"'We . . . eat . . .'" Mayor Hubbletree was reading the cheerleaders' banner out loud. Suddenly his face clouded, and he spun around to face Mr. Freaky. "People? You eat people?"
"Eek!" cried a human girl. "The monsters are going to eat us!"
"Run for your lives!" cried a human boy.
The human kids started pushing and shoving to get back to their bus. Then—whoosh! The banner burst into flames.
People and monsters screamed.
"Everyone, settle down!" cried Mr. Freaky. He pulled out a handkerchief and blew his noses. "Everything is totally under control!"
Mayor Hubbletree glared at him. "Is this your idea of a joke, Freaky?"
The head cheerleader rushed over. "We're so sorry, Mr. Freaky. The banner wasn't supposed to say, 'We Eat People!' It was supposed to say, 'Welcome, People!'"
Loud laughter rang out. Ben turned and saw it was coming from the Doppel Gang. All three of the doppelgangers were bent over, laughing hysterically.
Mr. Freaky stalked over to them. "It was you three, wasn't it? You changed the message on the banner and then made it burst into flames!"
The Doppel Gang stopped laughing.
"No way!" cried Moe. "We didn't cause the fire!"
"Yeah, that wasn't us!" added Carly.
"I don't believe you," said Mr. Freaky. "Mr. Gwarg, please escort the Doppel Gang to my office. Ask the office ogre to call their parents."
Mr. Gwarg led the doppelgangers back into the school building.
Mr. Freaky looked at the mayor and Ms. Prim, and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry about that. Unfortunately, we have some students here at Monster Academy who like to play pranks. I can assure you, Mayor Hubbletree, nobody is going to get eaten."
Mayor Hubbletree made some grumbling noises.
Ms. Prim spoke up. "Well then!" she said brightly. "Let's not let a couple of bad apples spoil our day. I think this field trip is going to be lovely."
Mr. Freaky suddenly clapped his hands in delight. "Oh, I love bad apples! Especially when they get brown and mushy. And I love to see a small wormhole. That's how I know there's a tasty treat inside!"
Ms. Prim wrinkled her nose.
"What's next, Freaky?" asked Mayor Hubbletree. "Let's get this field trip started."
Just then Ben noticed something out of the corner of his eye. A human girl darted into the school. She was wearing a hoodie with a green skull on the back.
A witch had spotted her too. She went over to tap Mr. Freaky on the arm. "Excuse me? Mr. Freaky? I think a human girl just ran into the school."
"Are you sure?" asked Mr. Freaky.
"Ms. Prim!" Mayor Hubbletree ordered. "Find out who it was! This is a dangerous situation."
Ms. Prim started calling out students' names.
"Don't worry, Mayor," said Mr. Freaky. "Monster Academy is perfectly safe."
"Hmph!" said Mayor Hubbletree.
Ms. Prim came back, looking at her clipboard and muttering to herself.
"Well?" said the mayor. "Who's missing? Who ran into the school?"
Ms. Prim looked at him. "Not one of our students. They're all right here."
"That witch must be imagining things, Freaky," said Mayor Hubbletree. "Now, what are we doing first?"
"Our eighth-grade president, Waldo Wizz, has a magnificent science experiment planned," said Mr. Freaky. "Everybody, follow me to the science lab!"
As everyone headed into the school, Ben wondered again about the mystery girl. He didn't want to get anyone in trouble, but he'd seen her too. Who was she, and why did she run into the school?
The human kids were whispering to each other. "I hope the monsters don't turn us into frogs or something."
"Hey!" said a frog monster. "What's wrong with frogs?"
"Oh!" The boy laughed nervously. "Um, nothing."
The frog monster laughed. "I'm just kidding!"
"Actually, we do need to be careful here," said Dave. He was walking next to Jen. "Last time I was in the science lab, I turned purple."
"And whose fault was that?" asked Jen, giggling.
Dave grinned. "Mine!"
When the group got upstairs, Mr. Creepy, the science teacher, hurried ahead to open the lab.
Ben saw him jiggle the door handle a few times.
"That's strange," said Mr. Creepy. "The door is locked." He reached into his pocket. "Oops. I don't have my key with me."
He knocked on the door. "Waldo, are you in there? Open up!"
There was no answer.
"I hope nothing's wrong," Gaby murmured.
Ben made his way to the door. "Don't worry, everyone. I'll float through the door and unlock it from inside."
Concentrating, Ben slowly pushed his head through the door. He was about to pull the rest of his body through when something made him freeze.
Broken glass and burned hoses covered the floor. Green liquid formed a large puddle. And lying unconscious in the middle of it was Waldo!