Torn, broken, shattered, ruined...

The pitiful, tattered, fragmented form of Monster High was all this and more.

Lagoona gulped. She hoped to never see it again. She stared up at the charred husk of a building: large chunks of debris piled heavily and sloped downward, spilling into the courtyard as if it had toppled over like a house of cards.

It was unrecognizable.

Her mind took her back as it grasped onto memories of a happier time, just moments before it all came crashing down. School gore-rientation was supposed to make an impact on the new arrivals. But not like this. She held back any sort of emotion she could when she thought back to the monsters who were buried underneath the massive wreckage. So many... Ghoulia, Elissabat, even Gil...

A sudden thud broke the sea ghoul from her thoughts, and she whipped her head over her shoulder to see Cleo collapsed onto the untamed lawn. "Cleo!" She rushed to her side. Lagoona knelt down beside her friend and scanned the ghoul frantically for any sort of reaction.

"She's gone on and blacked-out," Operetta remarked from behind her. "I wonder why."

Abbey crouched down beside the finned ghoul. "Seemed fine earlier."

"Someone help her up!" Lagoona snapped, irritated at the ghouls' nonchalance. Before anyone could comply, she moved past Abbey and raised Cleo by her underarms. "Is anyone going to—" Lagoona stopped when she noticed the startled looks on the others' faces, clearly shocked at her abrupt attitude. She gently placed Cleo back onto the brittle grass. "I'm sorry," she said. "I just... The school..."

"Hey now," Operetta cooed. "It's all right, sugar. We get it."

"Lagoona?" Robecca hesitantly called. "If you don't mind me asking, where do we go from here?"

The saltwater monster rose to her feet. "Well, love, we split up. You can go on ahead to your father's lab." Then she looked down at Cleo's slumped-over form. "But you're gonna need to bring her..." She shifted her green-eyed gaze toward Holt. "Deuce trusts you with his ghoulfriend. Carry her down with Robecca."

Holt grunted, resentment in his expression. Then he looked confused. "Wait, we're going down?"

Lagoona grinned slightly as she remembered the time she and her ghoulfriends had traveled to Hexiciah Steam's lab. She chuckled lightly, "It's a bumpy ride."

Then she turned to Abbey, who rose beside her. "I'd appreciate it if you came with me to the pool, love. Your ice powers could come in handy for what I plan on doing."

Abbey nodded agreement, and Lagoona moved toward the direction of the pool.

"Hold on a minute," Operetta interjected. "Just what am I s'posed to do?"

Lagoona shrugged. "Keep watch."

The red-haired ghoul scoffed. "Keep watch?" she repeated defiantly. "That's really whatcha s'pect me to do while you're searchin' for Whisp's lantern? Who made you boss—"

"Op," Holt interjected, and Operetta glanced back at him; he shook his head solemnly.

She crossed her lilac-skinned arms and huffed, but said nothing.

"And me?" Jackson asked from beside Holt. "What should I do?"

Lagoona couldn't think of anything. "Didn't you find yourself some books to read?" she suggested, trying to sound reasonable. "Stay up here with Operetta and study them."

The human opened his mouth to protest, but then closed it and nodded. "I really wanted to see Hexiciah Steam's lab..." he muttered under his breath.

Lagoona's finned ears caught this. "We're close to the city. If the Queen's monsters patrol here, one of you can warn one side and the other another. Got it, mate?"

Jackson sighed. "Yes, Lagoona."

Satisfied, the sea ghoul turned back to face Abbey. "Come on, love. Time we check out that swimming pool."

The two ghouls headed toward the edge of the destroyed building while a scuffling sounded from behind them as the others did as they were told. By the time they made their way around the building, the silence between the two ghouls broke.

"Abbey," Lagoona began, "what has it been like all these years? For you, I mean."

The Yeti's daughter sighed. "I lived on own. Didn't have anything else but Shiver and ice cave."

The sea ghoul crossed her arms. "Sounds lonely," she remarked softly.

"Nothing changed," Abbey said. "Iris would come sometimes during week but she was never..."

"Not someone you wanted to see, huh, love?"

The ice ghoul nodded dejectedly. "Things never changed until Cleo come along. But for better? Am not so sure."

Lagoona chuckled lightly. "Well, I know I'm glad to see you. So is everyone else." A teasing grin slowly appeared on the ghoul's face. "You looked pretty cozy with Heath this morning."

Abbey looked down, her cheeks flushing red for a moment until she glanced ahead. "There is pool."

The sea monster followed her gaze and scoffed. "That is not a pool," Lagoona approached the infested water. "That is an abomination." She wrinkled her nose, unsuccessfully hiding the awful scent coming off the sickly green water. "Maybe Honey should've come along. Swamps are more her thing, yeah?"

Abbey shook her head. "I may not be water monster but," she cringed as she scanned the pool, "that is not swamp."

"It might as well be," the other ghoul said. "I've never seen a pool so disgusting." She groaned in repugnance. "I'd probably die going in there."

Abbey grinned. "No worry," she cracked her knuckles, "I am here to help." Arms outstretched, the Yeti's daughter unleashed a flurry of ice from her fingertips and solidified the murky pool water until it burst into grossly dark shards of ice.

Lagoona grimaced as cold ice whisked past her cheeks. "I appreciate whatever you were trying to do, but I don't see how..." she trailed off when she noticed the pool's surface, currently misting with frigid steam. Lagoona tackled her friend in a hug. "You're a genius, Abbey!"

Once the mist evaporated, the pool water was no longer covered in unwanted greenery. Instead, the water was left opaque, yet it appeared much cleaner than it had earlier. Lagoona felt much more comfortable with the thought of swimming in it.

