The Pinkaboos: Bitterly and the Giant Problem Read online

  “I expected more from you, Bitterly,” Miss Viper said. “This isn’t comedy hour. Throwing a banana peel was a cheap trick that worked in the moment, but it isn’t going to help Molly face her fears in the long run.”

  Bitterly felt her eyes well up with tears. “What can I do to help her?”

  Miss Viper pulled a remote out of thin air and began changing the channels on the screen.

  “Let me show you something, Bitterly,” she said.

  The channels flicked from zombies to mummies and stopped on witches flying on broomsticks. The witches cackled in the way that witches do—high-pitched and menacing—as they darted around trees and careened over rooftops. A light in one of the houses caught Bitterly’s attention. Inside, an old woman with big blue eyes looked out.

  The witches headed toward the house, shrieking and whooping with horrid delight. They flew up to the window, hovering their broomsticks in midair in front of it and scratching at it with their long, curled yellow nails.

  “We’ve come for you!” one witch screeched.

  The woman on the other side of the window smiled back at them.

  “She’s not afraid of witches?” Bitterly asked.

  “No,” Miss Viper said proudly. “But she used to be.”

  The woman held out her hand and showed the witch a set of keys.

  The witch screamed in terror and pounded on her broomstick with her fist. “Go, go, go!”

  The broomstick began to fly chaotically, smacking into a lamppost while the witch clung on helplessly.

  The woman then pushed a button on the keys, and a car alarm began blaring.

  BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP. WEEEEOOOO-WEEEEOOOO-WEEEE-OOOO. ANNT-ANNT-ANNT-ANNT.

  Two witches immediately fell off their broomsticks and landed in the trees below. One terrified witch began flying in circles while another sobbed hysterically. With wide eyes, Bitterly watched the woman, who calmly observed the witches from her window.

  “Who is she?” Bitterly murmured in awe.

  “She was my little girl . . . all grown up now,” Miss Viper said softly.

  “How did she know to do that?” Bitterly said.

  “Witches are afraid of loud noises,” Miss Viper said. “I taught her how to scare them.”

  Miss Viper pressed a button on the remote, and the channel turned back to Molly, who had switched on the lamp beside her bed.

  “Molly’s bad dreams are making her afraid of the dark,” Miss Viper said. “Pretty soon she won’t want to go to bed at all.”

  “But how do I teach Molly to scare the giant?”

  “Teach her to be the fear. She can become the darkness!” Miss Viper said.

  With that, she pulled a wand from nowhere, touched the top of her scaly head, and vanished, leaving Bitterly alone in the classroom.

  Chapter 5

  That night as Bitterly went to sleep in her shiny black coffin—one of the soft, cozy rectangular beds all little frights slept in—she could see her reflection in the paint as she lay awake.

  Inside each coffin were murals that represented the unique strengths of each fright. Bitterly’s showed a pink moon above a shining sea. She wasn’t sure what it meant, but she had a feeling she’d understand in time. Bitterly nervously bit her lip trying to make sense of everything. She thought about Miss Viper’s advice. What had she meant about becoming the darkness?

  If Molly was afraid of the dark, how could becoming the darkness make her any less scared?

  She closed her eyes tight and began hearing Vex’s taunting voice in her head.

  “Pinkaboo!”

  She rolled over and tried to sleep on her side.

  “Pinkaboo! Pinkaboo! Pinkaboo!”

  Bitterly groaned and rolled over on her other side.

  She kept thinking about Vex, the darkness, and little Molly’s giant . . . and then . . . everything went black.

  Bitterly was suddenly walking beside a foggy lake. She looked over, and Vex was walking beside her.

  “You’re nothing but a Pinkaboo,” Vex said, laughing.

  “Why won’t you stop?” Bitterly pleaded.

  “I’m only doing this because I can,” Vex said.

  “What does that mean?” Bitterly said.

