explained. “Vex was supposed to scare away the ghosts in Ava’s nightmares, but she became a nightmare herself.”
“No way!” Belladonna gasped. “But how does that help me get rid of her?”
“Vex is new to being a nightmare,” Miss Viper said. “She won’t be completely confident. She will make mistakes.”
Belladonna stared at Miss Viper, unconvinced.
“You see, when people confront their fears, they often forget that the creatures they are afraid of have to deal with the same problems we all do,” Miss Viper explained. “If you ever see the scary movies that humans watch, you’ll understand what I mean. In order for those movies to be scary, the villain always seems to know just what to do. You never see a bad guy sneaking around in the dark and accidentally trip and fall. You never see him hide in a closet and wait to jump out, only to find out that the person he wanted to scare was on vacation for the week. But those sorts of things do happen. Villains and monsters make the same kinds of mistakes we all do. They don’t show that in the movies, though, because it would stop being scary if we saw how normal the monsters really are. And that is precisely what you need to understand here. Vex makes mistakes just like the rest of us. Vex can get nervous, and Vex can get scared. Do you understand?”
Chapter 3
The next day Fright School was abuzz with energy. The frights ran to the school bulletin board to find out who their little girls would be. This was the day they had all been waiting for.
Bitterly had been the first student to be assigned a little girl, Molly, and she had already helped Molly overcome her fear of giants. Next Belladonna had been assigned Ava, who was afraid of ghosts, and today was the day the rest of the frights would find out the names and fears of their little girls.
“Yay!” Abyssma squealed. “My little girl’s name is Kate, and she’s afraid of sharks. She’s so scared she won’t even take a bath!”
“Let me see! Let me see!” Other frights darted around, bumping into one another trying to get past Abyssma, the largest and strongest of the frights.
“My little girl is named Izzy, and she’s afraid of zombies,” Oblivia gasped. “I love zombies!”
“Mine’s afraid of the dark!” another fright shrieked.
A fright named Wither struggled through the crowd to get a good look. “What about mine? What about mine?” Wither yelled, jumping up and down, her mummy bandages unraveling in her excitement.
“You have . . . you have . . .” Oblivia squinted. “You have ‘Please see Miss Viper,’” she read in bewilderment.
“WHAT?” Wither screeched. “What does that mean?”
“Ohhh! I bet it means you have a super cool special assignment!” Abyssma gushed.
“Yeah,” Oblivia said. “Maybe your little girl is a scientist who’s afraid of her own experiments!”
“Or maybe she’s a spy who’s afraid of being spied on,” murmured Belladonna.
Wither started jumping up and down with excitement, her bandages falling around her farther and farther.
“Take it easy, Wither! You’re unraveling again!” Abyssma said, laughing.
Wither put her arm around Abyssma. “Will you come with me to see Miss Viper?
“Sure,” Abyssma said. “Let’s go!”
Miss Viper was seated at her desk, grading the pop quiz she had given that morning on how to set traps for monsters underneath beds. She was working on Belladonna’s quiz. Belladonna had aced the quiz, as expected. Miss Viper was drawing a nice red “A” on her paper.
“Miss Viper, Miss Viper!” Wither exclaimed as she bounded into the classroom, bandages trailing behind her.
“Wither! My word. You startled me,” Miss Viper said.
“Well, I am a fright,” Wither said, smiling. “I guess that’s what I do best!”
Abyssma grinned from the doorway. Miss Viper forced a smile and cleared her throat.
Wither scurried over to Miss Viper’s desk. “So what’s my little girl like? Is she an astronaut? Is she afraid of spiders? Is my assignment extra super-duper cool? I’m so excited I can barely breathe!”
“Oh, Wither . . .” Miss Viper began. “Have a seat.”
Wither could tell by Miss Viper’s voice that the news wasn’t good. She slowly slunk down at a desk.
“Not every fright is going to be the best fright she can be right away,” Miss Viper started.
