Attack of the Vampire Weenies (6 page)

“Hey, stop that!” he shouted as he backed away.

“Smell anything?” Emily asked Dad after she put the cat back down.

He sniffed the air. Then he sniffed again. Then he drew in a gigantic breath through his nose. “This is amazing. I don't smell those stinky cats. How'd you do it?”

“Doesn't matter,” Emily said. “Can we go to the rescue shelter after we leave here? I'd like to get my cat today.”

“Look, there's no way—”

“You promised,” Emily said. She fought to keep the smile of triumph from spreading across her lips. There was nothing to be gained by gloating. But she'd won, and she knew it. Dad might be strict at times, but he was always fair.

“I guess I did promise,” Dad said. “And I'll keep my word. You'll get a cat. Maybe you can have one of Miss Reaker's cats.”

Miss Reaker, who'd returned from the kitchen with three cups of weak tea and a stacked plate of cookies, nodded. “Take a cat. Take two. I can get lots more. They show up all the time.”

“Thank you,” Emily said. “That's a wonderful offer. But I want my very own kitten.” She could already see herself cuddling her new pet.

After they finished their visit with Miss Reaker, they headed for the shelter. Emily hoped the shelter would have a tangerine-colored long-furred little girl kitten with green eyes. And she hoped the kitten would purr in her arms and fall asleep. But more than anything else, she hoped her dad would let her adopt the kitten before he realized he couldn't smell anything at all. That's how her formula worked.

His sense of smell would come back in a while, but by then, Emily was sure he'd love her kitten just as much as she did.

 

THE RIDE OF A LIFETIME

“I've been waiting all
my life for this,” Zack said as he got his first glimpse of the Titanium Tempest from the entrance to the parking lot.

The steel rails of the world's fastest, highest, and newest roller coaster burst from the center of the park, twisting and looping like a robot's intestines. Zack was still too far away to hear the clack of the wheels as the cars hurtled around the track or the screams that marked the wildest scares on the mile-long high-speed panic ride, but he could imagine the sounds, and he could imagine what his own shrieks of joy would be like when he plunged down that first awesome eighty-degree drop.

Ever since he'd been tall enough to ride the real coasters, Zack had been a coaster fanatic. If it was possible, he'd ride all day. When he'd heard about the Titanium Tempest, he'd begged his parents to go to Wild Action Park for vacation.

And here they were.

The best part was that they'd arrived early in the day. Better yet—it was the middle of the week, and there'd been just a little bit of rain right after sunrise. The crowds weren't heavy. Zack figured that even if everyone in the park headed for the Titanium Tempest, the lines wouldn't be too bad right now. Later in the afternoon, when the park filled to capacity, the wait would grow unbearable.

“Totally awesome,” Zack said. He started to list the statistics he'd memorized about the coaster: “Five thousand three hundred feet of track. Nine loops.”

“Get a life,” his big sister, Tara, said. “It's just a stupid ride. It doesn't even last that long. Whoosh—it's over. Why bother?”

“You get a life,” Zack told her. He knew what Tara would do. She'd spend the whole day in the park staring at boys. Or, more accurately, trying to get boys to look at her. Zack didn't care about stuff like that. He planned to get in line and ride the Tempest as many times as he could. Front car. Back car. Middle cars. He'd try them all.

“What do you kids want to do first?” his dad asked as he pulled into a parking space.

“The pool,” Tara said.

“That sounds nice,” Zack's mom said.

Zack groaned. There were pools everywhere. The planet was covered with swimming pools. Half their neighbors had pools. So what if this one was bigger and had a wave machine. Who cared?

“Rides,” Zack said. “That's what we came for.”

“That's what you came for,” Tara said.

“The pool sounds perfect,” Zack's dad said. “We've got all day. No point in rushing around. We're on vacation, after all. We came here to relax.”

“Well, can I go by myself?” Zack asked. He'd come here to get flung in five directions at once.

“Absolutely not,” his mom said.

Zack argued all the way to the pool, only giving up when his mother issued a warning for him to stop whining, backed by a harsh stare from his dad.

