Creepella Von Cacklefur #5: Fright Night Read online

  I, Geronimo Stilton, have a

  lot of mouse friends, but none as

  spooky as my friend Creepella

  von CaCklefur! She is an

  enchanting and

  mysterious mouse with

  a pet bat named

  Bitewing. Creepella lives in a

  cemetery, sleeps in a marble sarcophagus, and drives

  a

  hearse. By night she is a special effects and set

  designer for

  scary films, and by day she’s studying

  to become a journalist! Her father, Boris von

  Cacklefur, runs the funeral home

  Fabumouse

  Funerals

  , and the von Cacklefur family owns the

  creepy Cacklefur Castle, which sits on top of a

  skull-shaped mountain in

  Mysterious Valley.

  YIKES! I’m a real ’fraidy

  mouse, but even I think

  Creepella and her family are

  awfully fascinating.

  I can’t wait for you to read

  this

  fa-mouse-ly funny and

  spectacularly spooky tale!

  She loves spiders, and her

  pet is a gigantic tarantula

  named Dolores.

  An extremely mad

  scientist and an

  expert in Egyptian

  mummies.

  A journalist who lives in

  Mysterious Valley and

  solves spooky cases with

  her inseparable pet

  bat, Bitewing.

  Troublemaking twins

  and expert spies.

  A famous writer

  and friend of

  Creepella.

  The von Cacklefur

  family’s pet

  cockroach.

  Creepella’s

  favorite niece.

  The cook at Cacklefur

  Castle. He dreams

  of creating the

  ultimate stew.

  Creepella’s father, and

  the funeral director at

  Fabumouse Funerals.

  He was adopted and

  raised with love by

  the von Cacklefurs.

  The butler to the von

  Cacklefur family, and a

  snob right down to the

  tips of his whiskers.

  The von

  Cacklefur family’s

  meat-eating

  guard plant.

  The mischievous

  ghost who haunts

  Cacklefur Castle.

  The family

  housekeeper. A

  ferocious were-canary

  nests in her hair.

  FRIGHT NIGHT

  Scholastic Inc.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright

  Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted,

  downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced

  into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by

  any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter

  invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For

  information regarding permission, please contact Atlantyca S.p.A., Via

  Leopardi 8, 20123 Milan, Italy; e-mail [email protected], www.

  atlantyca.com.

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-41479-1

  Copyright © 2011 by Edizioni Piemme S.p.A., Corso Como 15, 20154

  Milan, Italy.

  International Rights © Atlantyca S.p.A.

  English translation © 2013 by Atlantyca S.p.A.

  GERONIMO STILTON names, characters, and related indicia are copy

  -

  right, trademark, and exclusive license of Atlantyca S.p.A. All rights

  reserved. The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  Based on an original idea by Elisabetta Dami.

  www.geronimostilton.com

  Published by Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

  SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered

  trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  St

  ilton is the name of a famous En glish cheese. It is a registered trade

  -

  mark of the Stilton Cheese Makers’ Association. For more information,

  go t

  o www.stiltoncheese.com.

  Text by Geronimo Stilton

  Original title Il rap della paura

  Cover by Giuseppe Ferrario (pencils and inks) and Giulia Zaffaroni (color)

  Illustrations by Ivan Bigarella (pencils and inks) and

  Daria Cerchi (color)

  Graphics by Yuko Egusa

  Spe

  cial thanks to Tracey West

  Translated by Lidia Morson Tramontozzi

  Interior design by Elizabeth Frances Herzog

  First printing, June 2013

  lovely

  An Afternoon

  in the LibrAry

  A ray of sun as yellow as cheese sauce

  streamed through the window and lit up the

  rows and rows of

  books

  around me.

  The multicolored spines

  glimmered

  in the sunlight. I breathed deeply, enjoying

  the lovely smell of all that printed

  paper.

  I’m sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My

  name is Stilton, Geronimo Stilton. I’m

  the editor of The Rodent’s Gazette, the most

  famouse newspaper on Mouse Island.

  I was spending a pleasant afternoon in the

  New Mouse City Library. My

  nephew Benjamin was writing a research

  1

  paper on

  ANCIENT

  Greece.

  I was happy to go with him because

  I had some work of my own to do.

  I had to read some documents

  about GLOOMERIA, the city

  where my friend Creepella von

  CaCklefur lives.

