Harriet rummaged through her overall pockets and found the keys. She unlocked the door and pushed aside for her guest. "Step inside, Mr. Patterson. Make yourself at home."
Percy walked in as Harriet looked back at Migo. The Yeti was sitting in front of the porch wrapped in his tarp to keep him dry. "Don't worry, big fella. I'll find a way to keep you nice and dry!"
She closed the door and Migo sighed. He sure wished the Smallfoot had built a place big enough for him to stay in. With all this traveling through the outside world, he was really missing his village in Nepal. Especially his friends, his father, his girlfriend Meechee...
"Hey, big guy."
Migo jumped when he heard an intelligible voice addressing to him. What is a fellow Yeti?! Someone he can finally have a normal conversation with?! He looked around to see who said that. "Hello?"
"Over here! On the porch!"
Migo's eyes returned to the porch and saw the strangest creature he's seen since he saw his first Smallfoot.
The creature was small and entirely light green with dark green horns, hair, and spots and on his back. His eyes were yellow with orange irises and red pupils. He smiled his sharp teeth at Migo and waved a webbed hand. "What's your name, pal?" asked the creature.
"I'm Migo. Who are you? What are you?" asked Migo, getting closer to the creature.
"I'm Matches, the guard dragon of this place." He held his head up proudly. "Not to brag but...I practically run this place."
"Okay, so, what exactly is this place?" asked the Yeti.
"It's my mama-I mean, my boss Miss Grimwood's Finishing School for Ghouls." Matches answered.
Migi blinked twice. "Ghouls? What are ghouls?"
The rain had stopped. Migo happily took the tarp off and Matches jumped off the porch. "Follow me, friend. Let's rustle up some grub from the garden and I'll give you the lowdown on this place."
Inside the school, Percy's jaw dropped when he looked inside the house. It looked even more scary on the inside. Dust and cobwebs were everywhere! Suits of armor were lined up against a wall, and was that a skull with a houseplant inside it?!
Percy did NOT want to stay in this house. "Um, Harriet...I appreciate your generosity. But-"
"Harriet? Is that you?" a gentle voice called out.
Percy saw a rather unusual woman arrive. Unlike Harriet, she looked like she would fit right in with this house. The woman was short, flat nosed, and middle-aged with black hair accessorized with a red head band. She wore a pink dress and a red cloak held on with skull buttons.
"Hey, Miss Grimwood! We've got a special guest here tonight!" Harriet pointed to Percy.
Miss Grimwood's kind eyes lit up. "Percy Patterson! What an honor to have you here!" She put a hand to her chest. "I'm Miss Grimwood, headmistress of this finishing school."
"Um, pleasure to meet you, Ma'am." Percy said politely.
"Is your Yeti friend Gruff with you?" asked the headmistress. "I would love to meet him!"
"Oh, he's right outside. I'm afraid this place is too big for him." Percy admitted.
Harriet looked outside the front window and gasped. "Wait! Gruff isn't there!" She looked closer. "And neither is Matches..."
"Oh, no! Matches better not be digging in the garden again!" Miss Grimwood feared the worst. "Mr. Patterson, make yourself comfortable by the fireplace. Harriet and I need to find Matches!" She pointed to a rope hanging from the ceiling. "If you need anything, just ring this bell and my assistant will assist you!" The two women rushed outside.
Percy just stood there, alone in the grim mansion. He looked over at the warm fireplace, but not even a warm fireplace can make him feel comfortable here. He sighed. "This night could not get any stranger-"
"Eek! Eeek! Eeeek!"
Percy screamed when a bat flew right in front of his face. He kept screaming as he swatted the bat, sending it into the wall.
"Bloody Nora!" Percy gasped, clutching his chest. He stared at the bat writhing on the floor. That's when Percy noticed that this was a bat unlike anything he's ever seen. Curious, he took out his phone and started recording. "Percy Patterson here. I'm here at an old mansion where I've discovered an odd species of bat." He cautiously approached the bat. "It's fur has a strange...purplish color..."
Percy was right. The bat's fur was a light purple color. His amazement grew when the bat opened it's eyes. They were bright green!
"Wait a minute." Percy blinked to make sure he wasn't seeing things. He adjusted his angle and checked the battery. Everything was was working fine. But for some reason, the bat didn't appear on Percy's camera!
Suddenly, a yellow glow came upon the bat! Percy yelped and jumped back. The bat transformed itself into a young girl! A girl with light purple skin, long lavender hair, wore a dark purple dress with a red ribbon around the waist and red flat shoes. Percy turned white when he saw fangs poking out of her mouth.
