Ch 1
Mirror travel was the worst. Raven stumbled as the mirror spat her out at her destination. She waited for her stomach to settle, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. For one brief second the traitorous thought that it wasn't worth it for one week of vacation at home crossed her mind.
But she had missed her dad something awful and as Dorothy would say, 'There's no place like home." Speaking of which, someone should have greeted her by now.
Her stomach finally stopped rolling and twisting and she opened her eyes. This wasn't her castle. In fact, she appeared to be in a store room. A very crowded store room. A very dark, crowded store room.
There were boxes and crates covered in dust and stacked on top of each other. Cabinets that looked like they hadn't been touched in years, their glass doors coated in a layer of grime so thick it distorted the contents. There were trinkets and knick knacks scattered all over the place.
She turned around and looked at the travel mirror she had just come through. It gave a small shiver and the faint glow of magic sputtered out. The mirror itself seemed to have fared better than the rest of the room if only because of the sheet that had apparently been covering it before her arrival had ripped it off.
Well, with the mirror down for the time being she wasn't going to be able to go back. She'd just have to go back to the office and explain what happened. Maybe the headmaster would let her use a coach to go home, just this once. If for no other reason than to be rid of her for a week.
Of course, she first had to maneuver herself out of the room. Given how full it was, that was going to be easier said then done. Raven turned and twisted herself through the towers of crates, slipped past one cabinet only to crash into another. A box fell off the top, hitting the ground and popping open.
"Curses."
Wincing at the noise, Raven picked up the box. Inside was a vial with clear liquid that was held in place by straps and a thick sponge like padding. She shrugged, glad it hadn't broken and closed the lid. In the little light that came from a few magical items here and there, she could make out a note taped to the box lid just under a metal engraving.
H1-D3 said the engraving. Extremely dangerous said the note.
She tensed and thanked every legend she could that it hadn't broke open as she put it back on the top of the cabinet. She shivered, feeling as though she had just dodged a really nasty curse.
Raven managed to find the door with only one more near disaster, but the statue she caught before it shattered hadn't had any warnings on it, for which she was grateful. The door, however, was either locked or stuck. She was just considering attempting magic to open it, when it finally gave way, spilling her onto the floor.
Right before she hit the ground she heard a startled shout and saw a brief glimpse of a surprised face wearing black glasses. She had slammed into someone, taking them down with her.
Raven groaned as she lifted herself up. She nervously brushed off the dust from the storeroom that clung to her dress as she began to apologize.
"I'm am so sorry Dex, I didn't mean to fall on...you?" She blinked at the boy on the floor as she held out her hand to help him up. He wore glasses and had a slight beginning of a tan, but that was were the similarity ended. He was thinner than Dexter, his hair was darker with yellow tips and though the smile he gave her as he stood was certainly charming, it's wasn't a Charming smile.
"You're not Dexter," she said lamely.
"Nope," the boy said, picking up the book he had dropped, "I'm Jackson."
"Oh, which Jack's son? Jack Horner? Jack beNimble? Jack and Jill? Jack and the Bean Stalk? Jack who built..."
"Ah, no." he said, cutting off her recitation of every Jack she could think of. "That's my name. Jackson. Jackson Jekyll."
"I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with that one," Raven began, desperately trying to remember any fable, tale, or story with the name Jekyll. Jackson gave her a confused look.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
Maybe the mirror had sent her to a village school. That would explain it. The boy didn't have a legacy. But this was worse then being stuck at Ever After High, now she had no idea where she was.
"Where am I?" She asked. Looking around the hall for the first time, taking in the odd checkered floors and the magenta walls.
"This is the supply hall." he said. Then, "You must be lost. That's easy to do for new students. Monster High is pretty big. What class do you have? I can take you there."
Raven's breath caught in her throat. She had never heard of that school before. Ever. And she had looked into every possible alternate high school in Ever After. She ran her hands through her hair in frustration and that's when she finally noticed her next big problem. She had turned green.
Her worry must have shown on her face because the boy, Jackson, frowned and asked if she was alright. No, no she wasn't alright.
