The Machu Picchu Mystery: Monstacademy, #4

By Matt Beighton

The fourth and most spooky Monstacademy mystery.

The mountains are full of secrets...

Trixie, Gloria and Colin are off on a trip to Peru to study ancient monsters. When they arrive and find that the children of the local school for monsters are disappearing, it becomes a race against time. Has a dark secret that's been trapped in the mountains come back to haunt them all? Has an ancient Inca curse been released? Or is it somebody much closer to home?

The Machu Picchu Mystery is perhaps the spookiest Monstacademy mystery yet. With Trixie and her friends on the case, whatever evil is at large has a fight on its hands!

Can they find the missing monsters and solve the Machu Picchu Mystery? There's only one way to find out...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Green Monkey Press
• Release date: Dec 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393598893

Matt Beighton

Matt Beighton is a full-time writer, born somewhere in the midlands in England during the heady days of the 1980s. He is happily married with two young daughters who keep him very busy and suffer through the endless early drafts of his stories. Matt’s books have been read around the world and awarded the LoveReading4Kids “Indie Books We Love” and Readers’ Favorite 5 Star Awards. Having spent many years as a primary-school teacher, Matt Beighton knows how to bring stories to life. He regularly visits schools and runs creative workshops that ignite a passion for words. If you have enjoyed reading this book, please leave a review online. Your words really do keep authors going! To find out more or to join the mailing list, visit his website.

Book preview

For Phoebe and Willow.

THE MACHU PICCHU MYSTERY

Copyright © Matt Beighton 2020

Matt Beighton has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced, lent, hired, circulated or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author.

Also available in paperback

ISBN (Standard Edition): 978-1-9161360-6-9

ISBN (Dyslexia Friendly): 978-1-9161360-7-6

www.mattbeighton.co.uk

www.monstacademy.com

Chapter-Header

Bump In The Night

Somewhere deep in the mountains of Peru, a long shadow slipped out of a cave and into the night. It flowed like water between the crumbled walls of the ancient citadel of Machu Picchu. In the dead of night, it was just one more patch of darkness. But it seemed deeper than the others. It was as if the night itself was casting a shadow.

Hidden away in another cave, a group of young monsters settled down (or up – vampires need somewhere to hang as well) for the night. The soft whistles of dozens of creatures of various shapes and sizes snoring soon drifted out of the open windows.

Something went bump in the night.

What was that? shouted a young boy. He was hairier than most boys his age and looked bedraggled and tired.

It’s just a parrot, a young girl replied, not even bothering to look at the panicked boy. She had the appearance of a resigned mother hen. Her pale skin was already starting to redden in the Peruvian sun. The young monsters of Monroe’s Academy for the Different were just arriving at the foot of Machu Picchu Mountain in the heart of Peru.

That’s definitely the last time I ride a broomstick! a different girl said to the boy.

You and me both, he said. Gloria, why aren’t you feeling as sick as the rest of us? He looked angrily at the pale girl who was sporting a wide grin.

Honestly, you two make me despair. Trixie, you’ve been at Monstacademy for two years now, and you’re still useless on a broomstick.

Trixie Grimble felt her own face turning red. Gloria was right. It had been nearly two years since she’d first learnt that her old school was closing and she was going to have to get used to going to school with the hideous monsters of Monstacademy. In the end, other than a few bad apples trying to take over the world or control people’s minds or have the entire school shut down, it hadn’t been that bad. Gloria and the hairy boy, Colin, had become her immediate friends.

And Colin Curlyton, Gloria continued unabashed, you have been a monster for far too long to still feel sick when you ride a broomstick.

It’s not my fault, he whined. I prefer to chase sticks, not ride on them.

Colin was a werewolf...sort of. Trixie had been delighted to find out that he was cursed, and every full moon he would turn into a pink poodle. It didn’t make him very popular with the other werewolves. He’d been most upset to find out that he didn’t qualify for the local branch of the Lycanthrope Hunting Club.

It’s always been my dream to join the LHC, he’d said immediately after opening the rejection letter. He hadn’t appreciated Trixie and Gloria falling about laughing at the thought.

Gloria was equally outcast from her own kind. As a vegetarian vampire who preferred parsnips to punctures, she fit in perfectly with Trixie, the girl with no monster genes whatsoever. Gloria was so healthy from her diet of vegetables, she sometimes had to use face paint to keep herself looking suitably pale.

Children, gather round please. Miss Brimstone was the deputy-headmistress of Monstacademy, a banshee, and the organiser of the trip. Their aim was to integrate into a different community and learn all about monsters from the past. She had reminded them endlessly of it on the long flight over. Apparently, they were going to be taking part in lessons, learning the local customs and, hopefully, not making too much of a nuisance of themselves. We don’t want to lose anybody. There are few enough of you to begin with.

Miss Brimstone wasn’t wrong. Trixie had thought there would be dozens of children eager to see the other side of the world. Instead, it had ended up being the three of them, plus a couple of first-years who Trixie didn’t recognise. At least, she didn’t have to put up with Heston Gobswaddle. We’re only here for a few days, so let’s make the most of it, she finished.

When Colin had first told Trixie that he’d signed them up for a field