by Audu Paden
Clawdeen studied the painting. She pointed at a sour-faced vampire lurking in the corner. “Yeah! Looks like he hasn’t smiled in four hundred years.”
“Stoker wanted control over all other types of monsters. The whole court was divided,” explained Draculaura. She was really enjoying sharing her history. It was so much better than feeling frustrated watching that stupid movie with Veronica von Vamp that got everything wrong.
Robecca Steam brushed aside one of her dark curls. She was loving this adventure; it made her feel all warm and lit up inside. Besides, she had a deep connection to Transylvania, which she explained to the ghouls. “My father, Hexiciah Steam, arrived in Transylvania just before the ‘great split,’ when the more open-minded monsters emigrated to the Boo World.”
Draculaura nodded. This was why her family had gone to Monster High. “Stoker and my dad did not get along,” she gossiped. “You see, my dad’s very best fiend was Lord Stoker’s younger brother.”
“So what happened to him?” asked Robecca. “Did he head off on a mysterious expedition and no one has ever heard from him since… or something like that?”
Draculaura’s dark eyes widened with surprise. “Um, yeah. Exactly like that.”
“Wow, good guess,” said Clawdeen. She scratched at her ear with her just-manicured claws.
Robecca was looking out the window at the passing mountains. Something Draculaura had said reminded her of something—only she couldn’t remember what it was. “I feel like I know this story.”
Draculaura continued. “The one who disappeared? His only daughter was Elissabat, and she was put under her uncle Stoker’s authority. There was a big argument between Stoker and my dad about her future. Poor Elissabat.” Draculaura sighed. “She wanted to be an actress, but Stoker put his foot down. He said that she had to stay at the court as a vampire-in-waiting.”
“So your dad helped her?” said Cleo.
“He tried!” said Draculaura. “But then she disappeared. Just before we fled Transylvania.”
The brakes of the train screeched, the whistle blew, and the voice of a vampire conductor called out their impending arrival at Castle Dracool.
The girls peered out the window, eager for their first sight of the famous castle. From far away, in another car at the back of the train, came muffled screams and gasps of pain.
Something invisible was attacking Ygor in the baggage compartment. Zap! Zap! Zap! “Ouch!” screamed Ygor. He felt like he was being stuck with sharp pins, only he couldn’t see anything. The train jostled and again Ygor was zapped and stung. He fled the car, looking for his master.
A sarcophagus fell from the luggage rack as the train rounded a corner—and out popped Hoodude! He was a stowaway! He’d been zapping Ygor with his out-of-control powers. “Whoa!” he said, lumbering over to the window and taking in the scenery. “Glamorous vampire court, here I come!” He looked over his stitches to make sure he didn’t have any loose threads. He wanted to look sharp—even if he was patched together with rag-doll hair and button eyes.
With a final wheeze, the train lurched to a stop. More luggage tumbled out on Hoodude’s head. Crash. Zap! It was hard being a voodoo doll, that was for sure, but at least he was in Transylvania with the other ghouls.
Hoodude peeked out the window through the steam from the train and the fog and saw the ghouls standing on the platform with Lord Stoker and Ygor. Looming over the station was the imposing presence of Castle Dracool, with its turrets and drawbridges.
“Behold, Castle Dracool!” announced Lord Stoker grandly.
“Oooh!”
“Ahhh!”
“Magnificent!”
“It’s no pyramid,” said Cleo drily. The steam and the fog were making her hair frizz.
Clawdeen was impressed. “It looks just like the one in the Vampire Majesty boo-vies.”
Ygor’s face crumpled. “Ygor’s not allowed to see boo-vies,” he said sadly.
“A vulgar waste of time,” sneered Lord Stoker. He swirled his cape around him dramatically. “Blegh!”
Draculaura ignored old crankypants. She was too excited. “Ah! I haven’t been here in for-evs! Such memories! C’mon, ghouls! I’ll show you around!”
She linked arms with her friends and they all headed to the castle.
CHAPTER 6
DRESSED TO THRILL!
