Fear the Barfitron Read online

  “That’s amazing!” I said, and finished tearing open the package.

  “I hope it’s what you were looking for,” said the Director. “I heard from your friends that it would be the best gift for you.”

  It wasn’t the TRQ92 Super Infinity Space Gazer. It was the TRQ2000—the top-of-the-line model!

  “Oh, man!” I said. “This is great. Thank you, Director.”

  “Call me Zachary,” said Zachary.

  “How about Director Z?” I asked.

  “As you wish,” Director Z said. “There’s just one small condition for keeping the telescope.”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “I need you to keep an eye on the sky,” he said, suddenly serious.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because the next batch of supermonsters could come from anywhere. We’ll need you and the other gentlemen to be on watch. This was just one battle. But we still have to win the worldwide war on these vile new creatures that are after the residents. We will need your help again.”

  “You can count us in!” I said.

  Ben, Shane, Gordon, and I kept volunteering at Raven Hill, and we went about school as if everything was normal. But we knew we could be called into action at any moment.

  What monster juice–drinking evil would come next?

  M. D. Payne is a mad scientist who creates monsters by stitching together words instead of dead body parts. After nearly a decade in multimedia production for public radio, he entered children’s publishing as a copywriter and marketer. Monster Juice is his debut series. He lives in the tiny village of New York City with his wife and baby girl, and hopes to add a hairy, four-legged monster to his family soon.