There's Something Out There Read online

  DO YOU BELIEVE?

  Jenna Walker has always been fascinated by the Marked Monster—the scarred half-bird half-beast creature said to roam the forests around her hometown. Is the Marked Monster real? Or is it just a silly story meant to scare kids? Jenna decides to find out once and for all with a campout where she and her friends can search for the legendary beast. But as Jenna starts to lelearn more about the Marked Monster, she realizes that this legend might be more than just myth, and more sinister than she ever could have imagined. Will Jenna meet the Marked Monster face to face? And will she be marked for life?

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  SIMON SPOTLIGHT

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  Copyright © 2011 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  SIMON SPOTLIGHT and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  YOU’RE INVITED TO A CREEPOVER is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Text by Ellie O’Ryan

  Designed by Nicholas Sciacca

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Night, P. J. There's something out there / by P.J. Night. —1st ed. p. cm. —(You're invited to a creepover) Summary: On a sleepover at her house, Jenna and her friends go in search of the legendary Marked Monster that is said to roam the forests around her hometown. [1. Sleepovers—Fiction. 2. Monsters—Fiction. 3. Horror stories.] I. Title. PZ7.N576Th 2012

  [Fic]—dc23 2011024190 ISBN 978-1-4424-4148-4 ISBN 978-1-4424-4149-1 (eBook)

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  What happened in the woods that night changed everything, forever, and if the girl had known what was going to happen, she never would have left her house.

  But she didn’t know, see? She didn’t have a clue what was waiting for her, so when she heard the scratching, she thought it was the stray cat that had been coming around. The one with the tattered ear and the hungry eyes.

  The sun was just about to set. She could see it still shining in the west, like an orange ball of fire on the verge of falling into space. So, she thought, I’ll just put some food at the edge of the yard. For the cat.

  She poured a cup of kitty chow into a plastic bag and grabbed her coat. Then she walked out the back door, into the dying light, like it was no big deal, because it wasn’t … not yet.

  At the edge of the yard, she looked for the cat by the tree stump where it usually waited for her. The cat’s fur was so black that at night, all you could see was its eyes gleaming in the darkness. But tonight, the cat was nowhere to be seen.

  “Here, kitty, kitty,” she called softly, kneeling down and snapping her fingers like she always did.

  Still the cat did not appear.

  The girl sighed. The air was damp, as if the fog were rushing in faster tonight than usual, hardly waiting for the sun to finish setting before blanketing the woods in a thick mist that was impossible to see through. She felt so sorry for the poor cat, sleeping in the woods all alone, even when it was cold or windy or wet.

  Then she heard it again: the scratching. Just beyond the tree line. And—what was that? A whimper?

  The girl glanced behind her at the house, still all lit up, so warm and cozy. She wanted to go back there.

  So why was she walking toward the woods?

  Because she couldn’t bear it, the thought that the cat was sick or hurt, or in trouble.

  If she could help the little cat, she would.

  “Here, kitty,” she called again, pushing through the tree limbs. “I won’t hurt you. Here, kitty.”

  Silence.

  That the woods should be so chillingly quiet, the girl realized, was weird. Very weird. But instead of feeling afraid, she was curious.

  She should have been afraid.

  On she continued into the woods, all the way to the clearing where she’d spent so many summer nights on campouts, telling stories in the flickering light of a campfire. She knew that clearing as well as she knew her own bedroom, but she’d never seen it the way she did tonight.

  It was hard to see through the mist, but she could tell right away that the clearing was not empty.

  And whatever was in it was a lot bigger than a stray cat.

  The girl hid behind a thick-trunked tree, her heart thundering in her chest, and stared with wide eyes. She couldn’t have looked away even if she’d wanted to.

  Well, to be honest, she did want to look away. But her eyes were locked on the creature, and she wondered, suddenly, if she was dreaming.

  But she knew that that was nothing more than a wish, an empty hope. Because nothing had ever felt this real—from the painful pounding of her heart to the bitter taste of fear in the back of her throat.

  The monster was eating … something. Dark red liquid dripped from its mouth, soaking into the dirt beneath it. The girl’s stomach lurched, but still she did not move.

  Then, to her horror, the creature reared up on its hind legs at the same moment the mist cleared. In the dim twilight, she saw more of it than she ever wanted to: an enormous lizardlike body, covered in scales and slime.

  Two tremendous, leathery wings, folded tight against its back.

  Two thick, stumpy arms; the end of each one curved with razor-sharp talons, dripping … something. Something foul.

  Back legs that rippled with muscle.

  A knobby, bumpy head, with two red-rimmed, beady eyes, and a mouthful of fangs.

  And a tail that was studded with spikes as long as the girl’s forearm.

  Perhaps the worst, though, the memory she would never forget: Along its waxy underbelly ran an angry, raised scar that was barely visible in the fading light. It was obviously an old injury; she could tell from the way the skin puckered around it. Yet still it oozed as if it would never heal.

  The creature was like nothing she had ever seen before: part bird, part lizard.

  All monster.