The wind was howling, the castle was creaking, and it was perfectly spookerific. The ghouls wanted to jump on every canopy bed and explore every secret passage. There were banquet halls and ballrooms, dressing rooms and cobweb-covered boudoirs.
Ygor followed the gaggle of ghouls. He was carrying their suitcases, traveling coffins, and mummy cases. With every step he took, he winced and moaned. It was like he was being stuck with needles again. What could it be? Inside a carry-on bag, Hoodude did his best to stay quiet.
“Oof,” he gasped when Ygor tripped. It wasn’t easy being a stowaway.
Draculaura wanted to visit the throne room first. Gold glinted from the sconces on the walls, from the candelabras, and from the throne itself at the very end of the room. Draculaura walked along the plush red carpet that led to the throne, picked up the bejeweled crown that rested on the seat, put it on her head, and sat down. She looked at her friends, trying to be as regal as possible. But it was no use. Even with a crown on her head in the vampire’s throne room, she still just felt like herself. She burst into giggles and her friends, relieved, joined in.
Draculaura took off the crown and jumped up. There was plenty of time to get serious about being queen. Now she wanted to have fun. She went over to the wall and began pulling on the sconces until she found the one that wiggled. With a quick twist, the entire wall began to move—and exposed a hidden staircase. The ghouls ran inside and the wall closed right behind them.
Up they climbed in the darkness until they emerged through a giant fireplace into the Royal Chambers. In the center of the room was a bed draped in satin and velvet. Beautiful carpets covered the floor. But Draculaura wasn’t interested in any of this.
She threw open the closet door to reveal a room bigger than most department stores, filled with dresses and shoes and hats and gowns. There were black corsets trimmed with silver braids and flounced silk skirts elaborate with ruffles. There were lace gloves and fishnet stockings embroidered with diamonds. If a fashion designer from the court of some old French king had gone to work at the most punked-out, ghoulish store at the Maul, this was what it might have looked like. Robecca picked up a blouse dripping with silver chains. Cleo admired a pair of black sandals with heels. Clawdeen wrapped herself in a fake-fur boa.
The girls giggled while they dressed themselves in finery.
But Draculaura was overwhelmed with feelings about being home. She went back into the bedchamber and looked out the window to the valley below. This was her kingdom now. Her. Kingdom. “Yay!” she said aloud. “Woo-hoo! I forgot how wonderful this castle is!”
“Amazing!” said Clawdeen, collapsing on the four-poster bed.
“So dark and dreary!” said Draculaura, joining her.
“I love it!” Robecca laughed breathlessly.
“Nice as far as castles go,” admitted Cleo, admiring herself in the enormous mirror.
A knock on the door announced Ygor. “Lord Stoker has sent Ygor to bring the new queen to his study to hear the rules.”
Draculaura bounced up from the bed. “Well, duty calls.”
“Later!” said Clawdeen.
Robecca wished her good luck.
Cleo waved good-bye. “Queen problems, am I right, ladies?” she said.
The girls settled into the luxurious pillows on the bed. They were happy for their friend. Not only was she going to be a fangtastic queen of the vampires—they were going to love being her ghouls-in-waiting!
CHAPTER 7
THE TRUTH BITES
Draculaura followed Ygor through the twisting hallways of the castle to Lord Stoker’s study.
“Wait in here, my qu
een,” he instructed her. “Do not touch anything! Master gets very grumpy.” He backed out of the room, bowing, but accidentally shut his hand into the door behind him as he was leaving. “Ah-ouch!” he wailed.
Draculaura looked around the book-filled room. She spun the globe. She picked up a skull and wondered whose it might have been. Bored, she sat down at Lord Stoker’s desk and rocked back and forth in the leather chair. She glanced at the papers scattered over his desk, but they looked boring and serious. Absentmindedly, she pulled open one of the desk drawers and right there, not even in its special box, was the Vampire’s Heart.
Draculaura gazed at it with wonder. This jewel had recognized her as queen. It really should be in a place of honor, she thought. She leaned over to touch it. She wanted to see that magical glow again that had revealed who she really was.
