CHAPTER 13
BOO ON THE BAYOU
A skeleton band marched down the streets of New Goreleans, filling the steamy city with the sounds of jazz. All kinds of monsters were dancing to the music. Someone threw beads down from a balcony.
“Now these monsters know how to party!” Hoodude joined right in, flopping his arms to the lively music.
But the ghouls didn’t have time to dance; they had to find the next clue. As they rushed down the street, Hoodude saw another poster for the Veronica von Vamp movie and blew it a kiss. “Muah!”
Out of breath and exhausted, Ygor arrived at the docks of New Goreleans just in time to see the ghouls disappearing around the corner. He pulled out his iCoffin and called Lord Stoker.
The vampire’s voice blared. “If they locate the Vampire’s Heart, then they can find the rightful queen. We cannot let that happen. You know what to do.”
“Yes, Master, I won’t let you down,” panted Ygor. And with that he dropped his iCoffin in the water.
“Ygor? Ygor?” came Lord Stoker’s voice from underwater.
“Sorry, Master,” said Ygor as he fished around and brought it up dripping.
The ghouls were headed to a dank swamp. Green moss hung from the trees. Mist hung low on the water. There were no buildings here, no statues—and no clues.
“There’s nothing here. Maybe this old map is out of date,” suggested Clawdeen.
“No,” said Robecca. “The answer is here. I can feel it.”
“I think somebody needs to have their gears checked,” said Cleo.
Hoodude was the first to notice the swamp water beginning to ripple. The clouds cleared and a shaft of moonlight fell on an enormous ghost ship quietly sliding up the bayou.
“Awesome, right?” said Draculaura.
“All right, yeah!” agreed the ghouls. Now this was a clue.
The ghostly steamboat came to a standstill right near them. The girls headed up a ramp to explore the old ship. Tinkly piano music wafted through the air as they entered an old theater.
“Oh my Ra!” said Cleo, admiring the cobwebs.
“Absolutely fabulous,” agreed Clawdeen.
“Gore-geous!” said Draculaura.
“What is this place?” asked Hoodude.
“I’ve read about this ship,” said Clawdia. “It was a floating theater called The Bijou on the Bayou. Check out all the old props and scripts.” She gestured near the stage, where boxes were filled with theatrical materials covered in dust.
As if on cue, phantom skeletons tap-danced onto the stage, their bones rattling and shaking in time to the haunted music.
“Oh yeah!” cheered Hoodude, joining in.
The ghostly show helped Draculaura realize something. “You know, every place Elissabat tried to meet with my dad had to do with a theater.…”
Hoodude spinning around interrupted her words—he had just seen the glowing red eyes of some strange creature slithering onto the deck.
“Uh, ghouls, I think you should look at this.…” His voice was trembling.
Cleo was annoyed. “We don’t have time to watch your dance—Ahhh!” She had seen the eyes too!
“Ahhhh!” All the ghouls screamed in terror, except for Draculaura.
“What is it?” she wondered.
Emerging from the shadows was an elegant blue-hued swamp ghoul with a tiny pink hat jauntily tipped on her mass of curls. She spoke in the soft drawl of an aristocrat. “Sweet suffering swamp moss! Hey, y’all are in my shot!” She pointed at her video camera with its two glowing red lights.
“Who are you?” asked Draculaura.
“I’m Honey Swamp. Pleased to make y’all’s acquaintance.”
“What are you doing here?” Clawdeen was amazed that there was a ghoul just like them out on this lonely, haunted steamboat.
“I’m making my student film,” explained Honey, “about the famous Bijou on the Bayou theater.”
Draculaura realized at once how helpful their new friend might be. “We’re looking for an ancient valuable artifact. Do you think it might be on the Bijou?”
Honey held up her camera, panning around the theater. “Well, so many great actors, writers, and directors have toured through here. Ya know, the boo-vie star Veronica von Vamp gave her first performance here! Ain’t she a peach?”
“Oh yes!” agreed Hoodude, jumping off the stage.
Draculaura rolled her eyes. “No. Not a fan.”
