Gigantopus from Planet X! by Tony Abbott Page A

huge spiked claws and eyes on stalks. “I call him— Clawgantua, the Clawed Avenger! Poor Clawgantua. A freak aquarium mishap turns a tiny orphan named Crabcake into—”
    â€œA giant crab with enormous claws called Clawgantua?” said Holly.
    Mr. Vickers looked stunned. “There’s just no keeping anything from you super-smart kids!”
    Holly smiled back at her father. She loved him a lot, but the truth was Humongous movies were sort of, well, not so good. Props didn’t work. Sets tumbled down. Makeup fell off. But the camera kept rolling.
    â€œThe camera must keep rolling,” Mr. Vickers said. “You never know what might happen.”
    As the five kids followed Mr. Vickers around the hangar, they could see the whole strange movie studio.
    In one corner was a jungle with a volcano. Next to that was a castle dungeon with painted stone walls and lots of chains. Behind that was a giant kitchen with huge forks and spoons and a pair of enormous scissors sitting on a tall table.
    â€œA total horror playground!” said Mike. “And look! The moon!” Mike stepped onto a bumpy landscape of crusty cardboard craters.
    Mr. Vickers chuckled. “Actually, it’s supposed to be Mars. But only astronauts would know the difference!”
    â€œOr aliens,” mumbled Liz.
    Then the moviemaker said, “Behold, the den of mystery! The prop workshop!” He led them into a long room filled with work-tables.
    â€œExcellent!” gasped Sean. “Hairy hands. Zombie eyeballs. Rubber brains. This is where I’m coming for school supplies! Hey, what’s this?” He pointed to a large black box on the floor.
    â€œCareful with that, son,” said Mr. Vickers. “That’s a fog machine. One false move and we’ll be in fog as thick as a vampire’s accent!”
    â€œThis stuff is cool,” said Jeff, slapping a fake scar on his cheek.
    The director nodded. “Props, costumes, and makeup are the heart of a good story. They transform normal folks into weird monsters.”
    Liz turned to Holly. “In The Zone, it’s hard to tell the difference sometimes.”
    Just then— Scritch! Holly heard something moving outside the door.
    â€œAnd you know, kids,” said Mr. Vickers. “Movie stars come in all shapes and sizes, too. It just happens that I got a call this morning, and one of my … ah … actors, should be here very soon!”
    â€œCool!” said Jeff. “Can we meet him?”
    Scritch! Holly moved closer to the door. She heard something for sure. “Dad, what’s out—”
    Suddenly, the door swung open and a long, green arm curled in and wrapped itself tightly around Holly’s neck!
    â€œAnother thing is eating Holly!” cried Sean.
    â€œKkkkk!” she gagged as the long green arm yanked her out the door!

2
    A Grabby Sort of Guy!
    â€œA giant, real-live octopus!” screamed Mike.
    That was the second-to-last thing Holly heard before things started to go dark. The last thing was her own voice, shrieking for help.
    â€œHelp-p-p-p!” she sputtered as she felt herself getting dragged across the ground.
    Zzzzt! An electrical buzz sounded, and the green arm instantly uncoiled from Holly’s neck and dropped to the ground with a thud.
    â€œWow! It’s a giant octopus!” shouted Jeff. “Will you look at those tentacles!”
    Holly looked up at the thing that had grabbed her. “An octopus?” she gargled.
    Yes! An octopus! And boy was it a big one! It had a giant speckled green dome and eight leathery tentacles wrapped like snakes around it. Two deep eyes glared out from the towering dome.
    Sean frowned when he saw the creature was sitting on the back of a truck. “Oh, so, it’s not a real octopus?”
    â€œNow there’s a movie star!” said Mr. Vickers, rubbing his hands together as he approached the truck. “I hope my new prop