But nothing happened.
She placed both of her hands on it. But it didn’t glow. Curious, she took it out of the drawer and began examining it.
She didn’t notice the coffin leaning up against the wall slowly beginning to open. Lord Stoker, his arms crossed over his chest, was opening his heavy-lidded eyes. “What are you doing?” he shrieked in horror.
“Aaaahhhhhh!” yelped Draculaura, totes surprised. “You ever heard of knocking? So rude…”
Lord Stoker lurched across the room and snatched the Heart out of Draculaura’s hands. “What are you doing with that? You didn’t find anything else, did you?” He glared at her suspiciously.
“I… I… just touched the Heart,” said Draculaura. Why was Lord Stoker acting so paranoid? “But it didn’t light up. Vampire scaritage says it always glows when the true queen touches it. What gives?”
Lord Stoker twisted his red lips into a smile. “No need to worry your pretty little head. I just have to uh… uh… change the batteries and it… uh oh.” From the stunned expression on Draculaura’s face, he realized that he had revealed his secret.
“Batteries?!” gasped Draculaura. “Oh! My! Ghoul! It’s a fake!” She leaned back in the chair, overwhelmed. “Wait, that means I’m not queen?”
Lord Stoker gave a nervous chuckle.
Draculaura shook her head. This really was a nightmare. The bad kind. “The people need to be told,” she realized, as horrible as that would be. She could just imagine what Toralei and Gory would say when she went back to Monster High. She would have to tell her friends. She got up to go, but Lord Stoker whipped his cape across his face and transformed into a bat. He swooped toward the door, turned back into a vampire, and blocked her from leaving.
“I command you! Stop!” he shouted at her. “What the people need is a queen. And you are just the ghoul for the job.”
“Why me?” Draculaura asked. “Why not try to find the real queen?”
Lord Stoker studied the meek vampire girl in front of him. He had chosen well. “Because you will do as I say!” he ordered her. He drew himself up to full vampire height. “I will remain in charge, of course, and in return, you will live a life of luxury as the queen.”
Draculaura crumpled into a chair.
“Not a bad deal,” Lord Stoker said triumphantly.
“This isn’t right,” Draculaura said in a defeated voice.
Lord Stoker’s black eyes glinted with mischief and cruelty. “Dear Draculaura, aren’t you tired of monsters like—what was her name? Ah—that Gory picking on you? Don’t you want to matter? To go down in history as a famous, important vampire?” He paused for a moment, waiting to strike the final blow. “Don’t you want to finally get your vampire powers?”
“Well, yes I do, but—”
“Good!” said Lord Stoker. “Then you shall serve as my puppet. All you have to do is jump when I pull the strings.”
Thoughts were tumbling through Draculaura’s head. Surely she could convince Lord Stoker to let her use her power to make a difference? As queen she’d be able to help all kinds of monsters, wouldn’t she? Would that really be so bad? “What do you want me to do?”
“Your first order of business,” Lord Stoker said icily, “will be to stop the intermingling of vampires and other monsters.”
Draculaura gasped. This was against everything her father believed in.
“You and I will turn back the clock to a time when vampires ruled the world!” proclaimed Lord Stoker. “There will be strict rules to ensure that we return to our former glory as the most respected and feared monsters in the land. Do we have an agreement… my queen?”
At these words, Lord Stoker evaporated in a haze of black smoke and reappeared beside Draculaura’s chair. She screamed at the top of her lungs.
“I don’t think you have a choice,” he threatened.
Draculaura looked up at Lord Stoker’s sinister smile and burst into tears. She felt so completely helpless. Sobbing, she ran out of the room. She just had to get away from him.
Lord Stoker watched her flee and rubbed his hands together devilishly. Oh, this was all going just as he had planned!
CHAPTER 8
BAD SCARE DAY
And that’s reason number one hundred and four why pyramids are superior to castles. Reason number one hundred and five—”
Clawdeen yawned, interrupting Cleo.
The ghouls had gone exploring to the kitchens to find snacks and were returning to the royal chambers when they heard sobbing. They flung open the door, but no one was there. The cries were coming from the closet.
