Nate the Great and the Halloween Hunt Read online

  READ ALL THESE

  NATE THE GREAT DETECTIVE STORIES!

  NATE THE GREAT

  NATE THE GREAT GOES UNDERCOVER

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE LOST LIST

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE PHONY CLUE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE STICKY CASE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE MISSING KEY

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE SNOWY TRAIL

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE FISHY PRIZE

  NATE THE GREAT STALKS STUPIDWEED

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE BORING BEACH BAG

  NATE THE GREAT GOES DOWN IN THE DUMPS

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE HALLOWEEN HUNT

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE MUSICAL NOTE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE STOLEN BASE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE PILLOWCASE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE MUSHY VALENTINE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE TARDY TORTOISE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE CRUNCHY CHRISTMAS

  NATE THE GREAT SAVES THE KING OF SWEDEN

  NATE THE GREAT AND ME: THE CASE OF THE FLEEING FANG

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE MONSTER MESS

  NATE THE GREAT, SAN FRANCISCO DETECTIVE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE BIG SNIFF

  NATE THE GREAT ON THE OWL EXPRESS

  NATE THE GREAT TALKS TURKEY

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE HUNGRY BOOK CLUB

  AND CONTINUE THE DETECTIVE FUN WITH

  OLIVIA SHARP

  by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and Mitchell Sharmat illustrated by Denise Brunkus

  OLIVIA SHARP: THE PIZZA MONSTER

  OLIVIA SHARP: THE PRINCESS OF THE FILLMORE STREET SCHOOL

  OLIVIA SHARP: THE SLY SPY

  OLIVIA SHARP: THE GREEN TOENAILS GANG

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 1989 by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

  Illustrations copyright © 1989 by Marc Simont

  Extra Fun Activities copyright © 2005 by Emily Costello

  Extra Fun Activities illustrations copyright © 2005 by Jody Wheeler

  Delacorte Press is a registered trademark and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

  Visit us on the Web! randomhouse.com/kids

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeachersLibrarians.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

  eBook ISBN 978-0-385-37676-1

  Trade paperback ISBN 978-0-385-73695-4

  Library binding ISBN 978-0-385-90637-1

  Paperback ISBN 978-0-375-84548-2

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  v3.1

  For Fritz,

  who loved to greet

  all the ghosts and goblins

  Contents

  Cover

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  First Page

  Extra Fun Activities

  About the Authors

  My name is Nate the Great.

  I am a detective.

  Tonight I got into trouble.

  Tonight I was locked in a haunted house

  with my dog, Sludge.

  I was in big trouble.

  There were no pancakes there.

  I was on a case.

  A Halloween case.

  It started about an hour ago.

  My dog, Sludge, and I were

  looking out our window.

  We were waiting for witches and clowns

  and Draculas and princesses

  to ring our doorbell.

  Suddenly I heard a scratch at the door.

  A loud scratch.

  I went to the door

  and opened it.

  Someone was standing there

  in a long dress, a bonnet, and shawl.

  It was Little Red Riding Hood’s

  grandmother,

  carrying a Trick or Treat bag

  in her big teeth.

  His big teeth.

  The grandmother was Annie’s dog,

  Fang.

  I, Nate the Great, did not think

  that Halloween was a scary holiday.

  Until now.

  “Where is Annie?” I asked him.

  “Does she know you’re out alone

  on Halloween?”

  I did not wait for an answer.

  I dropped some treats into Fang’s bag.

  He wagged his tail and

  went down the walk.

  I closed the door behind him.

  Sludge crawled out from under a chair.

  I said to him,

  “Be brave on Halloween.

  We do not believe in

  ghosts and goblins.

  Or grandmothers with big teeth.”

  Sludge went back to the window.

  The doorbell rang.

  I opened the door.

  Annie and Rosamond were outside.

  They were both dressed as

  Little Red Riding Hood.

  And they were each carrying a basket

  covered with a red cloth.

  “Your grandmother was just here,”

  I said to both of them.

  “I know it,” Annie said.

  “This is Fang’s first year

  out alone on Halloween.”

  “I put some treats in his bag,” I said.

  “And now I’ll give you some

  for your baskets.”

  “My basket is already heavy

  with treats,” Rosamond said.

  “I can’t carry any more.”

  “Mine isn’t full yet,” Annie said.

