Chapter One

Clawdeen was making her way to school, begrudgingly. She was worn out by Draculara's party, which went on until three; she hadn't even gotten an hour of sleep that night. Her hair was a mess, she didn't have any makeup on, and she stumbled in her platform boots; she was in no condition for school. What she didn't realize was that the worst was yet to come.

The young wolf turned the corner and spat out a howling scream once she saw the bloody mess. Frankie Stein and Spectra were strewn across the sidewalk, yes, strewn. Spectra was completely dismembered by whatever they had come across and Frankie was in no better condition; her leg was torn away and left in the gutter, her hand was shredded and dripping blood into her newly permed hair. Their clothing was torn, revealing deep wounds in their thin-waisted, smooth-skinned, fashionable bodies. Clawdeen could feel her emotions mixing inside her stomach. She wasn't the best of friends with the two, but she knew them well enough to nearly vomit just at the fact that they were dead; actually seeing the dismembered corpses of the two young monsters sent her rushing for the road-side to let her emotions out through regurgitated steak. As she wiped her mouth clean of the raw bits of meat, she heard a noise.

She turned her head in the direction of the sound, it was Lagoona Blue racing up the sidewalk. Lagoona had a look of fear in her eyes, which Clawdeen first thought was because she had seen the mess , but she was soon to be proven wrong. Lagoona ran up to Clawdeen and air-kicked her square in the jaw. Clawdeen was thrown backwards and Lagoona's hands wrapped around her neck while she yelled, "I know you did this! I know it was you!"

Clawdeen obviously had no idea what Lagoona was yelling about and managed to choke out a few words to express her confusion. After being questioned, Lagoona released Clawdeen's neck and tried to calmly sort out the situation, " I thought I saw you here earlier, eating their guts out of 'em."

"Why didn't you get help?"

"I wanted to sort it out myself. Adults never understand anything! They wouldn't have been any help to me oooooor the ghoul friends, giiirl!"

"Good point. Do you have any creepy cool clues?"

"Only what I saw earlier."

"Okay, maybe it was one of the other chic felines from school."

"Yeah, but you're..." Lagoona heard a noise and went quiet, "Wait, did you hear that?"

"What?"

"It's right behind me..."

Lagoona was bent backwards and shrieked in pain. A gaping hole was ripped into her torso. Then Clawdeen saw who must have been responsible for the murders, it was her. Behind Lagoona, Clawdeen saw herself, another Clawdeen Wolf.

"Well, what are you looking at?"

Clawdeen stuttered while trying to get a grasp on her words, "I-I-I who-o-o w-w-what?"

"GUUH! You're so pathetic. You make me want to HoooOOOOOOWLLLLL in misery."

Clawdeen didn't understand what was going on. She didn't know what to say.

The other Clawdeen broke the silence,"I'm so glad that I didn't turn out to be like you. It could have happened, you know. I could have been where you are and you could have been where I am."

"W-what do you mean?"

"We're both the same, you know. We were just raised in different places and taught diffuuuuuuurent things. You were taught how to be pathetic and I were taught to be strong."

"What do you meaaaan?!"

"Well, you got taken to a family who got to bring you to a school and I got taken over to a family who taught me themselves. I don't think it could have turned out any better than it have now."

"Th-they haven't taught you anything! You can't even talk! All you know how to do is KILL."

That last sentence brought a scowl to the mysterious look-a-like's face.

"I ain't have one thing to say to you 'bout that. I know enough to talk. Least I know the diff'rence between felines and us."

"Why did you do this?"

"I ain't done a thing. Whatchyou talkin' about even?"

"You killed them."

"Dem pink pumps didn't go with 'et blue dress. I ain't gonna stand for no fashion faux pas. When a ghoul goes out wearin' some cheap, dank-booty, K-Mart clothes, they gotta pay."

Clawdeen, the real one, looked over at Spectra's clothes. They were cheap, but not cheap enough to kill for. Her strong sense of fashion and strong sense of ethical treatment of other ghouls became conflicted. Should the other Clawdeen get away with murder for the sake of fashion?

She looked over to the other Clawdeen, "If you let me go, I won't tell anyone."

"Best not even tell 'em I even 'xist. I don't want any city kids trying to get me out to play twinner with you, I'm a lone wolf."

"Okay, yeah, I'm going to keep this all a secret."

"Put it in a coffin, nail it down, and throw away the hammer?"

"Yeah, put it in a coffin, nail it down, and throw away the hammer."

Clawdeen turned to walk away. She was filled with relief, knowing that this was the end of her interactions with the other Clawdeen Wolf. She took her first step forward, back towards her regular life, but then the other Clawdeen grabbed her by the arm, stopping her.

Baring her fangs, she said, "You got 'little steak sauce on y'u top."

Clawdeen saw that she was upset by the stain. Then, she quickly realized that this was a fashion no-no to be punished for, killed for. The fearful emotions had returned and multiplied. The other Clawdeen clenched her fist, their eyes met, Clawdeen instinctually pushed her back and ran. Even with her naturally built running legs, the other Clawdeen was able to catch up with her. This could easily be blamed on the inflexibility of her platform boots. The other Clawdeen caught her hair and ripped her back through the air and onto the ground, putting Clawdeen in a vulnerable position. The other Clawdeen readied her claws for an attack. Clawdeen was paralyzed with intense fear. In the small amount of time that Clawdeen had, she thought of at least twenty outfits she had designed and would never wear if she died here and now, but she also thought of at least five ways to escape.

