by Audu Paden
The gargoyle leaped to attention.
“That’s de Nile as in the de Niles,” continued Cleo haughtily. “One call to my father and I’ll have you transferred to the night shift in Frightberia for the next one hundred years… if you don’t open that gate this instant!”
“Um, y-yes, ma’am, I mean… uh… Miss de Nile!” stuttered the gargoyle. “Right away… here you go!”
Honey Swamp nodded. “I am impressed.”
“Yeah, being a diva is, like, Cleo’s superpower,” whispered Draculaura.
The movie studio was bustling with showbiz star power. Actors hurried past with scripts in their hands. Crews were carrying scenery and costumes. Directors were shouting orders.
“Okay, ghouls, it’s a big lot,” said Clawdia. “Let’s try to find Veronica fast before—”
“Anybody realizes we don’t belong here?” finished Honey Swamp.
“Exactly,” said Clawdia.
It was as if they could sense Ygor lurking just behind the gate, frantically putting in a call to Lord Stoker on his brand-new iCoffin.
Lord Stoker’s voice was loud and furious. “Hauntlywood? Why would the Heart be in that den of mediocrity? No decent vampire would dare take it to such a place.”
As usual, Ygor was out of breath. “I heard...the...Vampire Majesty movie...is claw-some! I would really like to see my first boo-vie if you would—”
“I will fly out immediately,” came the answer on the other end of the phone. “Then we will bring Draculaura back to be my puppet queen, and I shall remain in charge forever.”
Meanwhile, the ghouls were starstruck. The famous director Scare-antino was hurrying down an alley, framing shots with his fingers. He was wearing an old-fashioned black suit with a bow tie. Out of his back stuck a mechanical wind-up key.
“O-M-Ghoul!” shrieked Clawdia.
Just then, Viperine Gorgon, her snake hair flying backward as she ran in the other direction, collided with Scare-antino.
“Watch out!” yelled Draculaura, a moment too late.
Viperine’s makeup kit went flying and Scare-antino’s wind-up key skipped a gear and popped out. With a twitch, he started winding down. He moaned dramatically as he collapsed.
“Oh, Mr. Scare-antino! I wasn’t looking,” apologized Viperine. She grabbed the wind-up key and stuck it back into place.
“Gear me, I’m fading to black,” he said with his last breath.
“Let me wind that for you.” With a few quick twists from Viperine, Scare-antino was recharged and on the go again at top speed.
“Opening shot! Zombies to the left! Zombies to the right! Cue the music! Enter the hero! But who? Hmmm, gotta dig up some old star and resurrect his career! Note to self, pack a shovel!” He disappeared, talking a mile a minute.
Viperine began collecting her brushes and bottles from the sidewalk. “Oh no, I can’t be late again.” She sighed. “I’ll get fired from the boo-vie for sure!”
All at once, helping hands and paws surrounded her.
“I got your scare-spray right here,” said Honey. The other ghouls collected lipsticks and mascara wands.
“Thank you so much! I am Viperine. I owe you guys big-time!”
Viperine hugged Draculaura and hurried off with her makeup kit. The ghouls all had the same thought—maybe she could help them find Veronica von Vamp!
CHAPTER 16
TEAM ALUCARD VERSUS TEAM EDWEIRD
The tables in the Creepateria at Monster High had been rearranged to look like a courtroom. Toralei and Howleen sat at opposite sides, and each held in her hands a glossy photo of her vampire hottie. Ghoulia was serving as court stenographer with her laptop. Manny Taur, as the bailiff, instructed everyone to rise as the Honorable Judge Twyla, her shadowy figure cloaked in robes, entered the room.
Twyla sat down and banged her gavel.
“Cute Court is now in session,” announced Spectra. “Each side will make a case for her hunk.”
Howleen jumped up. “Your Honor, Alucard’s adorable face and great smile make him clearly the cuter monster.” She sat down, satisfied with her argument.
Toralei scoffed. “If you want a purrrfect face, you just have to look at Edweird. Pale skin. Blue eyes.”
“Objection!” snarled Howleen. “The boo-vie is black and white. You don’t know what color his eyes are.”