  She lifted the napkin from her basket,

  and I dropped some treats inside.

  “I am finished with Trick or Treating,”

  Rosamond said.

  “I came here to ask

  for your help.”

  “What kind of help?”

  “One of my cats, Little Hex,

  is missing,” Rosamond said.

  “He hates Halloween.

  Every year he tries to hide.

  But this year I can’t find him.”

  “Where are your other three cats?”

  I asked.

  “Perhaps Little Hex is with them.”

  “Oh no,” Rosamond said.

  “Every Halloween

  Super Hex, Big Hex, and Plain Hex

  go to the old haunted house

  on the next street and help to haunt it.

  But Little Hex is too scared,

  so he hides.”

  “Wait until tomorrow,” I said.

  “Halloween will be over,

  and Little Hex will come out

  of his hiding place.”

  “But he might be really lost,”

  Rosamond said.

  “I’m so worried

  I can’t eat any of my treats.

  Please help me.”

  “Very well. I, Nate the Great,

  will take your case.

  Tell me, when was the last time

  you saw Little Hex?”

  “He was following Annie and me,”

  Rosamond said.

  “Where did you go tonight?” I asked.

  “First I put on my costume,”

  Rosamond said, “and then I went to

  Annie’s house.

  Little Hex followed me there.”
r />   “And then what?”

  “Annie finished dressing up Fang.

  She sent him on his way.

  Then Annie and I went to

  Claude’s house. He gave us some

  cookies.

  We put them in our baskets.

  Next we went to Esmeralda’s house.

  She gave us her special

  Halloween biscuits.”

  “Was Little Hex still following you?”

  “Yes,” Rosamond said.

  “Then Esmeralda asked Annie and me

  to help her get into her gorilla costume.

  So Annie and I stepped into her house.

  And Little Hex did too.

  Annie and I helped

  Esmeralda become a gorilla.

  The three of us started

  to leave Esmeralda’s house.

  That’s when I noticed

  that Little Hex was gone.”

  “Then he’s probably still

  in Esmeralda’s house,” I said.

  “No, we looked everywhere

  in her house,” Annie said.

  “Was Esmeralda’s door open or closed

  while you were helping her

  with her costume?” I asked.

  “Open,” Annie said.

  “So Little Hex probably

  escaped outside,” I said.

  “It is hard to find

  a small black cat in the dark.

  But I will go out and hunt for him.”

  “Oh, thank you,” Rosamond said.

  “I will go home and wait

  for you to bring him back.”

  Rosamond and Annie left.

  I wrote a note to my mother.

  I got a flashlight.

  Sludge and I went out into the night.

  I saw two pirates ahead of us.

  “Excuse me,” I said, “have you

  seen Rosamond’s cat, Little Hex?”

  The pirates turned around.

  They were Finley and Pip.

  “We have just started

  on our rounds,” Finley said.

  “And all we’ve seen

  are a dancing artichoke and a robot.”

  Sludge and I walked

  up and down the street.

  We saw more pirates.

  And monsters and kings

  and artichokes.

  But we did not see Little Hex.

  Where could he be?

  “What would a scared cat do

  on Halloween?” I asked Sludge.

  Then I had an idea.

  Perhaps Little Hex wasn’t scared

  anymore.

  Perhaps I should be looking

  for a brave cat

  and not a scared one.

  “Perhaps this year

  Little Hex is learning how to haunt,”

  I said to Sludge.

  “I, Nate the Great,

  don’t believe in haunted houses.

  But we must go to that old house

  and hunt for Little Hex.”

  Sludge did not look happy.

  But we walked to the old house.

  It looked haunted.

  It looked like every ghost

  who had ever haunted anything

  was haunting this house

  on this night.

  Sludge and I crept up the front steps.

  They creaked.

  I knew they would.

  I knocked on the door.

  It creaked.

  I knew it would.

  I opened the door.

  It squeaked.

  I knew it would.

  I stepped into the house.

  Sludge slunk in.

  I called out,

  “Super Hex, Big Hex, Plain Hex,

  Little Hex, any Hex, are you here?

  You have one minute to show your

  faces. Then Sludge and I are leaving.”

  I started to count the seconds.

  “One, two, three, four …”

  SLAM!

  The door shut behind us.

  I tried to open it.

  It was stuck.

