7 THE OTHER MONSTER

CHAPTER 7 THE OTHER MONSTER Alexander sat alone on the low end of the teeter-totter. He took the folded note from his pocket and reread it.

Suddenly: "Whoa!" Alexander found himself teetering three feet in the air. Rip had jumped onto the totter end. "Okay, weenie," Rip said. "You were right about the shadow monsters." Alexander held up the class photo. "They really ruined our picture, didn't they?" "Picture, shmicture!" said Rip. "I'm talking about me! I got in trouble last night for staying up late. But I didn't do it!" Rip took a step back. Alexander crashed to the ground.

"It was after bedtime," said Rip. "Mom was taking out the trash, and she thought she saw me through the curtains, dancing around wearing antlers." "You were dancing?" asked Alexander. "No! I was asleep!" Rip barked. "My stupid reindeer shadow was dancing! But when Mom flipped on the light to yell at me, it was gone!" Rip looked at Alexander. Alexander did not know what to say. "So when did that shadow thing get me, anyhow?" asked Rip. "Yesterday, after lunch," said Alexander. "The shadow smashed onto you when you were walking to the bathroom. And I have already checked the notebook there's nothing about them in there."

"Hmm..." said Rip. "Hey, guys!" Nikki trotted over. "There you are!" Alexander smiled. "Nikki!" "So get this, Nikki," said Rip. "Stermont is swarming with shadow smashers!" "Oh, really..." said Nikki, jamming her hands into her hoodie pocket. "Yeah!" said Alexander, "I've seen them all over town: in the fitting room, in our class photo, on my dad, and, um, on Rip. They even screwed up the Gopher Day filmstrip and my dad's tulips. We should "Stop," said Nikki.

Alexander and Rip gave Nikki a puzzled look. "We need to talk about another monster in Stermont," she said. "Ugh," said Rip. "You mean we have to fight something besides shadow smashers?" "I hope not," said Nikki. She looked at Alexander as she pulled the torn-out notebook pages from her pocket. "The other monster is me."