Have You Met My Ghoulfriend? Read Online Free Page A

door. Sometimes Edgar stands in the backyard and howls to be let inside.
    I could feel my body relax. That's it, I told myself. It's just Edgar.
    “Yeeeeeeeeoooow.”
    That sad howl again. No, not Edgar. The cry was too nearby to be the Swansons' cat. “Where are you, cat? What do you want?”
    Silence now.
    I fell back into bed, turned onto my stomach, and pulled the blanket up to my neck. I shut my eyes and settled into the pillow.
    I heard heavy footsteps. Felt a whoosh of cold air. And something leaped out of the darkness.
    I tried to turn over. I tried to see what was there. But I couldn't. Something landed heavily on my back. An animal? A ghoul?
    Before I could move, it grabbed my neck with two powerful claws.

8
    “N OOO—!” I LET OUT an angry cry and tried to fight it off. Squirming and thrashing, I tugged its heavy claws off me. With a groan, I struggled onto my back.
    The bedside lamp flashed on—and I gasped as I saw the creature in all its gruesome horror.
    Colin. My brother, Colin.
    Colin sat on top of me, fingernails still digging into my throat. Seeing my shock, he tossed back his head and laughed. His blue eyes flashed gleefully in the bright light.
“Wahoo!”
He let out a victory cry and pounded on my head for a while with both hands. He always thinks it's fun to use my head as a bongo.
    “Okay. You scared me,” I said. “Can I go back to sleep now?”
    He grinned down at me. “Where'd you get those pajamas, Maxie?”
    “What do you mean? They're my
Star Wars
pajamas. They're my favorites. I've had them forever.”
    “But they're torn,” Colin said.
    “No, they're not,” I protested.
    Colin grabbed my pajama shirt and ripped it down the front. “See? They're torn.”
    I tried to shove him off me, but he was too heavy and too strong. He works out about twenty hours a day, watching himself in a mirror the whole time. Colin loves himself, and just about everyone else does too. Because he's such a macho hunk.
    Puke.
    “Why'd you rip my shirt?”
    “To teach you a lesson,” he said.
    “Excuse me? A lesson? What lesson?”
    He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Beats me.” He climbed off me, leaning all his weight on my ribs, and glanced around the room. “You have a cat in here, don't you, Fat Face?”
    “Don't call me Fat Face. I hate that,” I said.
    “It's your real name. Fat Face Doyle. I saw your birth certificate.”
    “How funny are you, Colin? Not!”
    “Where's the cat, Fat Face?”
    So Colin could hear the cries too. Weird.
    “I don't have a cat,” I said. “What makes you think I have a cat?”
    “Because I heard it meowing. It woke me up.”
    “Funny. I didn't hear anything,” I lied.
    “Maxie, if you have a cat, you're in major trouble,” Colin said. “You know Mom is allergic.”
    He crossed the room to my closet and began heaving stuff out, tossing it all over the floor. “Is it in here? Where is it?”
    I sat up. “Get your paws off my stuff. I told you, I don't have a cat.”
    What could I do? He was pulling everything out of my closet. He knows I always get into trouble with Mom and Dad when my room is a mess. I had to think of something to get him out.
    “You know what I think it was?” I said. “It wasn't a cat. I think it was just my stomach growling real loud.”
    “Oh, really?” He backed out of the closet and turned to me. “Stomach growling? I know how to cure that, Maxie.” He leaned forward, took a running start, and gave me a ferocious head-butt in the stomach.
    I yelped in pain. It hurt so much, I thought his head had gone all the way
through
me!
    Giggling and pumping his fists in the air, Colin ran out of the room.
    A few minutes later, I started breathing again. I slid back under the covers and listened for the cat. Silence.
    I knew where its cries were coming from. I think I knew all along, but I didn't want to admit it.
    The cat was in the tunnel. The tunnel hidden behind a panel in my bedroom wall. Nicky andTara and I discovered the