29 - Monster Blood III Page 8

Would Kermit get the mixture right this time? Could he get the mixture to Evan before the two police officers entered the backyard?

  The screen door opened. Kermit burst out. He tripped on the back stoop. The blue bottle nearly went flying.

  He caught his balance. He handed the bottle up to Evan. “Good luck!” Kermit called up to Evan. Kermit raised both hands. He had his fingers tightly crossed on both hands.

  “Here come the police,” Andy warned. “They’re walking really fast now.”

  The bottle trembled in Evan’s hand. He turned it upside down. It puddled in his enormous, feathery palm.

  Frantically, he began rubbing it over his feathers, over his blue skin. Splashing it wildly. Pouring it over his body.

  Please work! he silently urged it. Please work!

  He waited.

  Kermit stared up at him hopefully, his fingers still crossed.

  “They’re here!” Andy reported from the driveway.

  Evan gulped.

  The mixture hadn’t worked.

  He hadn’t changed. Not a bit.

  The two dark-uniformed officers approached the back of the house. “Hello, there,” one of them called to Andy.

  28

  Evan heard a loud POP.

  He uttered a startled cry as he felt himself falling. Falling to the ground.

  He reached out a hand and steadied himself against the house.

  It took him a second or two to realize that he hadn’t fallen. He had shrunk.

  The two officers stepped into the backyard. One was very tall. The other was short and plump. “Sorry to bother you kids,” the tall one said. “But we got a call from a neighbor.”

  “A call? About what?” Andy demanded. She cast a surprised glance at Evan. She didn’t expect to see him back to normal.

  “Did you kids see a giant in the neighborhood?” the short officer asked. He narrowed his eyes at them, trying to appear tough.

  “A giant? What kind of giant?” Kermit asked innocently.

  “A giant kid,” the short officer replied.

  Evan, Andy, and Kermit shook their heads. “He didn’t come back here,” Andy told them.

  “No. We didn’t see him,” Evan said. He couldn’t keep a smile from crossing his face. His voice was back to normal, too.

  The tall officer pushed his cap back on his head. “Well, if you see him, be careful,” he warned. “He’s dangerous.”

  “He’s very dangerous,” the short officer added. “Call us right away—okay?”

  “Okay,” all three kids replied in unison.

  The officers gave the backyard one last look. Then they turned and headed back down the driveway to their car.

  As soon as they were gone, Evan burst into a long, happy cheer. Andy and Kermit joined in, clapping him joyfully on the back, slapping high fives all around.

  “Am I a genius or what?” Kermit demanded, grinning his toothy grin.

  “Or what!” Evan joked.

  They were still laughing and celebrating Evan’s return to Evan-size when Kermit’s mom pulled up the driveway. As she climbed out of her car, she appeared surprised to find them outdoors.

  “Sorry I’m so late,” she called. She hugged Kermit. “How was your afternoon?”

  Kermit glanced at Evan. Then he smiled at his mother. “Oh, it was kind of boring,” he told her.

  “Yeah. Kind of boring,” Andy repeated.

  “Kind of boring,” Evan agreed.

  Evan knew he’d have nightmares about what had happened to him. And that night, he had a really scary one. In the dream, he was a giant boy being chased by giant rats. The rats all looked like Kermit.

  Evan sat up in the dark, shivering all over.

  “Just a nightmare,” he murmured, glancing at his clock radio. Midnight. “It was just a nightmare.”

  He sat up straight, wiping sweat off his forehead with his pajama-top sleeve. I need a glass of cold water, he decided.

  He started to climb out of bed—but stopped when he saw what a steep drop it was to the floor.

  Huh? What’s going on? he asked himself.

  He tried to click on the bedtable lamp. But it towered high above him, way beyond his reach.

  He stood up on the bed. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he saw that his bed seemed to stretch on forever. A lump in the bedspread curled up over Evan’s head.

  I—I’m short! he realized. I’m as short as a mouse!

  Kermit!

  Kermit strikes again! Evan thought bitterly.

  He made the blue shrinking mixture too powerful.

  I shrank—and shrank—and shrank. And now I’m as tiny as a mouse.

  “I’ll pound Kermit! I really will!” Evan cried. His voice came out as tiny mouse squeaks.

  Standing on the edge of his bed, staring down, down—miles down—to the floor, Evan heard a rumbling sound. Loud panting that sounded like a strong wind through the trees.

  A big head popped up in front of him. Two dark eyes.

  “No! Trigger! Go back to sleep!” Evan pleaded in his little mouse voice. “No! Trigger—down!”

  Evan’s squeaks had awakened the cocker spaniel.

  Evan felt the dog’s hot breath blow across his face.

  “Yuck! Dog breath!” he squeaked.

  Then he felt sharp teeth close around his waist. Felt himself tilted sideways. Felt the hot, wet saliva of Trigger’s mouth as the dog secured Evan between its teeth.

  “Trigger—down! Put me down!” Evan begged.

  He was bounced hard now. The dog teeth tightened their grip.

  “Trigger! Put me down! Where are you taking me?”

  Through the dark hallway. The hot breath blowing over Evan’s helpless body.

  Into his parents’ room. Evan gazed up to see his mom and dad getting ready for bed.

  Mr. Ross leaned over the dog. “What have you got there, Trigger? Did you find a bone?”

  “Uh… Dad? Dad?” Evan squeaked up at him. “Dad? It’s me? Do you see me? Dad? Uh… I think we have a little problem!”

  Scanning, formatting and

  proofing by Undead.