Number three on Lisa Marie’s top five list of favourite words was ‘agog’. It meant ‘awestruck’, or ‘eager and excited’. She loved the word, but didn’t believe she’d ever actually been agog before.
Until now.
“Elvis!” she gasped, staring wide-eyed at the teddy.
“Bearvis!” hissed Henrietta, jumping off Lisa Marie and on to the carpet.
The new arrival glanced between them both. “How about y’all just call me the King?”
Henrietta narrowed her eyes and growled. “How about we call you Dead Ted instead?”
Giggling wickedly, she gave her wand a flick. A shimmering ball of magical energy zipped from the end. Quick as a flash, the King held up a paw. The magic bolt hit the shiny gold rings he wore on his stubby fingers, bounced back and blasted Henrietta across the room.
Lisa Marie found herself holding the witch’s tiny wand. It tingled with magical energy.
She sat up and watched as the witch began to change. The green fur that covered the evil teddy from head to toe was falling out in chunks as she began to take on a sickly, slimy appearance.
“I’m moulting! I’m moulting!” Henrietta wailed, the final tufts of her fur drifting down on to the living-room carpet. A scant second later, the bear was gone. In her place a plump, see-through jellyfish wobbled gently back and forth.
In the silence that followed, the King gave a low whistle. “Well now,” he said. “That sure ain’t somethin’ you see every day.”
Lisa Marie scrambled to her feet and backed away from the shiny-suited bear. “You’re alive!” she cried, then a thought struck her. “Wait. You’re on my side, right? You’re not going to change me into something slimy, are you?”
The King’s furry face took on a puzzled expression. “Darlin’,” he replied, “I wouldn’t even know where to start. I ain’t one for magic, but I guess I could sing to you.”
“Sing to me?”
“Well sure thing, honey, since you asked so nicely. How’s about ‘A Little Less Hibernation’? You heard that one?”
“What’s going on?” asked Vernon, appearing in the doorway. He yawned and stretched. “I just had a really weird dream about—”
He stopped when he spotted Bearvis. The little bear tapped a paw to his brow in salute. “Hey there, son. Y’all look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
The King and Lisa Marie both watched in silence as Vernon’s eyes rolled backwards again. He landed with a thud in the hall.
“Uh, is he OK?” the King asked.
Lisa Marie sighed. “Yes. He does that.”
She lowered herself on to the arm of the couch and looked Bearvis up and down. He wasn’t very tall, so this didn’t take long. “You’re alive,” she said.
“Sure looks that way, honey,” Bearvis agreed.
“But how?”
The King shrugged his fluffy shoulders. “Can’t say I know the answer to that. I wasn’t alive, and now I am. That’s about all I can tell you.” He frowned. “Although I think there was some kinda machine involved? I don’t rightly remember.”
“TEDDIES!” roared Vernon, jumping awake.
The sudden shout took Lisa Marie by surprise. She turned round, startled. The abrupt movement somehow made the wand go off in her hand. A bolt of energy streaked across the room and hit Vernon right on the end of his chin.
There was a flash and a puff of smoke. Lisa Marie gasped as Vernon flopped backwards on to the floor again.
“Whoops!” she whispered.
“Uh, did you mean to blast that guy with magic?” the King asked.
“He’s my brother. And no,” said Lisa Marie.
“Right. Right,” replied the King. “Because you did. In case you hadn’t noticed.”
“I noticed,” said Lisa Marie. She crept closer to her brother. “Uh, Vernon? Vernon, are you OK?”
Vernon groaned and sat up. “I’m fine,” he said. “What hit me?”
Lisa Marie stared. She knew it was rude, but she couldn’t help herself. Behind her, she heard the King let out a low whistle.
“The bear!” said Vernon, pointing to Bearvis. “The bear’s alive!”
“Yes,” said Lisa Marie, her eyes widening. “But he’s on our side.”
“On our side? So … what? This isn’t a dream?”
“No,” said Lisa Marie.
“Why are you staring at me?” asked Vernon, finally spotting the look of wonder on his sister’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“Your head,” said Lisa Marie.
“What about it?”
“It’s … big.”
Vernon stood up. This was quite difficult because he was finding it tricky to balance properly. He stumbled past Lisa Marie and looked at himself in the mirror above the fireplace.
He screamed.
“My head!”
“I know,” said Lisa Marie.
“It’s huge!”
“You can say that again,” said the King. “That’s the biggest head I ever saw. And it ain’t a close-run thing.”
Vernon’s head had inflated like a very large, very round balloon. It was easily three times as big as normal, and wobbled unsteadily on his normal-sized neck.
Lisa Marie bit her bottom lip. Vernon’s huge face had gone that ash-grey colour once more, and he looked like he might be about to faint again. “Don’t panic. Deep breaths. It’s fine,” she said. “It looks … good.”
“Good?!” Vernon cried. “It’s the size of the moon!”
“Actually, the moon has a circumference of almost seven thousand miles—” Lisa Marie began, but the scowl on her brother’s massive face stopped her. “I take your point.”
“How did this happen?” Vernon groaned, turning back to the mirror again.
Bearvis stepped forward. “Well you see that wand there?” he said. Lisa Marie gestured for him to be quiet but it was too late.
“You did this?!” Vernon spat. He wobbled towards her. “Then fix me!”
Lisa Marie looked down at the wand in her hand, then back at her humongous-headed brother. “I don’t know how to.”
“Then figure it out!” Vernon snapped. “I can’t be stuck like this.”
Taking a deep breath, Lisa Marie nodded. “OK. I’ll try. How difficult can it be?”
“Well actually,” Bearvis began but Lisa Marie ignored him. She raised the wand and flicked her wrist. A bolt of blue energy hit Vernon’s mega-sized forehead.
“Ow!” he protested, stumbling back. He placed his hands on his head and laughed. “It’s working! It’s working!”
And it was. Vernon’s head was already shrinking. It took just a few seconds to shrink back to its normal size.
Unfortunately, it didn’t stop there.
“Make it stop!” cried Vernon, his voice now squeaky and high-pitched. His head was the size of a grapefruit, and still shrinking.
Lisa Marie flicked the wand again. There was a flash and a bang, and Vernon’s head snapped back to the correct size.
That was the good news.
“It’s back to front!” Vernon protested.
That was the bad news.
“Hold on, I’ll get it this time,” Lisa Marie said. Before Vernon could stop her, she gave the wand another flick.
When the flash of light had passed, Vernon’s head was the right size and facing the correct way. He prodded it cautiously, as if scared it might explode.
“OK. OK. Thank you,” he wheezed, once he was sure his skull was back to normal. He breathed in through his nose and pulled himself together. “Now put that thing away before you do any more damage!”
Lisa Marie decided this was probably sensible, and tucked the wand into the waistband of her pyjamas.
“Good,” said Vernon. “Now can someone please tell me what’s going on?”
The King was over by the window, only his bottom half visible beneath the curtains. “Well, son,” he said, stepping out and pulling a curtain aside to reveal the street beyond. Hundreds of bears swarmed along the darkened road, each dressed in different Halloween costumes. “It’s funny you should ask.”
There was silence for several seconds as both Lisa Marie and Vernon gazed at all the furry figures running, shuffling and flying around outside.
A moment later, the silence was broken by a soft thud as Vernon fainted, face first, on to the carpet.