Chapter 2
"Sammy De Sludge…as in General…?" Clawdeen inquired with a raise of her brow.
"That's right," the sparkly pink girl nodded. "I'm his daughter. He isn't lying to you. Monster High is the safest place we can be right now. That's why we're here too. We are all daughters of the soldiers that are now stationed here in New Salem."
"My name is Annie Conda." The gorgon girl smiled. The dozen or so green snakes that made up her ponytail flipped themselves. "Deuce and Viperine are actually my cousins." At that, Deuce and Viperine got up and hugged their cousin who they hadn't seen in a very long time. They must not have noticed her standing there before, neither did I, but she's not my cousin.
"Yo, Annie, long time no see!" Deuce said. Annie was closer to his age than Viperine, so I'm sure he remembered hanging out with Annie a lot more when they were younger. They seemed to hug each other very firmly.
"My cousin!" Viperine smiled. "You look beautiful as ever!"
"Thank you. I know the circumstances aren't great, but when mother told me we would be coming to New Salem, I was so happy. I missed you both so much!" Annie beamed.
"Speaking of relatives…" The mummy ghoul stepped out from the hug fest. "Cleo, it's me. Your cousin, Hera Glyphyx." She had the most stunning purple hair. It looked as if it were made of silk. Looking at it caused me to touch my own purple locks and wonder if my hair could look just as good if I grew it out.
"Oh, Hera, darling, did you hear about Nefera?" Cleo waved Hera over patting the bit of space on the couch next to her.
"I did. That's why my daddy decided to come here. Your daddy called him. You must be a wreck." The two ghouls hugged, careful not to ruin any make up they had applied.
Deuce sat back down next to Cleo, and Viperine and Annie went and sat back near the hearth. Clawdeen and Howleen returned to their seats as well. Clawd sat on the arm of the couch near Draculaura. Only one of the new ghouls was left to introduce herself. She looked like a sea creature, but parts of her looked like solid ice. Maybe she was a hybrid monster, a cross between two species?
"Hi, my name is Gail Glacier. My father is a colonel. I'm from Screamland." She sort of waved, and then she quickly slunk behind Sammy.
"So, Sammy, what is it that you know that can help us?" Cleo asked.
"I know where the MHAT soldiers are keeping your friends and family." Sammy said confidently.
"Is that true?" Cleo turned to her cousin Hera to confirm.
Hera nodded.
"I know you are ze daughter of ze general and all, but how is it you have sis information?" Rochelle Goyle asked. She was a ghoul of rules, and I think everyone was a little nervous that she might protest to breaking them.
"I heard my father last night talking to his troops. When we first got here, we were sharing a room, so I heard everything he was saying in great detail." Sammy replied.
"Who's up for a rescue mission?" Toralei shouted. Licking her paw with confidence. She had a kind of dumb confidence. Consequences were foreign to her.
"Chill out mate, its not that easy. We don't want to just show up without a plan. Unless you want us all to get caught?" Lagoona calmed the situation. She had seen what monsters could get like when they wanted revenge.
"I agree y'all. Let's sit here and make a plan. We should be strategic." Operetta spoke up. She was normally a pretty quiet ghoul, but always down for adventure.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Frankie sparked from the bolts on her mint green neck. "Sammy hasn't even told us where this place is or how it's guarded. That might be a good place to start."
I nodded in agreement along with many of the other monsters in the room. We wanted to save our friends, but that wasn't worth risking more of us getting captured.
"I know where they are, but freeing your friends might be a problem. They took all the monsters they captured to Scare Block 5." Sammy bit her nails immediately after announcing the news. There seemed to be a collective gasp. I grabbed for Pawl. Just hearing the name of that place sent shivers down my spine and through my tail. Pawl rubbed my arm gently.
"You can't be serious!" Cleo exclaimed.
"Umm…what is Scare Block 5?" Frankie interjected.
"Yes. Please make clear for us. What is this Scary Block 5?" Abbey added.
"It seems that many of our friends are not familiar with it." Scarah Screams shared. She was a telepathic banshee. She probably picked up on the thoughts of all the students who were confused.
"I'll tell you what that place is…it's a death sentence!" Deuce blurted. "That is the maximum security prison of prisons. Monsters…I mean real monsters go there. They're sent there for horrific crimes against monsters and humans. I heard there are even some humans there!"
"I went there once." Jackson spoke up. "I went there to visit my uncle Jason because…" He scratched his head. "It's a scary place. The prisoners aren't just behind metal bars. They're behind layers of concrete and steel doors with entrapment hexes and electrified force fields. It's almost impossible for prisoners to escape from there."
"It may be impossible to escape, but have they ever tried breaking in?" Porter Geiss, a new ghost student excitedly shared. "I bet there is a way to get into the prison unnoticed."
"Like ok…break in, then what? It's not like we have the magic key to break them out…like duh." Amanita Nightshade scoffed. I was actually surprised she was participating in the discussion since she was well known to be selfish.
"Although it could have been said with a bit more tact, I would have to agree with Amanita. We may be able to break in, but how will we free our friends?" Robecca Steam, the bronze robot pondered.
"Then it sounds like tonight is a scouting and intel mission only," said Clawd. "We just need to check out the place and get a better idea about what we're dealing with."
"Yeah, we need the fastest and sneakiest monsters to go out tonight and bring back information." Howleen said nudging her best friend, Twyla. She knew Twyla was the sneakiest ghoul she knew.
