There's a Spaceship in My Tree! by Robert West Read Free Book Online

tendrils from the flailing, now quietly screaming, boys.
    â€œPipe down, you two!” Scilla whispered loudly. “She’s left little bottles of plant repellent all over the place and, anyway, it wasn’t going to eat you.”
    â€œJust wanted a little snuggle, huh,” sputtered Beamer. “And we were supposed to know this how ??” “Boy Eaten by Killer Bush” — some obituary that would make!
    Around one more bend in the cobblestone road they came to the gate. It was big and heavy, made of black iron rods all twisted into fancy shapes. Beamer warily eyed a design at the top. It looked something like a dragon diving out of the sky.
    â€œThe lock’s been broken for years,” Scilla said as she triggered the handle. “They’ve never bothered to fix it. Most people wouldn’t be caught dead in Old Lady Parker’s yard anyway.”
    â€œThat’s probably because there’s a nine in ten chance that’s exactly how they’d be caught — dead!” quipped Beamer.
    A moment later they were running across Ms. Parker’s front lawn, heading lickety-split toward Murphy Street.
    â€œMade it!/Whew!/Thank you, God!” they all exclaimed in a collective sigh of relief that probably altered the air patterns around Middleton.
    â€œNo thanks to you!” Beamer snapped at Ghoulie, throwing his backpack to the ground. “You led them right to me!”
    â€œHey, I was just running,” Ghoulie shot back. “I didn’t have time to check the traffic report.”
    â€œWell, next time find somebody besides me to save your behind.”
    â€œThe way I see it, she’s the one that saved both our behinds,” Ghoulie countered, pointing at Scilla.
    â€œYeah, if you don’t count all the narrow escapes along the way!” he shot back at him. Beamer spun around and strutted off red-faced toward his house, pulling Michael by the hand.
    â€œHey,” Ghoulie called to Scilla, “can I use your phone to call home? If I’m not home on time, my nanny starts calling the National Guard.”
    â€œYou’ve got a nanny?” Scilla asked.
    â€œYeah, my parents don’t get home until late.”
    â€œWell,” Scilla said, looking up toward the house, “Grandma’s not home right now, and I’m not allowed to have any of y’all in the house when she’s not.”
    â€œCome on,” Beamer called from his porch. “You can use mine.”
    â€œBetter watch it, though,” Scilla said out of the side of her mouth. “His place is haunted.” She laughed and skipped away into her house.
    Ghoulie hesitated, eyeing Beamer’s house suspiciously.
    Moments later he was looking up and around the entryway, checking every nook and cranny for some sign of an “ectoplasmic manifestation.” He’d heard somebody say that in a movie somewhere. It had something to do with gooey, slimy, glowing stuff that was a sign that ghosts were nearby.
    Then he heard an eerie, high-pitched voice coming from the living room. “Mama, you’ve got to say something about me. Am I . . . am I . . . ?”
    Ghoulie’s eyes grew wide when he peered through the hallway door. A large bug-shaped, one-eyed creature, growling in a high pitch, was careening across the living room, heading right toward him.

9

Double, Double, Toil, and Trouble
    Ghoulie dived behind a couch, but not before the bug grabbed his pants leg. “ Aiiiii !” he yelped, clutching his pants tightly to keep them from being sucked into the beast.
    A woman dashed up behind the bug. She glanced at a manual in her hand and shouted, “Gopher, wait. I mean, Gophah, waaeet.” The creature suddenly stopped. She sighed and wiped the hair from in front of her eyes. “Gopher . . . uh . . . Gopha sahleep,” she pronounced carefully. The object obediently scooted across the floor into an opening in the wall which