  Why was I doing that, you ask?

  Her friend, the famouse author

  Billy Squeakspeare, had to leave

  for a LOOONG trip. So I had

  been helping Creepella put together

  a 754-volume encyclopedia about

  the

  GHOSTS

  of Gloomeria.

  Each volume is three thousand

  pages long. Yikes! Poor me!

  As the sun began to set outside, it

  cast strange

  shadows

  on the

  library floor. I put down the spooky

  book about ghosts that I was reading

  and shivered. I needed a break!

  I stretched and walked over to

  Benjamin’s table. He looked up when

  he saw me.

  “The

  ANCIENT

  Greeks were

  MOUSE-TASTIC

  !” he said.

  I nodded. I found them fascinating, too.

  “Did you know that they invented the

  theater?” Benjamin asked, his whiskers

  twitching with excitement. “They had these

  festivals where poets would compete to

  see who was the best.”

  “That sounds just like the

  fright night

  contest in Gloomeria!” I cried. “I was just

  reading about its history.”

  “

  Sssss
sssh!

  ” grumbled a little

  gray mouse sitting at the table. Her snout

  was buried in a book called

  STINKY

  CHEESES

  AND THE

  RODENTS

  WHO LOVE THEM

  .

  I ignored her and went to the bookshelf to

  find the book about the Fright Night contest.

  I was about to grab it when I noticed a

  tiny paw

  on top of the book.

  4

  shouting

  Then two

  BEADY EYES

  blinked at me

  over the book cover.

  I screamed. Then I realized that it was

  Bitewing

  , the pet bat of the von Cacklefur

  family.

  “Why are you

  ?”

  asked the cheeky little bat. “This is a library,

  not a football stadium!”

  5

  An Afternoon in the LibrAry

  “What are you doing here?” I whispered.

  He handed me a notebook

  that he’d been clutching

  in his claws.

  “Creepella sent

  you this,” he replied.

  “It’s her new book.

  Publish it now! No

  excuses!”

  Bitewing flew off and left

  me there

  TREMBLING

  . Had

  it just been a dream? But I held the

  notebook in my

  paws

  ,

  which proved that I was awake!

  Benjamin came over and took the book

  from me. He sat down to read it, and I looked

  over his shoulder. I started to shiver again.

  The book told the story of what had happened

  the last time I visited Creepella in Mysterious

  6

  Valley. It had been a truly terrifying

  time . . . and I wasn’t sure I wanted to

  remember it!

  But the book was MOUSE-TASTIC,

  and I couldn’t stop reading it. It was

  DARK

  when Benjamin and I finished.

  As we walked home, we talked about the

  incredibly strange and mysterious

  story we had just read.

  “It’s an awesome story,

  Uncle!” Benjamin said.

  “You should publish it right away.

  No

  excuses!

  ”

  I had to admit that he was right. Even

  though the whole experience had given me

  nightmares, I couldn’t keep this fantastic

  tale from Creepella’s fans. So I published it!

  It’s called

  fright night

  , and I’m sure

  you’ll like it, too.

  Happy reading!

  8

  Story and illustrations by

  Creepella von Cacklefur

  Fright Night

  “Urgent

  TELEGRAM

  for Boris von

  Cacklefur!”

  Creepella von CaCklefur and her niece

  Shivereen heard the cry. They ran outside as

  Cary Speedpaws, the mailmouse, rode up on

  an urgent

  telegram

  his bicycle. He handed a yellow sheet of

  paper to Creepella.

  She read the note out loud:

  Bitewing screeched.

  Creepella smiled. “I think I know. But it’s

  for Dad. Let’s hurry and find him! He

  must be holed up someplace writing one of

  his poems.”

  11

  alligator

  “Maybe he’s feeding his ,”

  Shivereen guessed. “He says they give him

  inspiration.”

  That’s exactly where they found him —

  feeding little balls of Chef Stewrat’s stinky

  stew to the alligators they kept in the castle.

  Every time he threw a ball of stew he made

  a rhyme.

  “Father, a telegram arrived for you,” said

  Creepella, her

  green

  eyes gleaming.

  Boris was surprised. “For me?”

  screeched Bitewing impatiently.

  Curious, Boris silently read the telegram.

  Then he let out a cry, as though he had just

  been bitten by a tarartula

  “Here is some stew!