Stupid pool.

Zack sat on the artificial beach and glared at the artificial waves. He wasn't going to give his parents the satisfaction of seeing him play in the water. What a way to waste the morning. Worst of all, the third curve of the Tempest, complete with a double corkscrew, jutted over one side of the pool. Zack was so close, he could see the thrilled faces of the riders as they flashed past.

Finally, his dad stretched, looked around, and said, “Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm ready for something more exciting.”

“About time,” Zack muttered. He shivered as a small cloud passed in front of the sun. The day was barely warm enough for swimming.

His mom nodded. “Lunch would be nice.”

“Lunch?” Zack gasped. He knew what that meant—another wasted hour as they wandered from restaurant to restaurant, staring at the menus in the windows, trying to find a place that would satisfy everyone. Zack was sure that no such place existed anywhere on the planet. His mom liked fancy food, his dad liked simple stuff, and his sister would only eat food that had no fat, no sugar, no preservatives, and as far as Zack could tell, no flavor. He couldn't remember the last time the family had ordered a pepperoni pizza.

Eventually, they settled on a sandwich shop—a compromise nobody seemed to want but everyone seemed willing to tolerate.

By the end of lunch, there was one monster of a line snaking around the base of the Titanium Tempest. “Can I ride that coaster?” Zack asked. “Please?”

“The line's kind of long,” his mother said.

“I know it's long!” Zack shouted. “That's because we spent all morning in the stupid pool!”

“Zack,” his dad said, “watch your mouth, or you'll be spending all afternoon in the motel.”

Zack opened his mouth, but he managed to keep from shouting the angry words that bounced around inside his skull.
Please,
he thought, willing his dad to give him permission.
That's all I want. Please. Please. Please.

“Oh, get in the stupid line,” his dad said. “Meet us at the bumper cars when you're done.”

“Yes!”
Zack ran to the line before his mom could overrule his dad. As the endless trail of humanity inched forward, he tried to decide where he wanted to sit for his very first ride. There was always a longer wait for the front car. He'd save that for later. Right now, he'd take whatever he could get.

An hour passed, and finally Zack was in the last stretch. He moved up the steps that led to the loading area. Just ahead, beyond the turnstile, the riders flowed into one of fourteen chutes that led to the fourteen pairs of seats on the Titanium Tempest.

“Soon,” Zack whispered.

He squeezed through the turnstile and looked ahead. Most of the lines were about the same, but Zack was a pro. He picked the line with the most couples. Lines with single riders—riders like Zack—would take longer. People usually didn't want to ride with a stranger on a coaster.

Zack moved closer. There were only three couples ahead of him. Then two. He watched people as they stumbled off the ride. They all looked like they'd been shaken nearly to pieces and whacked hard on the head at least a half-dozen times. Perfect. That was the kind of ride he loved.

Finally, the last pair between him and hapiness boarded the Tempest. Zack had made it to the front of the line. The car moved out and crawled up the long climb. As it reached the crest and hurtled down the drop, another rumble mixed with the roar of the coaster.

Thunder.

Please no,
Zack thought.

There was a second rumble. Then, as the car returned from the ride, a flash and a crack.

The sky drowned Zack's hopes with buckets of rain.

“We're sorry, the Tempest is closed until further notice,” the operator said over the loudspeaker.

“No!” Zack watched in envy and agony as the last riders climbed out of the cars.
I hate them,
he thought.

Zack walked to the bumper cars, not caring if he got drenched. All around him, people clustered under anything that offered shelter. At least nobody else was having fun.

He found his parents. Together, they waited for the rain to stop. It finally did, but lightning kept flashing for the rest of the afternoon, keeping the Titanium Tempest closed.

Zack rode other rides, but each mild spin on a Scrambler or a Ferris wheel just made him more and more miserable. Toward evening, the clouds thinned, then faded. But by the time the Titanium Tempest opened again and Zack got permission to go back, the line was three times as long as before. Zack could do the math. It was nine o'clock. The park closed at eleven. The people at the end of the line would never reach the ride.

