the spice-laden aroma of kung pao critters greeted Robecca, Rochelle, and Venus as they entered the Creepateria for dinner.

“Kung pao critters! Finally, something goes my way today. I love Fanghai cuisine,” Venus remarked with excitement.

“While I too enjoy kung pao critters, I hardly think that this is something to rejoice over. After all, we still need to figure out who is behind ASOME. Once we do that we’ll be able to not only expose the normie threat for what it is—a ruse to control and manipulate us—but also find Headmistress Bloodgood and Wydowna,” Rochelle stated confidently as the trio sat down at a table.

“Way to burst my bubble,” Venus grumbled under her breath.

“I did no such thing. How could I? There isn’t une bulle, or bubble as you say, in sight,” Rochelle countered.

“Remember the list of names we found hidden under the floorboard in the attic,” Venus prompted her friends.

“Yeah, what about it?” Robecca responded.

“Do you ghouls think that list could be the monsters behind this secret group?” Venus suggested with some dread.

“Talk about a flea’s sneeze, Venus! My father was on that list! You couldn’t possibly think my father, who has been missing for a century, could have something to do with this horrible group trying to ruin Monster High!” Robecca blubbered as steam poured out of her ears.

“No, no, of course not,” Venus backed off quickly. “I forgot your father and Headmistress Bloodgood were on the list. There’s no way either of them would be involved with something sinister.”

“Chérie,” Rochelle replied as she placed her hand on top of Robecca’s. “Of course your father is not involved with this group. From a strictly logical perspective, it doesn’t add up. Mr. Mummy said he had only ever heard rumblings of a secret society that believed in a monster hierarchy in the Old World. All the people on that list live in the Boo World.”

“But what was the list for? And why were Headmistress Bloodgood’s and your father’s names circled?” Venus asked rhetorically as she lifted a huge forkful of kung pao critters to her mouth.

“I don’t know. And do you know what else I don’t know? Where is Penny? Grinding gears! Penny is going to be so grumpy! You know how she gets when I forget her somewhere!” Robecca fretted as she jumped up from the table with concern over her mechanical pet penguin.

“Asseyez-vous, sit down. Penny is most likely swatting away Venus’s poor-sighted but always-hungry plant as we speak,” Rochelle explained with a smirk. “That is to say, she’s in our room with Roux and Chewy.”

“Thank heavens! I was about ready to grind my gears. I just couldn’t take facing a grumpy penguin after the day we’ve had,” Robecca exclaimed, and then sighed with relief.

Later that evening, long past midnight, the sky turned a deep and magical purple. Not that any of the students at Monster High saw it, as they had all long since fallen asleep. But it was beneath this purple sky that a most peculiar thing transpired.

As Robecca, Rochelle, and Venus lay in bed fast asleep, they dreamed of everything from rust removal oils to couture clothing to wildflowers. And in their dreams, they each had a visitor. And though she looked different in each of their dreams, it was definitely Wydowna Spider. Her presence was a reminder that somewhere out there was a ghoul who needed their help. A ghoul who got caught up with the wrong people and was manipulated to do things that she didn’t believe in. A ghoul who wanted to do the right thing. A ghoul whose only chance now lay in their green, granite, and copper hands.

Hours later, as the sun rose over the conifur trees at the edge of campus, yet another odd thing occurred. Rochelle popped out of bed, sure that it was time to get up. This was, of course, the usual domain of the chronically time-challenged Robecca. But on this morning it was Rochelle who sat straight up in bed, bright-eyed and ready to conquer the day. So you can imagine her surprise when she looked at the clock and saw that she had woken up two hours early. It was then that she started thinking about Wydowna. And though she didn’t remember her dream from the night before she felt a greater sense of duty to try and find the ghoul.

“Wake up, ghoulfriends! Réveillez-vous! I have an idea! A way to find Wydowna!” Rochelle proclaimed excitedly as she jumped out of bed.

Roux, ever the happy pet, leaped onto the floor and started running in circles around Rochelle’s dainty gray feet. Roux was a delightful little creature who never failed to bring a smile to Rochelle’s face.

“Robecca! Venus! Réveillez-vous! Did you hear me? I said wake up. We have work to do,” Rochelle stated authoritatively. “And, per paragraph 4.7 of the Gargoyle Code of Ethics, one mustn’t wait to help another.”

“Huh,” Venus moaned semi-lucidly from beneath her straw sleep mask, surrounded by a tangled mess of green and pink hair. “I just had the strangest dream about Wydowna.”

“What? You’re making my gears rattle!” Robecca yelped as she sat up in bed. “I dreamed about Wydowna too. And get this? She only had three arms in my dream. It was such a strange sight, two on the left and one on the right. I’ve got to admit, it looked pretty weird. Limbs definitely look better in sets, you know?”

“Can we talk about this later?” Venus mumbled as she turned over in bed.

Feeling impatient, Rochelle walked over to Venus, pulled back her eye mask, and stared the sleepy ghoul in the eye.

“Venus, I have an idea about how to find Wydowna, but we must act quickly or the trail will disappear!” Rochelle explained animatedly.

“Let’s do it! We need to find her! And not just because she deserves to be found but because she could really help us with this secret group ASOME,” Robecca said as she jumped out of bed, much to the chagrin of the perennially sour-faced Penny.

