Ben looked down at his notes.
"I have enough quotes about Mr. Freaky's sculpture," he thought.
"I should probably interview the witches next."
His article was due on Friday morning.
Screech! A loud noise filled the hallway.
"Watch out!"
Ben looked up.
He was pretty sure that was Pixel's voice.
Crash! Boom! The zombies were now wide awake.
"Wh-what is that thing?" a fish monster yelled.
"It's Mr. Freaky's sculpture!" a blob said. "And it's alive!"
Ben spun around.
Sure enough, the massive sculpture had stopped spinning in place.
Now it was rolling forward—right toward the crowd!
"Run for your lives!" a werewolf howled.
Students dived out of the way as the metal monster sputtered and screeched.
Its parts spun and twisted.
Ben shot backward as the sculpture rolled toward him.
It rumbled closer and closer and then moved right through him!
Crash! The sculpture smashed into the bank of lockers behind Ben.
Everybody ducked as metal parts flew through the air.
"Phew!" Ben gasped. "That was a close call!"
Mr. Freaky ran down the hall and dropped to his knees.
"My precious sculpture—it's ruined!"
Ms. Van Ghoul hurried forward.
"I'm sure you can piece it back together, Mr. Freaky."
"But . . ." Mr. Freaky shook his head.
"Isn't Leonardo da Creepy coming tomorrow?"
"Yes," Ms. Van Ghoul said.
"He wants to make sure that our art is up to his artistic standards.
It's just a quick inspection.
He'll be back on Friday night for the big event."
Mr. Freaky gave a heavy sigh.
"I wanted him to see Moving Inspiration while he was here.
But I guess it can wait."
He picked up a twisted metal pipe and stared at it gloomily.
"My sculpture was working fine this morning," he muttered.
"I think somebody sabotaged it!"
Mr. Freaky started gathering up the broken pieces of Moving Inspiration.
Meanwhile Ms. Van Ghoul waved some students over to a quiet spot.
Until now, the art teacher hadn't seemed bothered by the vandalism.
This time, however, Ben thought she looked worried.
"Leonardo da Creepy is a famous artist," Ms. Van Ghoul began, "and he's very, very picky.
We cannot let any other problems happen this week.
Otherwise, Mr. da Creepy might not participate."
A goblin gasped. "But he's supposed to give us a new painting!"
"Yeah. It could be another Moaning Lisa," a blob added.
"A painting like that could make Monster Academy famous!"
"I know." Ms. Van Ghoul nodded in agreement.
"I've spent a lot of time convincing him to come here to celebrate Art Week with us.
It would be awful if he canceled.
So if you know anything about who is causing all the trouble, please tell me immediately."
Ben looked down, wondering if he should say something about the trail of paint drops in the gym.
It was a clue—maybe even a big clue.
But a part of him was still worried that Mog was involved.
Ben didn't want his friend to get in trouble.
"I won't say anything yet," Ben thought.
If he kept interviewing monsters and teachers for his story, he might learn more about what was going on.
Suddenly he had an idea.
Pixel had been taking a ton of photos all week long.
Maybe his camera held some clues.
Ben darted off, looking for Pixel.
As he flew past the art room, he saw Mog and the Doppel Gang in there, helping the mummies make the pyramids.
Ben felt a wave of relief. "That's good," he thought.
"It looks like Mog has been too busy to mess with Mr. Freaky's sculpture."
"Has anyone seen Pixel?" Ben called into the classroom.
They all shook their heads. "No."
"Thanks."
Ben's next stop was the newspaper office.
"There you are!" Ben said.
Pixel sat at a desk, staring at his camera with a worried expression.
"Are you okay?"
"No." Pixel shook his head.
"Something happened to my camera.
It went dead as soon as Mr. Freaky's sculpture stopped moving."
He bit his lip.
"It seems to be working again now.
But most of the photos I took are gone."
"What?" Ben's heart sank.
He needed those photos for his article—not to mention his investigation.
"Don't worry," Pixel said quickly.
"As long as my camera is working, I can take some more photos today and tomorrow.
I'll have plenty for the story and the school website."
"Okay." Ben nodded, hoping Pixel was right.
"Sounds good. Thanks.
In the meantime Mr. Freaky wants me to find out what happened with his sculpture.
Did you happen to notice anything suspicious while you were taking photos?"
"Nope," Pixel said. "Sorry, but I didn't see a thing."