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instead of a black skirt.But it was still all black, all the time. Megan wasn’t convinced Happy was a fashion expert.
    Mr. Jones was drooling blood. Wet, soggy bloodstains covered the front of his shirt. Megan hoped it was his blood. If he’d snacked on someone else’s brains, she was outta there, contagious or not. Megan shivered.
    â€œIt’s okay,” Sam told her. “Mr. Jones is very nice. You should go see him. He likes to meet new students.”
    Megan didn’t feel comforted. She wrapped her arms around her bent knees and shivered again. “‘Did you say ‘meet’ or ‘eat’ new students?” Megan asked Sam.
    Sam laughed. “Stop worrying. Mr. Jones doesn’t eat kids. Go see him. He lives behind the school. There are signs pointing the way.”
    Megan said she’d think about it. Then she wrote a reminder down in her notebook so she wouldn’t forget.
    â€œI have called you all together for a reason,” the owner of the castle said loudly. Mr. Jones paused a long minute to let the zombies get out their groans. When the room settled, he went on. “As you know,our researchers here at the ZA California Castle have discovered a cure for zombitus.”
    The room erupted in thin applause. Megan clapped louder than anyone.
    â€œI know you are eagerly anticipating the cure.” He wiped at his mouth with a white handkerchief, smearing blood across his chin.
    To calm her nerves, Megan told herself that he’d probably been eating strawberry Jell-O in the hallway and focused on the fact that she was about to find out the one thing she really wanted to know. With excited anticipation, Megan leaned forward.
    â€œI have waited many years, centuries even, for this day,” Mr. Jones said. His voice had a slight tinge of a European accent. As if he’d lived in California a very long time, but had originally come from somewhere else.
    Mr. Jones scanned the crowd and took a deep breath before casting his eyes downward. “I regret to inform you that last night our lab was broken into.” He paused for another round of moans. “The cure was stolen.”

Megan was devastated. “But, but, but …” She couldn’t wrap her brain around the idea that she wasn’t going to be home in a few days. A big tear rolled down her cheek.
    â€œDon’t get too emotional,” Happy warned. “Remember what Nurse Karen said?”
    Megan actually did remember. “Zombitus gets worse if you get mad or angry.”
    â€œOr sad or scared,” Happy added. “Or feel too happy.”
    â€œRight.” Megan sniffed back her tears.
    Happy handed Megan a black handkerchief. “This is just like last time.”
    â€œExactly,” Sam said as they walked together to science class.
    Megan wiped her eyes and asked, “Last time? What do you mean?”
    â€œSince I’ve been here, it’s the third time this has happened,” Sam said.
    Happy said, “Someone doesn’t want us to be cured.”
    â€œWhoever it was took all the notes, fried the computers, and trashed the lab.” Sam repeated what Mr. Jones had told them in the meeting. “The doctors will have to start again.”
    Megan blinked back more tears. “Can’t they remember what they did?”
    â€œThey all have zombitus, too. Their memories are fuzzy,” Happy said as she pressed the button for the glass elevator. The science lab was on the third floor. “No one can remember all the steps to make the cure.”
    â€œDon’t they have ZA notebooks?” Megan held up the one Nurse Karen had given her. It simply wasn’t possible that the cure was gone.
    â€œYou heard Mr. Jones. They were stolen,” Sam said, shaking his head. “They’re going to have to start all over again.” He frowned. “From the very beginning.”
    â€œBut they’ll find another cure?” Megan asked,