  “There must be another door,”

  I said to Sludge.

  I flashed my flashlight around.

  I saw cobwebs, and old furniture

  draped with white sheets.

  I heard clinking and clanking

  and shrieking.

  “Is that you, cats?” I shouted.

  I saw three pairs of eyes

  glowing at me in the dark.

  Cats’ eyes.

  They belonged to Super Hex, Big Hex

  and Plain Hex.

  Then they disappeared.

  I flashed my flashlight

  all over the house.

  The three cats were gone.

  But how did they get out of the house?

  How could Sludge and I get out?

  I heard more clinks and clanks

  and shrieks.

  The cats had left,

  so what was making

  those ghostly noises?

  I, Nate the Great,

  now believed in haunted houses.

  We had to get out of here!

  I found another door.

  It was locked.

  I tried windows.

  They were locked.

  “There must be a way out,” I thought.

  “The cats got in and got out.”

  I kept looking.

  And then, in front of me

  I saw a ghost!

  I don’t believe in ghosts,

  so how could I see one?

  But it was creeping toward me

  dressed in a white sheet.

  And suddenly I knew

  I had solved the case.

  Little Hex must be under that sheet,

  learning how to haunt.

  I lifted the sheet.

  Sludge was huddled under it.

  He was hiding.

  I unwrapped him.

  He led me to another room.

  He found a hole.

  It was small.

  But he dug in it, making it bigger.

  It was big enough for us to crawl into.

  It led to the outside.

  We were free.

  “Good work, Sludge,” I said.

  We walked down the street,

  away from the house.

  We were happy to do that.

  “Little Hex was not

  in the haunted house,” I said.

  “We are back to looking

  for a scared cat.”

  Did I have any clues?

  Pancakes help me think.

  Bones help Sludge think.

  We went home.

  We ate.

  I thought back.

  The last time Rosamond saw Little Hex

  was when he followed her into

  Esmeralda’s house.

  Then he was gone.

  Esmeralda and Annie and Rosamond

  had searched Esmeralda’s house.

  But they could not find Little Hex.

  So he must have gone out

  into the night.

  Alone.

  But why would he do that

  when he was scared of Halloween?

  Sludge was scared of Halloween, too.

  He had hidden under a chair

  in my house and under a sheet

  in the haunted house.

  Perhaps Little Hex was hiding

  under something.

  But where?

  “We must go where Little Hex

  was last seen,” I said.

  Sludge and I went

  to Esmeralda’s house.

  She was there,

  eating from her bag of treats.

  “I am looking for Little Hex,” I said.

  “He isn’t here,” Esmeralda said.

  “Rosamond and Annie and I looked all

  over this house.

  Want some of my trea
ts?

  My bag got too heavy to carry

  around.”

  I stared at Esmeralda’s treats.

  Suddenly I remembered something.

  I remembered lots of things.

  I remembered clues.

  “I have no time for treats,” I said.

  “I must go to Rosamond’s house

  right away.”

  Sludge and I rushed

  to Rosamond’s house.

  She was lying on a sofa.

  She was still wearing her

  Little Red Riding Hood costume.

  She looked strange in it.

  Rosamond looked strange in everything.

  “I was just at Esmeralda’s house,”

  I said. “She was eating

  some of her treats.”

  “I’m still not hungry,” Rosamond said,

  pointing to her covered basket

  on a table. “I’m too sad to eat.”

  “I think I know where Little Hex is,”

  I said.

  “Where? Where is he?”

  Rosamond clutched her red cloak.

  I, Nate the Great,

  walked over to Rosamond’s basket.

  I lifted up the red cloth that

  was on top of it.

  And there was Little Hex,

  fast asleep in the basket!

  “It’s Little Hex!” Rosamond cried.

  “Yes,” I said. “I, Nate the Great,

  say that you’ve been carrying him

  around ever since you left

  Esmeralda’s house.”

  “I have?”

  “Yes. He must have crawled

  into your basket at Esmeralda’s house

  while you and Annie were busy

  helping Esmeralda become a gorilla.”

  “But how could he fit inside?”

  Rosamond asked.

  “Where are the treats I collected?”

  “There are a few left in the basket,”

  I said. “Little Hex probably ate

  most of them

  and took their place

  under the napkin

  and hid there.

  Sludge hid under a chair