Free 41 - Bad Hare Day by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead) Page A

puppet?
    “This can’t be the guy you saw,” Foz insisted, poking at the dummy. “This is
probably just a dummy he keeps around for fun. The real Amaz-O has got to be
around here somewhere.”
    Rabbit Ginny squirmed angrily in my arms. “Calm down,” I ordered, trying to
pet her.
    She growled. I’ve never heard of a rabbit growling before. Only a
Ginny-rabbit would growl.
    Amaz-O, my idol, I thought bitterly. What a fake he turned out to be. Not only was he a jerk to me—he’s not even a real
person! He’s a puppet!
    “What are we going to do?” Foz asked.
    I shook my head. I had no idea. “Now I’ll never get Ginny changed back into a
girl,” I said. “Mom and Dad are going to murder me.”
    “Why don’t you tell them she ran away?” Foz suggested. “They’ll never believe
you turned her into a rabbit, anyway.”
    “Why would she run away?” I demanded. “She was their little darling. She
could do no wrong. I’m the one who should run away.”
    Foz lifted the Amaz-O puppet’s head, studying it. “I wonder how this thing
works….” he said.
    A low voice suddenly growled, “Hey, punk—I told you to beat it!”
    I froze. “Did you say something, Foz?” I asked.
    He shook his head, eyes wide. He’d heard the voice, too.
    “So beat it! Get out of here!” the voice growled.
    I glanced around the room. I didn’t see anyone.
    “Did the puppet talk?” I asked Foz.
    “I—I don’t think so,” he stammered. “The voice came from the other side of
the room.”
    “The puppet didn’t talk, dummy,” the voice grumbled. I turned to find it. I
gazed across the room. Amaz-O’s white rabbit sat on a chair in front of the
dressing table.
    “I told you to get lost. Now get lost!” the rabbit growled.
    “Tim—did—did you see that?” Foz stammered. “I think that rabbit talked.”
    “Of course I talked, stupid,” the rabbit snarled.
    “You talked?” I echoed in amazement.
    “I guess that thing on the couch isn’t the only dummy in this room,” the
rabbit snapped. “I can do lots of things. I’m a magician.”
    Foz and I stared at the rabbit, stunned. Even Ginny stopped squirming in my
arms.
    “You’re not a magician,” Foz said. “You’re a rabbit.”
    The rabbit’s ears twisted. “Duh. You guys are really quick. You know that?”
    “You don’t have to be so mean,” I protested.
    “You don’t have to be so stupid,” the rabbit replied. “I may look like a rabbit. But so does your little sister. Am I right?”
    “He’s got a point,” Foz admitted.
    “I am the great Amaz-O,” the rabbit announced. “In person. That dummy on the
couch is a puppet I had built to look like me—the old me.”
    My jaw fell open. “You’re Amaz-O? What happened to you?”
    The rabbit sighed. “It’s a long story. Let’s just say I had a rival—a real
powerful one. A sorcerer, actually.”
    Foz gasped. “A sorcerer? Do they really exist?”
    “I’m telling you about one, aren’t I?” the rabbit shouted.
    “Yes, but—”
    “So be quiet and listen to the story,” Amaz-O, the rabbit, grumbled. “If
you’d stop talking you might learn something.”
    Amaz-O sure was a grouch.
    “Anyway, long story short,” Amaz-O went on. “This sorcerer guy—Frank—”
    “A sorcerer named Frank?” I cut in. I didn’t mean to interrupt. It just
slipped out.
    The rabbit glared at me. “Yes, a sorcerer named Frank. You got a
problem with that?”
    I shook my head.
    “Can I finish talking now? You got any more stupid questions?”
    Foz and I both shook our heads.
    “This guy’s named Foz—” Amaz-O gestured toward Foz “—and you want to make
fun of a guy named Frank.”
    “I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to make fun of Frank.”
    “He’s a very powerful guy,” Amaz-O said. “I’m proof of that.”
    The rabbit hopped out of the chair, crossed the dressing room, and sat on the
couch next to the dummy.
    “Here’s what happened,” he began. “I was at the