CHAPTER 6

DRESSED TO THRILL!

The wind was howling, the castle was creaking, and it was perfectly spookerific. The ghouls wanted to jump on every canopy bed and explore every secret passage. There were banquet halls and ballrooms, dressing rooms and cobweb-covered boudoirs.

Ygor followed the gaggle of ghouls. He was carrying their suitcases, traveling coffins, and mummy cases. With every step he took, he winced and moaned. It was like he was being stuck with needles again. What could it be? Inside a carry-on bag, Hoodude did his best to stay quiet.

“Oof,” he gasped when Ygor tripped. It wasn’t easy being a stowaway.

Draculaura wanted to visit the throne room first. Gold glinted from the sconces on the walls, from the candelabras, and from the throne itself at the very end of the room. Draculaura walked along the plush red carpet that led to the throne, picked up the bejeweled crown that rested on the seat, put it on her head, and sat down. She looked at her friends, trying to be as regal as possible. But it was no use. Even with a crown on her head in the vampire’s throne room, she still just felt like herself. She burst into giggles and her friends, relieved, joined in.

Draculaura took off the crown and jumped up. There was plenty of time to get serious about being queen. Now she wanted to have fun. She went over to the wall and began pulling on the sconces until she found the one that wiggled. With a quick twist, the entire wall began to move—and exposed a hidden staircase. The ghouls ran inside and the wall closed right behind them.

Up they climbed in the darkness until they emerged through a giant fireplace into the Royal Chambers. In the center of the room was a bed draped in satin and velvet. Beautiful carpets covered the floor. But Draculaura wasn’t interested in any of this.

She threw open the closet door to reveal a room bigger than most department stores, filled with dresses and shoes and hats and gowns. There were black corsets trimmed with silver braids and flounced silk skirts elaborate with ruffles. There were lace gloves and fishnet stockings embroidered with diamonds. If a fashion designer from the court of some old French king had gone to work at the most punked-out, ghoulish store at the Maul, this was what it might have looked like. Robecca picked up a blouse dripping with silver chains. Cleo admired a pair of black sandals with heels. Clawdeen wrapped herself in a fake-fur boa.

The girls giggled while they dressed themselves in finery.

But Draculaura was overwhelmed with feelings about being home. She went back into the bedchamber and looked out the window to the valley below. This was her kingdom now. Her. Kingdom. “Yay!” she said aloud. “Woo-hoo! I forgot how wonderful this castle is!”

“Amazing!” said Clawdeen, collapsing on the four-poster bed.

“So dark and dreary!” said Draculaura, joining her.

“I love it!” Robecca laughed breathlessly.

“Nice as far as castles go,” admitted Cleo, admiring herself in the enormous mirror.

A knock on the door announced Ygor. “Lord Stoker has sent Ygor to bring the new queen to his study to hear the rules.”

Draculaura bounced up from the bed. “Well, duty calls.”

“Later!” said Clawdeen.

Robecca wished her good luck.

Cleo waved good-bye. “Queen problems, am I right, ladies?” she said.

The girls settled into the luxurious pillows on the bed. They were happy for their friend. Not only was she going to be a fangtastic queen of the vampires—they were going to love being her ghouls-in-waiting!