"Oh curses," she said, staring at her hands in horror. "Where and what exactly is Monster High?"
Now Jackson looked really worried. "It's in Salem, Oregon. It's a school for all types of monsters," he said, hesitantly.
Raven gulped. There was no such place that she new of. What had the mirror done to her and where had it taken her?
RQ
Raven sat stiffly on the bed in the nurses office, staring at the nurse out of the corner of her eye nervously. The young woman seemed pleasant enough, but it was the stitches that had Raven on edge. The light blue girl looked like she had been sewn together.
She wasn't really sure what she had been expecting really. Jackson had told her it was a school for monsters, but he had seemed so, well, unmonster-like that she thought maybe he had meant it figuratively. Clearly, he hadn't. Now she was alone with a strange looking woman, in a strange looking place with no one or thing that was even remotely familiar.
Jackson had explained that she had been lucky he found her. He had the period as a free time and was using it for some personal research and that was why he was in the hall when she arrived. Right now though he wasn't there. He had taken off to get the headmistress after she had told him she belonged to another world.
Raven kind of wished he hadn't left. She felt so awkward now and he had been at least friendly. The nurse had simply taken her vitals, asked a few questions and was now making notes in a file, completely ignoring her when it was established that she was unhurt.
The door to the office opened. She heard a woman's voice and turned to speak with the schools headmistress, hoping she was more understanding than Headmaster Grimm.
However all that came out of her mouth was a horrified scream and she scrambled back onto the bed, bumping up against the back wall.
The woman was carrying her own decapitated head in her arms.
Jackson was quick to come to her side. "It's okay. It's okay. This is Headless Headmistress Bloodgood."
"How is she headless and still talking? Is it some kind of curse?" She asked Jackson. The boy just shook his head and smiled.
"It's not a curse, young lady," the headmistress said, a deep sigh coming from her as she put her head back on her shoulders. "I'm a Dullahan. Our heads tend not to be attached quite as well as other monster's. I'm sorry to have frightened you..." She trailed off, waiting for an introduction.
"Raven Queen," Raven said, still leaning away from the headless woman, but considerably calmer. At least Jackson didn't seem worried in the slightest, so it was probably alright.
"Oh Headmistress," said the nurse. "I've given her a bit of a check up and everything seems okay. But she insists she's not suppose to be green." The last part the nurse whispered, but Raven still heard it.
The headmistress nodded, "I'll take it from here," she said before focusing on Raven again. "Jackson says you told him you're from another world. How did you get here?"
Raven relaxed as she realized the woman believed her and was genuinely listening to her.
"I'm not sure myself. I was using the magic mirror to go home for a holiday and somehow ended up in your storeroom."
"Oh dear. That's definitely not good. The only mirror portal we have has been inactive for over fifty years. I don't know if it would be safe to send you back through it just yet. It'll have to be checked over before we try to even contact anyone from your world. Which world exactly is it you're from?"
"I'm from the world of Ever After."
"Ah, the land of fairy tales and legends. We had a student recently transfer there. You're a witch, are you not? It shouldn't be too hard for you fit in here while we see to that mirror. "
"You'll really help me?" Raven asked in relief. She was so happy the headmistress believed her, she didn't even question how she knew Raven was a witch.
"Well of course we'll help," Bloodgood said, taking off her head, seemingly without thought. "We may be Monsters, but we aren't cruel. How would you like to attend classes here until we find a way to get you home? We could set you up in the dorms and it'll be easier to keep you informed of the progress, rather than sending you to a temporary home."
Raven thought about it, a bit unsure and still a little creeped out by the whole removable head thing.
Jackson smiled at her from his seat next to her on the bed. "It'll be fun. I can show you around and introduce to some of my friends. You'll like them, especially Frankie. She'd love to hear all about your world, I'm sure."
The promise of new friends was enticing as it suddenly occurred to her that no one here knew who she was, who her mother was, and who she was suppose to be just yet. Maybe, if she played her cards just right, to steal one of Lizzie's phrases, she could have a vacation free from the pressures of her refuted destiny. And maybe she'd even make a few new friends in the process.
