Creepella Von Cacklefur #6: Ride for Your Life! Read online

  “I was wondering that, too,” Creepella

  replied.

  The crab opened an eye and stretched.

  Shivereen jumped. “Auntie, check out

  those claws! They look like scissors!”

  The crab’s claws were, in fact, as sharp as

  knife blades.

  “Good observation, Shivereen!”

  Creepella said. “I suspect

  this crab is not like other crabs.”

  “What makes it special?”

  asked Geronimo.

  Creepella snorted. “Oh,

  Gerry Berry, can’t you tell? This is one

  of the world-famouse barber crabs!”

  “Auntie, look! There’s a business card

  inside the jar,” Shivereen said.

  She read aloud:

  EZEKIEL

  barber crab

  Specialist in bobs, layers,

  feathering, bowl cuts, crew cuts,

  Shags, and baby bangs

  Creepella approached the crab tentatively.

  The crab yawned, and then lazily replied,

  concluded Creepella.

  “Don’t tell me you squeak his language,

  too?” grumbled Geronimo.

  “Geronimo, everyone in the Mysterious

  Valley speaks Crabese. You must learn

  it too!” Shivereen said scornfully. “Ezekiel

  said that he was brought here in the dead

  of night, but he doesn’t know why.”

  Creepella smoothed her long fur. “I’m

  tempted to take advantage and get a little

  fur trim. . . .”

  Suddenly, from behind a pile of crates,

  they heard a shrill squeak:

  “Hey, you!“

  “We're in here!“

  “Help us!“

  “The Rattenbaum triplets! We found

  them!” Geronimo exclaimed.

  a phaNtom

  SuSpeCt

  Creepella cleared a way through between the

  boxes. Behind them was a row of barber’s

  chairs. The Rattenbaum triplets and

  another mouselet were seated there, their

  fur tucked under big helmets and their

  paws tied with ribbons to the pawrests.

  “I knew it!” said Creepella triumphantly.

  For once, the Rattenbaums seemed happy

  to see her.

  “Creepella!” shrieked Tilly

  “You came —” whimpered Milly.

  “— to free us!” cried Lilly.

  Geronimo, Shivereen, and Bitewing

  peeked out from behind the boxes.

  “Geronimo! You saved us! Our hero!”

  the triplets squealed.

  Creepella snorted. She swiftly untied the

  knots that bound the mouselets.

  “You’re Mimi, right?” she asked the fourth

  mouselet, who had very long, dark fur.

  “How did you know?” the mouselet

  responded in surprise.

  Geronimo smiled at her. “We met your

  sweetheart. He was crying so hard —”

  “— mushrooms grew on his eyelids!”

  Shivereen finished.

  “How did you get here?” asked Creepella.

  “We were in the eye of the skull —”

  Tilly began.

  “— when we were sucked from our seats

  by an icy draft!” Milly put in.

  “The Fur Phantom caught us in a net —”

  continued Lilly.

  “— and he put them in a van, just like

  he did to me!” concluded Mimi. “He sneaked

  us out of the fair, made us go down into a

  mousehole, and imprisoned us here!”

  “The Fur Phantom? What does he

  look like?” asked Creepella.

  “He is very tall and thin, like a headstone

  in an old cemetery,” Mimi answered.

  Creepella was perplexed. “I’ve never

  known a ghost to drive a van.”

  “And I still don’t understand what the

  barber crab has to do with it,” added

  Geronimo.

  “We’ll find out! First we need to free

  Ezekiel and get out of here,” declared

  Creepella.

  But when they scurried back through

  the boxes again, they were in for an ugly

  surprise.

  Ezekiel’s jar was empty!

  “Stop where you are!” an imperious squeak

  commanded them.

  shrieked Geronimo in terror.

  the triplets screamed together.

  A ghost that was tall and

  thin as a dried-up rind of

  Parmesan appeared out

  of nowhere.

  He glided toward

  a CreepY

  SCeNe

  them, brandishing the crab threateningly.

  “I am the Fur Phantom!” he yelled

  spookily. “And you are my prisoners!”

  “Let Ezekiel go, you moldering mummy

  dropping!” yelled Creepella.

  The phantom laughed scornfully. “Never!

  And if you want me to let you go, you better

  do what I tell you!”

  “Forget it!” snapped Creepella, giving him

  a withering look. “But just out of curiosity,

  what exactly do you want us to do?”

  The phantom took a step forward,

  clicking the scissors of his enormouse crab.

  “You must cut your fur! All of it — no

  exceptions,” he said darkly.

  Creepella and Shivereen erupted into

  laughter.