Sitting on a pile of shoes and scarves was Draculaura.
At the sight of her friend so upset, Robecca felt like her heart might break.
“What’s wrong?” asked Clawdeen.
Draculaura wiped away her tears. “Nothing,” she tried to say. But it was no good. She couldn’t keep a secret from her beasties. She started sobbing again. “Except that I’m not the real queen!”
The ghouls looked at each other, confused.
“But… the Vampire’s Heart,” Robecca said. “At Monster High when you touched it, it glowed. You’re the queen.”
Draculaura heaved with sobs as she tried to explain. “Lord Stoker faked it!” she wailed. “The real one is gone. And Stoker chose me to be the queen because I’m just a nobody who will do whatever he says.”
Cleo noticed a pretty little dress in the closet. “You still get all of these clothes, though, right?” The other ghouls glared at her. “I mean, being a fake queen is still better than not being royal at all.”
Clawdeen sat down next to Draculaura. “Never thought I’d say this, but Cleo has a point: The vampires have been without a queen for a long time. You’d still be helping.”
“No!” wailed Draculaura. “He wants me to make vampires rule over all other monsters! We won’t be allowed to be friends with anyone but vampires.”
“That’s horrible!” said Clawdeen.
A thought occurred to Robecca. “Wait, if you’re not the queen, then who is?”
Draculaura’s mouth fell open. She hadn’t thought about that. She wiped her eyes on the hem of a nearby skirt. “Only the Vampire’s Heart knows, and it’s been missing for…” She stopped, realizing something. “Wait! Maybe this is how I can help! How I can finally do something important to make a difference to my people! If I find the Heart, I find the queen! And she can put a stop to Stoker!”
“Yes!”
“Fright on, ghoul!”
“As long as you get to keep some shoes,” said Cleo.
Draculaura’s plan lifted her mood. There was only one problem. “Though, uh, how am I going to do that?”
Robecca had been having such strange feelings since she’d arrived at the castle—a tingling feeling, a warm glow inside. She didn’t think it was just being with her friends. It was something else. “I have a strong feeling that there are clues here in the castle, but where?”
Draculaura knew at once. “Stoker’s study! He went batty when he thought I was going through his stuff. I’ll distract him while you all sneak in and search it.”
“Great idea!”
said Clawdeen, always ready for adventure. “Time to kick some bat!”
After a few minutes of hurried planning, Draculaura went searching for Lord Stoker. She bounced toward him in the hall with a mischievous smile on her face. “Hello, Stokey!” she chirped.
“It’s Lord Stoker, my… queen.” He sighed irritably. “Have you made your decision?”
“I have!” Draculaura was trying to be as simple as Lord Stoker thought she was. “I was hoping to go over some questions about the whole being queen part… thing.” She batted her eyelashes.
Lord Stoker rolled his eyes. He didn’t like having visitors in his castle. “Ask if you must, but make it quick. You have an appointment with important vampbassadors.”
“Oooh,” squealed Draculaura. “This won’t take… uh… too long.” She winked at Clawdeen, Robecca, and Cleo as they sneaked by.
Draculaura explained to Lord Stoker that she wanted to learn how to wave properly. She dragged him into the throne room, which was across the castle from his study. “Okay, just look,” she said, dragging out each word. “Should I wave with my left arm? Or with my right arm?”
Lord Stoker was impatient. “It does not matter.”
“Okay, okay!” bubbled Draculaura. “Then I’ll do right. How does that look?” She pranced up to the throne, practicing waves. “Now, do you want me to wave from the elbow or the wrist? Because I was thinking I could do a fun combination of jazz hands.…”
Lord Stoker threw up his hands in frustration. “Wave however you please! We have no time for this. I must present a queen to the vampbassadors. Let us go!”
Lord Stoker turned on his heel to exit the throne room.
“Okay,” drawled Draculaura with careful calculation. “I guess I don’t have to be that convincing of a queen for the vampbassadors. Who cares if they think I look fake?”