"Headmistress, I'd love to." Raven said, a big smile on her face.
RQ
Raven organized the last of her new books in her new locker. At first she was a bit leery when she saw they were all shaped like coffins, but they proved to actually be roomier then the lockers back at her school, so she just went with it.
Headmistress Bloodgood had signed her up for several classes that were comparable to the ones she had at Ever After. There were a couple for magic users that didn't sound half bad, nothing like her evil classes back home and there was even a music class which the headmistress had been more than happy to let her go to. Jackson had been kind enough to show to the library, which he pronounced in a way that sounded like 'lie-bury' but she kept her mouth shut about it, for her books and had helped her find her locker.
The bell to end classes had sounded while they were getting her books, but he didn't seem worried about missing class.
"Oh, it's lunch time. No big deal," he said when she questioned him about it. "If you ever talk to Holt, and I'm sure you will, don't mention it to him. He'll be pissed if he finds out I get to go to lunch right after a free period." He gave a dismissive wave of his hand as he led her down the hall.
"Is that your brother?" She asked. He stopped walking and became very tense. The look on his face was shocked astonishment. Like a dragon had just run up to him and smacked him the face with a wet sponge. She might have been spending a bit too much time with the Wonderlandians.
"I've never thought of it that way before," he said. Then after a moment were he made a few more weird faces, he shrugged. "Sort of, but not really. Stick around long enough and I'm sure you'll see for yourself. It's kind of hard to explain what we are."
"Okay," she said, starting to see that he was becoming uncomfortable with the line of questioning. "Is this the castleteria?" She said, changing the subject.
"Creepateria," he corrected her. "and yes. Before we go in though, I should warn you. The students here are, different, looking. Most of them are really nice, just try not to scream like you did earlier."
She blushed and was once again thankful that Headmistress, Headless Headmistress, Bloodgood was so understanding.
Jackson pushed open the door and held it for her. What she saw took her breath away.
There were people of every shape and size and color imaginable. Some had fur, some had feathers, some had scales or wings or both. There were pink people and blue people and purple people. One boy in front of her in the lunch line disappeared right before her eyes, leaving his tray floating in mid air. There were people with two heads, a girl with three eyes, and what she assumed was a boy, whose head was nothing but a giant eye.
Jackson taped her on the shoulder and gesture for her to follow him to a table were a girl wrapped in bandages was talking animatedly to another stitched girl. Next to the first girl was a boy with snakes for hair who had an arm draped around her while he fed her in between gossip and eating his own food.
"I mean, can you believe the nerve of that Toralei. I've never been so insulted in all my unlife," the girl finished dramatically just as Raven and Jackson got there.
The stitched girl perked up and smiled cheerfully, a spark coming from the bolts in her neck. "Oh Jackson, there you are. I saved you a seat." Then she noticed Raven and her smile faltered a little as she looked back and forth between them. "Who's this?" She asked, a faint quiver in her voice.
"This is Raven. She, uh, just transferred here. The headmistress asked me to show her around," Jackson said. The girl instantly lost her insecure expression and smiled winningly at her.
"I'm Frankie, nice to meet you. This is Cleo and Duece," She said pointing to the couple she had been talking to. "Welcome to Monster High. Why don't you join us?" She patted the bench seat next her. Raven was stunned by the instant welcome. She smiled as she took a seat.
"Thanks. I really appreciate it." She did too. It was so nice to be instantly accepted instead of people running away from her, she hadn't realized how much she had wanted that until now.
"So, where are you from?" Cleo asked, though she seemed less interested than Frankie. Raven got the feeling she was being sized up, which was mood dampingly familiar.
"Oh, I'm from the world of Ever After. I kind of took a wrong turn in the mirror portal and ended up here." This seemed to peek everyone's attention, even Duece who hadn't even looked at her until then.
"You're from another world? Voltagious. What's it like?" Frankie leaned into Raven's personal space just a bit too much, excitement shining in her eyes and more sparks coming off her. One zapped Raven lightly. It didn't really hurt, but it was enough to frizz some of her hair.