  It tilted its head to the side, rotating slowly … slowly … until—no, it couldn’t be—wait—it was—it was staring right at her, the pupil of that horrible eye dilating as it focused on what it wanted.

  Then, more powerfully than she ever could have imagined, the creature leaped through the clearing, directly to the tree she was hiding behind. One of its talons sliced through the darkness but somehow missed her, and got stuck in the thick tree trunk instead of in the girl’s skull.

  Suddenly she was no longer rooted to the ground in terror; she was running for her life, crashing through the underbrush back to the safety of her house. The creature struggled to get free, screaming in frustration as it watched its prey escape. And it sounded like—

  It sounded like—

  “Aiiiii-ck-ck-ck-ck!” Jenna Walker shrieked, so shrilly and bone-chillingly that all the other girls cried out in horror and clapped their hands over their ears. A satisfied smile flickered across Jenna’s face. Her story was definitely the scariest one by far, and she hadn’t even gotten
to the really freaky part yet.

  “Somehow, thanks to the trunk of that old pine tree, the girl made it back to her house,” Jenna continued in a slow, quiet voice that made everyone else go completely silent. “She waited all night for the creature to follow her there, to smash through the windows. But it never did.

  “And the next day, in the bright morning sun, she dared to step outside again. The woods were full of sound: chattering squirrels, chirping birds, scurrying chipmunks. The girl used the sounds to gauge the danger and decided that if the woodland creatures felt safe enough to be out, she should feel safe too. So, one step at a time, she returned to the clearing.”

  Jenna paused. She took a deep breath and looked at each one of her friends for a moment before she continued.

  “There was no sign of the creature. No sign of whatever it had been eating, or the blood that had soaked into the ground. There weren’t even any tracks. The girl started to feel embarrassed. Foolish. Had she imagined it? Was it all a dream? And then … she saw … this.”

  Jenna reached behind her back and, in one fast move, whipped her arm around, her hand held high. The enormous talon gleamed in the beam from the flashlights. Once more, everyone screamed, just as she’d known they would.

  “Stuck in the tree … the claw of the Marked Monster!” she announced.

  “Ewww! What is that?” Brittany shrieked.

  “Jenna, wow. That was the scariest story, no doubt,” Jenna’s best friend, Maggie, said, shivering. “I’m not going to sleep at all tonight.”

  “True,” Laurel chimed in. “Way to go, Jenna. You totally win that round.”

  Jenna grinned at her friends. For the last three years, they’d been having sleepovers at least twice a month, and this was always her favorite part: telling scary stories. After the girls had eaten pizza and popcorn, after they’d watched movies and given each other pedicures, after everyone else in the house was asleep, they turned out all the lights, lit up their flashlights, and tried to freak each other out. Sometimes Jenna spent the entire week before a slumber party trying to think up a scary story to top the last one she’d told, spending hours searching for creepy tales on the Internet. That’s where she had learned all about the Marked Monster. Jenna had even read a description of its haunting shriek.

  Brittany’s face wrinkled up in disgust as she stared at the claw. “That is too gross. Where did you get it?”

  “What do you mean, where did I get?” Jenna replied. “I just told you. I pulled it out of the pine tree in the clearing behind my house.”

  “Wait—that was you?” Brittany asked. “You are the girl in that story?”

  “Well, duh,” Jenna said. “Really? You guys didn’t get that? We’ve only camped out in that clearing, like, a hundred times.”

  Brittany shook her head. “No way. That story is not true. You probably just got the claw at the Halloween store or something.”

  “You wish I did,” Jenna shot back. “I mean, yeah, I didn’t see the Marked Monster in the woods or anything—that part I made up. But I did find its claw in the tree. Trust me, the claw is the real deal. Here. See for yourself.”

  She leaned forward and dropped the claw in Brittany’s lap. Brittany jumped up so fast that the claw clattered across the floor. “Get that nasty bird toenail away from me! It’s probably covered in germs!”

  Everyone cracked up then, and Brittany’s face got all red. “You think it’s so funny?” she asked, but when she started laughing, the other girls knew she wasn’t really mad. “Here you go. Why don’t you spend some quality time with it?”

  She scooped the claw off the floor and tossed it toward Maggie, who shrieked as she caught it and immediately chucked it toward Laurel.

  “Ack! Get it away! I don’t want it!” Laurel cried, throwing it wildly toward Jenna.

  Too wildly.

  There was no way for Jenna to catch the talon as it soared toward her; there wasn’t even enough time for her to move out of the way. She heard the rip of her sleeve; she felt the burn as the talon sliced through her skin; and they all heard the thunk as the talon smacked against the wall behind her and plunged to the floor.

  Jenna sucked in her breath sharply and grabbed her arm. She felt something hot and wet soaking through her torn sleeve.

  “Oh no, no, no, are you okay?” Laurel asked in a rush. “Oh, Jenna, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean—”

  “No, it’s cool. It was just an accident,” Jenna said, biting the inside of her cheek as she tried not to cry. She didn’t want to be a big baby about it. It was just a little cut.

