Monster High: Who's That Ghoulfriend? (Monster High: Ghoulfriends Forever) (13 page)

“What are you doing in a cape?” Mrs. Wolf giggled. “It’s a little cliché, don’t you think?”

“I know, but it was either this or my robe. As you know, I have very little black clothing in my wardrobe,” Mr. Dracula explained as Mr. De Nile approached in a dark black suit with a small sphinx cat perched on his shoulder.

“Seriously, Ramses? You brought your cat?” Mr. Stein scoffed.

“That’s Your Royal Highness to you,” Mr. De Nile replied arrogantly.

“More like Your Royal Heinous,” Mr. Stein joked under his breath.

“That is not funny,” Ramses blustered. “A lineage such as mine deserves better than your poor attempts at humor.”

“We don’t have much time,” Mr. Wolf pointed out as beams of red and blue light began to ricochet through the thick conifur trees.

“What’s happening?” Venus whispered to Cy and Rochelle.

But before either could answer, a blaring siren swept through the air, piercing the eardrums of everyone within a hundred-yard radius.

“Cover Robecca’s mouth!” Venus ordered Rochelle.

“But my hands are dirty!”

“Where am—” Robecca stammered as her eyes popped open.

Ever the vigilant friend to Robecca, Cy threw
his soft white hand across her cold copper lips. Within seconds, Monster High was swarming with black-and-white scariff cars.

“Disband! Disband!” Mr. Wolf whispered as he grabbed his wife’s hand and dashed off into the woods.

As the lights and siren continued, Mr. De Nile, Mrs. Yelps, Mr. Stein, and Dracula quickly followed suit and disappeared into the grove of trees.

“Look, there’s Scariff Fred and Superintendent Petra,” Cy whispered, his hand still covering Robecca’s mouth.

“What could possibly bring Scariff Fred, Superintendent Petra, and all those officers out here at this hour?” Rochelle pondered while repeatedly rubbing her chin.

“Something important…” Venus muttered.

“By the looks of it, I think we’re about to find out,” Cy said as Scariff Fred and a battalion of officers stormed through the front doors of the school.

B
lue and red lights flashed frenetically against the dark sky. Car radios crackled loudly, echoing through the windless night. Slowly pacing in front of the main entrance to Monster High was a group of three or four deputies who were all zombies.

“Can you imagine one of those zombies chasing down a criminal?” Venus asked, watching them sluggishly drag their feet.

“I think it’s safe to say the scariff puts
werewolves and other more energetic monsters in charge of the chasing,” Cy responded.

“Is it possible the scariff has finally caught on to Miss Flapper? That he’s here to arrest her?” Robecca asked her friends hopefully.

“
C’est possible
,” Rochelle replied. “Or perhaps they are here because they found out where Headmistress Bloodgood is stashed away.”

“Wouldn’t that be the bee’s knees? Why, just the thought of seeing good old headless Headmistress Bloodgood makes my pistons pump!”

The sound of feet stomping preceded the throng of deputies exiting the main entrance. Two, then four, then six, then eight, then ten uniformed monsters stomped down the steps.

“Where’s Scariff Fre—” Venus was starting to ask when she spotted the scariff. Or precisely, she
saw his ample belly, soon followed by the rest of him. Walking next to Scariff Fred was a lithe figure with bright orange hair and six hands, all of which were handcuffed behind her back.

“It’s the spider ghoul,” Cy mumbled at the sight of Wydowna.

“Does this mean Scariff Fred has figured out whom she’s working with?” Robecca asked.

“I don’t think so. If that were the case they would have arrested Miss Flapper too,” Venus stated as she watched Scariff Fred put Wydowna into the back of his car.

“Madame Flapper is a very smart woman. I wouldn’t be surprised if she used her wiles to put all the blame on Wydowna,” Rochelle said as she tapped her claws against a twig, creating a small pile of sawdust in the process.

One by one, the scariff cars pulled away from Monster High, once again leaving the school cloaked in the darkness of night. Unsure what to make of the evening, or what to do next, the quartet made their way back into the school.

“If only the bats could tell us what they saw,” Robecca muttered as she looked up at the small black creatures hunting for prey.

“I say we check out the attic,” Venus declared boldly.

“
Mais, non
! They didn’t take Madame Flapper, so it is highly probable that she is up there right now,” Rochelle pointed out logically.

