There's Something Out There (5 page)

Can I get to the door?
Jenna wondered wildly.
The front door, the back door, a window—can I get out of here?

She didn't know what to do.

Thunk-scraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaape
.

If only she could figure out
where
, exactly, it was coming from—the front of the hall or the back of the hall—maybe, Jenna thought, she had a chance to get out. A chance to escape. All she had to do was pick the right door.

But there was no more time to think. She had to make a decision. She had to move,
fast
—

Before it was too late.

Without making a noise, Jenna crept through the den, hugging the wall as if she could make herself invisible. All too soon she found herself at the entrance to
the den. She had to decide—front door or back—and pray that she didn't make the wrong choice.

Taking a deep breath, she dashed into the hall.

A scream stopped her in her tracks.

“
Jason?
” she exclaimed.

“Jenna! What—what—” her brother sputtered.

Jenna started to laugh. “Did I scare you?”

“No!”

“Because you seem kind of, you know,
scared
,” Jenna teased him. “Or at least
startled
.”

“I didn't know you were home, okay?” Jason answered. “All of a sudden you came sprinting out of the den like some—”

“Sorry I
scared
you,” Jenna replied, smirking. It wasn't often that she had the chance to tease Jason as mercilessly as he usually teased her.

Then she took a closer look at her brother, and her eyes grew wide. “Jason?
What
are you doing?”

“Nothing,” he said shortly. But the red blush creeping up his neck gave him away.

Jenna's eyes flitted over the stretchy elastic sweatband pulled across Jason's forehead, and the four heavy cement blocks he was dragging down the hallway.

“Let me guess,” she said as she started to giggle. “You're going to build some kind of wood-and-cement thing that you will try to smash with your bare hands. Are you playing
Karate Kid
or something?”

“Why don't you mind your own business?” Jason snapped as he yanked the sweatband off his head.

“No, no, Jason, it's cool,” Jenna said, laughing. “If you want to work on your martial arts, don't let me stand in your way. But you might want to find something instead of those cement blocks. Dad's going to use them to build a barbecue pit out back.”

“Yeah, he's been saying that for, what, three years now?” Jason asked.

Jenna and Jason grinned at each other for a moment.

“When did you get home, anyway?” he asked her.

Jenna shrugged. “A little while ago,” she replied. “I went outside to feed the cat and—hey, was that you who closed the door on me?”

“Sorry. I didn't see you,” said Jason.

“How could you?” Jenna said. “Not with that sweatband covering your eyes!”

This time Jason ignored Jenna's teasing. He pushed past her and went into the den, where he plunked himself
down at the computer and started swigging her juice.

“Is this your e-mail?” he asked as a wicked smile crossed his face. “I wonder what MagPie13 has to say?”

“Jason! No!” Jenna shrieked as she ran over to the computer. “Mind your own business!”

“‘Hey, Jenna,'” he read. “‘You left your claw here. I'm gonna drop it off on the way to the mall because I don't want the Marked Monster coming here to look for you!'”

“Quit it, loser!” Jenna yelled as she elbowed Jason's hand off the mouse. Instantly she closed her e-mail.

But it was too late.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Jason said. “What is old MagPie talking about? What is this
claw
?”

“It's nothing—just this thing I found in the woods,” Jenna said with a shrug. “I told a scary story last night about the Marked Monster, and I used the claw as a prop. No big deal.”

“Ooh, the Marked Monster!” he sang out. “Spooooky!”

“What do you know about it?” Jenna asked, curious in spite of herself.

“What, that it's a stupid legend somebody thought up to scare babies like you?” Jason teased. “What else is there to know?”

“Yeah, exactly,” Jenna said. “Move,” she ordered him, plunking down on the edge of the computer chair as she tried to push him out of it. “I need the computer.”

“Too bad,” Jason said, smirking as he clicked an icon for one of his video games. “I was here first.”

“You were not!” she cried. “You were in the hall grunting like a pig as you dragged those stupid cement blocks to your room! Come on, Jason. I have homework.”

“You have homework? Please.” He laughed. “Just wait until you get to high school.
Then
you'll know what it means to have homework.”

“Come on,” Jenna begged. “Please! I have so much work to do on my history project for Mrs. Ramirez. You know Mom always says that homework comes before video games!”

“Whoa, I remember that project. It was
hard
. What's your topic?”

“I don't have one yet,” she admitted. “What was yours?”

“Farming in the 1800s,” Jason remembered. “There were a bunch of old diaries in the Lewisville Archives at the library. Man, those people had it rough. They almost ran out of food one year when the crops didn't do well.”

“You're still sitting in my chair,” Jenna reminded him.

“Here you go, moron,” her brother said as he stood up from the computer chair. “Have fun with your research. I just realized I better get those cement blocks out of the hallway before Mom gets home from the hospital.”

In the doorway, Jason paused. “Maybe you should do your report on the Marked Monster,” he called over his shoulder.

“Thanks. Great idea,” Jenna said sarcastically. “Actually, I mean
garbage
idea. I don't want to get an F.”

“Whatever. It's part of the town's history,” Jason shot back. “Excuse me for giving you an awesome topic that won't bore you to death.”

With that, he disappeared into the hall, and once again Jenna heard:

Thunk-scraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaape
.

Thunk-scraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaape
.

Thunk-scraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaape
.

She scrambled out of her chair and ran to the hallway. “Jas?”

When he looked up from the cement blocks, Jenna could see little beads of sweat dotting his red face. “What?” he asked.

