Myles and the Monster Outside Read Free

didn’t want to be disturbed.
    Then … something ran across the road between Myles and the farmhouse.
    Something with RED EYES!

CHAPTER 4
    CAW! CAW! CAUGHT!
    M yles jumped. “What was that ?” he yelled, pointing out the back window.
    â€œWhat was what?” his mother asked, not looking. Myles peered again but there was nothing in the bushes. Nothing on the road.
    â€œI … I think there’s … something down there,” Myles gulped. He couldn’t bring himself to say what .
    Myles’s mother pulled over to the side of the dirt road. Victor roared and chugged like a dragon. She looked to where Myles had pointed, and squinted. “Where, Myles? I don’t see anything. It’s getting dark, though. Bea, please hand me the map.” Bea reached into the glove box and handed her mother the old map. Once again, Myles wished they had one of those built-in computers that told you where you were and how to get where you wanted to go. He thought it might be called a GPS. Only his family would drive halfway across the country without one.
    Maybe with his dad’s new job, they could finally afford a new car. With a GPS.
    While his mother tried to find “Go Home Highway” on the map, Myles struggled not to look down the dirt road again. He didn’t want to see what was down at the end of the creepy road, but he couldn’t help it. His imagination was running wild, which was much worse than not looking. He finally peeked.
    No red eyes.
    But the end of the road was swirling with mist, and the farmhouse looked really spooky and abandoned. The windows were all broken, and the front door swung and creaked in the rain.
    Go Home Highway, what a joke! Myles thought. More like Go Away Highway. Who would live here? Or ever want to?
    Suddenly he wondered what his old house looked like, now that no one lived in it. The house still wasn’t sold when they left. Did it already look like this place, deserted and forgotten? How long did it take for a house to look unloved and unlived in, anyway?
    And more than a little creepy?
    And what was their new house like? What if it was terrible and lonesome, like this place?
    Myles shuddered and peeked again at the abandoned farmhouse. The bushes along the dirt road definitely moved this time.
    S omething ran back across the road, closer to the car.
    It looked right at Myles. RED EYES peered at him from the bushes!
    He gulped.
    â€œMom! Get us out of here!” Myles whispered.
    â€œWhat’s gotten into you, Myles? Okay, you’re right, ‘Go Home Highway’ was just a joke. It’s not on the map. A big joke on me. I must want to get to Nobleville so badly that I wasn’t paying attention.” Myles’s mother pulled the car around. Turning Victor-the-Volvo around wasn’t easy. Victor was heavy and didn’t exactly turn on a dime.
    Myles’s mother slowly turned the car, backed up, pulled forward, tried to miss the bushes at either side of the road …
    â€¦ then disaster. Victor-the-enormous got stuck in the mud!
    â€œGreat,” their mother sighed. She got out of the car and looked at the back wheel. She whistled. Myles peeked over the back seat at her.
    Please, please don’t ask us to …
    â€œGet out of the car, you two! We aren’t too stuck, I think we can get out of this mud with a little push.”
    Myles gulped. His heart started to pound. The thing with red eyes was out there!
    Myles started to shake his head, but Bea teased him.
    â€œGeesh, Myles, you look scared! Come on, the scariest thing out here is that crow, see?” She pointed at a giant crow above them in the trees. It was staring at them.
    Myles dropped his gaze since he had the strangest feeling the crow wanted him to go away.
    Nothing scared Bea, though. She pushed her glasses up her nose, put her precious book on the front seat, and left the car. Myles took a deep breath, opened his door, and stepped onto the