"Oh no," Frankie leaned back quickly. "I am so sorry. We just met and I'm already shocking you. How embarrassing," the girl rambled.
Raven held up her hands to placate her. "It's okay. No harm done. Well, nothing a brush won't fix anyway."
Frankie calmed down, but stayed back a little still. Just in case. Jackson whispered something in her ear that made her blush and she playfully swatted at his arm. "Oh you. It's not like that at all."
"So, Raven, is it? What is this Ever After like? I've never heard of it, do enlighten me." Cleo interrupted.
"Oh, um," Raven nervously tried to think of a way to describe it, without seeming rude. "It's a lot different from this place. For one thing, the people aren't nearly," she trailed off as Beelinda Honeywell buzzed by their table, "so colorful. Is that a bee girl?"
"Yes, do you not have those were you're from?" Frankie asked, wide eyed with wonder.
"No. I mean, we have fairies. And witches obviously, but we aren't green where I'm from. Oh, we also have giants and talking animals and Wolves. But I've never seen a bee girl before. Most of the people are fairly normal looking. Er, that is, most of us look like him." She pointed to Jackson who just nodded in understanding.
"Yeah, Jackson is considered normal here too. Until you get to know him better," Cleo said, idly examining her nails.
"Hey, what's that suppose to mean?"
"Come off it dude, you might look normal, but you're one of the weirder monsters here," Duece said, speaking up for the first.
"I," Jackson started to say, then deflated a little, "can't really disagree." Though he seemed a bit confused as to whether or not he was insulted.
"Um, I think I'm missing something here," Raven said, looking from one monster to the next.
"I'd rather not talk about it," Jackson said, leveling a small glare toward Cleo who ignored him entirely.
"So, what exactly do you mean by wolves that warrants them getting mentioned? Are they the same thing as werewolves, because we have plenty of those," Cleo said.
"Werewolves? What are those? Our wolves talk and can take human appearances." She debated a moment on if she should tell them about Cerise. On one hand she had promised to keep it a secret, on the other hand none of these monsters knew who Cerise was. She settle for talking about Mr. Badwolf instead. "It's not accepted for humans and wolves to be friends, but one of them teaches General Villainy at my school. He's actually fairy nice once you get to know him."
"You have a class on being a villain. Isn't that a little reductive." Duece frowned. "There's no way we'd have a class like that here. It'd totally undermine everything monsters are working toward."
"No villain classes? At all?" This school was sounding better and better by the minute. "But how do you prepare yourselves for your destinies?" Raven was now very curious about what her classes would be like.
"Destinies?" Frankie asked. The pieced together monster blinked a few times too many as confusion sparked off her bolts.
"Well yes. Don't any of you have predetermined destinies?"
"I don't like to think my future is predetermined. I prefer to think it is what you make it. Besides, how would we know what it's suppose to be? Do you all go to oracles or something?" Frankie said. She smiled at Raven, honestly asking. Raven was floored. A world without destiny. It was a dream come true. But she had to be sure first. Maybe they called it something else.
"So, none of you have follow in your parents footsteps by reliving their story?"
"Well, I am obviously destined for greatness, that is true. And having the good graces to be born to royalty will certainly be helpful, but make no mistake, it's my decision what I'm great in," Cleo said. She flicked her black and gold hair over her shoulder and somehow managed to strike a dramatic pose while staying seated. "But we can't all be lucky enough to be me, now can we?"
"Don't mind Cleo. She has a flare for the dramatic, but really she's a nice ghoul once you get to know her," Frankie whispered into Raven's ear while Cleo continued to preen. No one else seemed to have taken notice, or it was such a common sight to see that it wasn't worth the attention, so Raven shrugged it off.
"But what about your families origin stories? Aren't you all afraid of disappearing or the story being forgotten?"