“And you wouldn’t know cute if it bit you on the neck!” hissed Toralei.
The court erupted into squabbling.
“Alucard is the cute one!”
“Alucard has an overbite!”
“Edweird is hideous… although normally I like that in a boy!”
Twyla banged her gavel. “Order! Order!”
The boys couldn’t figure out what the fuss was about.
“I still say they look the same,” muttered Gil.
“Can’t tell the dudes apart,” agreed Clawd.
“Yeah. Dudes,” added Deuce. He was almost tempted to take off his shades and turn both Toralei and Howleen into stone.
CHAPTER 17
SCREAMS COME TRUE!
The ghouls were peeking into bungalows and soundstages on the hunt for Veronica von Vamp. Two crew monsters passed by carrying a gigantic light, and Hoodude scooted across the road to avoid them—and was hit in the head by a typewriter flying out a window!
“Yaaa-oof!” yelled Hoodude, startled. “Okay, all good, I’m good,” he added, just before tripping over a bucket and falling again.
A pretty gargoyle, wearing big glasses, stuck her head out the window. She flapped her wings in frustration when she saw the typewriter on the ground. “Oops, missed. Hey, could you throw that in the trash with the other typewriters? In creative frustration?”
“Sure,” said Hoodude. He picked up the typewriter and tossed it into a pile of typewriters—each with a single page of paper with one sentence typed on it.
“Sorry,” said the gargoyle. “Just going through a little writer’s block.” She tapped her hard-as-rock head.
Clawdia gasped. She recognized the gargoyle at once. She whispered to the other ghouls. “It can’t be! That’s Scary Stone, the most amazing screamwriter in Hauntlywood!”
Draculaura went right over to the window. “Ms. Stone, um, if you have writer’s block, my friend Clawdia is a writer. She can help.”
Robecca nodded in agreement. She retrieved the thrown-away typewriter and handed it to Clawdia.
Scary Stone sighed. “This new werewolf movie? It is chewing me up!”
Shyly, Clawdia started to type. After a few minutes in which no one dared speak, Clawdia handed the typewriter to Scary.
She read it and read it again. “You’ve changed Wwwoooa to Aooww! So authentic, so raw, so… wolfy! It’s brilliant. You have got to help me with the rest of the script.”
Clawdia was stunned. What should she do? “It’s always been my scream to be a writer in Hauntlywood!”
“See you later!” said Draculaura encouragingly. “Write lots of words!”
“Aw, good-bye, guys. I hope you find the—”
Scary Stone had yanked her inside the bungalow!
“Go, have fun!” urged the ghouls, happy for her. They would have liked to stick around, but they knew that they didn’t have much time left to find the vampire star.
The next place they looked was a studio where a boo-vie was being filmed. Monster assistants were holding moss-covered tree branches that looked like they were right from New Goreleans. Above a director’s chair hovered a ghost director, Sofeara Gorepola. Near her was a normal-looking sea-monster actor, wearing a not-so-normal-looking sea-monster costume.
“Where is my camera two?” the director was complaining. “My underwater camera?”
A gargoyle in a badly fitting wet suit and swim mask flopped over to her with a camera on his shoulder. He said something, but his snorkel muffled his words.
“Really? Made of stone? That’s your excuse?” Sofeara Gorepola was furious. “I can’t make this boo-vie without
underwater footage!”
But the gargoyles were storming out. They sank, of course, every time they went in the water.
Clawdeen walked over to the director. “Excuse me,” she said. “I think I know someone who can help.” She pulled over Honey Swamp.
“Go on!” urged Draculaura. “This is your scream!”
That was all the encouragement Honey needed. “Yup!” she said. “There’s nobody better if you’re talking ’bout a camera and a swamp. Why, I can rack a focus while changing lenses on a backtracked steadicam.”
“Whoa! What does that even mean?” Draculaura whispered to the other ghouls.
Sofeara studied Honey Swamp. She looked to the door where the gargoyle in the wet suit was still standing. “All right, I’ll try you out.”
The gargoyle angrily threw his camera to the ground and waddled away.
But the ghouls were thrilled for their friend.
