The $20 bill under Bucky's pillow started vibrating. Not a lot — just enough to make the pillow hum like a phone on silent. Across the room, the two notebooks on the desk began to glow.
Bucky's notebook glowed orange. Peanut's glowed a soft silver-gray.
Then the pages flipped open by themselves.
The first one out was the Zombie. He didn't climb out — he FELL out, face first onto the carpet. He stood up, looked around with his big googly eyes, sniffed the air, and immediately walked straight into the bedroom door.
"What was that?!" Bucky sat up in bed.
"BUCKY! Your zombie is trying to eat the door handle!" Peanut whispered from his bed.
By 3:15 AM, all nine characters were out of the notebooks and wandering around the house. This was a problem.
The Zombie had found the kitchen. He opened the fridge, stared at a block of cheese for thirty seconds, then tried to bite a jar of pickles. The jar didn't open. The Zombie didn't care. He just kept trying.
Banana Boy had an even bigger problem. He tried to run across the kitchen tile, slipped on his own peel, and slid straight into the recycling bin.
"Banana Boy! You okay in there?!"
A small yellow thumbs-up rose from inside the bin.
Meanwhile, the Balloon Explorer had floated up. Way up. His balloon caught the living room ceiling fan and he started spinning in slow, confused circles.
"Hang on, Balloon Guy! I'll turn it off!"
Bucky ran to the wall switch. But the Two-Headed Zombie got there first. The big head looked at the switch. The small head looked at Bucky. The big head flipped the switch the WRONG way. The fan went to maximum speed.
The Balloon Explorer went zooming around the ceiling fan like a carnival ride, yelling something that sounded like "WHEEEEE" but also "PLEASE STOP."
Peanut finally unplugged the fan. The Balloon Explorer drifted gently down onto the couch, dizzy but smiling.
Bucky and Peanut sat on the couch. All nine characters gathered around them — the Zombie still holding the pickle jar, Banana Boy with a cereal box stuck to his head, the Balloon Explorer floating slightly sideways.
"Okay. We need RULES."
"Rule number one: everyone goes back in the notebooks before Mom and Dad wake up."
All nine characters nodded.
The Zombie took one more bite of the pickle jar. It still didn't open.
"Rule number two: this is the best thing that's ever happened."
Peanut grinned. "Agreed."
And somewhere under Bucky's pillow, the $20 bill glowed a little brighter.