Ghouls Gone Wild by R.L. Stine

“Great magician? Are you kidding me? That meat thing almost
killed
me!”
    Tara's grin grew wider. “I guess we owe Buster one. I had no idea the meat creature I made would become so
attached
to you!”
    Nicky and I laughed at Tara's joke. But it wasn't funny. It had really been a close call.
    “That spell book is dangerous,” I said.
    “Well, the sour milk spell worked really well,” Nicky said. And then he covered his mouth. “Oops!”
    I grabbed at the front of his shirt. “Sour milk spell? You mean…you two did that?”
    Tara frowned at her brother. “Nicky, you blabbermouth. You weren't supposed to tell him.”
    My mouth dropped open. “You two did the milk bottle thing? And you dropped the pie on Mr. Marvin's head?”
    They stared back at me and didn't answer.
    “There
were
no ghouls in this house, were there!” I said. “It was you all along.”
    Again, they didn't answer. But their smiles gave them away.
    “We had to do it, Max,” Tara said finally. “We knew you'd be angry at us. But we didn't want you to leave.”
    I stared at them with my mouth open. “Well, that was a dirty trick. But…I'm home to stay,” I said.
    We partied some more. Then Nicky and Tara said good night and vanished.
    I heard a noise outside. A car? Was Mr. Grim-mus back?
    I stepped over to the window and peered down at the driveway. No. No car.
    I was about to turn away—when I saw a flash of black behind our tall evergreen hedge. I let out a gasp when the boy in black came into view.
    What was he doing out there?
    I decided I couldn't take it anymore. I had to find out who he was and what he wanted.
    I flew down the stairs, half sliding down the banister. I grabbed the knob to the front door—but changed my mind.
    I'll sneak up on him, I decided.
    I trotted to the kitchen and went out the back door. Then I crept around the side of the house, pressing myself against the wall, keeping out of sight.
    I stopped at the corner of the house and squinted into the front yard.
    Yes. He hadn't moved. He was hunched behind the hedge, gazing up at my bedroom window.
    “Don't move!” I shouted. I darted away fromthe house, running straight to the hedge. “Don't move!”
    To my surprise, the boy didn't run.
    Breathing hard, I stopped across from him, on the other side of the hedge. I stared hard at his face. He had smooth skin, like a boy. But his dark eyes seemed very old.
    “Who are you?” I demanded. “Why are you watching me?”
    His face wrinkled as his expression turned to one of surprise. “Don't you know?” he asked. He had an old man's voice, hoarse and dry.
    “Know?” I cried. “Know
what?”
    “Don't you understand?” he asked in his strange, raspy whisper. “They're going to
kill
you! They're going to
kill
you!”
    TO BE CONTINUED

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Robert Lawrence Stine's scary stories have made him one of the bestselling children's authors in history. “Kids like to be scared!” he says, and he has proved it by selling more than 300 million books. R.L. teamed up with Parachute Press to create Fear Street, the first and number one bestselling young adult horror series. He then went on to launch Goosebumps, the creepy bestselling series that gave kids chills all over the world and made him the number one children's author of all time
(The Guinness Book of Records).
    R.L. Stine lives in Manhattan with his wife, Jane, their son, Matthew, and their dog, Nadine. He says he has never seen a ghost—but he's still looking!

Be sure to check out the next book in the
Mostly Ghostly series,
Let's Get this party Haunted!
    ATERRIFYINGSURPRISEPARTY …
    M AX'S BIRTHDAY PARTY WASN'T supposed to be a surprise. He'd planned it for weeks! He wanted to impress his friends—especially Traci Wayne, the girl he's a little nuts about.
    But when two ghosts live in your house,
every
party is a surprise party!
    Nicky and Tara—the two ghosts who live with Max—are angry that he didn't invite them. They decide to turn Max's party