“You go, ghoul!”
“And… action!” called Sofeara Gorepola.
Honey waved to her friends before jumping into a pool of water—camera in hand.
Sofeara Gorepola watched the film on her director’s monitor. “This is great!” exclaimed the director. “Keep rolling. And… cut! Love it!”
Honey emerged from the water and waved to her friends. She had made it in Hauntlywood! “Muah!” She blew the ghouls a kiss.
Hoodude caught it and blew one back. “Muah!”
Back outside, the ghouls saw another gargoyle staggering down the street, burdened under an enormous pile of scripts. A berserk boo-vie executive was raging at him. “I’m looking for a triple threat! Where are we gonna find someone with the pure, raw talent to handle this part?”
Hoodude went right over to the executive. “You wanna triple threat? Here I am!” He started singing, and the gargoyle assistant was so startled that he collapsed under the scripts. A flock of bats flew out from the eaves in a panic.
“I dance!” said Hoodude. He leaped onto a nearby ladder and twirled on it, like a tap-dancing star. He dropped to his knees, jazz hands spread wide, and announced, “Ta-dah! And I act!”
The movie executive was overwhelmed. “You got the job!” he shouted, and he pulled a contract from his pocket and had Hoodude sign it on the spot.
“Even your scream came true!” Clawdeen cheered.
“Nice going!”
“We’ll call you when we find Veronica,” said Draculaura.
As the ghouls continued their search, the gargoyle assistant returned—this time carrying a mop and bucket. He handed them to Hoodude. “In Hauntlywood, triple threat means: dust, mop, sweep.”
Hoodude stared at the cleaning gear and shrugged, still happy. “Oh well, at least I’m in show biz! Cha cha cha!”
CHAPTER 18
AND THE WINNER IS...
Cute Court was hearing evidence in the Creepateria. Howleen and Toralei were glaring at each other. Giant posters of Alucard and Edweird loomed over the proceedings.
Twyla banged her gavel. “Let me get this straight,” she said to Toralei. “You say dimples are better than a chiseled chin?”
Howleen leaped up, objecting. “No! Chiseled chin!”
“Dimples!” yelled Toralei.
Ghoulia was sitting on the witness stand with her laptop. Twyla turned to her. “Ghoulia, what does science say about dimples versus chiseled chins?”
Ghoulia grunted thoughtfully. She took off her glasses and cleaned them, put them on again, and peered at the posters. She took the glasses off and crossed her eyes to create a double vision—and that’s when she saw it! She put her glasses back on and started typing as fast as she could.
“Wait,” said Twyla, “are you telling us…”
Ghoulia moaned, confirming what Twyla thought. She turned her laptop around for everyone to see. There was a photo of Alucard and there was a photo of Edweird. But then Ghoulia superimposed them, laying one photo over the other, and they were… identical!
“They are the same actor!” said Twyla. “Digitally composited to seem like two different boys!”
The monsters went wild!
“What an unexpected development!” shouted Abbey.
“Unbelievable!”
“No way!” yelped Toralei.
“Did you see it?”
“It’s true!”
“Twice as delicious!” said Wydowna Spider.
“Order in the court,” bellowed Manny Taur.
Twyla waited until everyone was quiet before offering up her judgment. “In the case of Alucard versus Edweird, I find… that you can’t judge a bat by its wings!” She banged her gavel. “Case closed!”
“Cute Court is hereby adjourned!” Manny Taur roared.
“Totally called it,” said Clawd, leaning back in his chair.
“Yep, same dude,” agreed Deuce.
“I knew it!” said Gil. “And they called me crazy.”
Howleen and Toralei tried to make up.
“I guess dimples are cute,” admitted Howleen.
“And I could see getting used to a chiseled chin,” Toralei acknowledged.
Everyone else was leaving the Creepateria, but Ghoulia was still clicking away at her laptop.
“What is it, Ghoulia?” asked Operetta.
Ghoulia turned the screen toward her. Just as she had superimposed the photos of Alucard and Edweird to show that they were the same person, she had now done the same thing with Veronica von Vamp… and Elissabat!
“Could it be?” wondered Operetta.
