CHAPTER 1

 

  BARON VON GRUMP PACED BACK and forth in the small living room of his windmill home. Every few steps, he would pull the letter from his pocket, stare at it for a second, and then shove it back down into his pocket.

  “This is bad,” he growled. “This is very bad!”

  “Terrible,” said Baroness Von Grumpier, pacing across the room in the opposite direction. “Absolutely atrocious!” She looked at her own letter, crumpling it up into a ball, only to uncrumple it and read it again a few steps later.

  Every time they crossed paths in the center of the room, they sneered at each other and then kept pacing.

  Baron Von Grump’s pet crow, Edgar, sat on a high ceiling beam, watching them grumble and pace and sneer below. Wilma, Baroness Von Grumpier’s pet toad, sat on the windowsill. Her eyes shifted left and right and left and right as the two Grumps wore a path into the rickety old floorboards.

  “She’ll be impossible!” said Baron Von Grump.

   

  “He’ll be impossible!” said Baroness Von Grumpier at the same time.

  They stopped and stared at each other. Baron Von Grump waved his letter in the air. Baroness Von Grumpier shook her crumpled paper.

  “She wants a reunion? Here?” asked Baron Von Grump.

  “He wants a reunion? Here?” Baroness Von Grumpier asked.

  “They both want a reunion? Here?” they both asked, groaning.

  “They’ve never agreed on anything before!” said Baron Von Grump.

  “They can’t even agree that they cannot agree!” said Baroness Von Grumpier.

  “We’re doomed!” they both cried out.

  You may be wondering who they’re talking about. Who could have Baron Von Grump and Baroness Von Grumpier in such a tizzy? You will find out soon enough, but for now, let’s check in on some other familiar faces—some friends whose adventures you may be familiar with by now. In case you aren’t sure who I’m talking about, mark your page, close the book, and look at the front cover.

  That’s right! The Junior Monster Scouts! Vampyra, Wolfy, and Franky. It was summertime, and summer meant fresh air and bright sun. Vampyra was helping her aunts, Belladonna, Hemlock, and Moonflower, gather wildflowers and herbs for a special cauldron soup. Franky was flying a kite with his cousin, Igor Junior, and Wolfy was playing “howl tag” with Fern, Spike, and the rest of his little brothers and sisters. Howl tag is fun. One person is it, and if they tag you, you have to let out a long, loud howl and then help them try to catch the other players.

  All these things (wildflower picking, kite flying, and howl tag) were outside, so Franky, Vampyra, and Wolfy were there to see the arrival of two curious and obvious outsiders.

  The first visitor came dashing along in a very large wooden covered wagon drawn by no less than seventeen snorting bulls. (Had there been less, I suppose I would have said that. I might have said it was pulled by sixteen snorting bulls, or maybe eleven—but no, this covered wagon was pulled by seventeen. No less, no more.) This covered wagon had three levels, and a balcony, and even a chimney! It was like a house on wheels, and it rolled straight toward Baron Von Grump’s windmill.

   

  The second visitor came floating over Castle Dracula in a very big, very colorful hot-air balloon. The balloon was a patchwork of different patterned fabrics, and the basket was painted with cheerful flowers in bright colors. Someone was leaning over the side and waving to everyone. But the balloon was so high up that it was hard to see who the person was. But whoever they were, they were sailing straight toward Baron Von Grump’s windmill.

   

  The Junior Monster Scouts were not the only ones who saw this. Every villager stopped what they were doing to gawk at these two strange new arrivals. Even the rats stopped to stare.

  However, no one was more focused on these strangers than the two Grumps nervously nibbling their fingernails on the windmill’s balcony.

  “They’re here,” said Baron Von Grump.

  “Croak,” said Wilma.

  That meant “Oh no,” and “Oh no” was right, very right indeed. For two of the most troublesome Grumps had arrived: Veronica Von Grumpiest and Victor Von Non-Grump.