“I was wondering that, too,” Creepella
replied.
The crab opened an eye and stretched.
Shivereen jumped. “Auntie, check out
those claws! They look like scissors!”
The crab’s claws were, in fact, as sharp as
knife blades.
“Good observation, Shivereen!”
Creepella said. “I suspect
this crab is not like other crabs.”
“What makes it special?”
asked Geronimo.
Creepella snorted. “Oh,
Gerry Berry, can’t you tell? This is one
of the world-famouse barber crabs!”
“Auntie, look! There’s a business card
inside the jar,” Shivereen said.
She read aloud:
EZEKIEL
barber crab
Specialist in bobs, layers,
feathering, bowl cuts, crew cuts,
Shags, and baby bangs
Creepella approached the crab tentatively.
The crab yawned, and then lazily replied,
concluded Creepella.
“Don’t tell me you squeak his language,
too?” grumbled Geronimo.
“Geronimo, everyone in the Mysterious
Valley speaks Crabese. You must learn
it too!” Shivereen said scornfully. “Ezekiel
said that he was brought here in the dead
of night, but he doesn’t know why.”
Creepella smoothed her long fur. “I’m
tempted to take advantage and get a little
fur trim. . . .”
Suddenly, from behind a pile of crates,
they heard a shrill squeak:
“Hey, you!“
“We're in here!“
“Help us!“
“The Rattenbaum triplets! We found
them!” Geronimo exclaimed.
a phaNtom
SuSpeCt
Creepella cleared a way through between the
boxes. Behind them was a row of barber’s
chairs. The Rattenbaum triplets and
another mouselet were seated there, their
fur tucked under big helmets and their
paws tied with ribbons to the pawrests.
“I knew it!” said Creepella triumphantly.
For once, the Rattenbaums seemed happy
to see her.
“Creepella!” shrieked Tilly
“You came —” whimpered Milly.
“— to free us!” cried Lilly.
Geronimo, Shivereen, and Bitewing
peeked out from behind the boxes.
“Geronimo! You saved us! Our hero!”
the triplets squealed.
Creepella snorted. She swiftly untied the
knots that bound the mouselets.
“You’re Mimi, right?” she asked the fourth
mouselet, who had very long, dark fur.
“How did you know?” the mouselet
responded in surprise.
Geronimo smiled at her. “We met your
sweetheart. He was crying so hard —”
“— mushrooms grew on his eyelids!”
Shivereen finished.
“How did you get here?” asked Creepella.
“We were in the eye of the skull —”
Tilly began.
“— when we were sucked from our seats
by an icy draft!” Milly put in.
“The Fur Phantom caught us in a net —”
continued Lilly.
“— and he put them in a van, just like
he did to me!” concluded Mimi. “He sneaked
us out of the fair, made us go down into a
mousehole, and imprisoned us here!”
“The Fur Phantom? What does he
look like?” asked Creepella.
“He is very tall and thin, like a headstone
in an old cemetery,” Mimi answered.
Creepella was perplexed. “I’ve never
known a ghost to drive a van.”
“And I still don’t understand what the
barber crab has to do with it,” added
Geronimo.
“We’ll find out! First we need to free
Ezekiel and get out of here,” declared
Creepella.
But when they scurried back through
the boxes again, they were in for an ugly
surprise.
Ezekiel’s jar was empty!
“Stop where you are!” an imperious squeak
commanded them.
shrieked Geronimo in terror.
the triplets screamed together.
A ghost that was tall and
thin as a dried-up rind of
Parmesan appeared out
of nowhere.
He glided toward
a CreepY
SCeNe
them, brandishing the crab threateningly.
“I am the Fur Phantom!” he yelled
spookily. “And you are my prisoners!”
“Let Ezekiel go, you moldering mummy
dropping!” yelled Creepella.
And if you want me to let you go, you better
do what I tell you!”
“Forget it!” snapped Creepella, giving him
a withering look. “But just out of curiosity,
what exactly do you want us to do?”
The phantom took a step forward,
clicking the scissors of his enormouse crab.
“You must cut your fur! All of it — no
exceptions,” he said darkly.
Creepella and Shivereen erupted into
laughter.