  “Crumbly corpses! That’s the funniest

  thing I’ve heard all week,” Shivereen hooted.

  “What do you want with our fur?”

  Mimi asked.

  Instead of responding, the phantom turned

  to the triplets. “I’ll start with

  you three!”

  The Rattenbaums crossed their paws and

  shrieked in fear.

  “Cut our fur?” screamed Lilly.

  “Don’t even squeak about it!” yelled Milly.

  “We’d rather stay trapped down here. . . .”

  said Lilly.

  “

  For the rest of our lives!

  ”

  the triplets concluded together.

  Whom the

  Crab CutS

  The phantom was shocked by the triplets’

  protest. For a moment, he was as motionless

  as a mummy.

  Creepella saw her chance and took it.

  Faster than a cat with a ball of yarn, she

  snatched the crab out of his paws!

  “Off with the sheet!” she cried,

  using Ezekiel’s scissor claws to shred the

  white fabric covering the phantom. “You

  mess with the crab, you get the claws!”

  With just a few clean cuts, Creepella

  revealed the phantom’s true identity.

  “Trembling toadstools!” said Shivereen in

  shock. “You’re —”

  “Mopsy Furmouse!” Mimi cried.

  In front of them was a rodent

  with a seemingly endless

  beehive furdo.

  “Who on earth is

  Mopsy Furmouse?”

  asked Geronimo.

  The triplets looked at him like he’d just

  come from the time of the cavemice.

  “What? Everyone knows who Mopsy

  is!” protested Lilly.

  “She’s the most famouse furdresser

  in Horrorwood!” added Milly.

  “She styles all the stars!” explained Tilly.

  “I knew it was her,” commented Creepe
lla,

  stroking Ezekiel’s shell lovingly. Then she

  turned and gave Mopsy her most

  intimidating

  glare. “What I don’t understand is why she

  did all this!”

  Mopsy was totally cowed. “I am ruined!

  RUINED!” she sniveled.

  Creepella took pity on her. “Why don’t

  you tell us what’s going on?”

  Mopsy took a deep breath. “Well, I was

  working . . . sob . . . on the set of the film

  Spooks in the Snowstorm . . . sniff . . .

  with Sylvia Cinemouse.”

  “Yes, I’ve heard of it,” said Creepella. “It

  stars the famouse Robert Rattinson and

  Kristen Stewrat.”

  Mopsy stopped crying and grew ANGRY.

  “Don’t mention those mangy sewer rats!

  This is all their fault!”

  “What happened?”

  asked Creepella.

  “I’ve been working

  on their furstyles

  for months, and now

  all of a sudden they tell

  me that for the finale,

  they must wear two

  very long wigs the color

  of a thundercloud. And

  they need the wigs by

  tomorrow!”

  Robert

  Rattinson

  Kristen

  Stewrat

  “That’s why you wanted our fur!”

  exclaimed Shivereen.

  Mopsy began to whimper. “I didn’t have

  a choice! The only way to make wigs . . .

  sob . . . that long and of that color is to

  use lots of real fur and dye it gray.

  “I was just desperate!” she sobbed. “But

  then I saw . . . sniff. . . all the mouselets

  with long fur in line for the roller coaster

  and . . . sob . . . the idea came

  to me.”

  “But how did you

  capture us?” asked

  Creepella.

  Mopsy blushed redder

  than pizza sauce. “I used the

  GIGANTIC HAIR DRYER

  from the set of Little Barbershop of

  Horrors. I reversed it, so that instead

  of drying fur, it sucked the mouselets into a

  net. . . .”

  “And you brought us here!” concluded

  Creepella.

  “

  I

  ’

  m

  so

  r

  ry

  !

  I only wanted your fur.

  If I don’t get wigs for the film as soon as

  possible . . . sob . . . my career is over!

  Done! Finished!”

  Shivereen was moved. “Poor mouse! Of

  course, she made a mistake, but she’s sorry.

  And she’s in trouble!”

  Geronimo nodded. “Can’t we help her?

  Creepella smiled. “I think so. I just had

  a marvemouse idea, but to make it work we

  must return to the fair!”

  happY

  SNeezeS!

  Geronimo couldn’t wait to get out of there.

  “Great! Let’s get out of this . . . of this . . .

  what is this place, exactly?”

  “This is the warehouse where I store

  supplies for my salon,” Mopsy replied.

  “Follow me!”

  When they entered the next room,

  Mopsy explained, “This is my collection of

  mirrors. To bring the mouselets here

  without being noticed, I used the secret

  passage

  by the mousehole.”

