SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! squeeed the pumpkin alarm clock as the sun began to rise.
Amelia Fang stretched and scrambled out of her coffin. Her pet pumpkin, Squashy, was bouncing around licking everyone excitedly.
“Oh, Squashy,” Amelia said through a yawn, “how are you so wide-awake?”
“SQUISH EVERYTHING!” moaned Florence Spudwick, rolling over. Florence was a huge, rare breed of yeti, not to be confused with a beast. She was also one of Amelia’s best friends.
“It can’t be time already!” Grimaldi groaned, pulling his hood over his face. Grimaldi Reaperton was Death himself. But until he was older, he only dealt with the deaths of small creatures in Nocturnia, leaving the bigger creatures to his grimpapa.
It was almost Halloween, and the sun had risen in the Kingdom of the Dark, which meant that every creature in Nocturnia and the scary suburbs would be going to bed—apart from Amelia Fang and her friends. They were about to embark on a very big journey to the Kingdom of the Light.
“FLORENCE!” said Prince Tangine La Floofle, clapping his hands twice. “I demand breakfast!”
“DON’T CLAP AT ME!” said Florence, clenching her big hairy fists.
“Tangine,” Amelia said with a sigh, “remember what we discussed. Try not to be so bossy.”
“I keep forgetting,” Tangine said sheepishly. “Can’t I be a leeeettle bit bossy?”
“No!” Amelia laughed. “We’re your friends.”
“Maids.” Tangine smiled.
“Fur-riends,” Amelia said.
Tangine took a deep breath. “Fuuur . . .” He wiped his forehead. He tried again. “Fuuur . . . fuuurmaids?” He looked proud of himself.
“That’s . . . progress,” said Amelia.
When Amelia had first met Tangine, he had been quite mean to her and had stolen her pet pumpkin, Squashy. But it had turned out that Prince Tangine had been lonely and just wanted a friend. Tangine had grown up all alone in the palace with only Mummy Maids for company. He did have a mother—she was a fairy named Fairyweather. Tragically, Fairyweather had mysteriously disappeared when Tangine was just a baby. Prince Tangine’s father, King Vladimir, had been so sad about his wife’s disappearance that he had neglected his kingdom and Tangine, spending years searching in vain for her. This meant not only that Tangine had grown into a rather spoiled sprout (which was why he’d thought it was perfectly okay to steal poor Squashy) but also that he was half vampire, half fairy. This big secret of Tangine’s was something that would have terrified most Creatures of the Dark. But Amelia had discovered that Creatures of the Light weren’t as scary as they had all been told. It turned out that fairies did not steal your fangs and unicorns did not shoot killer rainbows from their butts.
“I’m so tired. I’m not sure I can cope with being awake during the day,” Grimaldi said.
“We’ll get used to it,” Amelia reassured him. As Amelia and her friends made their way along the corridor of the Fang Mansion, an eruption of laughter came from below, followed by a large belch. Amelia’s dad, Count Drake the Third, slowly floated butt-first out of the dining room and up toward the ceiling.
“I WIN!” he yelled. “I wiiiiin! I put you in the grave, and then passed the Troll Bridge, where I collected two hundred Goblin Slime Points!”
King Vladimir then swayed into view with a hiccup. He also began to float toward the ceiling. “INCORRECT, Drake!” BELCH. “I was ON the Troll Bridge way before you got there, because I used my Wolf Howl card combined with the Lightning Bolt bonus point I’d saved up. . . .”
“You both lose,” called Amelia’s mom, Countess Frivoleeta. “I got the Total Eclipse card. LOOK!” She waved an elaborate-looking card in front of their faces.
“Good game!” the count and King Vladimir said together. They hugged each other and slowly rotated 360 degrees, before floating back down to ground level.
“Moooom!” Amelia called from upstairs. “It’s first light. Didn’t you realize?”
“Creeping crevices, you’re right!” the countess shrieked. “We got carried away playing Dungeons and Daymares! I can’t believe it’s that time already!” The adults clambered up the stairs.
King Vladimir had cheered up a lot since Amelia and her friends had offered to help search for Fairyweather. He’d been searching alone for so long. Now he had help, and more importantly, hope.
In preparation for their risky journey to the Kingdom of the Light, the countess had made Amelia, Florence, Grimaldi and the king clever disguises. As far as the Creatures of the Light were still concerned, vampires sucked their blood and yetis crushed their bones. They had to be careful.
Squashy disguised himself as a big daisy. He pa-doinged in excitement while Amelia gave a little twirl in her new fairy costume.
“It’s not bad . . . ,” she said, admiring her glittery wings. “But aren’t I a bit big to be a fairy?”
“Nonsense!” the king said. “Fairies come in all shapes and sizes. Some are large and some are teeny-weeny. My Fairyweather was about the length of my arm. A great size for hugging.” He smiled.
“WHY DO I HAVE TO BE THE UNICORN?” said Florence, straightening her horn as Grimaldi looked at his angel-kitten tail nervously.
Tangine admired his (real) fairy wings in one of the countess’s many mirrors. “I think I look AMAZING!” he exclaimed. “Dad, did you ever dress in disguise when you used to travel to the Kingdom of the Light on your own?”
“I tried,” the king said. “But I had nobody to help me, and I’m terrible at sewing. I tried to make a unicorn costume myself, but it fell apart en route to the Fairy Forest and I was left stranded . . . how do I put this?” The king paused. “Completely naked.”