"I think Mom would love it if her story was forgotten," Duece said forking some mystery meat into his mouth. "It's not even a little bite accurate. I mean, if she had been decapitated I wouldn't be here. And she says that Perseus was kind of a tool who took all the credit for saving that chick, even though it was Mom doing him a favor. He never did pay her back."
"So, if I'm to understand you correctly," Frankie began. "You're expected to do all the same things you parents did before you. And not just something like taking over the family business, but living their unlive? That sounds restrictive."
"Well yeah. They had to do the same thing. Each generation is expected to relive the story that belongs to their family. I'm the first person to ever refuse to do so." Suddenly she was very proud that she was able to say that to her new friends.
"That would be awful," Jackson said, his eyes went blank as he stared into the distant. He shook himself out of it. "Well, I wouldn't mind the mad science part, but I have no intention of bludgeoning a member of parliament to death and then popping a cyanide pill to escape the consequences. Mom's never done anything like that either as far as I know," a brief pause. "Actually, I'm not even sure that would work anymore. Chemicals don't necessarily have the same reaction on Jekylls as they do with other monsters or normies."
"Do me a favor and leave it a mystery." Frankie turned to him and gave him big pleading eyes. "I would hate for you to be wrong."
Raven turned to the It couple and said, "I don't want to know, do I?"
"Probably not," Duece said.
RQ
Raven finished the last of her thronework and flopped down onto the bed. Her new dorm room wasn't as spacious as her old one and was really plain, but that was okay. Tomorrow was the start of the weekend and Headless Headmistress Bloodgood had plans to go over several things with her. A crash course in monsterdom as it were.
She was also suppose to do some more paperwork that would sign her up for a financial aid program. This would provide her with the funds needed to get by until the mirror was fixed and she was sent home.
The longer she was here, the less happy she was about that prospect.
Her room may be furnished in gloomy decor, but she was promised that she could redecorate however she wanted. The classes she had a sit in for may have had grotesque sounding names like Physical Deaducation and Home Ick, but they weren't being forced to learn how to poison anyone.
The students were strange looking and had a variety of powers and abilities, but almost everyone was friendly and either used their abilities to help each other or to do mundane things, like the boy who lit the Mad Science burners with his finger. Of course, he also set his sleeve on fire, but that was hardly an act of evil.
Frankie was, as promised, excited to include Raven in group activities, introduce her to new friends and integrate her into their world. The ghoul was cheerful and contagiously optimistic. Her attitude reminded Raven so much of Maddie it was easy to relax around her. Though Frankie was much more down to earth and sensible, were as Maddie was always somewhere between reality and lost in her own head.
In fact, she had met several monsters who in some way reminded her of her friends back home. Minor appearance similarities aside, Jackson had been a lot like Dexter, there was mischievous werecat Torelei who would probably get along smashingly well with Kitty and a ghost who could give Blondie a run from the money when it came to gossip.
There were also plenty who stood out all on there own. A bubbly vampire, a fish girl with a strange accent, and a brother and sister who looked like a wolf had stopped halfway through transforming into a human.
She had even met the boy Jackson had warned her about. Holt was strikingly similar to Sparrow, the only thing that stood out as different being that Holt's mischief seemed to be more a product of his over abundance of energy rather than a nefarious plan on his part.
Still, there had been something else about him that had bugged her. All through Musical Theory she had felt as though she should have known him from somewhere else, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
She hadn't met her knew roommate yet, but maybe the girl might know more about it. Actually, Raven looked over to the other side of the room, her roommate probably should have been here by now. It was almost curfew.
"Oh curses," she said, suddenly aware of a problem that had slipped her mind. "I don't have anything to change into. I guess I'll have to sleep in my underwear and hope I can do some shopping tomorrow."
She sighed as she pulled her top off, only to freeze as she heard a thud from the walls. Raven listened carefully for several seconds, then relaxed. She started to unzip the back of her skirt when she thought she heard a deep breath.
She waited a bit more, praying it was just her nerves. Or maybe there were rats, that seemed like something her temporary school would purposely have. All was quiet again, which really just made her more nervous. There wasn't a peeping tom in the dorms, was there?
