CHAPTER 5
NEXT STOP, TRANSYLVANIA
A train roared through dark forests and craggy mountains. It chugged past abandoned towns. It sped through fog-filled valleys and raced through tunnels blacker than night.
Inside the train, the ghouls were enjoying the lavish splendor of the royal compartments. There were velvet-tufted sofas and gold-framed oil paintings. The ghouls were doing their nails and claws and getting ready for their arrival at the castle.
Ygor entered with a servant, who was carrying a silver tray with goblets filled with a thick red liquid. Ygor bowed low before Draculaura. “Your, erm, tomato juice, Your Majesty.” Everyone on the train had been surprised that the new vampire queen was a vegetarian.
“Thank you,” said Draculaura, taking a sip of her drink.
Ygor glared at the servant. “Bow to the queen!”
“O-M-Ghoul.” Draculaura giggled. “You don’t have to do that.”
“It’s tradition,” said Ygor, confused.
“As my dad always says, ‘Traditions can change.’ ” Draculaura handed goblets to her friends.
Ygor was muttering to himself, clearly upset. “And as the master says, ‘Traditions must never change and that traitor Dracula’s ideas are—’ ” He stopped, realizing Draculaura was staring at him. “Uh… uh… uh… enjoy your juice!” He staggered out of the compartment with the servant.
Clawdeen leaned back against the soft pillows of the sofa. “So, tell us more about what it was like to grow up in the vampire court! All that history!”
Cleo snorted. “Sixteen hundred years of aristocracy is nothing to brag about. Egyptian royalty has shoe sales that last longer than that.”
Draculaura clapped her hands. “Oh! The vampire court was totes amazing!” She pointed at one of the paintings on the wall that showed women in long gowns and men in floor-length capes dancing together. “The beautiful dresses! The grand balls! I used to sneak downstairs with my best friend Elissabat, Lord Stoker’s niece, to watch the vampire waltz. We all had so much fun!” She giggled at the memory of it. “Well, except for old crankypants Stoker!”
Clawdeen studied the painting. She pointed at a sour-faced vampire lurking in the corner. “Yeah! Looks like he hasn’t smiled in four hundred years.”
“Stoker wanted control over all other types of monsters. The whole court was divided,” explained Draculaura. She was really enjoying sharing her history. It was so much better than feeling frustrated watching that stupid movie with Veronica von Vamp that got everything wrong.
Robecca Steam brushed aside one of her dark curls. She was loving this adventure; it made her feel all warm and lit up inside. Besides, she had a deep connection to Transylvania, which she explained to the ghouls. “My father, Hexiciah Steam, arrived in Transylvania just before the ‘great split,’ when the more open-minded monsters emigrated to the Boo World.”
Draculaura nodded. This was why her family had gone to Monster High. “Stoker and my dad did not get along,” she gossiped. “You see, my dad’s very best fiend was Lord Stoker’s younger brother.”
“So what happened to him?” asked Robecca. “Did he head off on a mysterious expedition and no one has ever heard from him since… or something like that?”
Draculaura’s dark eyes widened with surprise. “Um, yeah. Exactly like that.”
“Wow, good guess,” said Clawdeen. She scratched at her ear with her just-manicured claws.
Robecca was looking out the window at the passing mountains. Something Draculaura had said reminded her of something—only she couldn’t remember what it was. “I feel like I know this story.”
Draculaura continued. “The one who disappeared? His only daughter was Elissabat, and she was put under her uncle Stoker’s authority. There was a big argument between Stoker and my dad about her future. Poor Elissabat.” Draculaura sighed. “She wanted to be an actress, but Stoker put his foot down. He said that she had to stay at the court as a vampire-in-waiting.”
“So your dad helped her?” said Cleo.
“He tried!” said Draculaura. “But then she disappeared. Just before we fled Transylvania.”
The brakes of the train screeched, the whistle blew, and the voice of a vampire conductor called out their impending arrival at Castle Dracool.
The girls peered out the window, eager for their first sight of the famous castle. From far away, in another car at the back of the train, came muffled screams and gasps of pain.
Something invisible was attacking Ygor in the baggage compartment. Zap! Zap! Zap! “Ouch!” screamed Ygor. He felt like he was being stuck with sharp pins, only he couldn’t see anything. The train jostled and again Ygor was zapped and stung. He fled the car, looking for his master.
A sarcophagus fell from the luggage rack as the train rounded a corner—and out popped Hoodude! He was a stowaway! He’d been zapping Ygor with his out-of-control powers. “Whoa!” he said, lumbering over to the window and taking in the scenery. “Glamorous vampire court, here I come!” He looked over his stitches to make sure he didn’t have any loose threads. He wanted to look sharp—even if he was patched together with rag-doll hair and button eyes.
With a final wheeze, the train lurched to a stop. More luggage tumbled out on Hoodude’s head. Crash. Zap! It was hard being a voodoo doll, that was for sure, but at least he was in Transylvania with the other ghouls.
Hoodude peeked out the window through the steam from the train and the fog and saw the ghouls standing on the platform with Lord Stoker and Ygor. Looming over the station was the imposing presence of Castle Dracool, with its turrets and drawbridges.
“Behold, Castle Dracool!” announced Lord Stoker grandly.
“Oooh!”
“Ahhh!”
“Magnificent!”
“It’s no pyramid,” said Cleo drily. The steam and the fog were making her hair frizz.
Clawdeen was impressed. “It looks just like the one in the Vampire Majesty boo-vies.”
Ygor’s face crumpled. “Ygor’s not allowed to see boo-vies,” he said sadly.
“A vulgar waste of time,” sneered Lord Stoker. He swirled his cape around him dramatically. “Blegh!”
Draculaura ignored old crankypants. She was too excited. “Ah! I haven’t been here in for-evs! Such memories! C’mon, ghouls! I’ll show you around!”
She linked arms with her friends and they all headed to the castle.
