Casketball Capers (7 page)

“That's a foul, ref!” cried the vampires.

But it was no good. Mr. Tut hadn't seen a thing.

“Thanks for the ball, sucker,” cackled Growler, as Naz stumbled and fell to the ground. “Huh-huh-huh!”

Growler headed off toward the vampire casket.

“Stop him, Billy!” cried Lee, as Growler closed in on the St. Orlok's dodgers.

But the huge werewolf snarled at Billy so fiercely that he leaped out of his way in terror.

Now there was nothing between Growler and the casket except Lee. Growler made a move to the left, and Lee followed him. But then the werewolf quickly swung the other way, pounced high off the ground—and slammed the ball into the casket.

The werewolf supporters all cried, “Point!” and howled and whooped in delight. Five points to Chaney Street!

So it went on. Every time Mr. Tut's loose bandage slipped over his eyes, Growler pushed, pulled, or tripped up one of the vampire players and kicked or punched the ball out of their hands.

By halftime the vampires still hadn't scored.

“It's no use,” moaned Lee as the teams went off for the break. “We don't stand a chance with Growler on their side.”

“I know,” agreed Bella. “It's not fair. He's such a cheater.”

“Yeah, and the ref is as blind as a bat,” said Billy.

“Blind as a bat,” Lee said to himself, “I wonder…”

With a
POP!
Lee suddenly turned into a bat.

“Back in five minutes!” he said, and flitted off.

“Hey, where's he going?” asked Bella.

“Dunno,” said Billy. “Looks like he's heading for the clock tower…”

Chapter 6

Boris to the Rescue

In the second half of the game, St. Orlok's managed to keep the werewolves from scoring, but Growler made sure that no one got anywhere near the Chaney Street casket.

Even when he wasn't cheating, he was so big and fierce that most of the vampires were terrified of him.

One minute from the end of the game, the score was still 5-0, and it looked like the werewolves were going to win. Then Billy got the ball and skillfully bounced it to Bella.

“Go Bella!” cried Lee, as Bella zipped past several werewolves.

“Watch out for Growler!” yelled Billy.

Sure enough, Mr. Tut was soon fiddling with the flapping bandages over his eyes. Growler saw his chance to cheat and thundered down the court after Bella. But just as he reached her, a small black thing dived out of the sky and grabbed hold of Mr. Tut's loose bandage.