Nelson and the seven monsters closed their eyes.
“Celeste.”
“Ommmm…”
Once again, their arms, claws, paws, and tentacles rose and quivered like compass needles pointing as one, but this time it was toward a beach ball that had a map of the world printed on it.
Miser was the one who had found the ball while searching Uncle Pogo’s house for a globe. (He had also used this as an excuse to steal more trinkets from Uncle Pogo’s eclectic collection.) And now that ball spun around all by itself on the dining room table. It would have been a remarkable sight for Nelson had it not been the sixth time they had repeated this exercise. Each time the ball had stopped spinning in the same place, with the monsters all pointing at the same country, and if they really were about to set off to this location, Nelson wanted to be absolutely sure they were headed for the right place. It was, after all, a very, very long way from where Celeste had gone missing, and Nelson needed to be convinced this wasn’t going to be a very, very big mistake. Soul divining did have one pleasant side effect: every time they said her name, it gave Nelson a great swell of certainty that his sister was still alive and well.
He held his breath and waited for the ball to stop spinning.
Apart from the whizzing sound the ball made as it spun, all you could hear was the snoring, like distant thunder, of Uncle Pogo.
* * *
In the basement bedroom, Uncle Pogo lay on his bed in his overalls, snoring like a hibernating bear. Nothing in the world could wake him. Nelson had tried pouring glasses of ice-cold water in his face and a few stern shakes of his shoulders, but it was useless. Even when Nelson, Nosh, Miser, and Stan had accidentally dropped him while carrying him down to his room, Uncle Pogo’s big old body just thundered down the stairs like a human sled, coming to rest upside down but still sound asleep. Nelson thought it was a great shame that his uncle would not wake, because the prospect of embarking on such a tremendous journey with a bunch of monsters was even more daunting than being in one of Katy Newman’s awful plays.
* * *
As expected, the beach ball ground to a halt in exactly the same place as before.
Nelson and the monsters opened their eyes in unison and (apart from Crush, who of course just honked) said, “Brazil.”
“’Ow many times do we gotta do this before yer believe us, eh?” barked Stan, his red face looking angrier than ever.
“I just want to be sure, okay? I’ve never done anything like this on my own before,” said Nelson, and Crush hugged his legs and gave a very long and loud honk of support.
“Yer not on yer own, Nelly-son. You got us! We’re yer soulmates, Nelly-son!” shouted Nosh, rushing into the yard having just eaten everything that was inside Uncle Pogo’s recycling bin. He gave a great burp and jet-engine-style flames blasted out of several black holes in the top of his head.
Nosh’s belly was like a furnace where everything he ate was incinerated. This was obviously how he could still be hungry having eaten an entire dog only hours before.
As you can see, Nosh has little holes in his head like a pepper shaker. This is to let out the smoke and flames that erupt in his belly whenever he eats anything.
Miser was packing an old trunk with all sorts of things he thought might come in handy from Uncle Pogo’s house, while Hoot polished his beak with Brasso. Puff sat on the sofa watching the TV through half-closed eyes, and Stan stormed about like a little red thundercloud.
“We know she’s safe now, but for ’ow long, eh? Sooner we get goin’, the better!” barked Stan, and the monsters began shuffling toward the front door.
Nelson pulled on his coat, threw his backpack over his shoulder, and looked back at Uncle Pogo’s phone booth. Should he call his parents? For a second Nelson imagined how that call might go …
His parents would certainly think Nelson had gone round the bend if he said any of this to them—wouldn’t you?—and it was bound to make them even more upset than they must be already.
No phone call then.
Nelson would have to find his sister by himself. Well, with the help of his seven monsters.
And so that was that.
“Nelson!” shouted Stan, and Nelson turned just in time to catch his uncle’s van keys.
“What am I doing with these?” said Nelson.
“Drivin’ to the airport,” said Stan.
“Shotgun!” shouted Nosh, throwing the front door open, which triggered that blasted security light once again.