Frankie was hurrying down the hallway when Mr. Rotter stopped her.
“I trust you’re making progress on your revised scaritage report for tomorrow?” he said.
Frankie panicked and recovered. “So, so much progress,” she lied. “It’s scary.”
Mr. Rotter narrowed his eyes. “You’d better be. Or it’s going to be lights-out for your scaremester average!”
As if on cue, the hallway lights flickered. Something was up with the electrical current somewhere in the school.
“Not my doing,” said Mr. Rotter, somewhat startled. “But helpful for making my point.” He headed toward his classroom, while Frankie ran to the gym to meet up with the Fusions.
In the gym, Avia had lined everyone up. The Fusions and the new Fusions were all standing at attention like soldiers while Avia, her wings spread and fluttering, addressed them.
“All right, ghouls, listen up. We’re going to pair each of you with a Fusion mentor to help you master your new combined forms. But before we get started, I’d like you to think about this.” Avia held up a coin.
“Money? Way ahead of you,” squealed Cleo.
“She’s about to use it as a metaphor, Your Highness,” said Toralei.
“Don’t make me come over there, Miss Kitty.”
“I’d like to see you try!”
This entire squabble was happening within the fused body of Cleolei. Avia whinnied to get their attention.
“A coin has two sides,” continued Avia, fluttering back and forth along the ranks. “Like you. And no matter what, you can’t have one side without the other. So you’re going to have to get along.”
She flipped the coin over to Cleolei. Both of her hands began fighting the other to hold it.
“It’s mine!”
Dracubecca felt dizzy. “I don’t know if I can do this. It’s like my brain tells me to do one thing, but something inside makes me do something else.” One of her steam boots fired and she toppled over. “Ow!”
Neighthan helped her up. “That’s because you’re getting mixed signals. That’s Draculaura’s mind getting confused by Robecca’s instincts. With a little practice, you’ll figure out when to listen to what’s up here,” he said, pointing to his head, “and what’s in here.” Neighthan pointed at his heart.
What Neighthan said reminded Frankie of something she’d heard in Hexiciah’s class. “The spark,” she whispered to herself.
“Okay,” announced Avia in full training mode. “Who’s ready to get to work?”
Dracubecca raised her hand.
“Good. I like your spirit, kid.”
Dracubecca looked at her raised hand, alarmed. “I had no idea I was doing that!”
Avia shook her head. It was going to be a long afternoon.
Bonita took Clawveenus into the garden and had her sit with her legs crossed, in the lotus position, to begin to calm her mind. “I’ve been fluttering from school to school ever since I was just a little larvette,” Bonita told Clawveenus. “It was always really tough, but I found that meditation would clear my head and make me feel in control. And I think it can help you too.”
“It’s worth a shot!” agreed Clawveenus, shutting her eyes the way Bonita had instructed her.
“Now clear your mind,” said the skeleton-moth.
“And clear.” Clawveenus sighed.
“Now take a deep, soothing breath.” Clawveenus inhaled and started sneezing and snorting. Her lungs were filled with pollen again.
A plant behind her began to sprout vines. One of them inched forward, wrapped itself around Bonita, and flung her into the air. Bonita spread her wings and swooped toward the plant like an action hero, beating it back.
Her eyes shut, Clawveenus had no idea what was happening. “Hey, I think it’s working! I feel totally in control!”
In the Fusion lounge, Cleolei was lying on one of the couches like she was in a psychiatrist’s office. Neighthan was sitting in a chair beside her taking notes.
“So you’re saying that you’re going to make Toralei and me get along with each other by… talking? Good luck with that!”
“No, it’s true,” said Neighthan. “I’ve spent a lot of time in school counselors’ offices just talking through what it’s like to be a Fusion. I promise, talking really helps.”
“All right, Toralei, let’s talk.”
“All right, Toralei, let’s talk,” mimicked Toralei.
“Real mature,” said Cleo.
“Real mature,” repeated Toralei. She screeched like a cat and Cleolei’s two hands began swatting at each other again.
“Why don’t you take this seriously?”
