8 FANGS FOR THE MEMORIES

CHAPTER 8 FANGS FOR THE MEMORIES Umm..." Alexander was speechless. "Poor Nikki," said Rip, shaking his head. "Sure, you're a weirdo. But a monster?!" Nikki handed over the notebook pages. Alexander and Rip looked at the drawings and then at Nikki. "This... is you?" asked Rip. "Sort of," said Nikki. "But the entry was all wrong, so I fixed it." She took a roll of tape from her pocket. "Here, I'll put these pages back."

WRONG! JAMPIRE A terrible undead monster. smart, brave girl. HABITAT Gravevarda. Grade schools!

PEEK! Jampites have no shadows. DIET Yuck! No! Anything red and juicy: ketchup, fruit punch, raspberry jam, jelly donuts, strawberry gummies. BEHAVIOR vampires are evil friendly. Also, they can see in the dark. WARNING! Keep jampires out of direct sunlight!

"So. Any questions about jampires?" said Nikki. "I'll tell you anything. But you've got to promise to keep my secret!" "Cross my heart," said Alexander. "And hope to die!" said Rip. He frowned. "No, wait. Hope to sprain my ankle!" "Good enough," said Nikki. "Okay," said Alexander. "Can you turn into a bat?" Nikki rolled her eyes. "No. That's ridiculous." "Or eat people's brains?" added Rip. "Gross, no!" said Nikki. "It's mostly a lot of little things: like seeing in the dark, or getting sunburns in like five seconds." "Or casting no shadow during the filmstrip," said Alexander. "You really are a... uh..."

"A monster," Rip mumbled. "I wasn't going to tell you," said Nikki, "but then I lost my baby teeth and my fangs started coming in. So I thought I should be honest with... you know, my best friends." Again, Alexander was speechless. But not Rip. "Thanks," he said, "for lying to us this whole time." Nikki took a step back. "I didn't— I would never lie to you! I just—" She rushed off the playground. "Rip! Go easy on her!" said Alexander. "It was brave of Nikki to tell us her secret." "Yeah," said Rip. "So when are you going to kick her out of the S.S.M.P.?"

Alexander's jaw dropped. "Huh?" "We can't have a monster in the Super Secret Monster Patrol!" Rip said. "She's what we are supposed to be fighting!" Alexander looked at Rip. "It's your call, Salamander. You're the head of the club," said Rip. "Um, can we talk about this tomorrow?" Alexander said. "Fine," said Rip. "Let's meet at the caboose in the morning, since there's no school. What are you doing tonight, anyway?" "It's board game night," said Alexander. "I should go."