asked. âYour tight uniform?â
âMore comfortable,â said the Nurse.
âI see,â said Shane, thinking about it as the Nurse walked away.
The kitten took off down the hallway toward the East Wing. The puppy gave a sharp bark that echoed in the foyer, and chased after the kitten.
âCareful of the zombies!â I yelled at the furballs, and turned to my friends.
âTheyâll be eaten alive!â I said.
âI dunno,â said Shane. âEveryone loves puppies and kittens.â
âExactly,â said Gordon. âSooooo tasty!â
âI wonder if Director Z knows about this yet,â Nabila said.
âLetâs go talk with Grigore first,â I said.
We found the batty old vampire in the game room with the huge fireplace. He was talking with Grace, the most with-it of the zombies. She moaned in approval at something he said.
âAre you guys agreeing on who gets to eat them?â I asked.
âOh, no,â said Grigore. âYour motherâs gift is just vonderful. We vouldnât even think of eating them.â
âMy motherâs gift?â I asked, confused.
âThe puppy and kitten,â said Grigore. âIt vas so nice of them to thank us for using the space.â
âThe puppy and kitten are from the PTA?â I asked.
âYes,â said Grigore. âThey vere at the door this morning. I vas the vone who heard them scratching. They came vith a nice note.â
âOh no,â said Ben. âThe PTA has no idea what itâs done.â
âWhereâs the note?â I asked, not believing that my mother would send a puppy and kittenâat least not without talking to me first.
âI donât know,â said Grigore. âI lost it somevhere vhile ve vere playing.â
There was a bark in the hallway, and the cat rushed into the room and pounced on Ben. Ben screamed.
âNooooo!â He grabbed the cat and tried to pull it off of himself.
âClaudine!â Grigore stood up and yelled. âBad kitten! No, Claudine!â
âThey named the cat Claudine?â Gordon asked, chuckling.
âMy allergies!â Ben continued screaming as Grigore pulled the kitten off of him.
When Grigore finally got the cat off, Ben was covered in cat hair.
âGet the hair off of me!â said Ben. âHurry! Iâm gonna get hives!â
We brushed the hair off of Ben while Grigore sat down and stroked Claudine.
âGrab my inhaler, Nabila!â Ben shrieked. âHurry!â
âIâm hurrying, Iâm hurrying!â she shrieked back.
She dug around furiously in her fanny pack, and when she finally found the inhaler, she shoved it into Benâs hand.
He pulled off the cap, shoved the inhaler into his mouth . . .
. . . and stopped.
âWhy arenât you using it?â I asked.
âI donât think I need it,â he said. âIâm usually hacking and coughing and wheezing as soon as cat hair hits my skin, but I feel fine.â
âMaybe itâs one of those hypoallergenic cats?â Nabila said.
âHypo-what?â asked Gordon.
âCats that are less likely to trigger your allergies,â Nabila said.
âAHHHH . . .
âAHHHHHHHHH . . .
âCHOOOOOO!â sneezed Grigore, and his dentures flew into the fireplace. They jumped out of the flames and chattered out into the hallway, most likely heading down to Grigoreâs coffin in the dungeon.
âGuess not,â said Shane.
Before we could come up with any more theories, there was a scream from the hallway.
âYou MONSTERS,â said an otherworldly voice. âWE WILL DESTROY YOU!!!â
Cute and Cuddly Poop Machines
The room shook violently. A chandelier fell on top of the chessboard, flinging Howie the werewolf and Jimmy the Moth Man back onto the dusty carpet.
The fire blew out in the fireplace.
A great roar thundered down the
Peter Fitzsimons
Richard North Patterson
Cristina Garcia
Mindy Quigley
Lewis Perdue
Katie Pickard Fawcett
Anna Ramsay
Adria Wade
Ryan Loveless
Alison Maloney