"You're telling us this now?" a low voice sounded. "Do you not realize how ridiculous it sounds? Rebels? Really?"
"I know how it sounds," a deep, southern-accented voice replied. "I've kept it from you, yes, but I know things I didn't know before. We should act. Get rid of the threat before it becomes threatening."
Another voice sighed. "Fine, but only because you haven't been wrong before."
The monsters continued conversing behind the door but–unfortunately for the one listening in—quieter this time. The ghoul hovered with her ear against the metallic surface, her wispy body a pale glow in the darkness of the hall. The thought of rebels was intriguing, but barely anything to go on. Why would anyone want to go against the Queen?
"Spectra."
The ghoul whipped her head around to face the monster that had called her name.
"Oh. Hi, Clawdeen," Spectra said coolly, her high voice soft and quiet. Clawdeen looked moody. Luckily, Spectra wore the purple, off-shoulder sweater and black skirt the Wolf had designed for her. She hoped this would keep her on her good side.
"What are you doing?" Clawdeen asked.
The ghost leaned in, floating closer to the werewolf. "Listening in on the law enforcement unit," she whispered. "Valentine seems to have some spooktacular news to tell them."
"You make it sound like he's pregnant or something," Clawdeen said sarcastically. Then she sighed and her tone became serious. "You shouldn't be standing out here listening in. They could be discussing important stuff in there."
"Exactly!" Spectra squealed, swiftly pressing her ear against the door again.
Clawdeen grimaced and reached out in an attempt to pull the ghost back, but her hand slipped through her instead. The pale ghoul snickered to herself when she felt the werewolf's claws phase through her shoulder. The she-wolf emitted a frustrated groan.
"Spectra," she growled behind her, "you should stop this before—"
"Do you ghouls need anything?"
Spectra almost fell forward when the door abruptly opened. A vampire stood before her, Adrian. His icy blue eyes were the only thing that allowed Spectra to recall his name. Otherwise, he looked like any other vampire on the law enforcement unit. He tapped his fingers on the door.
Spectra plastered on a smile. "Ooh, I was just wondering what Valentine could tell me about what happened to him Thursday night."
A different vampire came into view in the doorway beside Adrian, a scowl directed toward the ghost ghoul. "Get lost, Spectra."
She ignored him and continued, "He had dirt all over his clothes when he came in that night, not to mention that his nose was broken. If I remember correctly, he went out into the garden and then—"
Adrian's blue eyes narrowed and he bared his fangs at the ghoul. "He said get lost, ghost bitch."
"What he means is," Valentine interjected, finally stepping in front of the other vampires, "we have important business to discuss and we can't have anyone eavesdropping." He grinned coyly as he took a step toward Spectra's hovering form. "So don't you two ghouls worry your pretty selves about it."
Spectra made the mistake of making eye contact with him, and her thoughts became hazy and muddled the longer she stared. Then she felt a clawed hand on her shoulder, and she snapped out of her trance. She looked back at Clawdeen. Spectra hadn't realized she had made herself tangible.
"We'll go, Valentine," the werewolf told him, her golden eyes narrowed.
The vampire smiled slyly. "That's a good girl."
The she-wolf growled as he swung the door closed, leaving the two ghouls alone in the dimly lit corridor.
Spectra shrugged Clawdeen's hand off her shoulder. "Clawdeen," she whined as she swiveled around to face her, "what was all that about?"
"Sorry," she chided, "it just looked like you were in a bit of trouble with Valentine's 'hypnotic gaze' and all."
The floating ghoul crossed her arms. "I could've handled it."
The werewolf scoffed but said nothing.
Spectra let out an emphatic sigh. The Gory Gazette was lagging in popularity lately. With the success of her Elissabat article, Elissabat: Fall of the Vampire Queen, Spectra hoped that another vampire-related story could continue gathering attention from her readers. But, like her prior article, she only had so much information she could work with. Clearly, she had to incorporate some speculative details.
Ghostly chains rattling, Spectra glided over to the she-wolf, who was already heading down the hall. "Aren't you at least a little bit curious, Clawdeen?"
"They're the law enforcement leaders," she huffed. "It's none of my or your business, Spectra."
The ghost frowned. "I'll say," she muttered. "Rebels. Who would ever want to go against the Queen?"
Clawdeen stopped in her tracks. "Rebels?"
Spectra nodded and swept her pale form in front of the werewolf. "Crazy, right? A bunch of monsters with a goal to—"
"Who are they?" Clawdeen cut in, the hope in her eyes illuminated by the dim ceiling lights.