She rezipped and reached for her shirt, feeling exposed now, and slowly made her way toward were she had heard the noise.
It was coming from her roommates side of the room. The other side of the room was cast in dark shadows with a variety of plants that left it smelling of a rainforest. A hammock was stretched between two large trees that had at first given Raven pause when she had been shown her room.
Something moved slowly through the branches, leaves rustled. She inched closer, holding her breath in anticipation of what she would find. Gulping down her fear, Raven stood on tip toes and spread the leaves apart.
She blinked.
The creature blinked back very slowly. It was the strangest thing she had seen so far. The animal had long arms, short legs, a wide, bald face with a small muzzle, large eyes and was covered in short, blue fur.
"Um, are you my roommate?" Really, with everything she had seen today, she wouldn't have been surprised. The creature just stared at her, cocking it's head to the side at a glacial pace.
"I'm Raven, pleased to meet you?" Still no answer. Raven ran her hand through her hair and shrugged. "Okay then. Well, I'm just going to go back to my side of the room." She backed away, trying to seem casual despite how freaked out she was.
As she was about to turn she heard a faint whisper. Raven turned around and eyed the creature, but it didn't seem to be the one talking. She listened intently.
"I am now unsure how to proceed. When one is meant to observe one shouldn't interfere with the course of things, yet I would very much like to sleep in my bed." the whisper said. It was coming from a vent.
Raven put her hands on her hips and bit the inside of her cheek lightly.
"Then why don't you come out of the wall and do so? I don't bite."
"Eep." the vent said. No move was made to do as she suggested. Well, this was certainly more familiar territory for Raven. She supposed it was only a matter of time before the monsters found out who she was and started being afraid of her. She just wished it hadn't happened quite so soon.
"Seriously, I'm really not a bad person." She walked over to the vent and peered in at the ghoul hiding there. "I promise I won't curse you."
"Oh, I know that."
"You do?" Raven couldn't really be blamed for being skeptical, seeing as how the ghoul was still hiding from her.
"Yes, I know quite a bit about you," said the ghoul. "Your name is Raven Queen. You come from another world were monster isn't a race of being but rather a moral designation. Your best fiend is a girl from still another world named Madeline Hatter. You are suppose to relive the life of your mother, but, forgive me for assuming, you're behavior when this was mention suggests you don't want to. You came here by accident and have adjusted quickly to our world. You like music and are insecure about your magical talents possibly causing harm to others."
"How do you know all that?" Raven asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I observe all the goings on at Monster High." the ghoul said.
"Okay, then if you know I'm not going to hurt you, why are hiding in the wall?"
"Oh, a proper observer never directly interferes with those she is studying. That, and I'm very shy." This was said even quieter then the first part and the ghoul shrunk back into the vent.
Raven smiled in relief. The ghoul wasn't afraid of her, she was just nervous. "There's no need to be shy. If you come out of there we can talk normally. Then you'll get to know even more about me than you would just watching. Besides I doubt sleeping in the vent is preferable to sleeping in your bed."
The ghoul was silent as she thought this over. "Very well. Your proposal does have validity to it." The vent opened and a purple skinned ghoul slid out of the vent.
"So, you know a lot about me, but I don't know anything about you. What's your name?"
"Jane, Jane Boolittle."
"And what about your friend there?" Raven asked, pointing to the creature in the tree.
"Oh, that is my pet, Needles. He's a voodoo sloth." She gave him an affectionate look. "He doesn't say much."
Raven looked out the window and frowned. "I miss Nevermore. It would be a lot easier to take all this in if she was here with me. But she's back at Ever After High. I hope she's being good and not terrorizing the stable hands. She does that sometimes when I don't get to spend much time with her. Dragons are possessive and get moody when anything they view as theirs is gone for too long."
"I know how that is. I probably wouldn't have come here at all if I hadn't been able to bring Needles with me. But that's also a good feeling, isn't it? To know that out there somewhere is an animal companion who loves you that deeply?" Jane said wistfully.
Raven smiled at her, that was a good feeling. She wished Jane a good night and the two went to their respective beds. Thoughts of her friends and family back home filled Raven's head as she waited for sleep to claim her.