  As you gnaw and chew,

  I’ll rhyme for you.

  It’s what I do!”

  13

  ferocious

  “Rattle my bones!” he shouted. “This says

  that I’m a finalist in the

  fright night

  contest. But that’s

  impossible

  . I didn’t enter!”

  “No, but I entered for you!” Creepella said.

  The rest of the von Cacklefur family heard

  Boris’s cry and started streaming into the

  room.

  “What is all this shouting

  about?” asked Madame LaTomb,

  the family’s housekeeper.

  “Whatever happened, it wasn’t

  our fault!” said Snip and Snap, the

  mischievous twins.

  “Not this time!” chirped Howler, the

  canary that lives in Madame

  LaTomb’s hair.

  “Our very own Boris is a finalist in the

  Fright Night contest!” Creepella announced.

  Everyone cheered, but Boris looked

  gloomy

  .

  14

  “What’s wrong, Father?”

  Creepella asked.

  “I love to write poetry,

  but the last time I entered a

  competition it was truly

  HORRIBLE

  ,” her

  father answered. “I was a young ratling, in

  the fourth grade. I wrote a magnificent poem

  about graveyard

  mold

  . And then my

  classmate, Chester Cheater, stole the poem

  from my desk! I was so upset that I ran

  away. Chester won, and I was he

  A

  rtbroken.

  I vowed never to enter a poetry contest again.”

  “But your poems are too good to keep

  hidden away!” Creepella said. “That’s why

  I entered you. You must share them with all

  of Mysterious Valley.”

  Boris sighed. “I suppose that was a long

  time ago. And I do have some delightfully

  frightening

  new poems I’d like to share. . . .”

  15

  “Then it’s settled!” Creepella said. “Now

  let’s HURRY. The finals are today at

  Horrorwood Studios.”

  Creepella dashed outside to her

  SUPERFAST

  car, the Turborapid 3000. Boris,

  Shivereen, and Bitewing followed her.

  “On the way, I’ll pick up Geronimo

  Stilton,” Creepella said. “He’s staying at

  Squeakspeare Mansion, working on the

  ENCYCLOPEDIA.”

  When they arrived at the

  mansion

  ,

  Geronimo was in the garden.

  He held a telegram between

  his paws, and he looked

  miserable.

  “You received a telegram,

  too?” Shivereen asked.

  Geronimo handed it to

  Creepella.

  16

  Congratulations

  !

  You have been selected as

  an official judge

  for the Fright Night contest!r />
  Report immediately to Horrorwood Studios . . .

  or else!

  “You’re so LUCKY, Gerrykins!”

  Creepella exclaimed.

  Geronimo frowned. “Lucky? Fright Night?

  I’m too

  BUSY

  to be a judge. I’m working on

  the encyclopedia of GHOSTS, remember?”

  “No excuses!” Creepella said firmly. “This

  is a real honor. And I’m going to write a

  fantastic

  article about the whole

  thing!”

  17

  Creepella pushed Geronimo into her car and

  sped off.

  “I’m so curious!” she said. “Every year,

  Spruce Dazzlefur, the set director, creates a

  spectacular

  set for the contest. I wonder

  what he’ll do this year?”

  They quickly arrived at the studios and

  followed the signs to the Fright Night arena.

  A stage shaped like a

  half

  oval

  looked like it was inspired by ancient

  Greece. GLOOMY drapes formed the

  backdrops.

  fright night

  fans were

  beginning to fill the stands that surrounded

  the stage.

  18

  the ShiverS

  maChine

  cheese and crackers

  “Awesome! This year Dazzlefur

  outdid himself!” Shivereen exclaimed as she

  looked around.

  Geronimo was looking around, too — for

  a way to

  escape

  . He wanted to get back to

  work. He still had thousands of pages to

  write.

  But a

  strong

  paw slapped him on the

  shoulder.

  “

  !

  If it isn’t

  the most famouse writer from New Mouse

  City! Our final judge!”

  It was Professor Dubloon,

  who teaches Pirate

  History at the

  Academy of Arts and

  Shivers. He lifted his

  eyepatch and winked

  at Creepella.

  19

  “Hello, Professor!” Creepella said. “Are

  you a judge, just like my little Gerrykins?”

  “That’s right,” Dubloon answered. “Along

  with your former

  Teacher

  , Professor

  Cleverpaws. And a rather

  boring