Frankie, I have something important to tell you!” Isi danced up to Frankie after class and pulled her aside.

“What’s wrong?” Frankie asked.

“Last night, when I took an evening walk in the forest, I came across a beautiful clearing. As I was dancing in the glow of the moonlight, a small creature emerged from the darkness to join me. The two of us spent some time in the quiet of the forest together, then went our separate ways. I realized during your presentation that the creature I danced with was your creation—Zappit!”

Frankie stared at her new ghoulfriend. “You have Zappit?”

Isi shook her head. “I was with her for a short while last night, but I don’t know where she is now. Sometimes when I dance, it’s like I’m in another world. When I finished my evening dance, she simply wandered off. She was there beside me one moment and gone the next. I thought nothing of it, because creatures often join me in the forest back home, then go off on their own adventure again.”

“Do you know if she’s okay?” Frankie asked, her stomach fluttering with nerves.

“I feel certain that she is,” Isi said confidently. She put her hands on Frankie’s arms and said, “She was alone when I met her, but she seemed to be at peace. If she had needed something, I believe she would have asked for my help. I have a way with animals—they are often drawn to me. And now that I know she has a family who is searching for her, I think I’ll be able to help you find her again and bring her home.”

“Oh, could you?” Frankie exclaimed. She was so lucky to have the perfect new ghoulfriend who could help her find Zappit—someone who had seen her! Isi could show them where she’d seen her, and that would narrow their search.

“Of course I will help you,” Isi promised. “We can go out together right after school. Working together, we’re sure to find her.”

Frankie wrapped her arm through Isi’s. “Thank you so much, Isi.”

Isi laughed as she danced down the hall beside Frankie. “Don’t thank me yet. We haven’t brought her home—but we will. And, Frankie, you need to remember that animals are very resourceful—even creatures that were created in a lab.” She smiled reassuringly. “I’m sure she’ll be able to take good care of herself until she’s home again. And we will get her home. I know it.”

Frankie released a big sigh. “Having you around right now is making me feel so much better. I’m so glad you came to Monster High when you did! I don’t know what I’d do without you.” She squeezed Isi in a hug. “You made my whole day freaky-fabulous, you know!”

The rest of the morning flew by. At lunch, Frankie introduced Isi to the rest of her ghoulfriends—she was so excited they would get to add a new ghoul to their group of friends! The two other Monster Exchange ghouls joined them too. Kjersti and Ghoulia seemed to be in their own little world, comparing high scores in their favorite video game. Even though they hardly said a word to each other as they played on their handhelds, their random glances at each other’s screens and periodic laughter made it clear they were bonding already.

Batsy and Venus had obviously hit it off right away too. They were talking about starting up a new club at Monster High to bring awareness to endangered plants and species. Frankie smiled happily at the ghouls around her table. It felt like everything was working out just as it should.

Partway through lunch, though, Isi suddenly leaped up. “There’s Twyla!” she exclaimed. “Frankie, thank you so much for inviting me to join you and your ghoulfriends for lunch, but if you don’t mind, I’m going to run over and catch up with Twyla. I was looking for her all morning, and there she is, finally!” She smiled happily at Frankie, then gathered up her things and pranced over to Twyla’s table in the cafeteria.

Frankie watched her go. Isi had been looking for Twyla all day? Did that mean she didn’t enjoy the time she spent with me? Frankie wondered. She suddenly felt a little hurt and wasn’t entirely sure why.

“Don’t look so down, Frankie,” Lagoona Blue said, glancing over at Twyla’s table. Twyla was greeting Isi, and the two were hugging. “Didn’t you say Isi and Twyla already know each other? It makes perfect sense that they would sit together at lunch, don’t you think? It’s great that she’s already made such a close ghoulfriend here at Monster High.”