The other ghoul shrugged. "Not sure. Former Monster High students. Venus—you know, McFlytrap—is one of them."
The werewolf's eyes widened. "H-How do you know that?"
"I know just about everything that goes on here," Spectra beamed. "She came to visit Valentine on Thursday last week and—"
"That's what you were talking about..."
Spectra narrowed her eyes at the clawed ghoul. She didn't appreciate being interrupted. "Yes," she replied, "I was trying to get to the bottom of it all but," she sighed, "you saw what happened."
Clawdeen's brows were furrowed as if in thought. "Come to think of it," she said slowly, "he did have a funky scent on him that night..."
The ghost practically squealed. "You were there?"
"Yeah, his nose was broken but now it's healed, of corpse—vampire. But I didn't see Venus and wait..." She looked at Spectra skeptically. "I thought you knew about it?"
"I do," she assured her. "But being a distant observer is nothing compared to a firsthand witness. How am I going to get honest news without a witness?"
Clawdeen sighed. "What I just said is pretty much all I know about it."
The floating ghoul quickly noted what the werewolf had told her on her iCoffin. She was putting her phone back into her pocket when Clawdeen said,
"I bet it was Venus who broke his nose," she grunted. "He had it coming."
Spectra slowly pulled her iCoffin back out, pressing the recording icon on another app. "Why would you say that?" she inquired. "Kieran Valentine is head of the Queen's law enforcement unit, after all."
"He's a shady bastard nowadays but he seems to know what he's doing. And he cares. But I still don't get why our 'law enforcement unit' is designed like this," the other ghoul griped.
"So you're saying you oppose the Queen's decisions?"
"What? No, it's not that it's—"
"You think Frankie is unfit to rule—to lead?"
Clawdeen took her time to reply, and Spectra smiled triumphantly.
"Look," the she-wolf said pointedly, glaring at the ghost ghoul, "I know what you're doing. But..." She sighed. "I'm gonna stand by Frankie. Even if she's been distant lately, even if I don't agree with her decisions every time... You and Frankie are some of the only friends I have left."
Spectra grinned and ceased recording, tucking her iCoffin into her jean pocket. "Nice answer," she praised. "I wonder what The Gory Gazette will think about it."
"Spectra," Clawdeen growled, "don't you even think about—"
"Did that ghost send you?"
The two ghouls turned their heads toward the voice coming from down the hall.
"You tell Spectra we don't want to be a part of her news story crap."
A yelp sounded and a translucent figure phased through the wall, the ghoul's dark lower half swishing as she fell backward and caught herself, floating upright. "Well," she huffed, crossing her arms.
"Sirena!" Spectra called, gliding over to the hybrid ghoul.
Sirena greeted the other ghost with a bright smile as if she didn't just get pushed through a wall a second ago. "Spectra! I've been searching the palace all over for you. I would've found you sooner but I got a little—"
"Distracted?" Clawdeen cut in, walking to stand beside the floating, glowing ghouls.
Sirena grinned sheepishly. "Just a little."
"What were you doing in there, Sirena?" Spectra asked. "Did you find out anything juicy I can use for my blog?"
The half-mermaid's tail swayed back and forth. "Like I said, I got distracted. I guess I just drifted in there when I was looking for you."
"Don't bother telling her," Clawdeen interjected. "The stuff they say in there is supposed to be classified."
"Oh, but I didn't really hear anything interesting," Sirena assured the werewolf.
The sides of Clawdeen's lips edged upward. "Good."
Spectra's face fell. She wished she could hide in the shadows like Twyla did before she left the palace. She could've found out about these rebels. "Why were you looking for me?" she asked.
"Oh, well, um..." Sirena glanced at Clawdeen, and the she-wolf sighed heavily in response.
"Fine, I'll go." Clawdeen disappeared down the corridor.
"Sorry," Sirena called out meekly as her form faded.
Spectra faced the other ghoul. "Soo..?"
Sirena smiled. "Follow me." The half mermaid's tail flicked as she swiveled around and swam through the air, her ghostly form swallowed up by the ceiling.
Spectra phased through behind her, bright sunlight suddenly flooding into her eyes. Once she had adjusted to the light, Spectra looked side to side as she hovered over the palace's roof until she caught sight of the other ghoul's black tail fin flicking beside the palace walls below her. She soon found herself gliding above the palace grounds, stray leaves of unpruned trees and sloppily-trimmed hedges slipping through her incorporeal skin as her shadow moved along the ground below. Sirena made a right turn once Spectra had caught up with her, and she followed suit as she phased through a hedge in front of her to the open, revealing another hybrid ghoul.
