Return of Mega Mantis (5 page)

But I sped around a dark corner. I nearly collided with a huge door. Then Stella nearly collided with me.

“What’s in there?” Stella asked, reaching for the doorknob.

I clicked my penlight on again. It cast an eerie light in the dark room.

Lindsey and Ranger followed behind us. Lindsey flashed her camera so we could see more inside.

The room was windowless and empty. There wasn’t a chair, a table, or even a bulb in the ceiling socket. The floor was scratched and scuffed.

“Creeptastic!” Lindsey said.

“It looks like something was in here,” Ranger said, examining the floor. “Bugs?”

“Hmmm . . .” I said.

“Maybe it was something like the Claaaaaw Monster,” Stella joked, putting on an evil voice and waving her hand in my face. “I’m coming to claaaaaaw you—”

“Don’t say it!” I cowered.

I hate the Claw Monster almost as much as I hate bugs. The Claw only appeared in one Leery movie, but it was one of the scariest Leery films ever. In the movie, the Claw Monster goes from an ordinary hand to a five-fingered monster that no one can control. The Claw has hypnotic powers that convince otherwise ordinary hands to become crazy claws like it is! In the movie, all the hands turn on their humans.

Stella was laughing at me. I’d lost my nerve again and that girl was never going to let me forget it.

“We’d better move!” Ranger said.

“We have a date with Mega!” Stella said. “While we’re in here poking around, that bug might be wreaking havoc on our entire town!”

“Gee,” I said, “maybe Mega will step on Riddle Elementary and we won’t have school tomorrow.”

“You say that because you haven’t studied for the vocabulary quiz,” Stella said.

“I studied more than you did!” I snapped defensively. But that was a big, fat lie. Since the Monster Squad formed, I had barely done my homework. It was tough fighting monsters and cramming for tests at the same time.

“Hey! Over here!” Ranger called out. He found another weird door. “Let’s go this way. Maybe we’ll find Walter.”

The new door led outdoors. We entered a maze of bushes and trees that wound around itself like some kind of snake.

“This is a-maze-ing!” Lindsey called out, chuckling at her own pun.

I recognized a few of the shapes. Crabzilla, Slimo, and Chomp-O were all right here in green leaves.

“Look!” Stella cried. “There’s Claw Monster!”

We stopped and stared. The Claw’s fingers pointed in a single direction.

The maze path led us into a wide, open, and strangely peaceful space. And there was Walter! He stood at the top of a little ladder, trimming shears in hand.

“We found you!” we all cried at the same time.

“Oh. Hello, kids,” Walter said. “Was I lost?”

“Holy guacamole!” Ranger said, pointing up.

I could not believe my eyes. At the center of this enormous topiary maze was the biggest trimmed tree of all.

“Dr. Leery and I have been following your every move,” Walter said. He climbed down the ladder.

“You’re not the only one following us,” Lindsey said, pointing down at the ground.

I froze when I saw what was coming.

Trailing behind us were hundreds of carpenter ants.

And they looked like a real army, ready to attack.

“Quick, kids!” Walter said, hopping off his ladder. “Follow me.”

“No! I’ll get ’em!” Stella cried. She started stomping like a maniac.

“Stella, not even a ninja can stomp this many ants,” I said, grabbing her arm and pulling her after us.

We retreated to the main part of the castle.

“I can buy us some time,” Walter assured us. “Just wait here.”

Ranger, Lindsey, Stella, and I freaked.
The ants were marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah . . .
The song from kindergarten played inside my head.

Then the ants followed us inside.

We hopped up onto a velvet sofa. As the ants surrounded the claw feet on the sofa, I tried not to panic. But it was impossible to tell where the rug stopped and the ants began.

Then Walter raced back into the room. “Close your eyes!” he commanded.

All at once, I saw a bright flash of green light. Walter held a black stick that looked like a flashlight. He aimed it at the ants.

Like magic, the bugs lined up in neat rows.