"How dare you!" she hissed. Her green eyes flashed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! Percy screamed and took off running. He tried to make it to the front door, but to his rising horror, a floating white hand with clawed fingers locked the door.
His screams escalating, Percy ran up the stairs and bumped into a wolf-like creature in a blue dress.
"HEY! Watch where you're goin'!" the hairy creature barked. "I oughta bite your head off!"
Percy just screamed and ran the other way. He tried to go back downstairs but the vampire and floating hand was in his path! Panicking, Percy ran into one of the rooms down the hall and was shocked to see a girl playing video games...with the TV wires connected to the bolts in her neck!
The Frankenstein girl turned to Percy. "Hi! Wanna play winner?"
Percy just ran out of the room and tried to find another room to hide. But most of them were locked! Luckily, he found one unlocked and ran inside.
The room looked like a medieval dungeon, but Percy didn't care. He was too busy comprehending what he had just seen. His face was dead white, his knees wobbled like they were made of jello, he left like fainting any second.
"This has got to be a dream!" Percy breathed out. "I couldn't have seen what I saw! There's no such thing as m-m-m-monsters!"
"Monsters?" a voice chirped.
Percy yelped and jumped back. He looked around as he heard a disembodied voice giggle.
"W-W-Who's there?!" Percy said nervously.
"You don't believe in monsters?" said the voice. It was a girl's voice.
Percy spun around in circles. Who was that talking?! Was it another monster?! "I d-d-don't know how you're pulling this off! But you can't fool me!" he exclaimed. "I d-don't believe in monsters!"
"What about ghosts?" The voice asked from behind Percy.
"G-g-ghosts?!" Percy was terrified of ghosts. When he was little, his father would tell him frightening ghost stories before bed, making Percy sleep with one eye open every night.
And now, even worse than monsters, there might be a ghost in this haunted house! But being rational, Percy tried to dismiss his fear. "I d-don't believe in g-g-g-ghosts!"
And then a finger tapped Percy's shoulder. He stiffly turned around and came face to face with the owner of the girl's voice. She was blue and transparent. She took in Percy's face, it was twisted with shock and horror.
"WAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!" The ghost belted out a shrill, awful cackle.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Percy screamed his loudest and stumbled to the floor. "IT'S A GHOST! A GHOST! IT'S A GHOST!"
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!" The ghost laughed, lunging at Percy. Percy screamed and busted through the door and ran. He just kept running and didn't dare look back. He ran into yet another room in hopes of escaping the supernatural terrors he encounter in just this single night.
With his back against the door, Percy was about to lose it. "This can't be happening! This can't be happening! This can't be happening! I did not just see a g-g-ghost! I've...I've gone mad! Yeah! That's it! I've gone mad!" Percy laughed from pure terror.
But he stopped laughing when he looked around the room he was in. "Huh?! W-Wait a minute! Where am I?!" Percy felt like he just stepped back in time and arrived in ancient Egypt!
The room looked like a tomb within the pyramids. There were ancient hieroglyphics on the stone walls, Egyptian pottery and statues placed around for decor. And a lonely sarcophagus was placed against the far wall.
Wait...a sarcophagus?!
Percy's large, frightened eyes gazed upon the sarcophagus. He feared the worst.
Just then, a noise came from inside the sarcophagus. Something was moving inside.
Percy gasped in terror. "Oh, no! There's a mummy in there!" He envisioned how horrific the mummy was. Tall, wrapped in aged bandages, and dead. With decaying flesh, rotten teeth, hollow vacant eyes that pierced right through your soul.
Knowing he can't go back out there with the ghost and other monsters after him, Percy reached into his backpack and took out his tranquilizer gun. He was going to take out the mummy that was about to emerge.
Then again, Percy didn't know if tranquilizer darts worked on mummies, but it was his only means of defense.
The sarcophagus shook, the mummy was going to come out and attack Percy. With shaking hands, Percy had his gun aimed and ready.
The sarcophagus slowly opened. And Percy could not believe what he saw. His eyes traveled down and saw that the mummy was the size of a small child. Wrapped in clean, white bandages and wore a dress made of bandages and a dark pink bow on her head. The bandages on her head resembled a ponytail.
The little girl mummy pushed the heavy lid of her sarcophagus. Once it was opened wide enough. She panted a few times before turning to Percy. Instead of having, hollow, vacant eyes, they were full of life with a beautiful blue color.
Percy watched openmouthed as the mummy stretched and exhaled a cute little yawn. She looked at Percy curiously. "Who are you?"
Her sweet little voice made Percy drop the tranquilizer gun. This was so unexpected, it was actually MORE terrifying.
Percy felt lightheaded. When the mummy took a few steps forward, Percy fell over in a dead faint.