The trip was a quick one. Paul and Emily barely had time to talk to each other. The flying sleigh, pulled by the reindeer Comet, sped over Madison (Wisconsin’s capital) in a blur. Three blinks of an eye later, the Super Spies landed in the town of Elkhorn. It was located in the southeastern corner of the state.
With a population of about 9,000 people, Elkhorn was fairly small. However, it was packed with beautiful homes, stores and restaurants. It was also surrounded by plenty of open space—trees, fields and lakes. Emily much preferred it to some of the big, busy cities she had visited.
As Santa, Paul and Emily climbed out of the sleigh, a tall man greeted them. His grayish blonde hair glimmered in the moonlight, as he shook Santa’s hand.
“It’s good to see you, old friend,” said the stranger wearing a blue and black costume. He looked like a cross between a man at a wedding and the star of an alien movie.
“Ho! Ho! Ho!” exclaimed Santa. “It’s nice to see you too.” He pointed toward the children. “These are my best Super Spies, Paul and Emily.”
“A pleasure to meet you,” replied the man.
Next, Santa motioned toward him. “Paul and Emily, this is Leeland Vance. He’s a special agent of the government’s Monster Division.”
Paul gasped. “Monster Division? Cool!”
“Indeed, it is,” said Agent Vance, proudly. “And if you’re Santa’s top spies, I’m sure we’ll see you in the Monster Division some day, too.”
“That would be awesome,” declared Paul.
Santa laughed his jolly laugh once more. Then he said, “Now that we’ve gotten to know each other, please tell us how we can help.”
“The children are too young to remember our first werewolf,” said Agent Vance. “It stalked this part of Wisconsin in the late 1980s. It was called the Bray Road Beast.”
Emily shrugged. “I’ve never heard of it.”
“Me neither,” added Paul.
“It doesn’t matter. The Monster Division took care of that situation. But a new werewolf is on the prowl. So far, my Monster Hunter robots have been unable to capture it.”
“And you’d like our help in doing so,” said Santa.
Agent Vance nodded. “I needn’t tell you the dangers that a werewolf poses. So the sooner we catch it, the better.”
Santa put his hands on the children’s shoulders and squeezed. “All right, Super Spies, we have a job to do.”
|
