The Boneyard Brass Band was playing "The Creature Conga," but Ben didn't feel like joining in.
He floated to a corner and watched the line of monsters go by.
He was miserable, while everyone else seemed to be having a great time.
Gaby and Waldo danced past and waved happily at Ben.
The next time they passed Ben, Waldo broke out of the line.
"Where's Winnie?" he asked.
Ben sighed. "She's mad at me.
I tried to explain everything to her, but she thought I was lying."
"Oh, man," said Waldo. "It's my fault for asking you to come to the lab.
Do you want me to cast a love spell on Winnie?
I could run home and get my spell book."
Ben shook his head. "No, thanks."
He remembered what had happened the last time Waldo cast a love spell.
Plus it seemed wrong to do that to Winnie.
"Okay," said Waldo. "Let me know if you change your mind.
I'm really sorry." The wizard headed back to the dance floor while Ben grabbed a slug cupcake.
Then he found a different corner to sit in.
As the skeleton band started playing a new song, Ben noticed something strange—purple fog spreading through the gym.
A few monsters had stopped dancing to stare at it.
"Cool!" said Mog.
"That fog is pretty!" said a girl skeleton.
"Just like you," replied the ghoul she was dancing with.
"That's odd," Ben thought as more fog seeped into the gymnasium.
"It looks like the purple fog from the science lab."
Soon monsters started to cough, and the band stopped playing.
"Everything is totally under control!" shouted Mr. Freaky.
The principal ran around the gymnasium, opening windows.
"I'm not sure what this fog is—probably just part of the decorations.
We'll get it cleared out in a moment! Oh, I hope Miss Bungle gets better soon.
I can barely run this school without her!"
After a few minutes, the fog cleared.
Bones rattled as the skeleton band started playing again.
Across the room Ben saw Winnie start dancing with Zork again.
"I'm out of here," he decided, heading for the exit.
"What a miserable night," he thought.
He could forget about ever dancing with Winnie—she was barely speaking to him now.
During homeroom on Monday, Winnie didn't look at Ben.
He thought about trying to explain things again, but suddenly Mr. Freaky's voice blared over the loudspeaker.
"Attention, students. We will have a short assembly this morning."
"Uh-oh," a few kids murmured.
Ben wondered what the assembly was about.
Maybe something about the dance . . . the purple fog?
It could even be about what happened in the science lab with Waldo's experiment.
Students filed into the auditorium, and Mr. Freaky stepped up to the microphone.
"Good morning, everyone. The Monster Mash dance was a terrific success."
Around Ben, students clapped and cheered.
"As you know," Mr. Freaky continued, "the mayor's wife, Mrs. Hubbletree, was at the dance.
She had a wonderful time!
In fact, she thinks the students of People Place should take a field trip to visit us.
That way, more humans can get to know monsters.
Maybe they won't be so scared of us anymore."
A goblin looked worried.
"You mean, a whole bunch of humans will come to Monster Academy at once?"
"Yes," replied Mr. Freaky.
A troll shivered. "Scary!"
"Dave is a human," Jen reminded everyone. "He's not scary at all."
"Now, students." Mr. Freaky held up his hands. "This will be fun!
And if everything goes well, Mayor Hubbletree will consider taking down the fence that separates Monsterville and People Place.
Wouldn't that be wonderful?"
The students clapped politely, but Ben could tell that a few were nervous.
"We do need to prepare for our guests," Mr. Freaky added.
The principal spent the next few minutes explaining that the school had to be cleaned from top to bottom.
"No more slime trails or drool puddles," said Mr. Freaky.
"And I've heard that humans like something called pizza.
We'll see if we can order some of that.
"Finally," Mr. Freaky said, "we'll all need to act a bit more . . . humanlike."
Mog raised his hand. "What does that mean?"
"It means we should not do some of the things that we normally do," said Mr. Freaky.
"The zombies should try not to drool too much.
Witches and wizards—limit your mind reading and scary magic spells.
And to all you ghosts, please remember to avoid floating through walls in front of the humans.
It tends to scare them."
Ben felt hot all over.
"I couldn't do that even if I wanted to," he thought, shooting a glance at Winnie.