There was no time to lose! They had to let their friends know!
CHAPTER 19
DIRECTOR’S CUT
Draculaura, Clawdeen, Robecca, and Cleo continued to roam the lot in search of the sound stage where Veronica von Vamp was filming. A crew of skeletons passed them on the street, all carrying palm trees.
Robecca stopped and touched her heart. “We’re close, ghouls. I can feel it. This way.”
She led them toward a studio where gargoyles were pushing in huge set pieces—rocks, boulders, trees. Draculaura had been right! Emerging behind them was Veronica von Vamp.
She was talking to her director, Mr. Scare-antino. The ghouls couldn’t hear what she was saying, but Veronica von Vamp smiled at him and sailed off toward her trailer, a gigantic Airstream guarded by two gargoyle guards.
“We have to get into that trailer!” said Clawdeen.
Cleo laughed. “That’ll be easy, except for those two huge bodyguards.”
“Looks like you could use a hand.…” It was Viperine!
“You work on this boo-vie?” asked Clawdeen.
Viperine giggled. “Thanks to you, I didn’t get fired!”
“Can you help us meet Veronica?” Draculaura wanted to know.
“Leave it to me!” Viperine led the way to the trailer. The guards tried to block their way, but Viperine told them that this was her new makeup crew.
“How come so many of you?” asked the guard, suspicious.
The snakes in Viperine’s hair hissed. “We have to make Miss von Vamp very very very very pretty for her next scene.”
She marched into the trailer with the ghouls following her. It was luxurious, with an elaborate makeup chair and a mirror framed by lights. Glossy photos of Veronica covered the walls.
“She’s not here,” noted Viperine.
Cleo headed over to a table covered in delicious-looking refreshments. “Then I guess we’ll wait. A trailer this classy shouldn’t be wasted.”
“No!” exclaimed Draculaura. “I can’t rest until we find her!”
The makeup chair spun around and sitting in it was… Veronica von Vamp. She raised an eyebrow. “Do I know you?”
The ghouls froze. Were they in trouble?
That’s when Clawdeen saw it. “The Vampire’s Heart!” She pointed at the makeup table.
“It’s here!” Cleo was ecstatic.
Veronica von Vamp laughed. “Sorry, you’re looking at a fake. This is Hauntlywood. It’s only a prop.
”
Draculaura was disappointed—but not surprised. “We’re very sorry for intruding like this, but—”
“I can always sign an autograph for a fan,” Veronica von Vamp interrupted.
“Sorry,” said Draculaura. “Not… umm… actually a fan. In fact, I think your stereotypical portrayal—”
Clawdeen began coughing. “Not the time!”
Viperine started doing Veronica’s makeup, her snakes putting on her blush.
“Why are you looking for it?” asked Veronica, curious. She was studying Draculaura. The fact that she wasn’t a fan intrigued her.
“The heart will lead us to Elissabat,” explained Draculaura. “The rightful queen of the vampires.”
Veronica caught her breath. “Wow, I haven’t heard that name in a long time.”
Everything rushed out of Draculaura. “The vampires need a queen. Quickly. And Lord Stoker chose me, but then I found out that his Vampire’s Heart was a fake, so I decided to find the real one so it could lead to the real queen, who is, in reality, Elissabat!” She stopped to take a breath. “I need help.”
Veronica von Vamp swiveled around in her makeup chair. “What if she doesn’t want to be the queen?”
“Everything we stand for will be undone if Stoker rules. The vampires need her,” Draculaura said passionately. “All monsters need her.”
Veronica von Vamp gazed into Draculaura’s eyes. “If Elissabat were here, she would probably say that she’s just one ghoul, nothing special, and maybe she doesn’t think she has what’s needed to be queen.”
“I get that,” Draculaura said solemnly. “It takes courage. Heart. And I know she has it. Listen, not all of us were meant to do great things. She should be proud that she was born to do something so amazing.”
Veronica seemed flustered. “Look, I want to help, really I do. But I promised Elissabat I would keep her secret.”
“Then you can tell her, from Draculaura—and this is big—that she ran away once, but I will find her, and that… that… I will never give up.”