  Suddenly Molly stepped out of the fog. “It means as long as you’re not sure of yourself, Vex has power over you,” she said.

  “Molly!” Bitterly exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

  “Hey, you came into my dream—I thought it was only fair if I came into yours.” Molly smiled. “Hold my hand.”

  Bitterly reached over and joined hands with Molly.

  Vex jumped in front of both of them shouting, “Pinkaboo!”

  “Start walking,” Molly insisted.

  “Pinkaboo!” Vex cackled. “You silly, silly Pinkaboo!”

  “Don’t let yourself feel anything bad,” Molly whispered to Bitterly. “Don’t let yourself feel sadness or hurt or embarrassment. Just feel pride.”

  Molly clutched Bitterly’s hand tighter. They walked for what seemed like miles as Vex continued to taunt them. She was relentless. Her wings stretched out as she swirled around them, dancing and yelling “Pinkaboo!” at the top of her lungs.

  Vex began throwing magic fireballs at them. Worried about such a reckless use of magic, Bitterly imagined a baseball glove. Suddenly one appeared on Molly’s hand as well as her own. They began catching the fireballs and throwing them back at Vex.

  “This feels good!” Bitterly finally smiled.

  “Yes!” Molly said.

  “In fact, it feels better than good!” Bitterly said, looking directly at Vex. Vex’s wicked grin slowly

  faded into a drooping frown as she dodged and hurled fireballs.

  Bitterly had never seen Vex anything but angry and mean. Seeing her sad was very strange.

  “Don’t take away my power,” she whimpered.

  Molly smiled at Bitterly. “Do it, Bitterly,” Molly said. “Be a Pinkaboo!”

  “What?” Bitterly said.

  “Be a Pinkaboo! Be a Pinkaboo! Be a Pinkaboo!”

  “Stop it!” Vex yelled angrily. “Stop it both of you!”

  Bitterly awoke with a start.

  “That’s it,” she said aloud to herself. “I’m gonna be a Pinkaboo!”

  Chapter 6

  Even though Bitterly was late for school and running so hard that her legs hurt, she couldn’t help but smile. She knew how to help Molly!

  She turned the corner going full speed and ran right into Vex. Bitterly’s books went flying, papers were lost to the wind, and pencils rolled off the edge of the sidewalk into the gutter. Bitterly looked up from where she’d landed on the pavement, and Vex grinned a mean grin.

  “Well, well, well. If it isn’t a little Pinkaboo. That wasn’t very nice, little Pinkaboo. Hitting me like that.”

  “It was an accident, Vex, and you know it!”

  “Oh, are you going to tell me what I know now? I don’t think so, Pinkaboo.”

  “Keep trying to intimidate me, Vex,” Bitterly said. “It won’t work anymore. You’re more scared than all the little girls put together!”

  Vex cackled outrageously.

  “Well, look at this—we’re not on school grounds.” Vex pointed at the edge of the schoolyard a block away. “And you know what that means . . . ”

  Vex’s wings spread as she began casting a spell. Bitterly recognized it immediately; it was called the Goo Blast. She had read about it in Belladonna’s Big Book of Blasts and knew it could badly hurt a fright, so she had to do something quick.

  Vex’s hands twisted and wiggled in that way they do when a fright casts a spell. A sickly green light started to glow all around Vex as she spoke louder and louder in the mind-bending language of magic.
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  “Just a little Pinkaboo. Nobody is going to miss you,” Vex sneered between chants.

  Bitterly had no choice. She didn’t know what her powers could do, but she had to try. She had to cast something.

  “Hey, everybody, Bitterly is fighting Vex!” Abyssma shouted from the schoolyard. Soon, Vex and Bitterly were surrounded by a chorus of frights chanting, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” Vex’s voice raised in a crescendo as she finished her spell, releasing the blast from her outstretched hand.

  Just like an acorn, Bitterly thought as she quickly realized what she had to do.

  “Braxensheffanegg!” she shouted while waving her hand downward, just like she had seen Belladonna do.

