R. L. Stine_Mostly Ghostly 07 (12 page)

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,

Don't Close Your Eyes!

I
N A TERRIFYING EPISODE
, an evil sleep ghost named Inkweed has inhabited Max. The ghost has come to put Nicky and Tara to sleep forever.

But Inkweed is powerless until Max goes to sleep. He stays dormant inside Max, waiting for the moment when Max closes his eyes so that he can bring his crushing evil powers to life.

Nicky and Tara frantically work to keep Max awake—until they can come up with a scheme to rid him of Inkweed. Days go by, and poor sleep-deprived Max gets crazier and crazier. He's desperate for sleep. But if he closes his eyes, it will mean the end of all three of them.

Can Nicky and Tara find a way to banish Inkweed before Max closes his eyes?

A
LL THREE OF US
stared down at the open book on the floor, frozen in shock.

The words written about the evil ghost Inkweed slid quickly to the middle and formed a black puddle of ink. The puddle spread silently over the book, growing wider and deeper.

“This is
crazy
!” I cried.

And then we gasped as the ink puddle began to rise off the book. It lifted itself up as if it was alive! A living ink creature.

“Inkweed is alive!” Tara screamed. Then she and Nicky flickered and faded. The shock was taking away their energy force.

But I could see the horror on their faces as the ink blob floated up into the air. It made a wet slapping sound as it settled against the bedroom wall. Then it began to shift and spread.

“Stop it! We have to
stop
it!” Tara screamed.

Nicky flickered in and out like a firefly. “H-how?” he stammered.

I jumped up from my desk chair and started to
back up, moving away from the shadowy ink blob as it spread over my wall.

It continued to spread, and then it pulled itself into a new shape. Slowly, slowly, it started to form a black, inky figure—the silhouette of a man!

“Is it… is it
Inkweed?”
Tara choked out.

Before anyone could answer, the inky shadow pulled off the wall—and floated over my head.

I ducked.

I tried to dodge it.

But it settled over me. Hot and wet. Like someone dropping a heavy wet bath towel over me.

I couldn't move. I couldn't see.

The dark shadow held me in place. It wrapped around me. My skin prickled under the hot wetness of it. Shiver after shiver rolled down my body.

I tried to cry out, but my voice was muffled under the thick, black shadow.

The shadow grew heavier. I bent over. Dropped to my knees under its weight.

I tried to scream. I tried to thrash my arms and duck my head to escape the terrifying blanket.

But I was frozen beneath it.

And then I felt it shift and start to settle. It was settling over me. No. Not settling.

Sinking.

Sinking into me!

Sinking into my skin. Into my
brain!

My arms jerked. My head was flung back as if someone had slugged me.

I toppled over. My head hit the floor.

I felt as if I was swimming in blackness. Deep underwater in a freezing black pond. I felt the wet currents splashing inside me, one after the other.

And then I was back on my feet. Still squinting through a thick curtain of gray. Still shivering. Shaking my head, trying to shake the dark clouds away.

“Max!” Tara cried. Her shout sounded very far away. “Max! Are you okay?”

“Oh, wow.” I heard Nicky's voice somewhere on the other side of the black curtain. “Max, you're covered in black ink. You're dripping!”

“Never mind that!” I shouted, surprised to hear my normal voice. “It's
inside
me! I can feel it!”

“Inkweed?” Nicky asked. “Is it Inkweed?”

The dark curtain lifted a little. I could see the two ghosts gaping at me in horror.

“I don't know what it is,” I said. “But I can feel it inside my body! Inside my
head!”

“Oh no. Oh no,” Tara moaned, tugging her hat down over her ears.

“
Do
something!” I screamed. “Pick up the book! Hurry! You've got to help me. What does it say to do?”

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher,
except where permitted by law.

The trademark Delacorte Press is registered in the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office and in other countries.

Visit us on the Web!
www.randomhouse.com
/kids
Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools,
visit us at
www.randomhouse.com
/teachers

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stine, R.L.
Freaks and shrieks/R.L. Stine
p. cm.—(Mostly ghostly)
Summary: When Max makes a deal with the two ghosts inhabiting his
bedroom in order to find out how these friends became spirits, he must
switch brains with the only witness to the event, a chimpanzee.
eISBN: 978-0-307-49557-0
[1. Ghosts—Fiction. 2. Brain—Fiction. 3. Chimpanzees—Fiction.
4. Magic—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.S86037Fre 2005
[Fic]—dc22
2005008633

v3.0