6 Screaming

CHAPTER SIX Screaming Get in the Jeep,' said Wiggy. 'If there's something peculiar going on, I don't want you lot getting caught up in it.' Titus, Nancy, Ted and Willow clambered into Wiggy's old Jeep and soon it was rumbling and bouncing through the woods. Willow was scanning the trees with her binoculars. 'What if it really is a monster, Nance?' whispered Ted, looking up at his sister. Nancy wasn't sure what to say. 'It probably is,' hooted Willow. 'So we'll catch it, hand it over to the Monster Police and they'll pay us a gazillion pounds! And I bet we get on telly.' 'Ooh, how exciting,' said Ted, though he didn't sound very excited. Willow put down her binoculars and frowned at him. 'Don't you wanna be a monster hunter?' she barked. 'Um… sure?' Ted shrugged. 'I just don't wanna get eaten, that's all.' Titus was sitting next to Wiggy in the front, squealing with fright any time they saw a branch or a small fly.

'Please stop screaming, old chum,' said Wiggy. 'It's putting me off my driving!' Titus gripped the door handle. 'Sorry,' he said. 'It's just the headlights make everything look so spooky! My imagination runs away with me. AAARGH!' Frank was gliding above them, and the Jeep headlights had reflected in his beady eyes. 'It's only me, chief,' hollered Frank. 'I'm keeping a lookout. Coast clear so far. No beasties, only loads of rabbits heading back to Bunnyville.' Willow rolled her eyes. 'My mum's gonna kill me if she notices I'm not there,' she said. 'Frank! Can you go to Bunnyville and tell my brother Orlando to get his fake Willow doll out, please? He'll know what you mean.' 'Which one is Orlando?' asked Frank. 'The grey one,' said Willow, unhelpfully, and Frank swooped away towards Bunnyville. Willow turned her attention to the road ahead. 'Step on it, Wiggy!' she yelled. 'We need to get to the den pronto so I can look in our monster-hunting book!' Wiggy pressed his paw down on the accelerator. He wasn't keen on hanging around while a mysterious beastie was on the loose. Just at that moment, a passing bumblebee called Felipe appeared by the windscreen. 'Hiya!' he buzzed. 'Watcha doin'?'

'Aaaargh!' yelled Wiggy, and he accidentally steered the Jeep into a small ditch. 'Sorry! I was just saying hiiiii!' chirruped Felipe, and he flew away. He was so annoying like that. The Jeep's wheels were still spinning, but it had come to a complete stop. Wiggy switched off the engine. 'Oh, chaps… is everyone OK?' There was grunting and whimpering. The back wheels of the Jeep were sticking up in the air, and the front was rammed firmly into a wall of earth. Willow, Nancy and Ted hopped out of the back and helped Titus and Wiggy clamber out of the front. 'Who's got a torch?' barked Nancy. Ted got one out of his rucksack and shook it. 'Battery's low, but it'll have to do,' he whimpered. It was so dark. The trees felt bigger than normal, and the branches

seemed to be looming over them like spidery legs. 'Where are we, Wiggy?' asked Nancy. 'I don't recognize it.' 'We're in the Great Beyond,' said Titus mysteriously. 'What's that?' asked Ted, feeling a bit worried. 'Oh, it just means we're round the back,' said Titus. 'We've gone past the swamp, past Bunnyville, we're ages away from my caravan and the Magic Tower is way over there.' Nancy frowned. She and Ted had been in Grimwood a while now, but it still felt like a maze sometimes. I'm a member of the Ramblers Association AND I've done a proper map-reading course and even I cannot get a handle on this place, folks. This time, the smell hit everyone's noses at once, not just Nancy's. 'Oh, what a fragrant scent,' said Wiggy, holding his cravat over his snout. 'Willow, have you been at the Cosmic Knobblers again?' 'NO!' shouted Willow. 'Will everyone stop accusing me of laying smelly eggs, please?' 'Nance, it's the same smell,' said Ted, his ears flattening back against his head with worry. 'Like when we were on our

way to the library.' 'Come on,' said Nancy. 'We're just going to find a stinky badger. There ain't no monster.' They crept towards the smell, which was thick and nasty. 'Everyone stay close,' said Titus, who was trying extremely hard to be brave, seeing as he was the eldest by several hundred years. Ted looked up at Titus and gave his hoof a squeeze. 'Don't worry, Titus,' he said, with a little smile. 'We won't leave you.' They clambered over some fallen tree trunks and crawled through thorny bushes. 'I can see something,' hissed Nancy. 'Stay low!' There was a large, dark shadow ahead of them. Smoke was slowly curling up from it. 'It's a dragon!' squeaked Willow. 'Ted, shine your torch!' Ted flashed his torch at the shadow… and they saw what must have been over a hundred battered old car tyres, piled into a higgledy-piggledy heap. It looked as if it had been on fire and the flames had only recently died out. 'Oh, it's just those annoying hoomins again, dumping all their rubbish here,' grizzled Willow, who was very disappointed it wasn't a dragon. Nancy sniffed. 'Burning rubber,' she said. 'I used to smell that a lot in the Big City. No wonder I thought it was familiar.' 'Well, that's a relief,' said Titus. 'Right! All back to mine for some cream buns?'

'But something is on the loose!' hooted Willow. 'It wasn't a load of old tyres leaving behind massive footprints and raiding the wedding feast, was it?' 'Oh, I suppose not,' said Titus, a little crossly. 'I'd just like to get back home. It's been quite the day. Pamela ate the bride and groom, for goodness' sake!' Ted, meanwhile, was shining the torch around the tyre mountain. He peered carefully at the pile of rubber. And then, for a split second, the light from his torch flashed against something shiny. A pair of eyes were staring at him, glinting from inside the tyres.