  The magic force shield sprang up around Bitterly just before the goo blast hit her. Vex’s eyes widened in surprise as the sickly green slime slammed into the shield before the barrier shuddered, cracked, and then exploded into pieces. The defense spell had blocked the goo blast, but the force of the spell was enough to knock Bitterly backward into a tree.

  Vex approached, already starting to conjure a second attack.

  Bitterly did not know powerful blast spells like Vex did, but she remembered a couple more things from Belladonna’s spellbook.

  “Sheethoslappo!” Bitterly commanded, and a little black cloud appeared in front of Vex. It immediately started to rain, forming a puddle at Vex’s feet.

  Vex’s confusion quickly turned to laughter. “What are you going to do, Pinkaboo? Rain on my victory parade?” she asked as she stepped into the puddle and continued casting her spell.

  “No,” Bitterly said, breathing hard. “I expect you to fall. Flashcoballichill!” Bitterly shouted as she spread her arms out to either side like she was quickly parting some invisible curtains.

  The puddle that Vex was standing in suddenly turned to ice, causing her to slip and fall hard on her back.

  Seeing her chance to escape, Bitterly jumped up and bolted for the school grounds. The frights who’d circled them parted and cheered as she raced away.

  Vex shot up off the ground and chased after Bitterly, running faster than Bitterly had ever seen any fright run. Vex was catching up to her, and Bitterly realized she wasn’t going to make it to the school grounds in time. The frights who had been watching the fight were following them both.

  Vex caught up with Bitterly just before the school gates and grabbed her arm. With everyone watching, Bitterly turned to face Vex. She looked right into her black eyes and said, “I’m a Pinkaboo, and I’m proud of it!”

  “What?” Vex laughed.

  “I’m a PINKABOOOOOOO!” Bitterly shouted.

  A collective gasp resounded among the little frights.

  Belladonna ran over and stood behind Bitterly.

  “Yeah, I’m a Pinkaboo, too!” she announced, adjusting her glasses.

  “Me, too!” Abyssma’s voice squealed from the crowd of frights, the top tips of her horns sticking out.

  Vex looked around at all the little eyes staring at her. “Well . . . well, that means you’re . . . you’re weak!” Vex stammered.

  “Why are we weak?” Bitterly calmly asked.

  Vex took a step back. “You just are!” she yelled.

  “OK. We’re weak,” Bitterly said. “So what? We’re all weak in some way or another . . . and so are our little girls. But isn’t that why we’re all here, to learn how to face fear? Because . . . well, after all, fear is just weakness.”

  Bitterly swallowed hard, took a few steps forward, and got very close to Vex’s face.

  “I am glad I’m weak. It means . . . um . . . well, I guess it means I’m in the right place. I’m here to learn how to . . . how to overcome it,” Bitterly said, beginning to realize it herself. She smiled, looked Vex straight in the eye, and announced, “I’m a Pinkaboo, and I’m proud of it.”

  She raised her arms and looked around the crowd of her fellow frights. “We are all Pinkaboos!” she yelled triumphantly.

  Chapter 7

  There was a hum of excitement in Miss Viper’s class that day. Everyone was talking about what had happened between Vex and Bitterly. Bitterly got lots of high-fives from other frights, many of whom confessed that they’d been afraid of Vex, too.

  “Class,” Miss Viper hissed, “settle down!”

  “Yes, Miss Viper,” the frights replied in unison.

  “Now, today is a very special day. As you all know, Bitterly is going to go back into Molly’s dream, and we get to watch again. This will prepare you all for when you meet your little girls.”

  She slithered over to Bitterly’s desk. “Now, Bitterly, remember what we talked about?” Miss Viper asked.

  “I dreamed about it,” Bitterly replied.

  “Good—that’s good,” Miss Viper said as she pulled the screen down. The image of Molly sleeping appeared on the screen.

  “Awwww,” everyone cooed once again.