“You’re right,” Frankie said, trying to shake off her hurt feelings. She couldn’t explain it, but she felt a little bit sad that Isi didn’t want to sit at their table after spending the whole morning together. Frankie told herself that just because she was Isi’s Monster Exchange buddy, it didn’t mean they had to spend all their time together. Even beast fiends spent time apart sometimes! She smiled at Lagoona. “Of course she would want to get caught up with Twyla. I know they haven’t seen each other for a while.”

Frankie and her ghoulfriends spent the rest of their lunch period catching up on what everyone had done during the scaremester break. Clawdeen entertained them all with stories of the extended family who had come to visit—she’d been stuck babysitting, and her stories about the mischief her twin cousins got into were a total scream!

But after lunch, the afternoon dragged. Frankie couldn’t wait for the end of the school day to come so they could start the search for Zappit again.

She met up with Isi at her locker after school and waited while her buddy packed up her things. Then the two ghouls hustled across the school grounds to meet up with Lagoona, Clawdeen, Draculaura, and Cleo. Cleo had even offered to cancel Fearleading practice that afternoon so the whole squad could help with the search.

When Batsy and Venus found out there was a group heading into the forest near Monster High to look for a missing creature, they both offered to come along and help too. Batsy was eager to explore the natural habitats around Monster High, and both ghouls seemed sure they could help Frankie spot prints or other signs of Zappit’s movements.

Isi had also told Twyla about Frankie’s missing pet, and Twyla had offered to join the search party. Frankie was grateful. The more monsters who were out looking for Zappit, the better! And Frankie noticed that Isi seemed extra joyful when Twyla was around. They really did make a voltageous pair.

Back inside Monster High, Ghoulia and Kjersti were working together to figure out if there was some way they could find Zappit using a computer-based tracking device. Frankie had a feeling that even if they didn’t figure something out before Zappit was found, neither ghoul would give up until they had designed a program that could help their fellow students if they ran into this sort of problem in the future.

“Thank you so much for helping, ghouls,” Frankie said to the creepy-cool search crew that had gathered. “I’m not sure what the best way to do this is, but I was thinking maybe we could split up into groups of two or three so we can search more places?” She looked to her ghoulfriends for ideas.

“It might actually be a good idea to start our search as a group—stick together as a pack?” Isi suggested. “Every one of us has unique talents. If we use our strengths together and focus our search in the area where I saw her last night, we might have a better chance of finding Zappit more quickly.”

“That’s a good idea, Isi,” Frankie agreed, once again grateful to have her new ghoulfriend there helping. “Why don’t you lead the way, since you’re the one who saw her last?”

The group set off quickly, away from the gates of Monster High. Isi danced along in the lead, guiding them all through a park and into the woods near school. “This is where I went walking last night,” she said. “The clearing where I was dancing when I encountered Zappit is up ahead. Just through the woods a short ways.”

“These shoes don’t do woods. Isi might be comfortable hoofing it through sticks and leaves, but I definitely am not,” Cleo muttered. Then she glanced at Frankie, who looked so worried about her missing creature, and released a deep sigh. She blew a kiss to her shoes. “Farewell, my golden lovelies. Into the woods we go. For Frankie.”

As they made their way through the trees, the pack of ghoulfriends fanned out and shouted, “Zappit! Zappit, where are you?”

At one point, Frankie thought she saw something moving in a tree high above her. She unstitched her arm and sent it scuttling up the tree for a closer look. But it came back empty-handed, so Frankie realized she was probably just imagining things.

Clawdeen raced after something small that darted into a thick grove of trees, but she too found nothing. Venus and Batsy rooted carefully under low-hanging branches and plants, but the only things they found were a few interesting animal tracks and a small, empty den that some creature had recently used for a bed.

Before long, the group emerged on the other side of the woods. Cleo dusted herself off. Beside her, Clawdeen picked a few thorns out of her thick hair. “I’m so sorry, Frankie,” Isi said sadly. “I really thought we might find her here. But don’t worry… we won’t give up hope—every one of us will continue to search until we find her.”