Monster Madness Read Free Page A

expanded until its slick back touched the bottom of the box spring.
    “Wow!” Theodore exclaimed. “She’s got a Darkling! Looks like a Class 2!”
    Three black tentacles exploded from the front of the oozing creature and snaked wetly around Theodore’s face.
    “It’s got me!” he shrieked.
    Then—with one quick, strong tug—the Darkling yanked Theodore under the bed and into its drooling, toothy mouth….

CHAPTER TWO
    ATTACK OF THE DANGEROOS
    “Honk the panic horn! Honk the panic horn!” Theodore screamed as the Darkling’s glistening forest of teeth opened wide to swallow him.
    “No, we got ya!” Charlie yelled as he and Violet leaped on Theodore’s legs, trying to pull him away from the grip of those terrible black tentacles—but to no avail. Charlie was amazed by how strong the filthy thing was.
    “It’s not working!” Theodore screeched. He could feel wet pieces of Gremlin dangling on his face as they hung from the teeth of the vicious creature. “Just honk the panic horn!”
    “If we honk it, we fail the exam!” Violet said.
    “If you don’t honk it, I fail my life!”
    Charlie turned to Dora and her father. “Pull the bed away from the Darkling—expose it to the light!”
    The large man looked worried. “But what if it bites—”
    “Just pull it!” Theodore shrieked, his voice spiraling to crazy, girlish heights.
    Dora and her father grabbed hold of the bed and yanked it to the side, uncovering the Darkling beneath. As soon as the light from the room touched it, the creature howled in pain and let Theodore go, sending Charlie and Violet flying backward. It quickly retreated into the familiar shadows under the bed, where it pulsated quietly in the darkness.
    There was silence then as all of them caught their breath. Finally, Theodore spoke:
    “When I say honk the panic horn…you honk the panic horn, you got me?”
    “Everything was under control,” Charlie replied. “The Darkling wanted the darkness more than it wanted you. Don’t worry, we wouldn’t have let it eat you.”
    “Well, that’s comforting! Why don’t you climb under the bed and give it a good-night kiss? Don’t worry, I won’t let it eat you.”
    “And I don’t want it to eat my daughter,” Dora’s father said. “But it’s still under her bed. How are you gonna get rid of it?”
    “Not sure,” Violet replied. “I know that sunlight kills them—they absorb light, which is why it’s so incredibly gloomy in here, but they can’t absorb that much light. Unfortunately, it’s nighttime right now.”
    “We could wait till morning,” Theodore suggested.
    “And fail the exam? We have less than an hour before our time’s up, and it’s still nine more hours till sunup.”
    “Not in China,” Charlie said, turning to them. “It’s on the other side of the Earth, so it’s already daytime there.”
    “So what?” Theodore replied. “We can’t exactly bring the Darkling to China.”
    “No, but we can bring China to the Darkling—or at least its sun. That is, if we work together.”
    Theodore thought about that for a second, and then a wide grin broke out across his face. “You, sir, are a supergenius.”

    After a minute of struggling, Theodore finally managed to open a portal to the 1st Ring of the Nether.
    “Good job,” Violet said.
    The skinny boy flushed with pride. “Ah, I’m still nowhere near as fast as portal master over there.” He nodded to Charlie. “After all, he is the DT.”
    The DT.
    The Double-Threat.
    Charlie hated the term. He never asked to be a Double-Threat (or a DT as Theodore insisted on calling him)—he was just born that way. As far as Charlie was concerned, the ability to Banish and Nethermance was more of a curse than a blessing. Everyone else with the Gift could do only one or the other, and it made him crazy to be so different from them. In fact, the Headmaster of the Nightmare Academy was the only other Double-Threat in existence, which made him feel like that much