Sirena acknowledged the ghoul with a smile. "Bonita," she said, "did you see her?"
The pink ghoul shook her head. "Not, yet." A look of worry crossed the bony moth monster's face. "Are you sure this is okay?"
"We're just looking," Sirena assured.
"Looking at what?" Spectra floated down beside the other ghouls.
Bonita nibbled on the sleeve of her yellow dress nervously while Sirena explained.
"The Queen," she said quietly. "She's been going into that building almost every day now." The half-mermaid pointed in front of them. Spectra had to squint to notice the front of a building in the distance obscured by messy shrubs and elongated vines. She couldn't help but wonder how the Queen—how anyone—could get into a building so enveloped in green.
"Okay," she said skeptically, "we just need to find out why."
"We?" Bonita squeaked, pausing from filling her sleeve with holes. "I don't want to get in trouble..." She slowly resumed biting chunks out of her outfit when the other ghouls didn't respond right away.
"What would you get in trouble for?"
Spectra was startled at the voice, and Bonita loudly ripped a piece of fabric off her sleeve in surprise.
Sirena was remarkably calm. "We're just looking."
"At what?" Neighthan Rot came into view with his gray, veiny arms crossed. His long, tricolored-black hair and blue horn looked odd without a hat, not to mention his plain black uniform.
"The Queen has been going into that building—" Sirena said while pointing at the wooden shack-like structure, "—every day now."
The zombiecorn's blue eyes softened, and he uncrossed his arms and shrugged. "Yeah, you... you didn't know that?"
Sirena's eyes widened. "And you did?"
"I didn't even know that," Spectra interjected, gliding between Sirena and the half-zombie. "How long have you known?"
Neighthan's brows scrunched together. "Since she told me..." He looked past Spectra over to the other ghoul. "You didn't know?"
"Not until about a week ago when I started making daily trips around here," Sirena explained. "I wanted to keep my distractions limited, but I guess going the same way over and over again doesn't make a difference." A smile tugged at her lips. "If you go this way there's a ton of colorful little bugs that—"
"So," Spectra cut in, trying to get Neighthan's attention, "when did she tell you?"
He sighed. "I don't remember. She's been doing this for years now."
Spectra did well at hiding it, but she was bristling. How had something like this happened without her noticing? "She must want you to keep watch or something," Spectra mused. "Either that or she really trusts you."
Neighthan brought a hand to the back of his neck. "Yeah... I'm not really sure about that. She's been really distant lately."
Spectra giggled. "Lately?"
Neighthan opened his mouth to protest when Bonita called, "Quick! Behind the bushes!"
The monsters turned their heads back and saw the minty-green skinned queen making her way to the small building, and they responded immediately, instinctively leaping behind the hedges.
The four of them peered over the leafed mass at the Queen's distant figure hurriedly closing the building's door behind her. They let out relieved sighs and settled down on the grass beneath them.
"I don't see why it's such a big deal," Neighthan said. "She always goes in there."
Spectra looked back over to the wooden structure. "But we need to find out why." Before she knew it, she glided to the building. She stopped abruptly at its ivy-covered wall and gently pressed her ear against it, listening intently, but there was no sound.
"Spectra!" The ghost ghoul looked back to see Bonita flying over to her. "Let's go."
Spectra grimaced and brought her focus back to the building, ignoring the half-skeleton. She heard Bonita sigh worriedly, her massive wings fluttering rhythmically as she flew away. Nothing would keep Spectra from finding a story. She took a deep, needless breath and phased through the wall.
Only to be greatly disappointed.
"There's nothing in here!" she cried aloud, observing the bedraggled, empty room. Her glowing blue irises flicked about the inner walls of the tattered building's bare wooden walls. No one would read a story about grass seeping through the floor of some ramshackle piece of—
She clenched her fists at her sides. "Argh!"
At that moment she heard a click, like a key turning within a lock or pieces snapping into place. It was soft and hardly audible, but it was enough to capture her attention. Spectra remained still once she heard it, listening for it again until, there it was, the soft shick of the sound.
Her ghastly form was a soft white in the dimness of the room as she drifted toward the sound. She made it to the back wall and hovered in front of it. She was sure the sound came from beyond it. Spectra dove through the wall.
A long, dark, concrete lined hallway splayed out in front of the ghost. She could make out a fluorescent light shining harshly in the near distance. It hummed faintly once she was underneath its bright glow. She continued gliding forward until she made it to an intersection: one path led left, the other, right. She went left and swiveled in the air to whatever lay at the end of the hallway, which was equally dark as its predecessor.
