It was still raining, and we ate lunch from cans. I couldn't tell what was in them, but I ate it anyway. Lagoona and Rochelle talked to us about the mission to recruit more monsters to help with the rebel movement. They explained to Abbey and me how their group came to be in the first place.
Originally, they weren't rebels. They were just former Monster High students trying to find a place in this new world. It took about a year for them to settle down. When the Queen began taking more control, they decided to stick together instead.
"She's been suspicious since the beginning," Rochelle said grimly. Lagoona's expression looked just as sullen.
"It wasn't like her to take over the way she did," the sea ghoul said. "She ought'a have had something else helping her out."
"Like the dome," Iris intervened. "It covered the earth, and only monsters were left."
"Dome?" I asked.
"There was this dome thing that appeared when the school crashed down," Iris explained. "It was this big purple light in the sky and then it just spanned across it over time. We didn't realize what it did until it covered New Salem."
"Normies just... left. We were—are—in a monster world," added Lagoona.
"By the time the dome finished spreading," Venus said, "the human realm and the monster realm were separated. Everyone was stuck where they were."
I nodded. This is what Nefera told me about.
"We don't know about it specifically," Lagoona said.
Rochelle shook her head, "But Jackson has a few theories."
I almost choked on my food. "Jackson?"
Rochelle nodded. "Oui."
"Boy, are you two in for a surprise when you see them!" Lagoona giggled.
"See them?" Abbey asked.
The other four ghouls shared a glance with one another. They turned back to the rest of us, Iris and Venus continuing their lunch.
"We have more important things to inform you of," Rochelle insisted.
"Couple months later, Venus brought news about a city that was built in place of New Salem—a city the Queen reigned over," Lagoona told us. "A lot of old places were destroyed or remodeled. Even our old neighborhood was torn down."
They explained that the city took up all the electricity in the area surrounding it, so it took a long time for them to cope without it. They had to take care of themselves before they went against the Queen, so they hadn't made their move yet.
"We're still not in the best shape but we're better than when we started off," Lagoona informed us.
"The Queen had declared the city her new kingdom and totally wrecked everything surrounding it," Venus said bitterly, setting her now empty can aside.
"How?" I asked.
Abbey shuddered beside me. "Fire," she breathed. A glassy look came to her eyes. "Remember seeing it from mountaintop." She suddenly became a lot more interested in her canned meal.
"It was a complete waste!" Venus burst out, getting up to her feet. "There was no point in doing that!"
"Calm down, Venus," Lagoona urged. Venus looked down sheepishly at Lagoona and sat back down, staring at the floor.
Lagoona told us about how Heath had taken up management of the encampment.
A laugh burst out my mouth.
"Heath?" Abbey asked incredulously.
Lagoona smiled. "You'd be surprised."
"I already am!" I giggled, raising a hand to my mouth.
Abbey gave me a weird look but continued munching on her food.
Lagoona told us that they had been sending out members to check out the city every now and then. She said that Venus would travel to the city as well as a couple others. Lagoona took care of the house, and those who went to the city could settle down here when the camp was too far for them. That was all they were doing once they had settled down.
"But now we have a plan," Iris cut in.
Lagoona shook her head. "Not exactly, love. Let's just say that our mission to find the source of this messed-up world is finally underway. We're recruiting and we need all the help we can get."
"So let me make straight," Abbey said, "year one, Queen making name for self while rebels aren't rebels yet. Year two, Queen is queen while rebels are all together. Year three, city is built and Queen destroys land and rebels become rebels. Year four, electricity is out, rebels are having hard time and things becoming calm in kingdom. Year five, rebels have monsters travel to city and Queen simply reigns. Now rebels can put plan into action."
Iris nodded. "Pretty much."
"What were you doing, Abbey?" I asked while I stirred the mysterious contents of my can.
She shrugged. "Stayed on mountain." She gently clacked her spoon on her can now that she had finished her meal.
Lagoona reached out a hand toward the ghoul, trying to catch her attention. "You... you never came back, Abbey?"
The clacking noise stopped and the Yeti's daughter stared down at her can. "Was not thinking returning would be good idea."
"Oh, Abbey, you should've come back," Lagoona cooed. "The stables are empty, but your room's still intact."
Abbey lived on the mountaintop—I saw her home myself. But with the icy ghoul's reluctance to speak and Lagoona's pitying expression, I couldn't help but wonder. I surveyed the den. The home was elegant, albeit in bad shape, and the furniture consisted of dark purples and blues coinciding with silver and black. The style appeared familiar, but it didn't seem at all like a place Abbey would live in. There were also stables so, if Abbey lived here, whose home..?