“Crumbly corpses! That’s the funniest
thing I’ve heard all week,” Shivereen hooted.
“What do you want with our fur?”
Mimi asked.
Instead of responding, the phantom turned
to the triplets. “I’ll start with
you three!”
The Rattenbaums crossed their paws and
shrieked in fear.
“Cut our fur?” screamed Lilly.
“Don’t even squeak about it!” yelled Milly.
“We’d rather stay trapped down here. . . .”
said Lilly.
“
For the rest of our lives!
”
the triplets concluded together.
Whom the
Crab CutS
The phantom was shocked by the triplets’
protest. For a moment, he was as motionless
as a mummy.
Creepella saw her chance and took it.
Faster than a cat with a ball of yarn, she
snatched the crab out of his paws!
“Off with the sheet!” she cried,
using Ezekiel’s scissor claws to shred the
white fabric covering the phantom. “You
mess with the crab, you get the claws!”
With just a few clean cuts, Creepella
revealed the phantom’s true identity.
“Trembling toadstools!” said Shivereen in
shock. “You’re —”
“Mopsy Furmouse!” Mimi cried.
In front of them was a rodent
with a seemingly endless
beehive furdo.
“Who on earth is
Mopsy Furmouse?”
asked Geronimo.
The triplets looked at him like he’d just
come from the time of the cavemice.
“What? Everyone knows who Mopsy
is!” protested Lilly.
“She’s the most famouse furdresser
in Horrorwood!” added Milly.
“She styles all the stars!” explained Tilly.
“I knew it was her,” commented Creepe
lla,
stroking Ezekiel’s shell lovingly. Then she
turned and gave Mopsy her most
intimidating
glare. “What I don’t understand is why she
did all this!”
Mopsy was totally cowed. “I am ruined!
RUINED!” she sniveled.
Creepella took pity on her. “Why don’t
you tell us what’s going on?”
Mopsy took a deep breath. “Well, I was
working . . . sob . . . on the set of the film
Spooks in the Snowstorm . . . sniff . . .
with Sylvia Cinemouse.”
“Yes, I’ve heard of it,” said Creepella. “It
stars the famouse Robert Rattinson and
Kristen Stewrat.”
Mopsy stopped crying and grew ANGRY.
“Don’t mention those mangy sewer rats!
This is all their fault!”
“What happened?”
asked Creepella.
“I’ve been working
on their furstyles
for months, and now
all of a sudden they tell
me that for the finale,
they must wear two
very long wigs the color
of a thundercloud. And
they need the wigs by
tomorrow!”
Robert
Rattinson
Kristen
Stewrat
“That’s why you wanted our fur!”
exclaimed Shivereen.
Mopsy began to whimper. “I didn’t have
a choice! The only way to make wigs . . .
sob . . . that long and of that color is to
use lots of real fur and dye it gray.
“I was just desperate!” she sobbed. “But
then I saw . . . sniff. . . all the mouselets
with long fur in line for the roller coaster
and . . . sob . . . the idea came
to me.”
“But how did you
capture us?” asked
Creepella.
Mopsy blushed redder
than pizza sauce. “I used the
GIGANTIC HAIR DRYER
from the set of Little Barbershop of
Horrors. I reversed it, so that instead
of drying fur, it sucked the mouselets into a
net. . . .”
“And you brought us here!” concluded
Creepella.
“
I
’
m
so
r
ry
!
I only wanted your fur.
If I don’t get wigs for the film as soon as
possible . . . sob . . . my career is over!
Done! Finished!”
Shivereen was moved. “Poor mouse! Of
course, she made a mistake, but she’s sorry.
And she’s in trouble!”
Geronimo nodded. “Can’t we help her?
Creepella smiled. “I think so. I just had
a marvemouse idea, but to make it work we
must return to the fair!”
happY
SNeezeS!
Geronimo couldn’t wait to get out of there.
“Great! Let’s get out of this . . . of this . . .
what is this place, exactly?”
“This is the warehouse where I store
supplies for my salon,” Mopsy replied.
“Follow me!”
When they entered the next room,
Mopsy explained, “This is my collection of
mirrors. To bring the mouselets here
without being noticed, I used the secret
passage
by the mousehole.”
