CHAPTER 1

 

  WELCOME, DEAR READER! SETTLE IN with this book and a tasty cinnamon stroogle noodle (a kind of cinnamon-sugar-flavored pastry that is long and hollow and filled with cream cheese). Grab a nice glass of jamberry juice and put on your comfiest slippers. Relax and listen to the peaceful sounds of—

  WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP.

  What in the five flippers of frog flowers is that noise?

  WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP.

  That’s exactly what Vampyra, Franky, and Wolfy said (well, almost). They were outside, enjoying the day and playing a game of “race your shadow”—where you run from one point to another, trying to outrace your shadow, which never seems to work and generally leaves you tired and out of breath.

  “What is that noise?” Wolfy asked, covering his ears. He had very good hearing, so the noise was even louder for him.

  WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP.

    “Look,” said Vampyra, pointing up into the sky. “A helicopter!”

  “That’s strange,” said Franky. “I wonder who it is.”

  Franky, Wolfy, and Vampyra watched the helicopter pass over them, then over the Gloomy Woods and the covered bridge.

  “Only one way to find out,” said Franky.

  “Let’s go see who’s whump-whump-whumping around here and disturbing the peace,” said Vampyra.

  Wolfy nodded. “And hurting my ears!”

    The Junior Monster Scouts weren’t the only ones interrupted by the whump-whump-whumping of the helicopter.

  Someone else was equally disturbed. Perhaps even more disturbed. So disturbed that he leaped up out of his favorite chair, marched straight to the window, and threw open the shutters.

  “What is the meaning of this noise!?” shouted Baron Von Grump.

  But his voice—

  WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP.

  His voice was drowned out by—

  WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP.

  You get the idea.

  The helicopter circled the windmill and then flew away.

  Baron Von Grump shook his fist at the departing helicopter.

  “Good riddance!” he said.

  Edgar, his friend and pet raven, settled on the sill. He ruffled his feathers.

  “Caw!” he said. That meant “And don’t come back!”

  But the helicopter wasn’t leaving. The helicopter was landing.

  Right in the middle of the village!