What does vaporize mean?

Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow power, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and dying screech and a child of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me" (pg. 13).

What does hallucination mean?

"I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me" (pg. 16).

What does solstice mean?

"'But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline-' 'Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can" (pg. 19).

What does reek mean?

"When I was young, I nicknamed him Smelly Gabe. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts" (pg. 30).

What does lumber mean?

"If a seagull so much as pooped on his pain job, he'd find a way to blame me. Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain" (pg. 36).

What does holographic mean?

"Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into the light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply...gone" (pg. 53).

What does disintegrate mean?

"The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate-not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks in the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart" (pg. 55).