My eyes widened as the realization struck. Abbey didn't live on her mountaintop during the school year, so this house belonged to Headmistress Bloodgood. But it didn't look like it'd been inhabited in a long time, besides that these ghouls were in it right now. Was Bloodgood just letting them use her house like this? Or had she moved away? Or maybe she had never left the school when it fell...
"So you really don't remember anything, Cleo?" Lagoona asked suddenly between mouthfuls of some of her canned food.
I shoved another spoonful of mystery food into my mouth when I replied. "Nopfh. Nufin." I wasn't comfortable with lying, but I didn't think it was right to tell them—at least not yet.
"Well, some things, yes," Abbey chimed.
I gave her a questioning look. What did she know?
"Like me. Friends," she said slowly.
I quickly nodded. "Yupf," I said, my mouth still full.
"So you remember other monsters, just not your life?" Lagoona asked.
Sure let's go with that. I swallowed my food. "Yeah," I said. "I mean it's clear but also not..."
"So what happened to you?" Lagoona asked.
"She woke up in a sarcophagus," Iris informed, messing with her braid.
Lagoona's brows bunched up. "So you were dead? Not just undead?"
"I was just unconscious for a while," I told her as I looked down at my food.
Abbey scoffed. "Five years long while."
"Like a coma?" Iris asked.
I began to stir what little food I had left in my can. "I guess."
"And you survived five years trapped in a sarcophagus?" Lagoona asked.
I put another spoonful into my mouth. Why were they so surprised? Cleo had spent over a thousand years in a sarcophagus. What did Nefera tell me about this? Right. "My body was, um, preserved," I said as I swallowed down the rest of my lunch.
"Fintastic," Lagoona exhaled.
"You don't remember the school falling down, right?" Iris asked.
Lagoona spoke up before I had a chance to respond. "I didn't see Cleo around that day," she stated. "She was sick for about a week before the school year started—or would've started."
Thinking back, I, Frankie Stein, remember that I was at school gore-rientation for the new students before the school year started. I don't recall anything after that, so that meant Cleo and I had switched bodies sometime around then.
"The new school year was going to start," Lagoona continued. "I was helping out with school gore-rientation—the whole student disembody was there. We were lucky it wasn't actual classes when the school crashed. Most of us were, I mean." For a moment, sadness had possessed the sea monster. A second later, it was like nothing had disturbed her shores and she was back to being herself.
"You two are probably tired," she said with a smile. "Rochelle," she turned to the gargoyle ghoul, "get these ghouls some blankets, will ya, love?"
Rochelle broke away from her conversation with Venus and left the den and returned with some folded black blankets. She handed Abbey and me one and we thanked her as we unfolded them.
"Hey, I'm pretty dead tired myself," Venus commented, heading out the den to grab a blanket.
"It took us almost three hours to get here," Iris noted, following after Venus.
From where I sat, I could see Rochelle walk over to open the door, letting in a chill. "Well, the rain is fini," she observed. She kept the door open and went over to the corner beside a floor lamp and grabbed a long gray coat and some gloves.
Lagoona clapped her hands. "Perfect. We'll be heading out then."
Heading out? "Where are you going?" I asked as I spread the blanket on the reclining armchair.
"To find new recruits, of corpse," Lagoona said as she walked out of the door.
"The twins shall remain here as should you," Rochelle told us, slipping the hood of her coat over her head.
Venus waved her off. "Yeah, we got it."
"Good luck with your search," Iris encouraged quietly.
Rochelle smiled before she followed after Lagoona, pulling on her gloves. The door slammed shut.
All of the ghouls prepped their blankets out and settled in. I took off my thick green coat and snuggled into my blanket, clutching my coat like a stuffed animal. I wonder what happened to Watzit, my pet dog. Well, kind of a dog. Did Nefera take care of him?
Thoughts plagued my mind before I ended up falling asleep. I hadn't realized how tired I was. The trek here was long, and I walked like my usual clumsy self. It didn't help that I was unconscious in another ghoul's body for five years. I stifled a giggle. It must've been funny to see the graceful Cleo de Nile being as clumsy as Frankie Stein.
The den started filling with snores and soft breathing—the ghouls were asleep. I yawned as I snuggled deeper into the recliner, my last thought being just how much longer I'd have to pretend to be someone I'm not.
