Hotel Transylvania was bustling with activity as per usual.
Dracula stood in the lobby, greeting guests that entered and looking for the friends he had invited to partake in Mavis's birthday celebration.
The first to arrive was Wayne the werewolf and his wife Wanda. With them, they brought their 301 rambunctious puppies with them who immediately swarmed the lobby, tearing at some things and wetting on others.
"Wayne, my old friend!" Drac called.
Wayne approached the vampire with a tired grin. "Hey, Drac, how are ya?" The two side-hugged as the wolf continued to speak. "I couldn't wait for this weekend. It's always great to be out of the shadows for a few days."
Drac nodded his head in agreement. "Well, I say that the family looks beautiful… but let me just clean up their filth." With a quick call for housekeeping, witch maids flew in and reorganized everything to its proper order that the pups had messed with.
Just then, two large shipping crates came in through the front doors. The lid of one was popped open, and Drac's friend Frankenstien jumped out.
"Frankie my boy! You and Eunice are still traveling by mail, eh Mr. Cheapo?"
Frank laughed awkwardly. "It's not a money thing. I have a plane-phobia. At any moment those engines could - "
"Yeah, yeah, we already know," Wayne interrupted. "'Catch on fire. FIRE BAD.' We get it."
Then something else caught Wayne's eye. It almost looked like his friend's apparel had become sentient.
"Hey, Drac, buddy, what's going on with your cape there?"
Drac looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean?" Before he could turn around to see, he felt a sharp pinch on his back. He yelped, and turned to see a bobbing pair of glasses in midair. It was his friend Griffin, the Invisible Man, who had arrived undetected.
"Oh, hello Invisible Man. Always great to 'see' you." Frank and Wayne laughed along at Drac's joke.
"Heh-heh, it never gets old," Griffin replied with a chuckle. Then, he removed his glasses and began prodding at Drac, using his invisibility to always be one step ahead and out of reach of the vampire's annoyed swipes. "Haha! Missed me!" he teased.
"Okay, okay, you win." Drac said, giving up. "Here, hold this bacon."
Griffin took the piece of crispy meat with confusion. Before he could ask why, dozens of Wayne's pups swarmed all over him attempting to bite at the delicious treat. The friends laughed at the Invisible Man's chaos, but were soon blown by a gust of sandy wind coming in from the revolving front doors. It was their friend the mummy, who had traveled all the way from Egypt to the hotel. He tried to give Drac a hug, but the vampire instead drew his attention to the mess that was left.
"The sand, Murray. Always with the sand!" Drac gestured to show the mess that the mummy had left behind in his wake. Murray simply laughed it off and went to greet Frankenstein, his wife Eunice who had unboxed herself, and the wolves.
A spider then weaved its way down a string of silk in front of Dracula. "We're ready!" it said in its tiny voice, and then directed the vampire's attention to the display near the ceiling. It was entirely woven as a web and said "Happy 118th Birthday Mavis." It sparkled nicely, and Drac's friends gasped in delight over it.
"Aw," Wanda cooed. "If only Martha were here to see this."
Dracula sighed, remembering his late wife. "Yes, but she's always with us, Wanda. Here." He tapped his chest over the heart.
A short time later, the gang found themselves inside the hotel's ballroom. It had been lavishly decorated with streamers and balloons. There had been dozens of wrapped presents that were stacked upon a table. Everyone now watched closely as Mavis began to unwrap the very last one.
"Ooooh, it's Mavis's birthday!" Murray sang out. "Whacha got, whatcha got, whatcha got?"
Mavis finished tearing off the wrapping paper and opened up the box.
"Ahh, a fire extinguisher. Thanks, Uncle Frank, it's great!"
"Yep, don't mention it kiddo. You can never be too safe around - " Frankenstein shuddered - "FIRE."
Next to him, Wayne rolled his eyes, but before he could say anything about Frank's pyrophobia, Dracula stood and clapped his hands once.
"Okay, okay. Augustus, Porridge Head, get the cake!"
The zombie bellhops obeyed, disappearing into the kitchen as Frank's wife Eunice blew a party horn to get them all into tune. Mavis's family then began to sing:
"Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
You look like a vampire…
And you bite like one too!"
The zombie bellhops returned with Mavis's birthday cake in tow. It was frosted in purple, with skull candies all over it. A large 118 candle burned on top. Frank eyed it with caution.
Mavis blushed. "Aww, thanks guys."
"Make a wish, honeybat," Dracula urged.
Mavis thought for a moment. Then she closed her eyes and blew out the candles.
Her family cheered as she then went off and cut the first slice of cake. The cake screeched, and the slice screamed out as well as though it was being separated from its mother. As the monsters began to cut themselves slices, Dracula eagerly scooted next to his daughter.
"Sooo, what did my little Mavy wish for?" he asked.
Mavis shook her head, chewing. "Nope! I can't tell you that."
Dracula tried to put on his most appealing face for her. "C'mon, honeydeath, tell!" he urged.
"No, you wouldn't want to hear it," Mavis said, dismissing him once more. "Besides, it's bad luck."
Wayne lapped up his icing from his cake slice. "Bad luck is a good thing!" he said. "Superstitions only make life more worthwhile, right?"
Murray nodded in agreement. "Wolfie's got a point there! Curses are all the rage out in Egypt."
Mavis rubbed the back of her neck, unsure still. "I don't know…"
Eunice then spoke up in her nasally voice. "Oh, come on, Mavis! We're all dying to hear it! Tell us! Tell us!"