“Yeah, destroying information,” Venus muttered while shaking her head in frustration.

Boom, splash, boom, splash
! Dressed in an unflattering plastic robe and a shower cap, Miss Sue Nami turned the corner and bumped straight into the foursome.

“Non-adult entities, leaving the dormitory at night is strictly against school policy. And you know how I feel about school policy.”

“
S’il ghoul plaît
, Madame Sue Nami, you know how seriously I take rules. Dare I say, even more seriously than you? After all, I have an entire code of ethics, whereas you only have a few pages of school rules,” Rochelle expounded.

“Rochelle, I’m thinking now is not the best time to compete for who has the most rules,” Venus counseled the hardheaded ghoul.

“All four of you are to return to the dormitory this second,” Miss Sue Nami ordered.

“But it is impossible for us to get to the dormitory
this second
. We are going to need at least
thirty to forty seconds
to make it to our rooms,” Rochelle replied in her most matter-of-fact manner.

“If I didn’t have a more pressing matter to attend to, I would write you all up for detention!” Miss Sue Nami grumbled.

“You mean the spider ghoul in the attic?” Venus inquired.

“How do you know about her?” Miss Sue Nami asked, her eyes widening with curiosity.

“We followed the webs to the attic,” Venus answered.

“Smart, very smart,” Miss Sue Nami said as she broke into a dog shake. However, as the
waterlogged woman was wearing both a shower cap and a plastic robe, it was nowhere near as dampening as usual.

“That photographer with all the attitude…” Miss Sue Nami grunted.

“CeeCee Thrue,” Cy chimed in.

“Yeah, that’s her,” Miss Sue Nami said with a nod. “When she started developing the portraits, she noticed a pair of eyes peering out of the attic window. She notified the scariff immediately. And in light of Miss Flapper’s letter from the normies this afternoon, Scariff Fred decided not to take any chances, so he came right over and grabbed her.”

“Do you know what she was doing in the attic? Is it possible that it has something to do with Headmistress Bloodgood’s disappearance?” Rochelle asked.

“The scariff thinks she’s a normie spy,” Miss Sue Nami explained. “Now, for the last time, go back to the dormitory!”

“Okay, but where are you going?” Venus wondered.

“The scariff’s department to get more information.”

“Dressed like that?
Boo-la-la
,” Rochelle said as she shook her head at Miss Sue Nami’s robe and shower cap. “Surely there’s time for you to change into something more appropriate.”

“Watch it,” Miss Sue Nami grunted as she stomped away.

After bidding good night to Cy, the three ghouls headed to their room in the dormitory.

“I’m so tired I almost feel like a Van Sangre sister,” Robecca mumbled as she yawned.

“Please don’t say their names,” Venus moaned. “I am too exhausted to even think about those two.”

“Ghoulfriends, I am sorry to tell you, but fatigue is a well-known reason for underachievement, which does not bode well for our quiz in Catacombing tomorrow,” Rochelle worried.

“We have bigger issues than a test, Rochelle,” Venus explained as she grabbed hold of the doorknob to the Chamber of Gore and Lore.

“Like what?” a soft voice whispered in the darkness.

Stepping out of the shadows was the always-ravishing Miss Flapper. Dressed in powder-blue pajamas, the European dragon somehow still managed to look elegant.

“Um,” Robecca mumbled nervously, steam
pouring out of her nostrils, “Penny was recently diagnosed with rusted gears. She’s going to need major surgery at Grind ’n’ Gears.”

“Yeah, we’re all super worried,” Venus fibbed, nervously playing with her vines.

“Well then,
bonsoir
, Madame Flapper,” Rochelle blurted out in an attempt to end the conversation.

“I’m so sorry to hear about Penny. But just one more thing before you go, ghouls. What are you doing out at such a late hour?” Miss Flapper asked with a tense smile.

“We needed a snack,” Venus mumbled.

“But the Creepateria’s closed,” Miss Flapper responded with growing intensity.

“Yes, but I keep roasted nuts and seeds in my locker, so we went downstairs for an impromptu picnic,” Venus babbled unconvincingly as she
pushed open the door to their dormitory room and pulled Rochelle and Robecca in after her.

“Good night!” Robecca called out as the door to the Chamber of Gore and Lore slammed shut.

B
y the time Monster High’s first bell rang the following morning, the whole school was abuzz with nerves over the purported normie spy in the attic.