  She flicked a mirror that hid a door. “But

  from here you can go directly to the salon.”

  The little group started up a staircase.

  Soon they ended up inside Fantastical Fur,

  the

  CHICEST salon in Gloomeria.

  “Mopsy, would you trim our bangs?”

  begged the triplets.

  “Not now!” said Creepella. She had other

  plans. “We need to go back to the fair.”

  Creepella led them back to Grandma

  Crypt’s booth, where the spiders

  were still dancing wildly. She took her

  grandmother aside and

  w

  hi

  sp

  er

  e

  d

  something in her ear.

  “But of course, my dear,” agreed Grandma

  Crypt. “We need just a few minutes.” She

  clapped her paws three times, and the

  spiders stood at attention. Then, as one, they

  began to

  weave

  an enormouse web of fabric.

  The fabric

  grew and grew. Soon

  it had transformed into a silvery fleece. In a

  few minutes, two very long, shiny gray wigs

  were ready.

  Mopsy began to hop up and down with

  happiness. “You saved my tail!” she rejoiced,

  hugging Creepella.

  But Creepella was already

  on another mission. She

  took Mimi by the paw and

  scampered over to the

  roller coaster.

  In front of the line,

  dripping with

  tears from snout

  to paw, was Mimi’s

  sweetheart. When he

  saw her, he almost

  f

  ainted

  with joy.

  “Roger! My darling

  little cheese puff!” said

  Mimi, running to meet

  him.

  “Our work here is

  almost done!” cried

  Creepella, scurrying away

  again. Shivereen, Geronimo, and

  the triplets hurried after her.

  “But where . . . pant . . . are we going?”

  asked Geronimo.

  Creepella didn’t bother replying. She

  stopped only when she’d reached

  Shamley Rattenbaum’s booth.

  “Grandfather, we have returned!”

  cried Milly, hugging him.

  “Safe and sound!” said Lilly.

  “And it’s all because of

  C

  reepella!”

  finished Tilly.

  Shamley was overjoyed to see his

  granddaughters, but he couldn’t even bring

  himself to look at Creepella.

  She didn’t let that stop her. “Mr.

  Rattenbaum, I’m very sorry to have ruined

  your flea theater. But I have brought you

  something to make it right.”

  With that, she placed Ezekiel on the table

  where the flea theater once stood. “This is

  Ezekiel. He is a very skilled barber crab,”

  she explained. “If you ask him nicely,

  maybe he’ll cut fur for free in your booth.”

  The triplets smiled as they watched

  Creepella slink away.

  “Creepella may cause a lot of trouble —”

  “— but she is also very —”

  “— generous!”

  Shamley cut them off. “Enough chatter;

  let’s get to work. With this enormouse

  crustacean in our paws, we’ll have

  the most popular booth in all of Gloomeria!”

  Creepella returned to GRANDPA

  FRANKENSTEIN’S stand, where

  everyone was sneezing cheerfully.

  The colored clouds were everywhere!

  “Achoo!”

  “Achoo!”

  “Achoo!”

  “Achoo!”

  “Achoo!”


  They lit up the sky like fireworks. For once,

  it was impossible for

  night

  to descend

  on Gloomeria.

  Once Geronimo was finally done

  sneezing, Creepella had a suggestion

  for him. “Let’s go on the Misguided Ride

  again!”

  Geronimo turned paler than mozzarella.

  “Haven’t we had enough thrills for one

  day?”

  Creepella just laughed. “Of course not!

  I

  N

  G

  L

  O

  O

  M

  E

  R

  I

  A

  ,

  Y

  O

  U

  C

  A

  N

  N

  E

  V

  E

  R

  G

  E

  T

  E

  N

  O

  U

  G

  H

  C

  H

  I

  L

  L

  S

  A

  N

  D

  T

  H

  R

  I

  L

  L

  S

  !

  ”

  NothiNg to

  Cut!

  When I read the last line of Creepella’s

  novel, my squeak trembled lightly. So many

  memories!

  AND THRILLS GALORE!

  In

  the barbershop, there were a few moments

  of silence.

  Harry Barberello was the first to squeak.

  First he punched his sCissors into the air,

  and then he shook his comb and exclaimed,

  All Harry’s clients began to clap their paws

  and exclaim praises.

  “Terrific!”

  “Magnificent!

  Fabumouse!

  ”

  “You should publish it immediately!”

  “I want three copies!”

  “I’ll take ten!”

  Harry beckoned me to sit down on the

  chair in front of the mirror.

  I shook my snout and headed for the exit.

  My whiskers were still trembling with fear