Monster Blood IV

19

The dampness spread over the back of Evan’s pajamas. The cold chilled him until his skin prickled.

He leaped up. Whirled around. Let out another cry as the lights flashed on.

He stared down at a wet washcloth on his sheet.

And heard Kermit’s high-pitched giggle.

“Kermit — you jerk!” Evan cried.

His cousin stood by the light switch, shaking with laughter.

“Kermit — do you really think this was the best time to play such a mean joke?” Evan demanded, his heart still pounding.

Kermit shrugged. “Guess not.” Then he started giggling all over again.

Evan angrily grabbed up the cold, wet washcloth and heaved it at his cousin. “Let’s get some sleep,” he growled. “We have a lot to do tomorrow. And it’s no joke.”

Evan dreamed about blue balloons. There were dozens of them in the dream, and they grew bigger and bigger.

The balloons floated above him, their long strings hanging down. Evan tried to capture the balloons by grabbing the strings.

But as he held on, the strings turned into wriggling snakes.

Evan tried to let go, but the snakes wrapped around his hands. And the huge blue balloons lifted him off the ground and carried him higher and higher — until they popped.

And he woke up.

Morning sunlight washed into the bedroom. Evan felt tired and shaky, as if he hadn’t slept at all. He glanced across the room at his cousin.

Kermit had kicked all his blankets off onto the floor. He slept at the foot of his bed, twisted like a pretzel.

He probably had bad dreams too, Evan thought.

He spotted the wet washcloth on the floor.

Good! Evan said to himself. Kermit deserves bad dreams!

But as he pulled on jeans and a sweatshirt, a heavy feeling of dread swept over Evan.

The Monster Blood creatures. They were down in the basement. Waiting.

How can we get rid of them? Evan asked himself. Should we tell Aunt Dee? Should we call the police?

He stared at himself in the mirror as he brushed his teeth. His eyes were bloodshot. He had dark circles around them.

He shook Kermit’s shoulders and woke him up. “Huh?” Kermit groaned. He squinted hard at Evan, as if he didn’t recognize him.

“Wake up,” Evan ordered. “We have a job to do — remember?”

Kermit blinked several times. Without his big red glasses, his eyes looked tiny.

“We have to dump those trash bags somewhere,” Evan reminded him.

“I have an idea,” Kermit replied.

They hurried to the kitchen. Aunt Dee had left a note on the refrigerator. She went early to the garden store to buy new flowers for her garden. She told the boys to make cereal for breakfast.

But Evan didn’t feel like eating. His stomach felt as if it were filled with lead.

“We’ll eat after we take care of the blobs,” he told Kermit.

Kermit nodded solemnly. He led the way to the basement stairs.

“Where did you hide the trash bags?” Evan asked as they started down the steps.

“I locked them in the little bathroom,” Kermit replied.

“Huh?” Evan let out a gasp. He grabbed Kermit and spun him around. “Isn’t there a sink in that bathroom? And a toilet? And water pipes?”

“Well… yeah,” Kermit replied. “But the creatures are in bags — remember?”

“Plastic bags!” Evan reminded him. “They probably chewed through those bags in seconds!”

Kermit’s mouth dropped open. “Do you think so?”

They stopped outside the bathroom door. Evan pressed his ear to the door, listening hard. “Uh-oh,” he murmured. “I think I hear running water.”

“Oh, wow.” Kermit shook his head. “Oh, wow. Oh, wow. I just remembered something else.”

“Something else?” Evan narrowed his eyes on his cousin. “What else did you just remember?”

Kermit swallowed. “Uh… well… I just remembered that this bathroom is where I hid the bottle that has my hair-growing formula.”

“Oh, nooooo,” Evan moaned.

“I didn’t want anyone to find it,” Kermit explained. “No one ever uses this bathroom. So I hid it in here.”

Evan pressed his ear to the bathroom door again. He reached for the knob.

“No — don’t!” Kermit cried.

“We have no choice,” Evan told him.

He pulled open the door.