“How did you get the bugs to
do
that?” Ranger asked.

“Wow,” I said. “Can I get a zapper for my little sister?”

Stella shot me one of her serious stares.

“We must contact Dr. Leery right away,” Walter went on. “The situation is worse than we anticipated. You need to get instructions directly from him.”

I noticed the ant trance was beginning to wear off. The ants were twitching again.

“Oh, dear,” Walter cried. “We have to hurry! Head for my limousine! Now!”

The Monster Squad ran out to the car. We flung ourselves in and buckled up. We had to drive away before the ant trail caught up to us.

As we sped away, Ranger leaned into the front seat. “Where is Leery right now?” he asked. I was wondering the same thing.

“All over the world since last Thursday,” Walter explained.

“How does he travel so far so fast?” Stella asked.

“Private B-Jet,” Walter answered. “It takes him wherever he goes at a moment’s notice.”

“So he’ll give us instructions from his plane phone?” Lindsey asked.

“No, I just text-messaged him. Dr. Leery wants to stream video to us directly. He recorded a message a short time ago,” Walter explained. “Damon, your house is right up here on this road, correct? That is where you saw the insect activity?”

“Sure,” I shrugged. “It’s a regular Gnat Central.”

“Perfect! We’ll use your computer for the uplink,” Walter told us. “You four can get instructions from Dr. Leery while I investigate Damon’s backyard.”

As Walter pulled the limo up to my parents’ house, I noticed that same empty-neighborhood feeling I’d had the other day. Once again, no one was home. Mom, Dad, and Rachel were probably over at the drive-in getting ready for tonight’s show.

As we stepped out of the limo, I glanced up the road.

“Do you see that?” I gushed.

Lindsey screamed.

On the road behind Walter’s limousine, where we had just been driving a few moments earlier, was a winding line of ants. The ants from the castle had trailed us from the top of Nerve Mountain!

There was only one difference. The ants were now joined by a moving line of crickets, worms, and slithering slugs.

“Get into the house!” Walter shouted.

I got my key and we raced inside. Stella locked the door behind us.

“Computer?” Walter asked.

I pointed up the stairs. “Top floor.”

Stella raced up behind Walter.

I yelled after her. “Don’t touch my stuff!” But I knew she was already inside my room.

“Daaaaamon! You have B-Monster posters on the ceiling?” she called out.

“Yes!” I cried. “And on the door, too.” I went into the room and found Walter at my computer, punching a bunch of keys.

Lindsey pulled out her camera. “Mind if I snap a few?” she asked me.

I just shrugged. “I guess.”

“Where did you get the original poster from the
Crabzilla
premiere?” Ranger asked. “There are only four of those in existence!”

“Yeah,” I said. “I got special B souvenirs because of my parents’ drive-in. I’m lucky that way.”

I quickly showed off all the other B stuff in the room. In addition to posters, I revealed my collection of B-Monster Plushies, trading cards,
B-Monster Galaxy
magazines, an ATTACK OF THE B-MONSTERS game in its original box, and the Slimo paper weight with the hand sticking out of the middle. That had been Leery’s too-cool gift for me from our first mission.

Ranger was jealous; I could tell. He probably still thought
he
was the best B-collector in Riddle.

My bedroom curtains were still closed from that morning. I pulled them open so everyone could see the field and forest and maybe even the shadow bug, if he showed up. Drive-O-Rama lights burned bright even though sunset was at least an hour away.

“Okay, Monster Squad,” Walter said, getting up from my computer desk. “No time for playing around. I’ve inputted the link to Leery.”

Stella squeezed in front of me so she could sit down at the desk.

“Hey,” I said, holding back a scream. “That’s my computer—”

“While you four chat with Leery,” Walter said, “I am going to check out the B-Force levels in your backyard.”

“B-Force?” Lindsey asked. “What’s that?”

Before we could ask, Walter disappeared downstairs.

My computer hummed as a fuzzy screen came up. A man appeared, like a ghost, through the static.