18 - Monster Blood II (7 page)

Evan stopped to listen again. Andy bumped right into him, nearly sending him
sailing down the stairs. “Shhh!” she cried.

They could hear Conan talking to his parents in the kitchen. He was complaining about the other guys on the basketball
team. “They’re all wimps,” Evan heard Conan say.

“Well, that’ll make you look even better,” Mr. Barber replied.

Evan took another deep breath and held it. Then he made his way down to the
bottom of the stairs.

Almost out, he thought, his entire body shaking. Almost out of here.

He reached for the front doorknob.

“Conan, go upstairs and get your math book,” he heard Mr. Barber say. “I want
to see the homework you had trouble with.”

“Okay,” Conan replied. His chair scraped against the floor.

Andy grabbed Evan’s shoulder.

They stared in frozen horror at each other—one foot away from escape—and
waited to be caught.

“Conan—don’t go now. Get the book later,” Mrs. Barber chimed in. Then they
heard her scold Conan’s father: “Let the boy have his cake and ice cream.”

“Fine, fine,” Mr. Barber replied. “He can show me the book later.”

Conan’s chair scraped back into place under the table.

Evan didn’t wait another second.

He jerked open the front door, pushed open the screen door, and burst out of
the house like a rocket.

He could hear Andy gasping as she ran behind him. And then he could hear
Trigger’s shrill yips as the dog followed, too.

Down the Barbers’ front lawn, into the street. Their sneakers slapped the
pavement as they ran full speed through the darkness.

They didn’t stop until they reached Evan’s driveway.

Evan leaned against his family’s mailbox and struggled to catch his breath.
He raised his hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead—and saw the blue can
still stuck there.

“Help me,” he pleaded. He reached out his hand to Andy.

She was breathing hard, too. Her eyes kept darting back down the street, as
if she expected Conan to be chasing after them.

“Close one,” she murmured. She turned to Evan. Her eyes glowed excitedly in
the light from the streetlamp. “That was fun!”

Evan didn’t agree. In his opinion, it was far too scary to be fun. And here
he was, still stuck to the can of Monster Blood.

He pushed his hand toward Andy. “Pull it off,” he told her. “I think you need
both hands. I can’t do it.”

She grabbed the can in both hands. The green gunk bubbled over the sides,
making loud sucking sounds.

Andy tugged. Then tugged harder. Then she took a deep breath, leaned back,
and tugged with all her might.

The Monster Blood finally let go of its grip on Evan’s fingers. The can slid
off with a loud
pop.
Andy went tumbling back onto the pavement.

“Ow!” Evan held up his three fingers and tried to examine them under the
streetlight. They were all wrinkled and pruney, the way they looked when he had been swimming for an hour or two.

“Yuck! That stuff is so gross!” he cried.

Andy climbed slowly to her feet. She still cradled the Monster Blood can in
both hands. “At least we got it back,” she murmured.

“Yeah. Now we can bury it again,” Evan said, still examining his fingers.

“Huh? Bury it?” Andy pulled the can away, as if protecting it from Evan.

“You heard me,” Evan said firmly. “It’s just too dangerous to mess with,
Andy. Take it home and bury it in your back yard, okay?”

Andy stared down at the can. She didn’t reply.

“Bury it,” Evan repeated. “Take it home and bury it. Promise?”

“Well…” Andy hesitated. Then she said, “Okay. Promise.”

Evan woke up with a bad sore throat the next morning.

His mother worried that he might be coming down with the flu. So she kept him
home from school. Evan spent the day reading comic books and watching MTV. His
sore throat disappeared by midafternoon.

He returned to school the next day, feeling refreshed and ready to see
everyone.

The good feeling lasted until he stepped into Mr. Murphy’s science class near
the end of the day. Evan had to walk past the hamster cage to get to his seat.

As he neared the cage, he peered in.

That’s weird, he thought. Where’s Cuddles?

When did Mr. Murphy get a rabbit?

A
rabbit?!

He stopped and leaned closer to the cage.

Familiar black eyes stared up at him. A familiar pink nose twitched at him.

It was Cuddles, Evan realized.

Cuddles had grown as big as a rabbit!