“But, Miss Viper—” Wither began.
“Listen, you’re just not ready yet. Entering the dream of a little girl to scare away her nightmares is a huge responsibility and something this school has been preparing you for. But I can’t give you an opportunity to go in. Not just yet.”
“But, Miss Viper, that’s not fair! Everyone else is getting a little girl!” Wither cried.
Miss Viper sifted through the papers in front of her and pulled one out. She held it up. It had a large red “D” with a circle around it.
“Look at your pop quiz, Wither. You can’t perform poorly and expect to move on.”
Wither looked at her quiz. It was a series of complicated questions on trapping monsters. Wither’s answer had been a picture she’d drawn of herself tying monsters up with her mummy bandages.
“But . . . I thought that might be funny.”
“Not every fright is going to be an expert immediately, Wither,” Miss Viper said. “You just need more time.” She smiled at Wither and added, “But you know what? I do have a special assignment for you.”
Miss Viper slithered over and opened an old, creaky cabinet.
“This is Ozzy!” she announced proudly.
Wither looked, blinked, and looked again. Inside the cabinet, a small bat slept upside down, snoring loudly.
“Ozzy is our new school pet. I found him outside my cave last week, gnawing on this squeaky toy.” Miss Viper held up a mangled, chewed-up doll. “He seems friendly enough, but he does get a little . . . wild.” Miss Viper rubbed her hands together nervously. “I’m hoping you can be the first fright to take him home and train him.”
Miss Viper handed the squeaky toy to Wither and added, “I wouldn’t take this responsibility too lightly.”
Wither stared doubtfully at the toy. She gently squeezed it. The doll made a piercing squeak.
Ozzy suddenly opened his eyes. “Meeeep!”
He flapped his wings frantically and flew in circles around the classroom, chirping wildly before finally hitting the stone wall and falling into a small heap on the floor.
“You might need to work on some simple commands for him,” Miss Viper admitted.
Ozzy’s eyes popped open again. “Meeeep!” He darted back into the air and landed on Wither’s shoulder.
Wither nervously lifted the doll up to Ozzy, who quickly snatched it from her hand before settling down to chew on it—still perched on Wither’s shoulder.
“Ozzy loves that toy,” Miss Viper said. “Be sure that it goes everywhere with him, otherwise he may become . . . aggressive.”
“I don’t want a silly bat!” Wither cried as she spun around to face Miss Viper, sending Ozzy flying into his cupboard.
Abyssma walked over to Wither. “Don’t worry, W
ither,” she said. “I’ll help you train him.”
Wither shook her head at Abyssma.
“I want a little girl!” She ran to the door, tripping over Ozzy’s toy and entangling it in her bandages as she fled.
Chapter 4
Bitterly and Belladonna chatted excitedly as they walked through the schoolyard. The wind blew hard, and, although it was still daylight, a crescent moon shone down on them brightly.
“And then, BOOM, the giant goes down!” Bitterly said, recounting the time she had defeated a giant with her little girl.
“Ha. I love that story so much!” Belladonna laughed. “Such an excellent application of giant lore.”
“Huh?” Bitterly said.
“Oh, you know,” Belladonna explained. “Good job.”
The two friends turned around at the sound of Abyssma galloping up behind them. Abyssma’s horns were a sour shade of green, which told them a lot about her mood.
Bitterly’s smile faded. “What’s wrong, Abyssma?”
“It’s Wither,” Abyssma said. “Miss Viper didn’t assign her a little girl, and now she’s taken off!”
“What? Why?” Bitterly asked.
“Miss Viper didn’t think she was ready yet and tried to get her to take care of a bat instead of a little girl!” Abyssma shouted as her horns turned a confused blue and yellow swirl.
“A bat?” Belladonna asked as she pushed her glasses back to the top of her nose. “You mean a bat like that?” She gestured at a small bat flapping through the air above the trees.
The Pinkaboos: Belladonna and the Nightmare Academy Page 1
