Twist by Sarah Cannon

Author:Sarah Cannon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

23

Party Over

Eli would go to his grave and never tell a soul how amazing it was to watch a herd of monsters he’d created come busting into Showplace Pizza—but he couldn’t help basking in the feeling. In that moment he’d have sworn George Lucas couldn’t do any better than him, and he wished his daddy could see.

Then he remembered that these monsters were real.

They came loping and sliming and shambling through the doors in a sea of wickedness. He reached over and shoved Lisa off the booth seat and under the table.

“Hey!” she said, then hushed real quick when she saw why he’d done it.

Their parents didn’t even seem to notice.

“Eli, stop roughhousing with your sister,” said their momma mildly. Then she turned and kept talking to the Prasads.

“Stay down,” Eli hissed to Lisa.

Neha cringed low in her seat as she stared at the oncoming horde, some of who had slowed to sniff the air.

Leading the pack was the Howler.

Unlike just about every horror movie ever, Eli’s story had left zero doubt that the Howler was thoroughly, permanently dead. A smear in the dirt. A smoking heap of ash. Somehow none of that was enough. Its fur was singed—in fact, it was still smoking. But it was still alive, and it was angry.

Eli worked hard to make his monsters as scary as he could. While writing the Howler he’d made a discovery: the trick wasn’t describing the monster to death. Instead, it was a matter of choosing which details would have the most effect at any given moment. The flash of the overhead lights on its crumpled horns as it turned its head. The gleam of saliva dripping between its ivory teeth as it smiled at the scene before it. And the scariest part of all, the realization that the Howler saw exactly what Eli saw: a restaurant. Only this one served Creeps instead of pizza, and maybe a side dish of kids.

Court already had a butter knife in one hand, and when Eli saw that, he almost laughed in spite of the danger. He had questions: Where did she get it? Who ate pizza with a knife? But mostly he was just glad she was on his side.

“You okay?” he asked Neha, touching her shoulder.

She was shaky, but she nodded.

The gibbering creatures were milling around the restaurant, and while the adults might not see them, the kids were all eyes. Some were laughing, like they thought the monsters were Showplace’s newest attraction. Others were edging away or grabbing their parents, who reacted with impatience or amusement.

All around the arcade area of the restaurant, monsters gnashed or whirled their teeth, flexed their digits or tentacles, and looked around with a surprising number and variety of eyes.

There was a brief pause.

An antlered creature that walked on two legs caught sight of the Rustlehorse, who had been chowing down on cherry tomatoes but was now stamping one hoof, neck arched, grassy mane rasping, alert to the oncoming danger. The antlered creature snarled, and in the process revealed a really uncomfortable number of long, sharp teeth.

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