She flicked a mirror that hid a door. “But
from here you can go directly to the salon.”
The little group started up a staircase.
Soon they ended up inside Fantastical Fur,
the
CHICEST salon in Gloomeria.
“Mopsy, would you trim our bangs?”
begged the triplets.
“Not now!” said Creepella. She had other
plans. “We need to go back to the fair.”
Creepella led them back to Grandma
Crypt’s booth, where the spiders
were still dancing wildly. She took her
grandmother aside and
w
hi
sp
er
e
d
something in her ear.
“But of course, my dear,” agreed Grandma
Crypt. “We need just a few minutes.” She
clapped her paws three times, and the
spiders stood at attention. Then, as one, they
began to
weave
an enormouse web of fabric.
The fabric
grew and grew. Soon
it had transformed into a silvery fleece. In a
few minutes, two very long, shiny gray wigs
were ready.
Mopsy began to hop up and down with
happiness. “You saved my tail!” she rejoiced,
hugging Creepella.
But Creepella was already
on another mission. She
took Mimi by the paw and
scampered over to the
roller coaster.
In front of the line,
dripping with
tears from snout
to paw, was Mimi’s
sweetheart. When he
saw her, he almost
f
ainted
with joy.
“Roger! My darling
little cheese puff!” said
Mimi, running to meet
him.
“Our work here is
almost done!” cried
Creepella, scurrying away
again. Shivereen, Geronimo, and
the triplets hurried after her.
“But where . . . pant . . . are we going?”
asked Geronimo.
Creepella didn’t bother replying. She
stopped only when she’d reached
Shamley Rattenbaum’s booth.
“Grandfather, we have returned!”
cried Milly, hugging him.
“Safe and sound!” said Lilly.
“And it’s all because of
C
reepella!”
finished Tilly.
Shamley was overjoyed to see his
granddaughters, but he couldn’t even bring
himself to look at Creepella.
She didn’t let that stop her. “Mr.
Rattenbaum, I’m very sorry to have ruined
your flea theater. But I have brought you
something to make it right.”
With that, she placed Ezekiel on the table
where the flea theater once stood. “This is
Ezekiel. He is a very skilled barber crab,”
she explained. “If you ask him nicely,
maybe he’ll cut fur for free in your booth.”
The triplets smiled as they watched
Creepella slink away.
“Creepella may cause a lot of trouble —”
“— but she is also very —”
“— generous!”
Shamley cut them off. “Enough chatter;
let’s get to work. With this enormouse
crustacean in our paws, we’ll have
the most popular booth in all of Gloomeria!”
Creepella returned to GRANDPA
FRANKENSTEIN’S stand, where
everyone was sneezing cheerfully.
The colored clouds were everywhere!
“Achoo!”
“Achoo!”
“Achoo!”
“Achoo!”
“Achoo!”
They lit up the sky like fireworks. For once,
it was impossible for
night
to descend
on Gloomeria.
Once Geronimo was finally done
sneezing, Creepella had a suggestion
for him. “Let’s go on the Misguided Ride
again!”
Geronimo turned paler than mozzarella.
“Haven’t we had enough thrills for one
day?”
Creepella just laughed. “Of course not!
I
N
G
L
O
O
M
E
R
I
A
,
Y
O
U
C
A
N
N
E
V
E
R
G
E
T
E
N
O
U
G
H
C
H
I
L
L
S
A
N
D
T
H
R
I
L
L
S
!
”
NothiNg to
Cut!
When I read the last line of Creepella’s
novel, my squeak trembled lightly. So many
memories!
AND THRILLS GALORE!
In
the barbershop, there were a few moments
of silence.
Harry Barberello was the first to squeak.
First he punched his sCissors into the air,
and then he shook his comb and exclaimed,
All Harry’s clients began to clap their paws
and exclaim praises.
“Terrific!”
“Magnificent!
Fabumouse!
”
“You should publish it immediately!”
“I want three copies!”
“I’ll take ten!”
Harry beckoned me to sit down on the
chair in front of the mirror.
I shook my snout and headed for the exit.
My whiskers were still trembling with fear