Ghouls Gone Wild by R.L. Stine Page A

into a SCREAM!
    Poor Max has even bigger problems. He can't shake the frightening figure in black who is following him, watching his every move. And Max discovers a shocking secret about his new best friend!
    Happy
haunted
birthday, Max….

M Y NEW FRIEND, Q UENTIN , came over to practice magic tricks. My party was only a few days away. I wanted to rehearse and rehearse until our act was perfect.
    After all, Traci Wayne was coming. I wasn't allowed to get near her. But this was my big chance to impress her.
    “Let me show you a hat trick that everyone loves,” Quentin said. “Do you have a real hat I could use?”
    I rubbed my chin, thinking hard. “No. I only have baseball caps,” I said. “Oh, wait. My dad has a really good hat he uses for weddings and funerals and things.”
    “Go get it,” Quentin said. “You'll like this trick.”
    I hesitated. “But it's my dad's only hat, and it's very expensive. You have to be very careful.”
    “No problem,” Quentin said. “The trick is perfectly safe. I've done it a thousand times.”
    I went down to my parents’ bedroom closet toborrow Dad's hat. He and Mom were in the den, watching wrestling on TV. They were both shouting at the screen: “Kill him! Kill! Kill! Break him in two!”
    They both love wrestling. But sometimes they get carried away. Last week after a big match, Mom jumped on Dad and started slapping his bald head with both hands. He had to pick her up and carry her into the shower to snap her out of it.
    I pulled Dad's hat down from the top shelf. And I also borrowed one of his neckties. He only has three, but I don't think I've ever seen him wear one. I had learned a nifty new necktie trick that I knew Quentin would love.
    “Kill! Kill! Ruin him!” My parents’ shouts rang out from the den.
    Back in my room, I handed Quentin the hat. “What's the trick?” I asked. “Will it be good for the party?”
    He nodded. He pulled a few things from his magic kit. He held up two eggs. “I crack these two eggs into the hat,” he said. “Then I pour in this jar of honey. Then I turn the hat right side up, and it's perfectly dry.”
    I gulped. “Are you sure about this?”
    “Of course, I'm sure,” Quentin said. “It's an easy trick. Watch.”
    He pushed his blond hair off his forehead. Then he cracked the two eggs and let them runinto the hat. Then he opened the honey jar, turned it upside down, and the honey slowly oozed into the hat with the egg yolks.
    “Say the magic words!” Quentin cried. “Hat be good!” He turned the hat over—and honey and yellow egg yolk came dripping out.
    “You—you ruined my dad's hat!” I wailed.
    Quentin squinted at the sticky mess inside the hat. “I don't get it. That trick always works.”
    My heart started leaping around in my chest. I shoved the hat under my bed. Later I'd have to figure out a good hiding place for it.
    “What's up with the necktie?” Quentin asked, picking up the tie and pulling it through his fingers.
    “Here's a good trick for the party,” I said. “And this one is totally safe.”
    I took the tie from him and picked up a pair of scissors. “See? I make it look like I've cut the tie into four pieces. But I don't really cut it. I cut this piece of cloth instead.”
    I pulled the cloth from my magic kit and tucked it under the tie. “Now watch,” I said. “It looks like I cut the tie up. But when I tug on it, it's all together again.”
    “Cool,” Quentin muttered.
    “Ladies and gentlemen,” I boomed, holding the tie in front of me. “The Amazing Indestructible Necktie!”
    I snipped it into four pieces. I balled the piecesup in my hand. And then I gave a hard tug. “Back together again!” I exclaimed.
    Wrong.
    I'd sliced my dad's tie into four pieces.
    “Oh, wow.” I stared at the pieces of tie in my hand.
    Then I pictured my dad, as big as a truck, a bellowing bull when he was angry. When he saw what I'd done to his hat and tie, he'd…he'd …
    I couldn't even think