RQ
The morning came too fast for Raven's liking. She picked up her clothes with a frown and gave them the sniff test, hoping they weren't too bad off. Not that there was anything she could have done about it if they had gone sour.
Her roommate was already gone, off to who knew where. Probably crawling around in the vents some more. Raven had eventually gotten Jane to talk a bit more by asking about some of the students and rules of this world. Jane was a nice ghoul, if a bit socially awkward, and chalk full of information. She also tended to sometimes talk like she was narrating a nature documentary.
Raven got ready for her day and was just about to head out to meet with the headmistress when a knock came on the door. Thinking it must be for Jane she was surprised by what waited on the other side.
"Good morning!" Frankie as well as several other ghouls said. They were all smiles as they pulled her out into the hall.
Clawdeen, who she had met briefly yesterday, stepped forward. "So, Frankie told us all about your situation and I," she began but was interrupted by Draculaura clearing her throat, "we," Clawdeen corrected, "realized that since you came here on accident, you probably are in need of a new wardrobe. So we're here to help you out with that."
"But I don't have that much money. And for all I know, it's not even the same currency," Raven said, looking down in embarrassment. The school had provided her with the essentials last night, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a hairbrush. That and whatever small things she had on her were all she currently owned.
"Oh, we're not talking about going to the maul, mate," said Lagoona, waving off the idea.
"Nope," Clawdeen said, wrapping an arm around Raven's shoulder, "We're taking you someplace even better. Draculaura's closet."
"But, are you sure you don't mind?" Raven asked the vampire.
Said vampire giggled manically. "There's no place better to find freebie hand me downs. I've got so many outfits I don't even remember half of them. That's a very real problem when you've been collecting clothing for 1600 years. But on the frightside, there are plenty to chose from for parties or playing dress up, or when your just feeling Londoom circa 1860 for a day or two."
Raven tried to imagine what a closet with 1600 years worth of clothes looked like as they began to drag her away.
RQ
It turned out her imagination was lacking. The shear size and breadth of Draculaura's closet was mind boggling. Raven was sure you could get lost in there for weeks. It had different floors, each with multiple halls and an escalator.
Right now most of them were in an area marked Scaris: 1840. They had lost Cleo and Ghoulia in Rome: 1790 some time ago; she could still kind of make out Cleo's voice from there. Everyone was having fun running through the racks, eyeing dresses and holding up gowns in front of mirrors. Raven had to admit, there was a charm to it.
"Oh," Draculaura shouted, "What's this doing here? This is 1920's Boo York. Ug, it's gotten so disorganized in here. I need to take a week or two to clean it up."
"How about this one?" Frankie popped out of nowhere with a goregous purple dress.
"Oh wow," Raven breathed out. "That's beautiful, but isn't it a little fancy for everyday use. I'm just going to be going to class, not an enchanted ball at the Charming palace."
Draculaura sighed dreamily, "I remember going to haunted balls. They were totes fangtastic. Endless tables of fancy desserts. Romantic music. Handsome boys who bowed to you and kissed your hand. Sometimes I miss it, but then the parties nowadays are much more upbeat." She did a little shimmy and pumped her hands in the air, dancing to music only she could hear.
"You know," Clawdeen said, taking the dress from Frankie, "with a little touching up here and there this could work. Yeah, I would need to adjust the waist here, hem up the bottom to here, drop the sleeves. You don't mind if I alter it, do you?"
"Go right ahead." Draculaura said from were her attention had been taken by a page boy outfit. "When did I get this?"
"Can I have this one?" Raven ask, pulling out a dress and holding it up to herself. "It's totally off the page."
"Pick anything you like. It's for a good cause."
"Really? You're too kind. Seriously, this style is in right now back in my world."
Draculaura stared off into space a little as she said, "I wish I could be swept away to another world. How exciting would that be? But only if Clawd and you ghouls were there with me." Then she eeped and apologized to Raven for reminding her that she was alone in a strange world.
