Have You Met My Ghoulfriend? by R.L. Stine

show up.
    I was angry and upset, and I could feel the Berserker Ghoul moving around inside me. I ran up the stairs in my wet soccer shoes, trailing mud on the carpet. My bedroom was dark, as if a black fog had settled inside. The fog should have been a warning, but I wasn't paying attention. I saw Nicky and Tara. I thought they were just standing there side by side.
    I called, “Hey, what's up?”
    And then I saw that they were tied up, with rope or something. And then I raised my eyes and squinted through the dark cloud—and saw Phears.
    I finally caught on. This was why my twoghost friends did not show at the soccer match. Phears had captured them.
    “Welcome to the party, Max,” Phears thundered. “You came just in time. We were about to leave to find their parents. Now you can join us.”
    “Uh, well … I'm kinda busy,” I said, stalling for time.
    Phears stared at me with his solid white eyes. My skin prickled. My hair stood straight up on end. “No jokes, Max. We've come to the end of the jokes. It's time to get serious. How have you enjoyed my Berserker friend? Have you and he become close?”
    I didn't answer. I turned to Nicky and Tara. They were both struggling against the long cords wrapped around them. They seemed to be in a lot of pain. I followed the cords to Phears' hands, and I gasped when I saw that they were his fingernails.
    Phears turned his stare on me again. And again my skin tingled and my hair stood straight up.
    “Nicky and Tara are taking me to their parents,” Phears said. “If they don't cooperate, they will disappear forever. And you, my friend Max … you …”
    I felt a stab of fear run down my body. “Yes?” I asked, trembling.
    “You will also disappear forever. You know too much. And you are of no use to me.”
    “Leave Max out of this!” Tara screamed.
    “Too late,” Phears said. “Too late for Max. Say goodbye to him now, kids. Max is history.”
    His eyes glowed brighter, like twin headlights through the fog. He turned them on me—and my skin started to burn. Wave after wave of heat rolled over me.
    I couldn't turn away from the glowing eyes. Burning … burning me … as if my whole body was in flames.
    “Goodbye, Max!” Phears shouted.
    The last words I'd ever hear.

28
    “N O—WAIT!” I SCREAMED .
    My body thrashed and twisted and doubled over, collapsing in the heat of Phears' stare. My hair felt on fire. My arms and legs burned. My
tongue
burned.
    “Wait! Phears—I can be useful!”
I cried.
“I have something of yours that you want!”
    The fiery heat vanished as Phears turned his eyes away from me. I climbed back to my feet, my legs trembling.
    “What do you have of mine, Max?” Phears demanded.
    He held Nicky and Tara tightly in place. They both stared at me openmouthed, breathing hard.
    “I … I have your cat!” I cried.
    It was Phears' turn to let out a gasp of surprise. “You? You have Cha Cha?”
    I nodded.
    Would Tara's plan work? Would Phears make a deal with us for his cat?
    If he didn't, we were doomed.
    “Where is Cha Cha?” Phears demanded. His voice had changed. It was softer now. He couldn't hide how eager he was to see his cat. “Where is he? Are you lying, Max? It won't save your life.”
    “I have the cat,” I lied. Was it still in the tunnel in the wall? I didn't hear it now. “But you'll have to make a trade.”
    “Trade?” he boomed. “Give me my cat, Max. Give Cha Cha to me now, or else—”
    I took a deep breath. My whole body was shaking.
    I wasn't making a trade with a kid on the playground. I was trying to make a deal with an evil ghost!
    The words burst out of me: “I'll give you the cat if you let Nicky and Tara go. And if you remove the Berserker Ghoul from my body.”
    Phears glared at me. “Do you
dare
try to make a bargain with me?”
    I stared back. “Let Nicky and Tara go,” I repeated. “And get this ghoul out of me.”
    “And you'll give me my precious cat?” Phears said. “You'll give me back my