“You really think the Marked Monster would be a good topic for my project?”

“I don't know. Yeah,” he said. “Haven't the legends about the Marked Monster been passed down for, like, two hundred years or something?”

“That long?”

“Something like that. And I remember reading in one of the diaries that the town council passed a law that nobody could build or plant crops in the Sacred Square.”

“The
what
?” Jenna said, raising her eyebrows.

“I don't remember exactly, but there was a place in the town called the Sacred Square, and this new settler wanted to build a cabin on it, and everybody got all upset and called an emergency meeting about it,” Jason said, wrinkling his forehead as he tried to remember. “And it was because of an old superstition about the Marked Monster. Some Native American deal with the creature or something.”

“Wow. That sounds really cool,” Jenna said thoughtfully.

“I'm waiting.”

“Waiting for what?”

“An apology,” Jason replied smugly. “Weren't you just
making fun of my project idea for you?”

“Yes. Yes, I was,” Jenna said. “I'm sorry, Karate Kid. You were right and I was wrong.”

“Shut up.”

“Sorry, Sensei. I apologize, Master. Please, Sensei, accept my most humble apologies.”

“Shut up, moron.”

“Yes, Sensei. I'll shut up now, Sensei.”

Jason slammed the door on his way into his bedroom, which made Jenna laugh even harder. She sat down at the computer and typed “Marked Monster in Lewisville” into a search engine. It took half a second for a dozen links to flash onto the screen. Jenna's curiosity about the Marked Monster grew with every link she clicked on.
This is going to be an amazing topic
, she thought—even though she hated to admit that her brother had been right.
I want to know
everything
about the Marked Monster!

As she sat there, learning more from each link, Jenna had no idea how much she would regret it.

At dinner that night, Jenna's dad had one question for her: “How is that history project coming?”

“Great, actually!” Jenna replied with a big grin. She'd spent the entire afternoon glued to the computer, scribbling down all kinds of notes for the report she had to write. She definitely had enough background information to write the summary paragraph that was due on Monday. “I finally have an awesome topic, and it's really interesting. Is it okay if I go to the library with Maggie after school on Monday? Her mom can drive us home.”

Jenna's parents beamed at her. “Of course it is, sweetie!” her mom said. “Tell me all about your topic!”

Jason cleared his throat loudly, but Jenna chose to ignore him. “It's about the history of the legend of the Marked Monster,” she replied. “And how it affected our town and the early settlers and stuff.”

“Hang on a minute,” Mr. Walker spoke up. “You can't write up a spooky story and call it a history project.”

“No, I'm going to focus on the historical parts,” Jenna said quickly. “I mean, I'm going to do a lot more research at the library, but I already learned that there was a section of town where nobody was allowed to live because of the Marked Monster. So this legend actually affected how the town was formed.”

“Oh, okay,” her dad said, looking relieved. “That's
fascinating, Jenna. I think your teacher will really like that approach.”

“A-
hem!
” Jason cleared his throat again, louder.

“You're not getting sick, are you?” Dr. Walker asked him.

“No,” Jason grumbled. “But just so you know, I gave Jenna the idea for her project.”

“Thank you, Jason,” Dr. Walker said, smiling at him. “It makes me so happy when you two get along and help each other out.”

Across the table, Jenna glared at her brother. It was
so
like him to insist on getting credit for every little thing! And just when her mom and dad were acting like they were proud of her, instead of disappointed that she'd brought home yet another B-minus.

“Actually, I started researching the Marked Monster last week,” Jenna said, which was true. Her parents didn't need to know it was in preparation for her sleepover story. “Before Jason said anything about it.”

“Well, let me know if you need any help with your project, honey,” Dr. Walker said. “I can pick up some supplies for your poster on the way home from the hospital tomorrow, if you want.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Jenna replied. “That would be great. Oh, before I forget—is it okay if I have a campout on Friday night? With Maggie and Brittany and Laurel?”

“I don't see why not,” Dr. Walker replied. “Keep an eye on the weather, though—just in case we get a late cold spell.”

“Thank you!” Jenna exclaimed. Then she paused, straining her ears to hear something outside, a scraping noise so faint that she couldn't be sure she'd heard it at all. “Do you hear that?”

“What?” asked Dr. Walker.

“It sounds like a … like a scratching sound?” Jenna said with a slight frown. “Coming from outside?”

Her parents shook their heads. “It's probably that stray cat,” Mr. Walker said. “The one you've been feeding.”

“I don't think so,” Jenna said as she walked over to the window. “It never comes up to the house. I wish it would. I'd love to have a cat!”

She peered out the window, but it was so dark she couldn't see anything. She turned back to her family. “So what's for dessert?”

“I bought a pie at the supermarket this morning,” Mr. Walker said.

“Pie again?” Jason complained. “Why don't you ever get cake?”

“We
always
have cake,” argued Jenna.

“And that's why I bought a pie today,” Mr. Walker said. “Would you please serve dessert, Jenna? Jason, you can clear the table tonight.”

In the kitchen, Jenna set out four dessert plates and took the pie out of the box. “Cherry!” she exclaimed. “Thanks, Dad!”

“Hey, I remembered your favorite kind of pie!”

“Do we have ice cream?” she called out to the dining room.

“Hey, I remembered what you like to put on top of your favorite kind of pie!” Mr. Walker joked.

Jenna did a fist pump as she opened the freezer. But even though she searched through every shelf, she couldn't find the carton of ice cream anywhere.