“Beware of DogZzzzz?” Cody sneered. “We already know you’re weird. Now you show us you can’t spell, either?”
Elliot crossed his arms. “No, the sign is written—”
“Hahahahaha!”
Cody’s laugh cut across Eliot’s explanation, trampling it into the fallen leaves covering the yard.
Eliot tried again. “I was just—”
The next laugh was even louder. Cody’s hangers on joined in and pointed.
“What, is, that?”
“Fang.”
Fang cocked his head at the sound of his name. That motion pulled his ghost costume to the left, so the eye holes were over his nose and cheek. He jerked his little ghost head from side to side, trying to see.
“You think a dog that small is going to scare us off?”
Cody picked up a rock.
“No,” Eliot said. “Fang’s small. Fang’s silly. But then, Fang’s just a puppy.”
Suddenly, a deep growl set the Jack-o’-lantern on the porch wobbling. It came from everywhere, like the whole night, and the whole yard, was growling at them.
“Wh-what was that?” Cody managed.
“Fang’s dad.”
The rest of the neighborhood thought the kids who ran past screaming were just Halloween fun. So did Fang.