Myles and the Monster Outside Read Free Page A

pebbly, muddy dirt road. Light rain spattered down onto his head. It smelled like spring fields outside the car. The air was fresh and clean, a nice change from the inside of Victor.
    But still. Myles’s heart was pounding so hard, it hurt. He willed himself not to look down the road. At the farmhouse. Or at the bushes.
    Stare at your feet! There’s nothing out there!
    He didn’t want to see the door hanging on its hinges. The broken windows.
    The thing from the island.
    The huge black crow sat in the tree overhead, staring at them. Every now and then it ruffled its feathers.
    â€œYou both push hard, when I say. Okay?” His mother sounded so normal that Myles squeezed his eyes shut and nodded.
    Bea put her back against the car and dug her feet into the dirt road. Myles put his hands on Victor’s bumper, ready to push. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter.
    â€œReady?” their mother called from inside the car.
    â€œYes!” Bea shouted back, but Myles was mute.
    â€œNOW!” their mother yelled. Victor roared. The back tire spun in the mud.
    Bea and Myles pushed as hard as they could. Myles was SO glad his sister was there with him. There was no way he would be brave enough to stand in that creepy dirt road by himself. When Victor roared, the old crow in the tree let out a huge CAW! CAW!
    It sounded like “Caught! Caught!” to Myles.
    Bea and Myles pushed. The back tire spun, mud flew up at them, pebbles whipped past.
    They pushed … and pushed … until Myles thought his arms were going to break. But suddenly the old car swerved back onto the gravel and out of the mud.
    â€œDid it!” Bea said proudly.
    But Myles couldn’t rejoice. He couldn’t speak. Behind her a pair of RED EYES stared out of the bushes.
    A long, misty finger reached across the pebbly ground.
    Myles tore into the car.
    â€œLock the doors! Come on, Mom! Let’s go!”
    â€œWhat’s the matter with you, Myles? Would you mind if we wait until your sister gets into the car before we drive away?” she said calmly.
    Bea strolled to the car. Slowly, far, far too slowly.
    Myles couldn’t yell at her to run. He was frozen. He wanted to scream at her to hurry up, but instead he squeezed his eyes shut and tucked his head into his collar.
    Bea would have run if she’d seen the thing floating silently behind her along the road.
    Long, misty grey arms reached out for her. A wispy grey face with a round, dark mouth opened wide. Red eyes danced and burned. The monster from the island drifted just behind her, sniffing the air and catching her scent.
    Myles squeezed into a ball in the back seat beside sleeping Norman.
    Bea settled into the front seat and shut the door. As his mother drove Victor-the-Volvo carefully down the lane back toward the highway, Myles had to look. It was much better to look than not to know. He peeked in the rear-view mirror, just for a second.
    A sleek fox appeared in the lane behind the car. It stopped and stared at Myles in the gloom.

    It has red eyes! Myles thought. It was just a fox!
    â€œHey, there’s a fox!” he called, but it darted away into the ditch.
    â€œWhere? Where?” Bea asked, turning to see. “Sure … a fox, right, Myles. Good one,” she said, settling back into her seat, annoyed.
    Myles was going to say, No! It was really there! but the words died in his throat. The fox was gone.
    But it hardly mattered.
    Because the monster from the island stood at the end of the road. It rose taller than the abandoned farmhouse. Two long grey arms stretched along the laneway toward Myles and the escaping car. The monster sniffed the air and two bright red eyes stared out of the gloom.
    A dark, twisted mouth opened in the mist, and a whispery voice filled the air:
    â€¦ I see you, Myles….

CHAPTER 5
    DOG GONE WEIRD

    M yles stared straight ahead.
    That wasn’t a fox!
    It was the THING, and I heard it! It spoke to me!
    Myles