  But it really, really hurt.

  Maggie and Brittany leaped into action.

  “I’ll get a clean T-shirt for you to wear,” Maggie said.

  “Mags, where’s your first-aid kit?” Brittany asked. “Or some Band-Aids or something?”

  “Come with me; I’ll show you,” Maggie said, and the two girls hurried out of the room.

  “What can I do?” Laurel asked, hovering around Jenna. “Do you want some ice or something to drink or—”

  Jenna forced a laugh. “Laurel, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”

  “I just feel so, so bad,” Laurel continued. Her hands fluttered nervously in the air. “I’m so bad at sports, I don’t know what I was thinking—”

  “Chill,” Brittany ordered as she walked back into the rec room. “It’s not Jenna’s job to make you feel better right now.”

  Jenna flashed Laurel an extra smile. Brittany could always be counted on to tell it like it was, but sometimes, Jenna secretly thought, Brittany could try to be a little nicer. It wouldn’t kill her—especially since they’d known Laurel for only a few months. She had moved to Lewisville in the middle of the school year, and even though she’d made friends pretty quickly, Jenna secretly suspected that Laurel still felt like the new kid. That would be one explanation for why she was always scurrying around, so quick to say “Yes!” or “Sorry!” like she thought she was about to lose all her friends.

  “Here, Jenna,” Maggie said, holding out a T-shirt.

  “Thanks,” Jenna said. She turned to face the wall as she pulled off her pajama top and changed into Maggie’s T-shirt, careful not to get any blood on the sleeve. Jenna had barely gotten a look at the injury before Brittany slapped a piece of gauze over it.

  “I’m applying pressure,” Brittany said importantly. “To stop the blood.”

  “Yes. Thank you,” Jenna said, hiding a smile as she took the gauze from Brittany.

  “Does it hurt really bad?” Laurel asked anxiously. “I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” Jenna replied. She lifted up a corner of the gauze to peek at the cut. It was bleeding less already. In fact, Jenna thought it didn’t look that much worse than a cat scratch. “See? Almost all better. No big deal.”

  She didn’t mention that it still hurt and that the pain was radiating deep into her muscle.

  “Oh. That really isn’t a big deal,” Brittany said. She sounded a little disappointed. “I don’t even think you need a Band-Aid.”

  “Yep. It looks like I’m gonna live,” Jenna joked, and all the girls laughed. “Let’s go get some—”

  There was a sudden silence.

  “Um, what?” asked Maggie. “Let’s get some what?”

  “Shhhhh,” Jenna whispered as her face went pale. “Did you guys hear that?”

  “Hear what?” asked Laurel, taking a step closer to the other girls.

  “I swear I just heard, like, a growling sound or something,” Jenna replied softly, holding up her hand. “Just—listen—”

  All the girls were quiet, their heads tilted toward the window. And then it came again, a soft rrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRR that grew to a crescendo and made the hair on the back of Jenna’s neck stand up. She looked quickly at her friends and could tell right away, from the scared expression in their eyes, that they had heard it too.

  rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

  Suddenly a shadow darted acro
ss the closed curtains. With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Jenna realized: There was something outside the window.

  “Did you see that?” she asked hoarsely. She pointed at the window.

  “What?” Laurel asked.

  But Maggie caught Jenna’s eye and nodded.

  So she’d seen it too.

  Jenna crept closer to the window. She pressed herself flat against the wall and waited for something—for the growl to come again, for the shadow to pass by the window once more.

  Then she snuck a glance at her friends, all huddled together in the middle of the room.

  “I’m going to open the curtains,” Jenna whispered.

  “No! Don’t!” Laurel begged.

  “I have to,” Jenna replied. “We need to know what’s out there.” She glanced at Maggie and Brittany, but neither one met her gaze. That’s when Jenna knew that she was on her own.

  She took a deep breath, mentally counted to three—one, two, three—and yanked open the curtains to see what was roaming around out there in the middle of the night.

  She came face-to-face with a dark, hulking form on the other side of the window. Nothing but a thin pane of glass separated them.

  As the creature slammed against the window, everyone screamed so loudly that Jenna couldn’t even hear her own voice in all the commotion. She raced back to the middle of the room, where her friends were frozen in fear.

  Then the door banged open, and the room was flooded with light.

  “Girls! Girls! What on earth is going on?” Maggie’s mom, Mrs. Marcuzzi, cried.

  “There’s a monster out there!” Maggie shrieked, pointing at the window.

  Mrs. Marcuzzi sighed heavily as she strode across the room.

  “No, Mom, don’t—” Maggie begged.

  But Mrs. Marcuzzi was already at the window. “It’s Rocko!” she exclaimed, and started to laugh. “Lou?” she called to Maggie’s dad. “The Jacobsons’ dog got out again.”

  “Oh, for Pete’s sake.” Mr. Marcuzzi’s voice came from the hallway. “I’ll take him home.”

  “Here, Dad,” Maggie spoke up. “You want my flashlight?”