Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11 


The walk to Vam Pea and Franky’s home wasn’t very long. And it went by quickly, because all the way there, Zombi entertained his friends with stories about his Real World adventures with JC.

Zombi was saying things like, “...but in all my adventures, I kept thinking to myself, ‘Too bad Wolfey isn’t here! He’d get a kick outta this!’ or ‘I bet Mum-Z would figure out how to get us out of this mess!’ or ‘Gho-Stee would able to calm everyone down here!’ or ‘Skellii would be able to put everything back together just the way JC’s mom liked it!’” So Zombi’s friends all felt very appreciative that he hadn’t forgotten them after all.

Before long, Vam Pea and Franky’s home came into view. And even though the place kinda looked like a castle, it was really only the size of a very very large house. Plus, there were no actual towers or moats or other things that you would find on a real castle. On the other hand, it still looked very castle-y with its stone walls and castle-like shapes and turrets. So JC thought it was okay for everyone to keep calling it a castle – even though it really wasn’t.

At the front door was Vam Pea, waiting for them, playing a guitar and singing a song they couldn’t quite hear yet.

Vam Pea was a very handsome vampire with green skin. He had straight, light blue hair that pointed to a V on his forehead and flowed down behind his ears and to his shoulders. He was wearing a tight dark shirt, tight dark pants, and dark pointy shoes. JC thought that Vam Pea looked like a hipster and would feel very much at home in Silver Lake, where his Uncle Emile lived.

As they approached Vam Pea, the friends could now hear the song he was singing:
“Who’s that walking to our door?
Is it who we’ve waited for?
Good friends, who could ask for more?
Come in and walk on our floor!”

“Oh, brother,” Mum-Z muttered uttered under his breath. He then leaned towards JC, “Vam Pea is a great guy, but his song lyrics leave something to be desired.”

When his friends reached the front porch, Vam Pea repositioned his guitar so that it was hanging on his back, then held up his hands in greeting, looking very surprised to see Zombi.

“Whoa! Hey, Zombi-man!” he said as he hugged his old friend. “Wow, you're back, man. Heavy. Cool. Ka-boom! Mind blown: mission accomplished! Man. I mean, Witchie told us her mind-vibes would bring you back, but really, who'd a thunk? Right?”

"Actually," started Witchie, who had walked up behind him, "I said nothing about 'mind-vibes.' It was a magical spell that works like the transmission of gamma waves..."

But Vam Pea wasn't listening. He had started hugging his other friends hello, and when he noticed JC, he said, “Hey, who’s the elf with the freakishly round ears?”

And for some reason, Wolfey thought this was hilarious, so he pointed at JC and laughed, “Ha-ha-ha! He thinks you’re an elf!”

“Yeah, we all heard him, Wolfey. Even me, with my freakishly round ears,” smiled JC as he raised an eyebrow, then turned to Vam Pea and said, “I’m not an elf. I’m a boy.”

“Whoa, no way, dude. Wow. Mind blown - reboot! A real live little boy! I don’t think we’ve ever seen one of those ’round here before. Awesome. So, what’s your backstory, bro? You a wizard or king-in-the-making or some sort of Jedi-knight or something?”

"Nope. Just a normal, little boy."

"Wow. Cool. Sick. Wild," replied the vampire, as he nodded his head. "You never know what Life's gonna bring to your doorstep."

"Okay, okay, let’s bring this inside. No use crowding around out here when there’s plenty of room inside," suggested Franky in his low, deep voice. He, too, had walked up behind Vam Pea. And now he was standing next to Witchie.

Franky was a big guy - about a head taller than Witchie and about twice as wide. He was strong and good with his hands, and had built most of the small castle himself. He was always friendly but could also be a little bossy. His skin was a greenish-blue with a lot of scars on it. And he had two squarish lumps at the sides of his neck. Each of those lumps had little holes in them where Franky could plug into a lightning-catching machine whenever he was feeling low-energy and needed recharging.

Witchie, by the way, was a short, pretty witch. She was also a pretty short witch – which is, of course, something totally different. But even though she was both short and pretty (well, pretty for a purple-skinned witch with dark blue hair), she could also transform herself into other forms, like a large, ugly ogre or a round, orange goblin. However, doing body transformations made her bones ache and used up a lot of her rare potions, so she hardly ever did them.

Franky started ushering everyone into the castle-house, JC was, once again, a little overwhelmed. There was so much to take in between all his new friends and all the new surroundings. Who knew what would happen next? Hopefully, though, they would be safe from The Candy Monster.

But would they?

(for Chapter 12, click here)

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