Stage Fright
Authors: Peter Bently
Stage Fright
Written by
Peter Bently
Illustrated by
Chris Harrison
Albert Whitman & Company
Chicago, Illinois
For Theo and Tara
P.B.
For my Dad
C.H.
Contents
Chapter 1
Ghoul Show
The school clock was striking nine when a small bat zoomed up to the main entrance of St. Orlok's Elementary School. The bat hovered in front of the doors for a moment, then with a
POP!
it turned into a boy. It was Lee Price, and he was late for school. Vampire school.
Lee dashed through the doorsâand almost crashed right into Mr. E. Gore, the school janitor.
“Hey! Votch vere you're going!” grumbled Mr. Gore.
“Sorry!” called Lee, speeding down the corridor with his black cape flapping behind him.
“Late again, huh?” yelled Mr. Gore.
He shook his fist so hard that little flakes of rotten skin flew off it like green dandruff. “Pesky vampire kids! So unreliable! Ve zombies are always dead on time!”
Lee reached his classroom and burst in just as his teacher, Miss Gargoyle, was taking roll call. All the other young vampires turned to stare at him.
“Sorry I'm late, miss!” he gasped breathlessly, plonking himself down at a table next to his friends Billy Pratt and Bella Williams.
“Really, Lee,” sighed Miss Gargoyle. She peered at the clock. “I nearly marked you absent. Tonight of all nights!”
“Sorry, Miss. I forgot my costume and had to go back home for it.”
“Good grief!” panicked Miss Gargoyle. “Has anyone else forgotten their phantomime costume?
