The ancient library of Monster High was a strange, sprawling labyrinth of winding aisles, forgotten spellbooks, and dusty chandeliers that swayed when no wind was present. But today, the old space had been transformed—well, ghoul-ified—into the beating heart of a brand-new media revolution.
Tucked between rows of cobweb-covered tomes and a portrait of Headless Headmistress Bloodgood that occasionally blinked, a trio of determined ghouls were preparing for their debut podcast.
Spectra Vondergeist hovered just above the gothic stone floor, her silver-lavender curls rippling with static energy as she floated from mic to mic. She wore a vintage reporter's vest with floating silver chains that trailed like wisps of smoke. Her see-through fingers adjusted the knobs on a haunted soundboard—an ethereal mix of specter tech and student-built steam gear. It gave off a low hum that echoed in her ghostly chest.
"This is it," she said, her voice airy with anticipation. "Our voices, our opinions, our stories—finally heard! 'Ghoul Talk' is going to shake Monster High."
Rebecca Steam, ever the engineer, adjusted her brass goggles and tapped on a sound meter shaped like a bat wing. Her carefully oiled gears clicked with every movement, and steam hissed softly from a valve near her elbow.
"The resonance from these vaulted ceilings will provide excellent acoustics," she said, mostly to herself. "Though we must be cautious of echo feedback. I wish I had installed a kinetic vibration absorber... but alas, time did not permit it."
Spectra chuckled. "Always the perfectionist, Becca."
Across the room, Venus McFlytrap reclined in a beanbag chair made of compostable plant fiber, a pair of mossy headphones resting around her neck. She twirled one of her vivid green locks around a vine-covered finger, her punk aesthetic contrasted sharply against the somber library.
"Just as long as there's no soul-sucking ad segments. We're keeping it real, right?" Venus asked, adjusting her mic stand. "Ghoul voices, ghoul issues, ghoul power."
"Absolutely," Spectra said, floating upward with glee. "But first, I'm going to take five. Porter's calling in from the Ghostly Plane, and I need to hear his good luck howl." Her cheeks turned an eerie shade of blush as she drifted through the wall with a giddy giggle trailing behind.
As soon as she was gone, Venus sat up, curiosity gleaming in her eyes.
"So... these buttons," she said, eyeing the shimmering control panel. "They look like they want to be pressed."
Rebecca turned slowly, raising an eyebrow. "Venus, I must caution you—this system is a fusion of ancient alchemy, spectral circuitry, and steampunk engineering. One incorrect sequence could—"
Click.
The button Venus pressed glowed an angry red.
The console let out a ghostly shriek, louder than a banshee at a battle of the bands. The lights above flickered violently. A small puff of smoke spiraled up from the keyboard, and the screen began flashing lines of ghost-code, then stuttered... and died.
"Oops?" Venus offered, wincing.
Rebecca dashed forward, steam whistling from her joints. "You fried the core processor! The ecto-interface is destabilized!"
"I thought it was the record button!"
"That was the de-rezzing sequence! It's designed for system shut-down in the event of a spectral possession!"
"I mean... that's kinda smart."
"That's beside the point!"
A long moment passed. The whir of the soundboard died. The glowing logo of Ghoul Talk flickered, then went dark entirely. Venus's vines drooped. Rebecca's inner pressure valve released a disappointed hiss.
Spectra would be back any second.
"We are in deep monster muck," Venus whispered.
"Agreed," said Rebecca, already scanning for the nearest exit. "There's only one ghoul who can fix this before Spectra finds out."
Down in the depths of Monster High, beneath trapdoors and behind bookcases that swung open only if you recited Pi backward in Latin, sat the infamous tech haven of Ghoulia Yelps.
Stacks of processors, potion-cooled computers, and enchanted hard drives hummed in unison. On one side of the lab, a trio of Franken-chickens pecked at a touchscreen labeled "ChirpBook Beta." On the other, a cobbled-together karaoke machine glitched out "Zombie Prom" at half-speed.
Ghoulia looked up from her soldering iron as Venus and Rebecca burst in like bats out of a coffin.
"Guuuhhhh?" she groaned, pulling her goggles up.
"Disaster!" Venus cried. "We pushed a button!"
Rebecca added, "It was glowing! She couldn't resist!"
Ghoulia blinked twice, slowly stood, and followed them back up through a hidden passage lined with neon fungus.
Ghoulia bent over the fried control panel like a doctor at the scene of a code blue. Her undead fingers moved in blurs, typing cryptic code with one hand and rewiring the spectral interface with the other. At one point she summoned a micro-zombie drone to retrieve a replacement specter coil.
Rebecca watched in awe. "It's like she's conducting a symphony of circuits."
Venus nodded. "Yeah. A creepy, glitchy, awesome one."
A final keystroke. A soft chime. The screen lit up again—this time, steady and stable. The logo flickered once… then came into perfect focus.
GHOUL TALK – RECORDING READY
Ghoulia gave a nonchalant shrug, then reached into her toolbelt and pulled out her phone. She typed a message and held it up:
"Fixed. But you need to tell Spectra. Not cool to hide it."
Venus groaned. "Can't we just... buy her ghost flowers?"
Rebecca sighed. "She deserves the truth."
The wall glowed purple as Spectra returned, her eyes dreamy, voice light as a breeze.
"Porter says to 'haunt the airwaves,' and he'll be our number one spectral listener."
She drifted toward the table and glanced at the setup. "Everything okay while I was gone?"
Rebecca stepped forward. "Spectra… there was a bit of a… technical mishap."
Venus added, "A teeny-tiny meltdown. Maybe medium-sized."
Spectra's glow dimmed slightly. "You what?"
Rebecca gestured toward Ghoulia. "But! Our ghoulish savior brought it back to life."
Spectra floated silently above the control panel, her eyes scanning the scorch mark near the USB port, the patchwork fix on the mic cable, and the faint scent of ozone that still lingered in the air.
Then she laughed. "You ghouls broke it before our very first episode? That's so on brand."
Venus blinked. "Wait… you're not mad?"
Spectra grinned wickedly. "Are you kidding? That's our intro segment!"
She took her place at the center mic and waved them closer.
"Welcome, listeners—living, dead, and somewhere in-between! This is Ghoul Talk, Monster High's spookiest podcast. I'm your ghostess, Spectra Vondergeist, joined by the brilliant Rebecca Steam and the plantastic Venus McFlytrap. Today's topic? Tech horror stories... featuring sparks, screaming buttons, and one very chill zombie."
Ghoulia gave a small thumbs-up and retreated to the back corner with a soft groan of approval.
The "ON AIR" candle flickered to life.
And just like that, the ghouls of Monster High were live.