The end of the hall revealed a tall, metallic door. On the wall beside it was a small metal box with a thin slit at the top. Was the Queen inside?
Spectra grinned and made herself intangible so that she could simply phase through the silver door.
Her hand made it past the surface, and the rest of her pressed forward. Tingles suddenly pricked her hollow skin and stung her until a sharp shock surged through her. She didn't scream when she leaped back, but floated there, entirely stunned.
Spectra's mind took her back to her time at Haunted High, restrained by detention chains. But this was different. It didn't prevent her from leaving but entering. Phasing, in general, was a part of nature, just like breathing was for humans, and to be confined to walls, ceilings, floors...
She gulped. The world seemed a whole lot smaller.
It took a moment for Spectra to snap out of it. She reminded herself she was here for a story. She needed it.
The ghost hastily turned away from the metal door and headed toward the right hallway. She surged forward once under the fluorescent light of the intersection and flowed straight into the opposite corridor.
The ghoul hovered herself into a large and open white-walled room blazing with fluorescent light. Dozens upon dozens of floor-to-ceiling metallic shelves filled with items from all over the monster world were sprawled about the room.
Spectra scanned the shelves in awe, spotting relics from before even her time. But the most peculiar trinkets lay at the back of the room: Egyptian relics; more specifically, idols, amulets, and charms—all none like the ones Cleo had brought to school to do silly things like remove zits or have a good hair day.
Spectra floated up a shelf, scanning the idols a little closer. One of the minuscule golden statues caught her eye, and she stilled when she noticed an inscription on it. The idol was that of a man with two snakes entwined with one another, one in each of his hands, like he was strangling them. The inscription was crudely scrawled in English like someone had recently written it. In fact, almost all the idols on the shelf had words in English etched onto them.
She wondered if the Queen wrote it. But Frankie didn't seem like one to so blatantly vandalize ancient relics. However, nowadays, there was no telling what she could do.
Heka, the inscription read. The god of magic. Activates the Ka within a body—
Spectra would've read more if it wasn't for the sudden slam of a door. The ghoul instinctively became transparent and turned her head toward the sound. The Queen.
Frankie didn't appear to be in a hurry, so Spectra gradually hovered toward the exit as she watched her. The green-skinned ghoul sighed as she slowly closed the door behind her. Spectra noticed it resembled the one at the end of the left hall. The Queen took out a black, plastic card and placed it into the slit of the metallic box by the door; a fizzling noise sounded once she removed it. Then she reached out and touched the door, instantly retracting and waving her hand like she had been stung.
The door was electrified. That's what prevented Spectra from entering. She watched the other ghoul put the card into the sleeve of her long, white gown. The card must activate it. Spectra couldn't help but wonder what the Queen was hiding.
Then Frankie was moving toward her and she rushed backward, forgetting that the Queen wouldn't be able to see her. The other ghoul took a right and went down the hall, leaving the ghost alone in the room.
Spectra breathed out a sigh of relief and made herself visible. She took her iCoffin out from her pocket and floated back toward the idol she saw before. She snapped a quick picture of it and then opened a writing app. Note to self. Find out what "Ka" means.
Taking advantage of the situation, Spectra glided about the room, snapping pictures of whatever she found most interesting and newsworthy. She passed by the door the Queen had come out of and stopped suddenly, a sense of curiosity and anxiety coming over her. The pale ghoul was tempted to approach it, to see if she would experience the same pain she had before. But, as curious as she was, she wasn't ready to have the same empty, helpless feeling again.
So, she turned around and glided back, going down the same hall she had arrived through until she phased through the wall into the ratty shack. When she did, she noticed a plank was loose on the wall that covered the mysterious passageways. That was how Frankie came in, Spectra concluded.
She moved forward and exited the shack. She hovered in front of it for a moment and pulled out her iCoffin. She scrolled through her self-proclaimed "news-worthy" photos and grimaced, knowing the risks of bringing any of this information out into the public. One by one, she deleted each picture, until she came across the golden idol with the man and the snakes.
Spectra sighed, locked her iCoffin, and tucked it back into her pocket, hoping she wouldn't regret keeping that one picture.
"Hey."
The ghost lifted her head up to see Sirena gliding over to her, a bubbly grin spread across her face. "Did you find anything good? Anything 'news worthy'?"
Spectra looked down and smiled sadly. "No," she told the indigo-haired ghoul. "Nothing."
The half-mermaid frowned. "I'm sorry."
She shrugged. "It's no big deal." She floated over to her. "We should head inside anyway."
Sirena nodded and turned away. Spectra followed, and thoughts of what she discovered swarmed her mind.
What if the real story was behind that door?
