"Ugh!" Ben groaned as he bumped into the wall, right behind Winnie.
"I think there's a boiler room on the other side of this wall."
"Maybe we can cut through the gym," Gaby said. "Come on!"
The five friends dodged through the gym equipment and reached the far door.
In the hallway, they started following the compass again.
At last they came to a glass door.
"The greenhouse!" Gaby said.
"I hope the treasure is buried here," Waldo said.
"The floor of the greenhouse is dirt—it should be easy to dig."
They went inside and Winnie ran along, following the compass.
"It's buried right here!" she cried, tracing a big X on the ground.
"X marks the spot!" Mog grinned and started digging.
They found some more shovels in the greenhouse, and soon everyone was digging—and sweating.
They dug for hours.
Finally Gaby stopped to rest. "It's hot in here," she said.
"And we're making such slow progress. We don't have much time left."
"I need a snack," Mog complained. "And some sleep."
"Hey!" Waldo snapped his fingers.
"I'll use magic to make the shovels dig on their own!"
He started to cast a spell. "Shovels strong and shovels true—"
"Waldo—" Winnie warned.
"Do the digging for me and—ah-ah-ah . . . !"
"Uh-oh," Mog murmured.
"Choo!" Waldo sneezed, and all the shovels turned into worms.
The worms wriggled away before Winnie could try to turn them back into shovels.
"Ack!" Mog cried. "Now what are we going to do?"
The kids slumped to the ground, dirty and exhausted.
Nobody said anything until Ben got to his feet.
"I'll look around," he said. "Maybe there are some other tools we can use for digging."
Rumble! Just then Ben heard something outside. "Oh no!" he cried.
"The wrecking crew!" Soon bulldozers, wrecking balls, and steam shovels would be destroying their school!
"Steam shovels!" Ben blurted out. "Winnie, can you make a magical steam shovel to dig faster?"
"I don't know anything about steam shovels!" Winnie cried.
"I'm still learning magic, and I don't have a spell book."
Waldo jumped to his feet. "I can try—"
"No!" everyone shouted.
"I wasn't going to try magic." Waldo looked offended.
"I just wanted to explain how steam shovels work."
"Tell me!" Winnie cried.
Waldo quickly described how steam shovels work, sketching diagrams in the dirt.
Then Winnie closed her eyes.
"Shovel, shovel, soil and rubble . . . Help us dig out of this trouble!"
Zap! A steam shovel appeared and went instantly to work.
Dirt flew all over the greenhouse.
Clunk! At last the steam shovel hit something.
"The treasure chest!" Mog cried.
Ben glanced out the window.
Bulldozers had nearly reached the school's driveway.
"Quick! Let's lift it out of the ground!"
The steam shovel lifted the chest out of the ground.
"Open the doors," Winnie said. "Let's get the chest outside!"
Waldo threw open the greenhouse doors, and they hauled the heavy chest out onto the lawn.
Mayor Hubbletree and Mr. Freaky were standing near the school's main entrance.
And Ben spotted someone else. Pedro!
He was racing toward the bulldozer with two other pirates.
The old skeletons waved their swords.
"Stop!" Pedro yelled.
"You'll have to go through us to knock down Monster Academy!"
The three pirates leaped in front of the bulldozers.
"Pedro, get out of the way," Mayor Hubbletree commanded.
Pedro stood fiercely with his crew.
"Wait!" Mog waved his arms madly.
"Pedro! Mr. Freaky! We found the treasure!"
"You don't have to knock down the school!" Ben yelled.
Pedro looked over and saw the chest. "Whew!" he said.
"To tell you the truth, I wasn't sure we could stop these bulldozers."
The mayor rushed over.
"Open that chest!"
Pedro broke the rusty old lock with his sword.
He threw open the lid.
The mayor bent forward. "What's this?" he bellowed.
Ben floated closer. Inside the chest lay not gold but . . . "Huh? Musical instruments?"
Pedro grinned. "We were the best pirate band on the seas!"
He reached for a xylophone with his bony fingers.
Mr. Freaky collapsed onto the ground.
"Monster Academy is doomed! Music won't save the school."
"Of course it will!" Pedro said.
"I could find only our drummer and banjo player, but we can still put on a concert."
"Pedro and the Pirates will fill Monster Stadium!" Waldo said.
"They'll definitely raise enough money to repair our school."
Mr. Freaky slowly climbed to his feet.
"I told you students not to worry.
Everything at Monster Academy is totally under control!"
Ben turned to Mog, who was holding a banjo.
"Still want to be a pirate when you grow up?"
"Nah." Mog shook his head and strummed the banjo.
"Maybe I'll join a band instead!"