The boat lurched and the ghouls went sprawling across the room. The steamboat was moving! They could hear its enormous paddle wheel churning the water. The boat had broken away from the ramp and there was no way to get off. What was happening? They scrambled out of the theater only to see Ygor up in the bridge. He was going to drive the boat back to Transylvania!
“Oh no!” wailed Draculaura. “We can’t go back without the Heart!”
Ygor was talking on his iCoffin. “Ygor good! Ygor bring the ghouls to Master.”
Honey Swamp winked. “Don’t worry, ghouls. I got friends in low places.” She whistled and the eyes of monster alligators appeared in the water. They lifted their backs and made a perfect bridge from the boat to the shore.
“C’mon!” invited Honey. “Y’all go first. I wanna catch this on film!”
The ghouls leaped across the bumpy green backs of the alligators while Honey kneeled down to get the right angle with her camera and track the action.
“Cut!” she yelled just as she too leaped to shore.
The voice of Lord Stoker could be heard screaming through Ygor’s iCoffin. “Ygor, you brainless lunk! Stop them!”
“Yes, Master!”
But Ygor had taken his hands off the steering wheel, and the boat plowed into the riverbank. Ygor was hurled into the air like a ball and landed in the swamp with a splash. Slowly, the boat began to sink, and the alligators, no longer needed as a bridge, flicked their tails and turned toward the juicy monster bobbing in the water. “Ah!” screamed Ygor, swimming as fast as he could toward land.
Draculaura watched the boat go down. “I’m sorry about the Bijou on the Bayou,” she said to Honey.
“Oh, it ain’t nothing to worry about, y’all. It’s a ghost ship. It’ll rise again on the next full moon.”
Clawdeen threw up her paws. “So we have to wait a whole month to find out if the Vampire’s Heart was even on the ship?” The girls were heading back along the road toward New Goreleans.
“Didn’t anyone see anything remotely resembling a clue?” asked Cleo.
All that remained of the ship were a few bubbles on the surface of the water. What were they going to do?
“Whoa!” drawled Honey Swamp. “Hold on there. Let’s rewind. I took some amazing shots of the Bijou on the Bayou. Let’s check my footage!”
The ghouls crowded around the camera’s view screen and Honey pressed play. Nothing jumped out at them as being a clue—until Draculaura spotted a painting on the wall of the theater. Honey Swamp rewound the tape and zoomed in.
“There!” screamed Draculaura. “That wax seal. It’s Elissabat’s!”
Robecca lowered her goggles to magnify the image. “Lord Dracula,” she read, “as long as I have the Vampire’s Heart, its glow will lead others to me. I cannot wait any longer, so I am steaming onward. I have found someone we both trust, an eternal friend, and given to their care… the Vampire’s Heart.”
“The Heart could be anywhere.” Draculaura sighed, frustrated. “This is a wild-ghost chase. I can’t stop Lord Stoker. So much for helping vampirekind.”
“Wait a minute,” said Clawdia. “In literature, everything has a reason, a purpose. Nothing is coincidental. If I were writing this, I would use a literary device. Foreshadowing or symbolism perhaps—”
“Or,” interrupted Robecca, “what about just putting it on a poster?”
“Well, not super subtle, but I guess if it served the story.…” said Clawdia.
“No, there!” She pointed to a half-rolled poster stuck to a nearby building. “Veronica von Vamp!” Robecca went over and unfurled the bottom of the poster—revealing Veronica von Vamp holding the Vampire’s Heart.
“Whoa!”
“Cool!”
“The Vampire’s Heart! In the boo-vie?”
Robecca was totes revved! “My wheels are clicking. Elissabat must have given the Heart to Veronica. They were both here in New Goreleans at the same time.”
Draculaura was confused. “Why would my dad trust that vamp-poseur Veronica?”
Clawdia looked thoughtful. “One way to find out. I do believe Honey Swamp and I are thinking the same thing.”
Honey Swamp grinned. “Time to take this story to…”
“Hauntlywood!” chimed in Clawdia.
“Yeah! Let’s go!” agreed all the ghouls, excited.
Ygor heaved himself down the street in his heavy, wet clothes just in time to hear the word Hauntlywood and the ghouls’ laughter.
“Hauntlywood, here we come!” sang out Cleo. The girls linked arms and got ready to travel again.