"This shouldn't be exciting Howleen." Clawdeen stared down her little sister. "This is serious and dangerous."
"I know that!" Howleen crossed her arms and huffed.
"Well I think it makes sense for the werecats and werewolves to go, since we're the fastest." Toralei suggested. Did she just volunteer me?
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Toralei. It makes sense to have the werewolves and werecats go tonight. I think some of us would just be a liability if we went out there." Cleo held the hands of Frankie, Draculaura, and Abbey. She knew they would want to do something just as bad as her, but it didn't make sense. That touching gesture lit the fire I needed.
"I agree to go with Toralei." I said. Pawl looked at me with wide eyes. Was he shocked I volunteered?
"Then I will go too," said Pawl.
"We'll go too." Purrsephone and Meowlody purred.
"I am willing to go." Catrine put her arm around my shoulder.
"Me too." Catty said.
"Thank you all." Cleo smiled.
"Don't thank us. This is Monster High, and I've learned we stick by each other no matter what!" I said.
"The werewolves are in too." Howleen said.
"Howleen, you should stay." Clawd insisted.
"No! Clawdia is my sister too. I'm not just going to sit around when my sister could be in trouble." Howleen barked.
"Alright…calm down. The werewolves are in." Clawdeen confirmed.
"I think we must play a part too." Spectra spoke up. "Me, Porter, and Kiyomi can give you some ghost support." Porter and Kiyomi nodded as if to agree.
"Me too!" Said Sirena Von Boo. She was a ghost mermaid, and although she could be a bit distracted at times, her heart was always in the right place.
"I think our skills may come in handy as well." Scarah and Billy both held up their hands to volunteer. It made sense. Invisi Billy could turn invisible, and Scarah was telepathic. Those were two very sensible skills to have on a scouting mission.
"So it looks like we have our scouting team." Cleo announced. "What should the rest of us do?"
"Maybe we keep in good touch with Ghoulia to find out how to save her." Abbey suggested. "Maybe she learned a thing or two about computer systems there."
"Mostly, our job will be to pretend like everything is normal, so my father and his monsters don't suspect a thing." Sammy smiled. "I know it might be difficult, but just do whatever it is that you guys would do if this wasn't happening tonight."
"Have you done this before?" Venus McFlytrap raised her hand to ask. "You just seem to know what to do."
"N…no…I've never done this before." She bit her nails. Looking over at Gail, I saw her leg fidgeting as Sammy answered the question. Had they actually done something like this before? I saw Venus, Robecca, and Rochelle all whispering something to each other as well.
"Well…time to get dressed ghouls. I'm thinking black on black? It'll be dark soon, and we don't want to be seen, do we?" Toralei got up from the couch. She was right. I couldn't wear my skirt and platform heels on a dangerous mission. Toralei, Purrsephone, Meowlody, Catrine, and Catty all got up and headed for the dorm rooms. I was en route to follow them, but then Pawl pulled me aside.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Pawl asked, concerned. He grabbed both my arms and held me close.
"I'm scared…that's true, but I just know if it were me that had been captured and trapped, I would take comfort in knowing my friends would try their best to rescue me. I can't imagine how Ghoulia or the other monsters are feeling, but I also can't sit by and just think about it." I let my feelings flow out.
"I just…I just would never forgive myself if something happened to you." He kissed my forehead.
"The feeling is mutual." I blushed.
After we changed into some spy gear, we gathered in the café. My nerves were clawing at me. Luckily, Pawl was there, right by my side. Clawd, Toralei, Clawdeen, and Billy took on the roll of group leaders. We were such a big group; we decided it would be smart to break up into four smaller groups with some kind of equal distribution. Pawl and I were on Billy's team along with Howleen and Kiyomi. Toralei had of course recruited Purrsephone and Meowlody, but Porter and Spectra also joined her. Clawdeen was in command of Catty, Sirena, and Scarah. Clawd was with Twyla and Catrine.
Spectra had found a map of New Salem and placed it at the center of one of the larger tables in the café. We all huddled around as Clawd used the map to explain the plan. It was actually a little terrifying how close the Scare Block 5 was to Monster High.
"We're all going to go through the woods here." He pointed to a patch of green on the map. We followed his fingers until they reached a dotted black line. "This is the wall surrounding Scare Block 5. Before we reach the actual wall, we are going to split up. My team will access the wall head on. Clawdeen and Toralei, your teams will go right. Billy, your team will go left."
"What do want us to do?" Toralei asked.
"You're a werecat. Climb the wall. See how close you can get without being caught. Our goal is to find out if this place has any weak spots." I had never seen Clawd so serious. "If at any point you feel like you've been spotted, run."
"Everyone keep their phones on them. We need to be in communication." Clawdeen said. I pulled out my phone to make sure it was on and charged.
"Are you guys ready?" Billy turned to Pawl, Howleen, Kiyomi, and me. His question caused my heart to race. I pictured running through the dark woods. I hoped Pawl would be at my side the whole time.
"I'm ready to save my sista!" Howleen exclaimed. I was astonished by her lack of fear. I admired it, but also wondered if it was naïve.
"Prowla and I are good to go. I just hope you all can keep up." Pawl smirked. I knew his joking was really his expression of nervousness. Toralei led us all down a crawl space that connected with some blocked off tunnels of the catacombs leading right to a manhole on the road in front of Monster High. We all hoped that the tunnel was still a secret.