Abbey carefully retracted herself from the sea ghoul's embrace and smirked. "Any more help you need?"

Lagoona nodded. "I was hoping you could use that ice of yours to make a sort of bridge leading down under." She glanced back over at the pool. "It should come in handy."

The Yeti's daughter nodded agreement, and once again let her powers radiate off her fingertips and into the pool. Soon, a thick ice bridge spiraled downwards into the water, stopping on the concrete right at Lagoona's boot-clad feet.

The sea monster smiled at her friend in thanks, and then steadily walked onto the ice until it led her to the center of the pool. Instead of letting the water rise above her, Lagoona decided to dive right in.

The coolness of the liquid encased her body in a second. She swam downwards as fast as she could, attempting to ditch the grossness of the water and head lower, where Monster High's never-ending deep end had a life of its own.

Soon, the concrete pool walls morphed into grooved rocks, and colorful underwater flora dotted every nook and cranny in sight. Lagoona slowed to a stop, swaying her body to stay in place. She smiled widely at her surroundings. It felt like ages since she had been underwater like this. She closed her eyes and took it all in. Her gills breathing in the water, her hair loose and free, the pressure of it all making her feel weightless...

Lagoona's eyes snapped open. There was no time to lose. Cleo wanted to find Whisp's lantern. She had to find it. She scanned her surroundings until she caught sight of Abbey's ice bridge, just barely spiraling down to where she floated. The sea monster swam toward it and clung to the brisk surface. She crawled down the ice like an animal, gripping onto it with her webbed hands. Then she dug her nails into it to keep herself steady, her legs dangling above her. She wasn't certain, but something—

There it is, she thought, and a grin spread across her face. A flicker of light shown below, as if it was a reflection of something—the lantern, she wasn't sure. Lagoona released her grip on the ice and surged onward.


"I didn't want this..."

"Then don't do this. Please."

The door slammed shut and I was left in darkness.

I could feel myself waking up, but I determinedly kept my eyes shut as another post-dream headache began its rampage within my skull. "Five more minutes, dad," I murmured sluggishly. "I'll recharge then..."

"Cleo?"

I opened my eyes to see Robecca and Holt hovering over me. They looked different... But why would they be in my room—?

Oh. Right. I held back a groan. It was already bad enough that this nightmarish future existed, but I was so done being trapped in another ghoul's body. I forced a smile and sat up. "Hey, guys..." I slurred out as my headache faded. "Did I fall asleep?"

Robecca smiled softly. "For a little while."

"Reminds me of when you knocked out at the party," Holt said. "You were alright and then you were out all of a sudden."

I nodded as I recalled the moment. I had a dream then, too. Except this time, it was drastically shorter than before. Yet the emotion I felt was so raw and real, that I almost felt like it was my own. I couldn't even tell what happened in the dream. What happened that made Whisp feel that way? That and I had already seen Whisp go back to her lamp. I groaned at the thought. Lagoona was at the pool searching for what was no longer there.

"We're waiting for the right time," Robecca said, breaking me from my thoughts. "Then we can open the door."

I shifted my gaze past her where the wide yellow door leading to Hexiciah Steam's lab resided. The copper-framed skullete clock above it read 11:54. Dim light streamed in from the multiple round windows in the domed bronze ceiling above. It felt like yesterday since I was last here, sparking at the bolts to see what lay behind that door.

A minute later, Robecca stood in front of it. "If I remember correctly, this should be the right time..." She grabbed the rod of the doorknob with both hands, waited a moment, and then turned the wheel. She stepped back as the bronze gears behind the door's transparent layer began to shift and turn noisily. When the turning slowed, the door's circular center opened outward. Robecca approached the entrance, then looked back at us. "This is it," she beamed. "Time to go in."

Holt and I rose from the cobblestone floor and joined Robecca at the opening. The room was bleaker than I remembered.

Robecca moved past the staircase leading to the loft. "We may be able to find what you're looking for here," she said, gesturing at the tall, stuffed bookcases. When I followed her, steam puffed from her boots. "I'll check on the higher shelves."

I skimmed book spines for the title of the one I needed to find as Robecca did the same.

"What's that?"

I looked over my shoulder and saw Holt, still at the doorway, pointing at the large, circular glass on the raised platform in the center of the laboratory.

"That's my father's time teleporter," Robecca explained. "Back in high school, some of us ghouls traveled to the year 1814." She turned back to skim the shelves. "But when we returned to the present, some of us were fused together." She glanced down at me. "That was an experience, wasn't it, Cleo?"

I nodded, even though my experience was much different from Cleo's. I didn't fuse with anyone, but I met my grandfather and, well, died. But it all worked out.

Holt's eyes widened in surprise. "Can't believe I missed it; would've had a killer party." Then he frowned. "Just one of those days Jackson kept me in..." he grumbled. He walked over to join us, then froze.

After a moment, I called out to him. "Holt?"

"Shh!" He held a finger to his lips. "Did you hear that?" he whispered.

Robecca floated down and landed softly on the floor next to me, listening attentively. Her geared eyes widened.

I heard it, too. A wheezing noise whined faintly, like a machine just before it sputters to life. A low groaning sound followed soon after, and we realized the noises were coming from above. The narrow staircase creaked louder and louder. Delicate, hoary fingers carefully clutched the railing as a pair of feet thumped heavily onto each step.

We didn't move when we first heard it, and we didn't bother moving by the time it descended. Long, azure strands framed a gaunt face. Blue irises stared languidly at us. When she caught my eyes, a smile slowly formed on her red lips.

I grinned back at her. "Ghoulia."