She hastily rolled out of the way and swung her claws at the back of the other Clawdeen's knees. The attacker stumbled to the ground and let out an anguished hiss. Then she took a spare stiletto from her purse and gashed it through the doppelganger's back. The other Clawdeen bellowed in pain.

She felt empowered, knowing that with the stiletto in her hand, the life or death of another being rested solely in her own hands. She breathed out, deeply, and stared at what could become her first victim. Clawdeen closed and her eyes slowly and readied herself for the becoming of an executioner. Then, a car's speeding wheels pulled her out of the trance. The stiletto fell out of her hand and the speed of her breaths went from being calm back to being an anxious, rapid cycle. Her position over the other Clawdeen made her look like the hunter, as if she had killed the three and was about to kill another. She panicked, her eyes shifted quickly. The car was black and it had heavily tinted windows, it stopped next to the two girls.

A man wearing rectangular glasses and a labcoat stepped out of the car. He had the face of an ape, thick and dark brown hair, and strong arms built for climbing. The man hurriedly lunged towards the other Clawdeen and helped her up.

In a placid voice, he asked her if she was okay.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said, stretching her shoulders back, "but I reckon a cleanin' crew would come in handy 'bout now."

He looked over at the decimated bodies, "Harriette, you shouldn't have gone out here."

"See dem clothes, Baron?"

"Hideous, but you shouldn't lose your temper over such trite concerns."

Clawdeen felt the need to interrupt, "Who are you?"

"I Harriette and he Baron."

"Why do you look like me?"

Baron attempted to reenter the conversation, but was cut off by Harriette, "Yeah, we look alike, but I don't think I would ever be caught livin' or dead in a stained top."

"Clawdeen, I think you should come with me and Harriette. I have the answers you need. You don't exactly have the choice to stay, anyway, you aren't safe here."

Clawdeen's suspicions rose, "Why?"

"There are people coming for you. Leave your iCoffin and anything else they could use to track you. Trust me, I know what is best for you."

"Girl, hurry up and decide. Not like we have until the cows come home for you to pick if you wants to die or not. Pick one now and move along."

A coterie of armored vans turned onto the street.

"Come on, Clawdeen, I want you to be safe."

Clawdeen decided to go with Harriette and Baron, wherever they planned to take her. They got in the car and sped off in the opposite direction of the vans, passing by her Monster High, her home, The Coffin Bean, and onto the plains.

They drove through the valley, nearing the terminus of their long drive. Baron's collection of books in the back of the car maintained Clawdeen's need to be kept entertained and was on the verge of turning her into a full-fledged bibliophagist. Except for the muted vibrations of Harriette's music, their drive had been reticent. No answers had been given and no questions were asked. For the hours that they had been in the car, the only words that had been spoken werewe're almost there. The car neared the mountains, which until now had remained distant images at the back of Clawdeen's mind. The road ran parallel to an old railroad, which snaked through the shallow hills, and was covered in caesious green vegetation. The new scenery pulled Clawdeen out of her city droll and fed her appreciation for the natural world and civilization's cohabitation of what was already there. She felt at home here, but also longed for what had been left behind. Although Clawdeen had only been away for a small portion of a single day, she knew that she couldn't return to what there was because even with her return what had been left behind wouldn't meet her eyes with the same affection as it had before.

Baron composedly pulled Clawdeen out of her trance, "We are nearly there. I want you to prepare yourself. What you will see is not likely something you should be used to."

"Where are we going?"

"It isn't as if you have heard of this place before, so I'm not sure why it would matter if you knew what it is named. . ."

Clawdeen brashly interrupted the explanation, "Could you please just tell me?"

He regained his verbal balance and began again, "I hadn't gotten to that yet, but it was my intent to, Clawdeen. We are going to a place called Le Palais de Savoir."

"It's French?"

"Well, no. It was founded by a diverse group of scientists from around the world, but it was decided to give it this name for its simplicity. Most of them didn't speak phonetically spelled languages."

She left the topic on the ground and let it bury itself in an idle stall then branched the conversation outward with the topic that had caught her recognition.

"So it's a palace?"

Harriette sought inclusion and took the question as her opportunity to find footing, "Not by looking at the out-parts, but in it's lookin' nice long as you don't go deep in."

"Why's that?"

Baron knew that Harriette would be incapable of giving the explanation, so he reclaimed the role of the guide.

"The entrance is as elegant as any other palace, definitely more so than some, but by venturing deeper you come across the heart and purpose of the palace, scientific research."

"and what is it about the outside?"

"Le Palais de Savoir is almost entirely built underground."

An alarm sounded nearby and prevented their pursuing conversation from going any further. Baron turned his attention back to the road and Harriette began to eagerly operating on functions that weren't present in the cookie-cutter cars she had been in.

Baron sternly questioned Harriette for assurance, "You remember that they changed the password since the last we've had to use it, don't you?"

"I sure do! Nothin' fur you to worry for, got it covered."

It became clear to Clawdeen what was happening and the rapid pulse of her worry began to slow and the moment's intensity loosened its grasp on her breath.

"We are there, Clawdeen."

Their car pierced through the entrance of a tunnel illuminated by clouded orange lights on the walls and a scarcity of windows, which revealed the abysmal cliffside. They passed by a multitude of side-tunnels before turning into the last one at the end of the road, where the car finally stopped and Clawdeen's new life began.