Evan leaned over the hamster cage, staring at the giant-sized Cuddles, as the
bell rang. He turned to see that the other kids had all taken their seats.

“Evan, I see you’re examining your victim,” Mr. Murphy said from the front of
the room.

“I—uh—” Evan couldn’t think of a reply. “Victim?”

Mr. Murphy angrily narrowed his beady black eyes at Evan. “You’ve been
overfeeding Cuddles, Evan. Look how fat he has become.”

Almost as fat as you!
Evan wanted to say.

Evan knew that Cuddles’ weight problem wasn’t his fault.

And it had nothing to do with overeating.

Cuddles had grown to triple-hamster size because of Monster Blood.

“When I find Andy, I’ll
strangle
her!” Evan muttered.

“What did you say, Evan?” Mr. Murphy demanded.

Evan could feel his face turning bright red. He hadn’t meant to talk out
loud.

“Uh… nothing,” he replied, totally embarrassed. He slunk to his seat.

Andy has gone too far this time, he thought bitterly. She promised she’d bury
the Monster Blood. She promised!

And now she’s turned Cuddles into a fat freak! And Murphy thinks it’s all my
fault!

“Please stay after school,” Mr. Murphy told Evan, “so we can discuss
Cuddles’ diet.”

Evan heard some kids snickering. He knew they were laughing at him.

He saw Conan and Biggie at their seats in the back. Conan was twitching his
nose, puffing out his cheeks, pretending to be a fat hamster. Biggie was
laughing his head off.

Evan stared at the hamster all through class. Cuddles appeared to grow right
before Evan’s eyes. With each breath, the hamster seemed to puff up wider and
taller.

Its black eyes were as big as marbles now. They stared back at Evan, as if
accusing him.

When the hamster moved to its water tube, the entire cage rattled and shook.

Please don’t grow anymore!
Evan pleaded silently, staring at the shaking
cage.
Please stop right now, Cuddles. Okay?

The hamster breathed noisily. Wheezing gasps. Evan could hear Cuddles panting
all the way across the room.

The cage shook again as Cuddles turned around. Evan watched in horror as the
cage nearly toppled off its table.

I’ll
kill
Andy! Evan thought bitterly. How could she
do
this to
me?

When the bell rang, the other kids all gathered up their books and headed out
the door. Evan stood up and walked over to Cuddles’ cage.

Panting loudly, Cuddles stared up at him. He’s too big to fit on his wheel,
Evan realized. If he grows any more, he’ll burst out of the cage!

How much Monster Blood did Andy feed him? Evan wondered. He had to find out.

He turned to Mr. Murphy, who was reading over some papers at his desk. “I’ve
got to find someone,” Evan called up to him. “I’ll be right back.”

“Don’t take too long,” the teacher replied without looking up.

Evan hurried from the room—and ran into Conan. “Hey, I was looking for
you,” Conan said, sidestepping to the right, then the left, and stretching out
both arms to keep Evan from getting away.

“No time now,” Evan said sharply. But Conan wouldn’t let him pass. “I’m kind
of in a hurry,” Evan told him. “I don’t have time to be stuffed into my locker right now.”

A big grin crossed Conan’s handsome face. “Hey, I’m sorry about that,” he
said, his blue eyes twinkling.

“Huh? You’re sorry?” Evan’s mouth dropped open in shock.

“Yeah. No hard feelings,” Conan said, lowering his eyes. “Shake.”

Evan stuck out his hand. Then remembered Conan’s crushing handshake. He tried
to pull back his hand.

Too late.

Conan gripped it tightly and began to squeeze. As he squeezed Evan’s hand,
his grin grew wider and wider.

Down the hall, Evan saw Andy heading out the door. He tried to call to her.
But all that came out of his mouth was a squeak of pain.

Andy disappeared out the front door of the school.

The bones in Evan’s hand cracked and crunched.

When Conan finally let go, the hand looked like a sad lump of soft red clay.

“Wow! That’s some handshake you’ve got!” Conan cried, laughing. He pretended
his hand hurt. He shook it hard and blew on it. “You killed me that time! You
been working out or something?”

Conan headed off to basketball practice, laughing and shaking his hand.