“You’re not the boss of me!”
Neighthan sighed. “I guess technically they’re talking…” But he didn’t hold out much hope that it was going to make any difference at all.
While the Fusions were trying to help the Fusions, Sparky was sneaking around Monster High collecting materials for his experiment. He made sure no one was coming down the hallway and slipped into the science classroom. A few minutes later, he emerged with a stack of beakers in his hands and one carefully balanced on his head, chortling to himself.
Next, he slunk into the Creepateria. While Manny, Gil, and Deuce chatted at one of the tables, Sparky reached up from below and grabbed each of their iCoffins.
Ghoulia was still locked in Hexiciah’s workshop, unable to get out. She kept checking her watch, but the time was moving so slowly.
In the gym, Avia had set up an obstacle course of tires, ropes, and hurdles for Dracubecca. “I’ve learned that surviving as a Fusion means that you have to take charge,” she explained. “And from what I’ve seen, your problem is that neither of you is taking charge of your body. You’re both too polite.”
“Right. I’ll let Robecca take the lead.”
“No, it should really be Draculaura.”
“That’s so sweet. But I really do insist that—”
“All right, all right,” interrupted Avia. “See? That’s what I’m talking about. I don’t care who it is, but somebody has to be the leader. Now, let’s give it a try.”
Avia flew up into the air to watch Dracubecca navigate the obstacle course. She clicked a stopwatch. “Go!”
Dracubecca’s steam boots rocketed her into the course. Crash! Bash! Smash! The obstacle course was in pieces. Avia clicked the stopwatch. Dracubecca poked her head up through the wreckage. Avia was not amused.
Meanwhile, Sparky had snuck into the boys’ restroom with a ladder and was carefully unscrewing lightbulbs. The bathroom went black.
“Hello? Hello?” called Heath from one of the stalls.
At the school pool, Sirena was trying to help Lagoonafire, but she was having a hard time focusing. “So, like, the ghost side of my family never really got along with the mermaid side. But there was always one activity that could bring both families together…” Her voice trailed off and she stared vacantly at the water.
Lagoonafire waited. And waited. And waited. “Swimming?” she finally asked.
Sirena brightened. “Sure! I love swimming!” She rose into the air and executed four perfect backward somersaults before slipping into the water without a splash.
Lagoonafire was impressed. “Crikey! I’ve never seen anybody pull off a quadruple reverse somersault without splashing! That was gorgeous!”
“Like I said.” Sirena smiled. “We did a lot of swimming in my family.”
“All right, Jinafire, you ready, mate?”
“Are you sure this is wise?”
“Trust me. A good swim is just what we need to let off a little steam.”
When both parts of Lagoonafire were in agreement, she dove deep into the water. The pool began to bubble and hiss and steam. In an instant, all of the water had evaporated. Lagoonafire was sitting at the bottom of an empty pool. “Too much steam.” She sighed.
Could a dragon girl and a mermaid ever learn to live together as one? It was probably as likely as a werecat and a mummy princess getting along!
Yet, somehow, Cleo and Toralei were learning how to talk to each other. Cleolei’s head turned this way and that, her mouth kept moving, and the words poured out—but they were less and less irritated. Neighthan couldn’t believe that they were having an actual discussion.
Avia had set up the obstacle course again, and this time Dracubecca was carefully making her way through it. As the Fusion crossed the finish line, Avia clicked her stopwatch and nodded with approval. Not bad, not bad at all.
In the garden, Clawveenus and Bonita were doing gentle yoga postures. Around them, flowers blossomed—but not a single one turned into a plant monster.
Even Lagoonafire was learning to control her powers. The pool had been refilled and Sirena watched delightedly as Lagoonafire dove gracefully in and out of the water. Each time she emerged, she sent a controlled blaze of flame through a hoop suspended from the ceiling. Lagoonafire sailed into the air, dove through the burning hoop, and landed on the ground. “Ta-da!” she announced. Sirena beamed with pride and went to hug her but became distracted by a shiny whistle. Sirena grabbed it, blew it, and startled a sleepy gargoyle lifeguard.