  “Now. Go.” Miss Viper waved her wand. Before she knew it, Bitterly was sucked into the screen, and she was once again running beside Molly.

  “You again?” Molly said as she ran through a creepy forest lit by nothing more than a thin sliver of moon.

  “Looks like we’re in this together for the long haul,” said Bitterly, smiling and looking behind her. The same giant was chasing them.

  “The giant again?” Bitterly asked.

  “I just can’t shake him!” Molly shouted. The giant’s heavy steps shook the earth.

  He was getting closer. They could hear him laughing—a low rumble, like an avalanche in his chest.

  “I have a plan,” she said. “We’re going to scare him away.”

  “What? How?” Molly asked nervously.

  “We need to make it dark,” Bitterly said. “The moon is too bright. Imagine a huge blanket covering it.”

  “Are you kidding?” Molly yelled. “I’m afraid of the dark!”

  “Yes, I know,” Bitterly replied, grinning. “But I know a few things about giants.”

  “I’m too scared,” Molly moaned.

  “It’s your dream. Remember, you can create anything,” Bitterly said as she looked up at the approaching giant. “And you might want to do it soon.”

  Molly took a deep breath. “OK, I’ll give it a try,” she said as she closed her eyes and focused.

  “Good,” Bitterly whispered. “Now . . . it’s his turn to be afraid.”

  Suddenly an enormous pink blanket floated down over the moon and plunged the dream into darkness. The girls stopped running.

  “Now I’m really scared,” Molly whispered.

  “You don’t have to be scared if you don’t want to be,” Bitterly insisted. “Have you noticed how you can’t hear the giant anymore? He’s not moving because he’s scared, too.”

  “So he’s afraid of the dark?” Molly asked.

  “All giants are,” Bitterly said.

  “Good,” Molly said. She closed her eyes and focused once again. This time when she opened them, she could see.

  Molly had imagined a pair of night-vision goggles for each of them. They now saw the dream world in perfect clarity through the goggles’ green lenses and turned back to face the giant.

  Bitterly blinked behind her goggles in surprise. “Great idea, Molly!”

  Standing before them, the giant looked very worried. He was searching for something.

  Slowly they crept behind the giant, who was frantically pulling things out of his pockets: a red truck, a moose, and an oven all fell heavily to the ground at his feet.

  Bitterly led Molly as they scurried up into a tree. There they sat and watched as the giant fished out a box of giant-size matches from his back pocket.

  Molly noticed how the darkness didn’t seem scary anymore; it felt like a blanket that she could hide under. It was fun to be the one sneaking around in
the dark.

  With the help of her goggles, Molly was able to see that each match was a tree trunk with a red tip on the end. The giant struck one of the matches against the box, and a bright fiery flame lit up the darkness.

  “This not funny anymore,” rumbled the giant as he held the lit match nervously in front of his face.

  Bitterly leaned over and whispered in Molly’s ear: “Look. The fear is sinking into him. His fears will do all the work for us; we just need to give them a little push.”

  Bitterly started to climb down the tree. When Molly went to follow, Bitterly held her hand up. “Wait here. I’m going to lure him over, and I want you to scare him when he gets here.”

  “Me? What?” Molly’s voice cracked.

  “You’re safe, Molly. Trust me,” Bitterly smiled. “You are the darkness now.”

  “Uh, uh, uh . . . OK,” Molly stammered.

  Bitterly ran up behind the giant and made the creepiest noise Molly had ever heard. It sounded like a creaky door in a haunted house on Halloween night.

  The giant spun around and shouted, “What was that?”

  Bitterly was so fast, she had moved before the giant could shine his light on her. Then his match went out.

  “Oh no, oh no, oh no!” the giant whimpered as Molly watched him scramble to light another. But his hands were shaking so much, it took several tries before the giant was able to light the second match. Bitterly was near the tree where Molly was hiding when she let out the same noise again, only this time a little louder.