Evan spun quickly away, climbed to his feet, and pulled the hamster down.
The two giants wrestled over the floor, surrounded by the shrill screams of teachers and kids.
Grow bigger! Grow bigger—now! Evan pleaded.
But it was too late, he saw.
The hamster lowered its hot, furry body over him. Evan could feel the creature’s booming heartbeat as it pressed him to the floor.
Then its teeth rose up over Evan’s head.
The hamster’s mouth opened wide.
The teeth swung down.
A wave of hot, sour hamster breath blew down over Evan.
He shut his eyes.
“Sorry,” he murmured to Andy.
He held his breath and waited for the teeth to clamp down.
Evan heard a pop, like the sound of a cork flying off a bottle.
Still sprawled on his back on the floor, Evan opened his eyes.
“Huh?” Cuddles had disappeared. Vanished.
Evan stared up at the startled faces of kids and teachers against the wall. “Wh-where’s Cuddles?” he stammered.
Andy stood frozen like a statue, her mouth open.
Evan slowly realized that she was nearly as big as he was. In fact, everyone was about his size.
He pulled himself up to a sitting position. “Hey—I’m back to my normal size!” he cried. He shook his head hard as if trying to shake away his close call with the giant hamster.
“There’s Cuddles!” Andy cried, pointing.
Evan turned to see Cuddles huddled against the wall. “He’s a little hamster again!” Evan exclaimed happily. He took three quick steps, bent down, and grabbed Cuddles between his hands. “Gotcha!”
Holding the hamster in front of him, he turned back to Andy and the others. “What happened? Why did we shrink back?”
Andy was studying the blue Monster Blood can. Suddenly she tossed back her dark hair, her brown eyes lit up, and she started to laugh. “It’s the expiration date!” she cried happily. “The expiration date on the can—it’s today! The Monster Blood stops working today! The magic has worn out!”
Evan let out a whoop of joy.
Mr. Murphy, a wide grin on his round face, hurried over and put his arm around Evan’s shoulders. “Fine job, Evan! Fine job!” he exclaimed. “You saved the school. I’m proud of you!”
“Thanks, Mr. Murphy,” Evan replied awkwardly.
“You’ll never make a basketball player now that you’re short again,” Mr. Murphy said, smiling. “But that was quite a good match with Cuddles. Have you ever thought of trying out for the wrestling team?”
* * *
Andy came to Evan’s house for dinner that night. He greeted her at the door, eager to tell her how all the kids had apologized for not believing him about the Monster Blood.
But before he could say anything, she held up a large brown envelope and grinned at him.
“What’s that?” he asked, following her into the living room.
“It’s a present my parents sent me from Europe,” she replied, her grin growing wider. “You won’t believe what it is.”
She started to pull open the envelope. But the front doorbell rang.
Evan hurried to see who it was.
“Mr. Murphy!” he cried in surprise.
“Hi, Evan,” the teacher said, his round body nearly filling the entire front stoop. “Hope I’m not interrupting your dinner.”
“No,” Evan replied. “Want to come in?”
“No thanks,” Mr. Murphy replied. His expression turned solemn. “I came by because I thought you should have some sort of reward, Evan. You were a real hero at school today.”
“Aw, not really,” Evan said awkwardly. He could feel his face growing hot and knew he was blushing.
