Hey, Dad, I’m going to head over to Draculaura’s castle for a bit, okay?” Frankie Stein shouted down the stairs to her father’s lab. Because her dad was usually busy scaring up new inventions, she knew he might not hear her over the noise and clatter of the lab. So she stepped down a few stairs and called out, “Dad? I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Okay?”

Mr. Stein peered around the corner and looked up the stairs at his daughter. He pushed his lab goggles onto his forehead and grinned. “It’s alive!”

Frankie rolled her eyes good-naturedly. Every morning, her dad greeted her the same way. Mr. Stein, a mad scientist and inventor, had created Frankie in his lab. Ever since the day Frankie was first jolted to life by electricity, her dad had made it clear he was amazed by his greatest creation, and he never tired of letting Frankie know how proud he was of her. “Good morning to you too, Dad. Yeah, I’m alive—just like yesterday and the day before that. Is it okay if I go fang out at Draculaura’s for a while? Clawdeen will also be there.”

Mr. Stein nodded. He held a beaker full of bubbling green liquid in one hand, and there was a blob of something gooey glowing blue in the other. He held his hands up, squinting at his daughter in the bright light of the lab. “Well, look at that! This batch matches your eyes perfectly.”

Frankie traipsed the rest of the way down the stairs for a closer look at the beakers in her dad’s hands. Whatever her father was holding did match her eyes perfectly. Frankie’s left eye was a brilliant shade of green, and her right eye was bright blue. She loved that her eyes were so unique. “Whatcha makin’?” she asked, curious. She pulled her black-and-white-striped hair back, careful to keep the long strands from the glowing blob of blue in her father’s gloved hand. She never knew what his potions and mixtures had the power to do, and her hair was looking scary-cute today—she didn’t want anything to mess that up!

She leaned forward and sniffed—the green beaker smelled like bacon and roses. The blue blob in her dad’s hand smelled like dirt. Altogether, it was not a great combo, but Frankie was sure her dad must be creating something voltageous. What her dad did in his lab all day was something of a mystery. She rarely hung out down here while he was doing his thing because she was usually at school or busy with her ghoulfriends… but she was always curious to hear more about his inventions.

“Just working on a little experiment,” Mr. Stein said, distracted. “A new, secret project.”

“I hope if you’re making me a sister, this means she and I will have the same color eyes…?” Frankie mischievously poked at the beaker of green liquid. “Is that your secret project, Dad? A sister for me?” She grinned sweetly at her father. There had been a few weeks last scaremester when her dad was buried for hours on end in his lab. Curious about what he was working on, Frankie had asked her mom if perhaps her dad was hard at work on building a new sibling for her. Her mom had practically choked on her coffincino and sputtered, “Uh, no. I’m afraid not.”

Now Mr. Stein shook his head and laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind if and when I work on something like a sister for you, sweetheart. But at the moment, a sibling is certainly not what I’m working on. Do you want to spend the day helping me out in the lab and I can show you around a little?” He wiggled his thick eyebrows and gently plopped the blue blob into a beaker. As if on cue, the blob wiggled and began to rise up in the tube. “We can have some fun.”

Frankie was torn. She really did want to help her dad—spending the day in the lab with him sounded like a creeperific time, and Frankie loved new experiences. But she had been waiting to see her ghoulfriends for what felt like forever, and she knew her ghouls were as eager to see her as she was to see them. Frankie didn’t want to disappoint them.

“Another day?” she asked.

“You’re on.” Her dad nodded and turned away, already lost in his own world. He nearly tripped and fell as he walked away, as he was too busy muttering strange number patterns and words to himself to pay attention to his own two feet. Frankie watched as the blob of blue goo rose up out of the beaker in her father’s hand and landed on the floor with a plop! It glowed, pulsed, and then slithered away, Mr. Stein chasing after it.

Frankie giggled. “Have some freaky fun with your creations in the lab today. I’ll be home in time for dinner! Maybe we can order a cheese screechza for dinner?”

“Yes. Yes…!” Mr. Stein said distractedly, from deep in the lab.

“Yay!” Frankie looked around the corner and smiled at him as he scooped up the blob.

“Wait—what? Screechza?” he said, shaking his head to clear it.

But Frankie was already gone. She waved, then ran back up the stairs and out the front door.