“Stupid losers,” he muttered. Zack cursed and turned away from the Titanium Tempest. He didn't even want to look at it now. Not if he couldn't ride it. As he walked away, to meet back up with his parents, he bumped into a little kid.

“Watch it!” Zack lashed out and shoved the kid, hoping he could knock him off his feet.

The kid stumbled away without looking back. A flutter of white caught Zack's eye. Something had fallen from the kid's hand. Zack stooped and reached down.

“Hey!” he called after the kid. “Wait.”

Then he read what he held.
ADMIT ONE
, the ticket promised. Below that were words Zack almost couldn't believe.
TAKE A MIDNIGHT RIDE ON THE TITANIUM TEMPEST
.

As the kid turned back, Zack dodged into the crowd. No way he was giving this up. A midnight ride. That had to be special. And if he had a ticket, he'd absolutely get his ride.

Now he just had to figure out how to slip away from his parents. As he thought about other family trips they'd taken, he realized it wouldn't be hard to escape. His parents rarely stayed up late. And his sister never paid any attention to what he was doing.

When the family was sitting around the motel room after dinner, Zack could see his mom and dad were getting sleepy. He pulled out the convertible couch and sprawled across the mattress, but he kept his clothes on. By eleven thirty, he could hear his dad snoring in the bedroom. Across the room, his sister sat on the other couch, watching television. Zack got up and walked to the door. As he turned the knob, he glanced back at his sister. She didn't look away from the television.

“Going for a walk,” he muttered.

Ahead, the park was nearly dark. But the Titanium Tempest, flashing all thirty thousand of its lights, called him like a beacon. Zack felt in his pocket for the ticket and wondered if it was good for just one ride. Free pass. That's what it had said.

He reached the entrance to the park. Nobody was there. But the gate was open. Zack wove his way through the paths leading up to the Titanium Tempest, then climbed the steps.

“Hello?” he called out. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe he had the wrong day. He pulled out the ticket and checked it. No date. Just midnight. A wooden sign standing next to the turnstile read:
NO ADMISSION WITHOUT A TICKET
.

“No problem,” Zack said.

He pushed through the turnstile.

“Anybody here?” he called.

Silence.

But the empty cars were there, waiting on the track.

Zack walked up to the front car and sat down, taking the seat on the left. He'd already figured, based on the layout of the track, that the left side would be the wildest.

He heard a hiss as the safety bar came down. Then he felt a jolt as the car lurched forward.

“Cool,” Zack said, barely able to believe his luck. He was going to get a ride. In the front car. All by himself.

The car climbed at a steep angle, pressing him against the seat.
Here it comes,
Zack thought as the car leveled out. For a smooth second, he moved straight ahead. Then the world dropped out from under him and he plummeted toward the earth.

Awesome.

A sharp turn jolted the car to the right.

“Ow!” Zack shouted as his left shoulder banged against the side of the car. The ticket flew from his hand. He realized it didn't matter. He was already on the ride. Nothing could stop him now.

The car snaked to the left, then shot back to the right, slamming Zack again. He reached the first loop and braced himself against the force of acceleration.

When the car shot out of the loop, Zack was jolted twice to the right, banging his left shoulder again. Then a sharp jerk from another turn slammed his knees against the front of the car, sending a burst of pain through his legs.

As the ride reached the last drop and curve, Zack relaxed his clenched grip. He'd never been shaken this hard on a steel coaster. It must have been the empty cars, he realized. That was why the ride was so rough. The Titanium Tempest was designed to run best when full.

At least it's over,
he thought as the car approached the loading platform. He got ready to climb out.

“Wait,” Zack gasped as the car sped past the platform and headed back up the hill.

He yanked at the safety bar.

It was locked solidly around him. He looked over his shoulder. The back side of the sign by the turnstile had a message, too.
NO EXIT WITHOUT A TICKET
.

No exit?
Zack yanked harder at the safety bar as the car climbed the steep hill, but the bar didn't move.