He really cracks himself up, Evan thought. An angry cry burst from his
throat. He slammed his good hand into a locker. He was so furious, he thought he
could feel steam pouring out his ears.

“Evan—you’re keeping me waiting!” Mr. Murphy called in a singsong from the
classroom doorway.

“Coming,” Evan muttered miserably, and slunk back into the room.

He tried calling Andy for hours that night. But there was no one home.

In his sleep, he dreamed that Trigger ate a big glob of Monster Blood and
grew to giant size. Evan tried to stop him. But the enormous dog took off after
the mailman.

It wasn’t much of a chase. Trigger caught the mailman easily. The mailman was
the size of a hamster.

Evan woke up drenched with sweat. He glanced at his bedtable clock. Only six
in the morning. He normally didn’t get up until seven.

He climbed out of bed, anyway, feeling shaky and scared.

He decided he had to get to school before everyone else. He
had
to see
if Cuddles had grown any bigger.

“Evan—where are you going?” his mother called sleepily as Evan headed out the front door.

“Uh—school,” Evan replied. He had hoped to sneak out before she woke up.

“So early?” She padded into the room, struggling with the belt to her blue
cotton robe.

“Well… I have a science project I need to work on,” Evan told her. It was
almost
the truth.

“A science project?” She eyed him suspiciously.

“Yeah. It’s… big!” Evan replied, thinking quickly. “It’s really big! So
I couldn’t bring it home.”

“You’re going without any breakfast?” Mrs. Ross demanded, yawning.

“I’ll grab something at school,” he said. “Later, Mom.” He disappeared out
the door before she could ask any more questions.

A red sun was just climbing over the trees in a gray sky. The air still
carried the chill of the night. The lawns Evan passed shimmered wetly with
morning dew.

He jogged the whole way, his backpack flopping heavily on his shoulder. There
were no other kids on the playground or on the walk heading into the building.

He crept into the school and made his way down the silent, empty hall. His
sneakers echoed loudly as he trotted toward the science classroom.

Maybe Cuddles didn’t grow overnight,
Evan told himself.

Maybe he didn’t grow at all. Maybe he shrank. Maybe he shrank back to his old
size.

It was possible.

It was possible that Andy had fed the hamster only a teeny tiny speck of
Monster Blood. Just enough for Cuddles to swell up to the size of a fat rabbit—then shrink right back down to cute, cuddly hamster size.

It
was
possible—wasn’t it?

Yes! Yes! Evan crossed his fingers on both hands. He wished he could cross
his toes.

By the time he reached the classroom, he was breathless. His heart thudded
loudly in his chest.

He hesitated at the door.

Please, Cuddles—be small. Be small!

Then Evan took a deep breath, held it—and stepped inside.

Evan stepped into the room, staring at the cage against the far wall. At
first, he didn’t see Cuddles.

Had Cuddles shrunk? Had he?

Sometimes prayers are answered, Evan told himself. Sometimes good things
happen.

Evan took a few hesitant steps closer. Then a few more steps.

Every muscle in his body had tensed. He was so frightened, it was actually
hard to walk.

He could feel the blood throbbing at his temples. He mopped the cold beads of
sweat off his forehead.

He still couldn’t see Cuddles. Where was he?

Where?

Gray morning light filtered in through the windows. The floor creaked under
Evan’s sneakers.

Evan took another hesitant step toward the cage.

Another step.

Then he cried out in horror.

Evan hadn’t seen Cuddles at first—because Cuddles was too
big!

Cuddles filled the entire cage.

Evan held back, gaping in disbelief.

The hamster groaned noisily with every loud breath. It let out several
disgusting grunts as its body pressed against the wire cage.

Its big, furry head pushed up against the top of the cage. Evan could see one
enormous black eye, the size of a jar lid, staring out at him.

“No!” Evan cried out loud, feeling his knees begin to tremble. “This is
impossible!”

The hamster uttered a few more low grunts.

The cage shook on its table.

The big black eye glared out at Evan.

And then as Evan stared in horrified disbelief, the hamster reached up its
two pink paws. The toes slipped around the wires of the cage.

Cuddles let out an ugly groan.

Evan saw its spongy pink nose twitch. He saw a flash of big white teeth.

Another groan.