Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 

It wasn’t long before the four of them – JC, Zombi, Wolfey, and Mum-Z – arrived at a tall, black, spiky, iron fence, which surrounded a spooky graveyard that was filled with tombstones, statues, mausoleums, weeds and skinny dead trees. And in the middle of it all was a great big Victorian house. The house looked like it was from one of those old black and white “horror” films that JC’s grandma sometimes watched on TV. The movies were never actually scary, but JC always thought those “haunted mansions” looked like pretty cool places to live in.

This particular Victorian house was three stories high and jutted out in a bunch of different directions, with pointy roofs, lots of windows (so many that it sorta made up for the lack of windows in Wolfey’s and Mum-Z’s homes), orange and black shingles, and a porch that wrapped all the way around it. When the guys reached the front gate, JC said, “Pretty awesome digs. So who lives here again?”

“That would be Skellii,” replied a soft, high voice behind them.

“Agghh!” screamed Wolfey, Zombi and Mum-Z in unison as they jumped and spun around.

But when Wolfey, Zombi, and Mum-Z saw that it was only their good friend, Gho-Stee – a pretty ghost with long purple and green hair, yellow-white skin, and flowing, pale, bluish-greenish garments – the guys all quickly recomposed themselves and acted cool again.

Zombi was the first to recover. “Oh, hey there, Gho-Stee,” he said, still trying to appear very nonchalant. “Didn’t hear you come up behind us.”

“Yeah, you shouldn’t sneak up on us like that!” complained Wolfey. “You scared our new friend, JC.”

Gho-Stee laughed as she waved hi to JC, “Who did you think I was, The Candy Monster?”

“Aggh! Don’t say its name!” cried Wolfey.

“We’re calling it TCM now,” explained Mum-Z.

“Oh, well, that makes everything better--” smirked Gho-Stee.

“Don’t joke about something like that!” cried Wolfey. “That beast could eat us all, then inhale you for dessert!”

“I don’t think so,” she replied calmly.

“Why not?” asked JC.

“Because we’re not candy, are we?” answered Gho-Stee.

“That’s what I said!” said JC.

“She has a point there,” added Mum-Z. “

Yeah, remember, Wolfey?” continued JC. “We all agreed before that TCM's probably afraid of other living creatures – that’s why it waited for Witchie to leave her house before eating it,” said JC.

“Well, now that I’ve thought about it a little more, I think that’s a TERRIBLE point!” cried Wolfey. “Just because we call it...” then he whispered, “...The Candy Monster…” and then he spoke in his normal, loud voice again, “that doesn’t mean it doesn’t ALSO eat creatures like us. It could eat candy AND creatures AND little boys AND trees AND caves AND pyramids AND--”

“Dude, chill out, we get the idea--” started Zombi.

But Wolfey cut him off, “Dude, number one, in the entire history of saying 'chill out,' has that ever actually chilled anyone out?--”

“He has a point there,” observed Mum-Z.

“Number two, I’m just sayin’ we CAN’T be so chill about this! Not ’til we figure out what the heck’s goin’ on here!” continued Wolfey.

“Well, that’s what we’re trying to do, Wolfey,” reasoned Gho-Stee in her most soothing voice. “And you’re right, we shouldn’t underestimate this beast. But we also shouldn’t let it frighten us into cowering away.”

“Who said anything about a cow?” asked Wolfey.

“No, ‘cowering’ means shying away from something you’re afraid of,” explained Mum-Z.

“Well, who said anything about being afraid?!” asked Wolfey, sticking his chest out.

Mum-Z rolled his eyes. Wolfey was in one of his moods.

And as they were trying to calm Wolfey down (again), JC noticed there was a small purple-silvery lake across the path from the haunted mansion. Sitting on that lake was a big, eerily-glowing ship with its big, ripped sails. The name Styx was written in red on its front, and it kinda looked like an abandoned pirate ship.

“Hey,” JC interrupted, “that looks like a pirate ship over there,” stating the obvious. “Maybe TCM lives there. Maybe TCM is a pirate!”

“TCM?” asked Wolfey.

“Yeah,” replied JC, “The Candy Monster—”

“Stop saying it’s name!” cried Wolfey.

“That’s what he’s trying to do! That’s why he called it TCM!” Zombi yelled back.

“Okay, okay, I think we’re getting off-track again,” Gho-Stee interrupted. She then turned to JC and said, “Actually, I live on that ship, JC. And technically, it belongs to Skellii.”

“So you and Skellii are shipmates?” asked JC.

“Well, no, we switched homes. You see, I own that house behind you, but I didn’t like living there. I prefer being right on the lake, because it rocks very gently, since it's made of liquid silver.”

“It looks kinda purple-y to me,” noticed JC.

“I know! That’s one of the things I like about it,” replied Gho-Stee. “So the set-up works really well for us. Skellii likes living in the house and enjoys decorating all the rooms and cooking and doing all that other household-stuff—”

“Although, she really doesn’t take very good care of the yard,” mumbled Mum-Z.

“That’s true,” agreed JC.

But Gho-Stee continued, “…while I like living on the ship with its gentle rocking and the breezes that come right off the lake.”

“Plus,” Mum-Z added, “Skellii loves cats—”

“She has about a zillion of ’em,” sneered Wolfey, who hated cats, being part wolf-dog and all.

“Thirteen, to be precise,” corrected Mum-Z.

“Thirteen, a zillion – who cares? After two cats, you’re officially a kook--” started Wolfey.

“Sounds like someone else has a crush on Skellii,” teased Zombi. “Looks like you’ve got some competition, Mum-Z.”

At that, Wolfey pushed Zombi’s chest. “He can have her! Unless YOU’RE in love with her--”

And the two were about to start wrestling again, when all of a sudden, Skellii, a very pretty skeleton with light blue bones, wearing a short, red mini-skirt that matched her lipstick (even though she had no lips), a bright pink crop-top, a pink and red flower in her short black, bobbed hair, and purple high-heels, came running out of the house, looking very agitated. Something was very wrong indeed.

“You guys, you guys!” yelled Skellii as she jumped up and down on the porch. “Thank goodness you’re here! Come quick! Come quick!”

“You mean, ‘Come quick-LY,’” corrected Mum-Z under his breath. “One should always use an adverb when describing a verb, not an adjective,” he said to no one in particular as they all rushed towards Skellii.

(for Chapter 9, click here)

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