Ben closed his eyes as Zork plunged toward the floor. Then he heard the sound of cheering.
Ben opened his eyes to see Zork bouncing in a safety net below the high wire.
"Phew!" Ben thought as Zork rolled out of the net and walked back to the ladder. Ben expected to see Zork pump his fist like he always did, but for once Zork didn't say a word.
"Spy!" Ringmaster Ronny suddenly shouted.
Ben's eyes went wide. The ringmaster was staring directly up at him.
"Go away now!" Ringmaster Ronny said. "Or face the wrath of the circus!"
Ben quickly floated down to his friends, and they hurried away.
"I told you that was a bad idea!" Jen said.
That night Ben tossed and turned in bed while Sid rambled on about his favorite baseball team, the Ghosts. Ben tried to listen to his little brother. But all he could think about was the scene in the gym that afternoon.
Things had appeared pretty normal at the practice. But two things were nagging at Ben. One thing was Ronny's ominous warning about the wrath of the circus.
"Why does he keep threatening us?" Ben thought.
The other thing bothering him was the expression on the performers' faces. They'd all been staring straight ahead . . .
"Right, Ben?" Sid asked suddenly. "Don't you think the Ghosts are the best team in the Monster League? They could even win the Weird Series this year!"
"Yes," Ben mumbled. "Go to sleep, Sid."
It took about thirty more minutes for Sid to fall asleep. By the time Sid was snoring softly, Ben's mind was made up. When he saw Winnie at school tomorrow, he'd try again to ask her about the circus.
"Once she sees how worried I am," Ben thought. "She'll definitely start spilling circus secrets."
"Winnie!" Ben called, spotting her as she was about to enter the building the next morning. "Wait up!"
Ben noticed right away that her expression didn't look blank today—it looked furious.
Ben gulped. "What's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" she repeated. "What's wrong is that you peeked through the window yesterday to spy on the circus—and me!" Her eyes flashed with anger. "What were you thinking, Ben? Ringmaster Ronny wants the show to be a surprise for the audience. You could ruin everything!"
"I . . . I was worried about you," he blurted out.
"Worried about me?" She laughed. "Why? Because I was having fun?"
He flushed. "No. Because I think there's something weird about the circus and Ringmaster Ronny."
She sniffed. "Obviously you just don't understand the circus or humans. Maybe you're even jealous that you're not part of the show!"
"I'm not jealous," Ben said. "Like I just said, I'm worried. Something is wrong, but you're so wrapped up in the circus, you can't see it yourself."
"You're right," Winnie said. "Something is wrong. And I can even see how to fix it."
"Great!" Ben said. "What will you do?"
"Break up with you!"
"What?" Ben felt his heart drop into his feet. "But—but—"
"Good-bye!" Winnie spun around and marched into the building.
Ben drifted through the school day, feeling more upset and confused than ever. In cooking class, he usually sat with Winnie and Mog, but today he found a seat next to Jen.
"Students!" Mr. Icky began. "We're going to cook with sticky cobwebs. As you probably know, they're a wonderful ingredient, delicious in things like rat soufflé and salamander soup. Today we're going to add them to a spicy critter stew. Let's start cooking, monsters!"
As the students began working, Mr. Scribblebottom wandered around the room, filming everything. He stopped at Mog's table and pointed his camera in Mog's face.
"Has your diet changed since you became a circus performer?" he asked.
"Um, not really," Mog said. "I still eat a lot of fried bat wings and moldy chip cookies."
"Fascinating!" the filmmaker said. Ben watched him approach Winnie. "What about you, young witch?" the filmmaker asked.
"Excuse me, Ben?" Jen cleared her throat loudly. "I've asked you three times to pass the newt intestines."
"Oops, sorry, Jen," He passed the jar and sighed. "I don't know what to do. There has to be a way to get Winnie back, right?"
"Like I said five minutes ago, I'm sure you two will make up soon." She dropped the newt intestines into their cauldron, causing the stew to bubble and froth. "But for now why don't you just focus on cooking? It's time to add the sticky cobwebs. Can you measure out about half a cup?"
"Sure." Ben heaved another miserable sigh and did as Jen had asked.