“Merci boo-coup, Robecca. At least someone is responding appropriately this morning,” Rochelle said, before shooting Venus an icy stare.

“So what’s the plan, Stan?” Robecca asked, and then paused to clarify, “And yes, I know your name is not actually Stan.”

“No, it is not, although I do have a very close friend in Scaris named Stan. He’s president of the Student League of Rules and Regulations,” Rochelle said proudly. “I must admit I’ve always been quite jealous of his position.”

“Gargoyles and their rules… I just don’t get it,” Venus mumbled under her breath.

“Now then, back to Wydowna. Do you remember the scary tale about the brother and sister who left a trail of bread crumbs in the forest so that they could find their way back?” Rochelle asked her friends.

“Why are we talking about scary tales at six AM?” Venus huffed.

“Because what if Wydowna did that with her webbing? What if she left silky strands behind so that we could find where they are keeping her?” Rochelle suggested, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

Venus instantly bolted up in bed and threw back her gauze sheets.

“We need to move quickly. The more time that passes, the more likely the strands are to either blow away or disintegrate,” Venus responded seriously.

“But how do we know Wydowna is still somewhere on campus?” Robecca asked.

“We don’t. They could have taken her anywhere. But considering how quickly she disappeared, I’m guessing she’s somewhere close by, maybe even the same place where they’re keeping Headmistress Bloodgood,” Venus hypothesized as she pulled clothes on over her pajamas.

“While I agree that time is of the essence, surely there is enough time for us to properly change and brush our teeth,” Rochelle asserted as she shook her head at Venus. “You know what the Gargoyle Code of Ethics says.…”

“No, but we’re pretty sure you’re going to tell us,” Robecca offered with a smile.

Once they were washed up and changed, the trio tiptoed along the dormitory corridor, past the webbed curtain, and down the creaky rot-iron staircase into the main hall. From there they quickly exited the building and headed straight to the backfield.

“Okay, so Wydowna was about here the last time we saw her,” Venus said while standing in the center of the lawn.

“And the vampires were headed up to school,” Rochelle interjected.

“Which means they probably followed the main path,” Robecca added as she started across the field.

“I don’t see any strands yet,” Venus mumbled while keeping her eyes trained on the ground, “although considering how many monsters stormed across the field after her, that’s hardly a surprise.”

Robecca, Rochelle, and Venus moved slowly across the lawn and up the path, scavenging for even the faintest sliver of webbing. But alas, they didn’t find any.

“We mustn’t lose hope yet. They might not have grabbed Wydowna until she was inside the main hall,” Robecca reassured the others.

After a quick stop back in their room, the trio began their indoor search in the Mad and Deranged Scientist Laboratory, then moved on to the Study Howl, Libury, and catacombs. However, the only strands they came across were covered in dust.

“S’il ghoul plaît, Venus! Do not let Chewy eat that harmonica,” Rochelle warned her friend, and then continued scanning the music room for spider webs.

“Chewy! No instruments! What did I tell you? You could only come if you didn’t eat anything… or anyone,” Venus reprimanded her plant playfully.

“I still do not understand why you two insisted on going back to the Chamber of Gore and Lore to get the pets,” Rochelle said as she shook her head.

“Gee whiz, Rochelle, pets like to be included. I mean, just look at Roux, she’s super happy to be here,” Robecca replied.

“Yeah, but Roux is always happy. She even smiles when Chewy mistakes her for a piece of roast beast,” Venus remarked.

“Speaking of food, we might as well head to the Creepateria now for breakfast. Évidemment, my idea was a failure,” Rochelle stated solemnly as she led the way down the hall.

After they sat down at a table, she continued, “Je suis très désolée, ghoulfriends. I got you up early for nothing, absolument rien.”

“Jeepers, Rochelle, you have nothing to apologize for. It was a very good idea, and as my father always used to say, you never know until you try.”

“Merci boo-coup, Robecca,” Rochelle replied, and then grabbed hold of her left leg. “Stop it, Chewy!”

“What do you mean? Chewy’s over here,” Venus explained from across the table.

“Then it must have been Penny!”

“No, Penny’s sitting on my lap,” Robecca replied as the penguin whirred happily.

“Roux?” Rochelle wondered aloud, before spotting her pet griffin nearby. “No, she’s over there running in circles, which means that it wasn’t one of the pets who bit my leg.”

Rochelle then slowly peered beneath the table and gasped.

“Vhat is the matter with you ghouls? Putting your feet all over us vhile ve are sleeping! Vhat, vere you raised in a barn?” the ghouls’ dormmate Rose Van Sangre grunted groggily.

“A barn? Gargoyles do not live in barns. Don’t you remember learning about gargoyles’ natural habitats in class? If not, I suggest a summer revision. And, for your information, even animals in barns are raised not to bite one another.”

“Vhy do they never let us sleep?” Blanche moaned dramatically while rolling her eyes.

“Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you two insist on sleeping in public,” Robecca pointed out.

“You know vhat? I’m going zo go zo zhe town hall meeting and demand zey pass a sleep anyvhere law!” Blanche raved as she banged her pale fist against the underside of the table.

“What town hall meeting?” Venus interrupted.

“Zhe one zo zalk about how zo handle the normie problem. Or haven’t zou heard? Zey’re trying to vall us in.”