They Came From Planet Q by Laura Dower Page B

“Hmmmmph. What’s really going on?”
    â€œGlobal warming, I’ll bet,” Mom grumbled. “If it’s not a melting ice cap, it’s pollution in the sky . . . and now this .”
    She grabbed the remote and clicked the television off.
    â€œWait! Mom!” I wailed. “We were watching that!”
    â€œNot anymore,” Mom said sweetly. “This is your special birthday night. No bad news or hot topics allowed. How about another slice of cake?”
    I sighed. “Moooom.” But it did no good. I took the slice.
    Of course, at that moment, I probably should have known what was really going on out there in the world. I should have clicked the TV right back on and taken pages of notes. After all, as a member of the Monster Squad, it’s my job to pay extra-close attention to freaky occurrences just like those.
    Often, it’s a sign of B-Force.
    B-Force is the incredible power generated by the presence of a real, live B-Monster. B-Force may take the form of wild weather or a bug swarm or even a river of goo. No matter what form it takes, B-Force always means the same thing: Some B-Monster is coming to town.
    Rrrrrrrrrrrrrring.
    Mom handed the phone right to me. “Who’s Stella?” she asked.
    There was only one Stella that I knew in the whole world and she was in the Monster Squad like me. Other kids in Riddle call her Ninja because she’s got a mean karate kick.
    â€œLindsey?” Stella’s voice crackled. “You watching TV? You sitting down? Because right now channels 6, 8, and 10 are showing this extreme stuff happening all over the planet. And you know what that usually means . . .”
    â€œI know,” I whispered. “B-Force . . .”
    I didn’t want Mom or Dad to hear. Neither is allowed to know the inner workings of the Monster Squad or the truth about all the real-life B-Monsters that have been on the loose. Mom would have a cow if she knew I was moonlighting as Lindsey the B-Hunter.
    â€œSo we need to meet!” Stella said. “It’s too late to meet tonight so let’s hook up at the mall tomorrow. Food court. Eleven AM. I’ll call Jesse. You call Damon. Got it?”
    I got it. I dialed Damon right away. An answering machine picked up and I explained the plan.
    â€œB-there, or B-square!” I blurted into the receiver at the end.
    A massive B-Monster takeover may have been brewing, but that wasn’t about to stop little old me from making a pun.

CHAPTER 1
    READ ’EM AND WEEP
    When we’re not meeting at school or Leery Castle, Monster Squad meets at Petroglyph Mall. Sometimes Dad even arranges for us to get food court discounts. Lunch that day was served at Wok N Roll. Nothing like planning B-Monster destruction with a side order of rice.

    The mall is called Petroglyph because it’s supposedly built on top of these old, haunted, cavemen-painted caves. A petroglyph is a caveman’s cave picture, complete with stick figures and bows and arrows. All the rumors about the mall being haunted don’t scare me, but they do set a good mood for plotting and planning.
    Jesse, as usual, came prepared for a meeting. Super-prepared.
    He threw a stack of important papers onto the table.
    â€œRead ’em and weep, Monster Squad,” Jesse said. “Evidence of B-Force all over the world! This is one bad B-Monster.”
    He’d been up late last night, printing out dozens of stories he’d found on the Internet. They were stranger-than-strange-but-true stories that pointed to some kind of powerful B-Monster presence.
    â€œCheck out that headline!” Damon said, pointing to one of the stories.
    MICROWAVE OVENS DISAPPEAR INTO THIN AIR
    â€œ Nuke kidding,” I cackled. “Who cooked up that disaster?”
    â€œAwwwww, Lindsey,” Jesse said, laughing. “That’s just lame . . .”
    â€œAnd lamer,” Damon added.
    I made a sourball face and read the piece