Excerpt
Before my brother and I found the strange little creature under the sink, we were a normal, happy family. In fact, I'd have to say we were very lucky.
But our luck quickly changed when we pulled the creature from its dark hiding place.
The sad, frightening story begins on the day we moved.
"Here we are, kids." Dad honked the horn happily as we rounded the corner onto Maple Lane and pulled up in front of our new house. "Ready for the big move, Kitty Kat?"
My dad is the only one who can get away with calling me Kitty Kat. My real name is Katrina (ugh!) Merton, but only the teachers call me Katrina. To everyone else I'm simply Kat.
"Definitely, Dad!" I shouted. I jumped out of the station wagon.
"Rowf! Rowf!" Killer, our cocker spaniel, barked in agreement and followed me out onto the sidewalk.
Daniel, my goofy little brother, is the one who named the dog. What a dumb name. Killer is afraid of everything. The only thing he kills is his rubber ball!
Daniel and I had biked past the new house plenty of times already. It's only three blocks away from where we used to live, on East Main.
But I still couldn't believe we'd be living here. I mean, I always thought our old house was pretty great. But this place is awesome!
Three stories high, sitting up on its own little hill, with butter-yellow shutters and at least a dozen windows. A wide porch wraps around the whole house. The front yard must be about the size of a football field.
It's not a house — it's a mansion!
Well, practically a mansion. Enormous — but not exactly fancy. What Mom calls "a comfortable old shoe kind of house."
Actually, today it really looked messy and old. A few of the shutters hung crookedly, the grass needed mowing, and the whole place seemed to be covered with an inch of dust.
But as Mom said, "Nothing that can't be taken care of with a good cleaning, a coat of paint, and a few bangs with the hammer."
Mom, Dad, and Daniel climbed out of the car, and we all stood staring excitedly at the house. Today, I'd finally get to see the inside!