Mavis giggled as her Aunt playfully poked her side and then nodded. "Okay, okay," she said, taking a deep breath. "I wished that I could go and travel the world!"
"You? Travel the world?" Dracula began to laugh. He laughed so hard that he fell from his seat and onto the floor.
Frank choked on his fork.
"I told you guys it was bad luck," Mavis said with a shrug.
Dracula quickly rearranged himself.
"The world? Come on, Mavy, be reasonable," he said. "That's a crazy idea!"
"It's not safe, honey," Wanda agreed.
Mavis crossed her arms stubbornly. "Mom was my age when she traveled. Why can't I go?" she asked.
"Because of them!" Dracula said, quickly summoning a projector with his magic and displaying a slideshow upon a screen. The lights were dimmed for a few minutes as he spoke and showed various photographs of what looked to be human tourists.
"These are recent images our surveillance has uncovered. They are getting fatter as to overpower us. And they are wearing less clothing, allowing for more movement to strangle us or cut open our heads and put candy in them!"
Everyone cowered, throwing the leftover cake frosting at the screen in disgust.
"Evil villain, you will never win!" Dracula hissed.
Mavis raised an eyebrow. "Come on, guys. Don't you think that maybe you're overreacting a little? I mean, what if the humans have changed?"
"They have changed," Griffin pointed out. "And it looks like it's for the worse. They'd be much better at hunting us now with all their body modifications."
"Griff is right!" Eunice put in. "Why would you want to deal with some horrible humans? They hate us, they're vicious, and they're really loud!"
"Your dad built this place for a reason, kid," Frank reminded Mavis. "To keep them out, and to keep us monsters safe."
But Mavis narrowed her eyes. "But… doesn't it ever bother you that you don't really know much about life outside this hotel? How things are in the 21st century? What the people are like?"
Drac, Frank, Eunice, Wayne, Wanda, Murray, and Griffin all looked at one another.
They all shook their heads.
Mavis sighed and wiped frosting from the corner of her mouth.
"Well, anyway… thanks for the party. It was great. Really."
She licked the dab of frosting from her finger, turned to exit the ballroom, and began heading back to her room.
The other monsters stared quietly after her.
"Wow… what's eating her Drac?" Murray asked. "I haven't seen her this eager to leave the hotel, like, ever!"
Dracula shook his head sadly. "I dunno."
Frank gave his back a reassuring pat. "Maybe you should go speak to her," he suggested. "You know. Head on over there, and maybe even give her a pep talk."
The vampire sighed, knowing his friend was right. If he didn't talk to Mavis, he would never get to the bottom of this. He rose from his chair and went in the direction his daughter had gone.
Dracula found Mavis in her room, sitting atop her coffin bed. He took a seat next to her and put a hand on hers.
"Hey," he said. "It was a pretty good day today. My little Mavy is all grown up, she got some wonderful presents and her family came to wish her a happy birthday! It couldn't get better than this, right?"
He feigned surprise as he pulled something out of his pocket. "Oh, but it just did! Look what else I have for you sweetheart!"
Mavis peered over and saw that he had a couple of fresh scorpions to eat. He looked hopefully at her, but she declined.
"No thanks, Dad. I'm not in the mood."
Drac groaned in disappointment and pocketed them again. "Mavis, sweetheart," he began, "look, everyone has days where we think that the grass might be greener somewhere else. But I have been out there, and I can tell you… there's nothing out there that you're going to like. I mean, Murray says that explorers are always trying to invade his tomb. Frank says that humans around their town are always having bonfires and shooting fireworks in the air. And I don't need to remind you what happened to your mommy…"
He fell silent for a moment. Mavis lowered her head.
"The point is," Drac continued, "do you really want to take that chance with the humans… all alone on your own?"
Mavis's face held an expression of disappointment. "No," she finally admitted, but then she grew excited. "We should go together!"
Dracula frowned with confusion. This was not the answer he was expecting. "What?" he asked. "Go where?"
"Out into the world!" Mavis said, excited. "C'mon, Dad! You and me! Together! We can take a train down to the airport and then fly out to Hawaii on Gremlin Air… we can be back in a week, or even less if you want!"
Dracula stared at his daughter blankly. "Honeybat… you are joking, right?"
Mavis stopped short. Her heart sank. Her shoulders slumped.
"Yes, Dad. I'm joking," she said finally. "Of course it's a joke. Give me a break. I mean, it's like we're going to actually go out and risk being seen by humans…"
Dracula sighed with relief. "Don't do that!" he said. "You really had me worried there! And you know what I always say…"
"Curiosity killed the bat," Mavis finished, nodding her head glumly. "Ah well. I guess I'll just head to the coffin now. The sun's about to rise."
Dracula nodded and stifled a yawn. "Yes, me too. My voice needs all the rest it can get. You can't greet guests with a hoarse throat after all!"
He headed for the door, giving his daughter a kiss on the forehead before heading out.
"Night, Dad." Mavis turned and began opening the lid of her coffin.
"Good night my little Voodoo doll," Dracula replied, shutting the door behind him as he went.
Mavis stood there after he'd left, staring longingly outside the window of her room. She of course hadn't been joking about traveling the world. If her father had said yes, the two of them could already be a couple hours away from landing on the lush, tropical shores of -
Ah, but what difference did it make? She was never going to see the outside world, or Haweewee. She may as well get used to the fact that she was to be stuck in this hotel for the rest of her life. And that was a loooong time.
Mavis stared at the book her mother had gifted her. She opened it to the page with the illustration of her parents on the beach, and then back at the window.
Or… was she?