"Didn't you just get back from the ghost world?" Lagoona asked her, handing another outfit to Raven.
"Yeah, but we were kind of busy with saving everyone from the Red Lady that we didn't get to take in the sites," Clawdeen answered her.
"So you guys regularly travel to other worlds here?" Raven asked. "We used to be able to do that too." She stared at her shoes miserably as she thought about why they no longer could.
"Sort of," Frankie said. "There's the ghost world which is kept mostly seperate from us, but there are portals to it that aren't hard to find if you know what your looking for. At least, now anyways. Then there's the normie, err, human world which is always connected to the monster world. They like, share the same space. It's kind of hard to explain."
"Sounds complicated."
"Not really. At any rate, the relationship between our worlds is less complicated then the relationship between humans and monster," Frankie said.
"Speaking of which," Cleo drawled out as she sneaked up behind Frankie. The flesh gollum shot off a spark in surprise. "Spill it ghoul, how did your date go yesterday?"
"It wasn't a date. Jackson was just helping me study for Mr. Hack's test on Tuesday."
"Uh huh," Clawdeen said, hands on her hips and a disbelieving stare sent Frankie's way. "And I'm sure you both needed it, what with both of you being Mad Science genius' and all. Studying was truly all you did." The sarcasm was heavy in her tone.
"It was." Frankie began to blush and spark more in indignation.
"Is that why you're blushing?" Raven couldn't help but ask.
Frankie tried to regain her composure, straightening her back and shoulders, but her bolts betrayed her embarrassment. "Father may have been a bit remiss with some aspects of the field when he programmed all my infearmation." She gave a little sniff and turned her head away.
"Sure, you tell yourself that. It had nothing to do with you wanting to spend more time with a certain bipolar halfbreed." Cleo said. A wheedling smile graced her lips as she leaned into Frankie's personal space.
Ghoulia raised a finger and let out a string of groans. Raven looked pleadingly to Lagoona who was standing closest to her.
"She said that he's not bipolar. Well, she said more then that, but honestly, when she gets too technical I can't understand her any better than someone who doesn't speak Zombie," Lagoona said.
Ghoulia gave a low moan and rolled her eyes.
"Sorry," Raven said, "but we don't have zombies were I'm from, so there aren't classes on the language. Until yesterday I didn't even know there were such things as zombies or mummies or what have you. Sure there's the occasional magical fish or talking frog. And we've got fairies and witches, but it's all completely different." She looked down at the small pile of clothes in her arms.
She was really starting to get homesick. "I think this is going to be enough clothes for now. If I'm stuck here long enough to need more, I'm sure I'll find a way to buy my own."
Suddenly she found herself with an armful of vampire, the clothes scattered on the ground.
"I'm so sorry you're stuck here," Draculaura practically sobbed. "It's totes not fair. You'd be having so much more fun if you didn't have to worry about not going home."
"I didn't mean to upset you. I'm having a lot of fun with you and you've all been really nice to me. I swear, I'm having the time of my unlife." Raven started at her own words. Had she really just said 'unlife'. What did that even mean?
"Do you really mean that?" Draculaura said, looking up at her with big, watery eyes. Raven smiled and nodded.
"Of course she means it, who wouldn't have the time of their unlife when they're around me," Cleo said.
"Yeah, she's even starting to talk the talk," Clawdeen added, prying Dracualaura off Raven. Raven blushed.
"I don't know why I said that. I'm pretty sure my heart is still beating." She placed her hand over her heart. "Yep, still alive."
"No worries, mate. All monsters talk like that. A shared lingo inspires a sense of community and helps bridge the gaps between species," Lagoona said. She helped Raven pick up all the clothes off the floor.
"Welcome to the club," Clawdeen said. Then added, "Let's get out of here and get something to eat. I'm starving."
And just like that, Raven found the worry about going home had faded just a bit more.
Author's Notes:
I started writing this some time before both Way to Wonderland and Boo York, Boo York came out. The story will not be compliant with either. Not that it matters, since Mattel doesn't really seem to care much about things like continuity.