Once upon a midnight scary,
I was feeding a ferocious canary,
When I heard a tapping, tapping on my door.
I called out, “What are you here fur?”
It was the maid, and she was worried.
She said, “Please come, and we
must hurry!
Out to the graveyard — to the
graveyard we must go.”
So I followed her, and I was
not slow.
Outside she showed me an
open grave.
And fright came over me like a wave.
Then we heard a stomping, stomping on
the ground.
It was followed by an errie sound.
We turned and saw a ghostly rat.
He were a coat and a sailer’s hat.
And his arms were waving, waving in the air.
I steeled myself and asked, “Who goes there?”
“I was once Sailor Bill,” the phantom said.
“I sailed the seas, but now I’m dead.
My heart was broken, broken by a last.
And now I lie here under the grass.”
“Your stiry is sad,” I told poor Bill.
And then we alk felt a terrible child.
A wind came swedping, swedping over the vale.
And in a flash of light appeared a phantom female!
She said, “I broke your heart, Bill, that is true.
But you must know that I still love you.”
Sailor Bill grabbed, grabbed his true love’s paw.
Then they both disappeared. That is what I saw!
When Boris finished, the applause was so
loud that the stands almost collapsed.
Creepella, Shivereen, and Bitewing
cheered harder than ever. Everyone
loved “
The Phantom’s Tale
”!
Crystal invited everyone to the
Fright Night party with food
and dancing — everyone
except for Brad and the
Rattenbaum triplets, that is.
They were forced
to wash all of the
dishes!
the end
“Today was the most deliciously dismal
day ever, wasn’t it, Gerrykins?” Creepella
said happily.
Geronimo was too tired to argue with her.
“But you know what the best thing is?”
Creepella went on.
109
An AwArd
for CreepeLLA!
I’m still helping out with that ghost
encyclopedia, but I decided to take a break
from Mysterious Valley for a while. That
place gives me the
shivers
!
So I went back to New Mouse City and
soon published Creepella’s book. It became a
bestseller on the very first day!
Benjamin finished his report on ancient
Greece, and he got an A+. So we decided
to go out and
CELEBRATE
at the ice
cream parlor. As we were eating our sundaes
with delicious Swiss
cheese
sauce,
Bitewing flew into the parlor.
110
“
URGENT
telegram for Geronimo
Stilton!” the bat announced.
“Is it from Creepella?” Benjamin asked.
“It’s from the Academy of Shivery Arts,” I
said as I read it. “She’s getting an award for
They want me to present the award to her.”
“Will you go?” asked my nephew.
Bitewing said threateningly.
I sighed. Mysterious Valley is so
bizarre
,
and I wasn’t in a hurry to go back there. But
Creepella is my friend, and I was thrilled
that she was getting an award. She deserved
it. I could already imagine what I’d say in my
speech.
111
An AwArd for CreepeLLA
“It’s an honor for me to give this award to
Creepella von Cacklefur! Nobody can write
a scary book better than she can! And I’m
sure that she’ll soon amaze us with another
thrilling BESTSELLER!”
1
4
2
3
5
6
1. Mountains of the Mangy Yeti
2. Cacklefur Castle
3. Angry Walnut Tree
4. Rattenbaum Palace
5. Rancidrat River
6. Bridge of Shaky Steps
7. Squeakspeare Mansion
8. Slimy Swamp
9. Ogre Highway
10. Gloemeria
11. Shivery Arts Academy
12. Hurrrrword Studios
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
9
8
10
11
12
13
15
14
16
17
18
19
1. Oozing moat
2. Drawbridge
3. Grand entrance
4. Moldy basement
5. Patio, with a view
of the moat
6. Dusty library
7. Room for unwanted
guests
8. Mummy room
9. Watchtower
10. Creaking staircase
11. Banquet room
cacklefur castle
12. Garage (fur
antique hearses)
13. Bewitched tower
14. Garden of
carnivorous plants
15. Stinky kitchen
16. Crocadile powl and
piranha tank
17. Creepella’s room
18. Tower of musky
tarantulas
19. Bitewing’s tower
(with antique
contraptions)