Ben pulled the rest of his body out of the tree.
He leaned over the storm drain and peered in.
Water rushed by below.
He groaned. "Winnie's gift is gone.
What am I going to do now?"
Ben felt the kitten swat at his ankle.
He turned around.
"Winnie's going to hate me," he grumbled.
"And it's all your fault."
It was getting late.
"Winnie and Gaby will be back at Winnie's house soon," Ben thought.
"I need to get over there."
Ben floated to Winnie's house.
He felt so miserable, he hardly noticed the kitten following him, still swatting at his feet.
"Ben's here!" Mog shouted as Ben entered.
The kitten followed him in.
"Hey," Ben mumbled.
"It's Monster Academy's most famous chef!" a two-headed monster said.
"Check it out!" A ghoul held up a pan.
"It's your mac and cheese, Ben!"
A witch ran over.
"We grabbed it during the hot sauce explosion.
We figured we could eat it during the party."
"Oh, wow," Ben said.
That made him feel a little better.
Deb waved to him. "Can you help me, Ben?"
She was stringing spiderwebs across the walls.
The long, thin strands of silk spelled out "Happy Birthday, Winnie!"
"Sure. What do I do?" Ben asked.
"I finished the words.
Now I want to make a design around them. Here, hold this."
Deb handed Ben the ball of spider silk that she was using to make the design.
Meow! The kitten leaped up and swatted the ball out of Ben's hand.
"Ack!" Ben cried.
The kitten ran after the ball, batting it around.
As the ball rolled away from the web, the message was ripped away too.
Soon all of Deb's hard work trailed after the kitten.
Ben shot after the kitten.
"Come back here! You can't play with that!"
Meow! The kitten ran under a table and between a werewolf's ankles.
The werewolf was holding a punch bowl.
"Whoa!" The werewolf lost his balance, and the punch bowl flew out of his hands.
It landed with a splash on an octopus monster.
"There goes the newt punch," a goblin said.
"I spent a lot of time making that!" a witch said.
"It's Winnie's favorite!"
Ben was still chasing the kitten.
It had leaped onto a table and was now batting around a bug cake.
"Whose kitten is this?" a three-eyed monster yelled.
She snatched the bug cake away from the kitten and put it back on its plate.
Meow! The kitten stepped onto the plate.
"Shoo!" the three-eyed monster cried.
Startled, the kitten scrambled down the table.
Cups, bowls, and snacks flew everywhere.
Ben felt hot all over.
First he'd lost Winnie's present.
Now he was ruining her party.
Finally the kitten leaped onto a sofa and started cleaning herself.
Waldo looked at the mess.
"Well, I guess we should clean this up.
Gaby and Winnie will be here—"
"Right now!" Mog cried, peeking out the window.
"Gaby and Winnie are walking up the driveway!"
"There's no time to clean up," Waldo said.
"Places, everyone!"
All the monsters scurried into hiding places.
Ben shot an annoyed look at the kitten and ducked behind a chair.
"Winnie's going to be so surprised," someone whispered.
"Shh!" someone else whispered.
Ben heard several giggles as everyone waited for the door to open.
Meow! The kitten went to Ben.
"Go away!" Ben whispered. "Leave me alone!"
"Shh!" Waldo hissed.
Frowning, Ben scooped up the kitten and held it tightly.
A second later the front door opened, and Winnie and Gaby walked in.
Everyone jumped out. "Surprise!"
Winnie's eyes went wide.
She looked at Gaby, who was grinning down at her.
"I'm shocked!" Winnie said, smiling widely.
"I had no idea you guys were doing this!"
Then she looked around at the mess.
"What happened in here?"
Ben floated over to her.
"Hey, Winnie. This is actually my fault. You see, I—"
Meow! The kitten leaped from Ben's hands and into Winnie's arms.
Winnie gasped. "Is this for me?"
Ben didn't know what to say. "Uh . . ."
"A black kitten! It's so cute!"
She snuggled the kitten.
"Let's get this party started!" Mog shouted.
He turned on some monster music and pushed the furniture to the edges of the room.
A few monsters cleaned up the mess.
And soon everyone was dancing and eating.
Winnie turned toward Ben.
"What a perfect birthday gift.
How did you know I wanted a black kitten?"
Ben shrugged, glancing down at his shoes. "Actually—"
Just then a popular song, "Midnight Magic," started blaring through the speakers.
"Let's dance!" Winnie cried, rushing toward the middle of the living room.
Ben hurried after her. "Sounds good to me!"