The workshop was a cobweb-covered mess. Gears, springs, bottles, and all kinds of mechanical parts littered the floor. Chains hung from the beams and catwalks. Old copper valves and pipes lined the walls. There were piles of torn blueprints and sketches on the scattered workbenches. On one were steam boots just like the jet-powered ones Robecca wore, only bigger and covered in dust. Everything was covered in dust. At the far end of the circular room was a rusted recharge chamber.
In the very center of the room was a huge platform. Held in place by magnets was a huge crystal lens lined with copper. It too was covered in rust and dust and spiderwebs.
As the ghouls entered the chamber, a cuckoo clock began to strike. A cuckoo bird emerged through a film of cobwebs, coughing; let out a single strained “cuckoo”; and returned inside the clock.
Robecca took everything in. It had been a long time since she’d been here. “Okay, everybody, spread out and look for that journal,” she ordered her friends. “But remember, don’t touch anything.” She stared at Toralei, who had enough curiosity for ten ghouls.
“Why’s everybody looking at me?” she hissed.
No one said a word.
“Okay, don’t touch anything, got it!” she conceded.
The ghouls spread out to investigate. Robecca searched through an enormous stack of books. Cleo walked over to the floating lens in the middle of the room. It bobbed up and down between the two magnets. Beside the lens was a massive control panel. It was covered in tubes and switches and a tangle of wires. Cleo peered to study the lens in awe. “Oh… my… Ra!”
She looked closer and closer. What did she see? “Why didn’t anybody tell me my headband was crooked?” She smoothed her hair back into place.
Toralei popped up behind the lens, her striped cat face magnified. “Whatcha doin’?” she asked.
Cleo jumped back in surprise. “Toralei!”
Toralei gave the lens a little shove. It swung forward then snapped back into place between the magnets. “Me-ow,” she yowled.
Robecca gasped. “Ghouls! I found the journal!”
Frankie rushed over. “Does it say anything about my grandfather?”
Robecca flipped through the pages, scanning them. She smiled at Frankie. “October Fifth, 1814. Victor Frankenstein is one of the brightest and most promising students I have ever had the pleasure to educate,” she read out loud.
“That’s him!” exclaimed Frankie. “You found my grandfather! What else does it say?”
Robecca skimmed through the journal. “Let’s see. Superior intellect. Hungry for knowledge… Unfortunately, there’s another side to Victor. A dangerous inner personality that recklessly disregards the spectacular mysteries of life in pursuit of his scientific ambitions. I fear this may be young Victor’s undoing…”
Frankie was stunned. “Wow. I wonder if that’s why my parents don’t talk about him.”
Cleo was still adjusting her hair in the lens when it started to spin on its side like a coin. “Hey!” she exclaimed. “I wasn’t done with that.” She stepped back as it spun faster and faster.
A swirling blue vortex began to emerge from the lens.
“That’s different,” said Cleo, a little alarmed.
Everyone turned to stare. Toralei was standing by the control panel. She looked guilty. “Okay,” she admitted. “Now I get why you all looked at me when you said don’t touch anything.”
“Toralei!” screamed everyone.
The blue vortex was pulling everyone in the room toward it. Toralei lifted off the ground and grabbed one of the chains hanging from the catwalk. The catwalk itself began to tumble toward the vortex. The ghouls screamed. They were going to be sucked right into it! The journal fell out of Robecca’s hands. One by one, each of the ghouls was swallowed into the lens and disappeared. The blue light flickered. The machine died down. The ghouls were gone.
