CHAPTER 12
Catty Lands on Her Feet
The ghouls stepped out of the subway, and Draculaura consulted her travel guide. “According to this,” she told the others, “the scary ferry to the Monster of Liberty should be just a little bit farther once we switch subway trains and…”
She stopped talking because she realized no one else was listening to her. The ghouls were mesmerized by a handsome rapper entertaining a crowd of commuters with his miraculous rhymes. It was the same boy they had seen the day before—Pharaoh.
Ghouls were squealing and screaming, “Pharaoh! Pharaoh!”
“You are now rocking with the very best rapper from around the way I wanna say HELLO.” He grinned. “Hello!”
Pharaoh grabbed knitting needles from an old lady and began drumming on garbage can lids and getting the crowd to help him make the music he needed. He was a whirling, dancing phenomenon.
“Everybody calls me by my old name. Ugh. So lame. You can just call me Pharaoh.”
As he swung around, his eyes landed on Catty, and she smiled. He cocked an eyebrow. Suddenly, a smile of recognition lit up his face.
“I saw him earlier,” said Catty, riveted by his performance.
“He’s really good,” Operetta replied.
Pharaoh’s rhymes were exploding. They were propulsive, irresistible, and amazing. He was so talented. He didn’t seem to need to take a breath. The crowd was cheering. A ghoul fainted. And the whole time Pharaoh never took his eyes off Catty.
Pharaoh held out his hand to her. “All of you should stand up and dance, no sitting. Straight up out the tomb, big dreams on my mind, gotta find my way in this Boo York way of life,” he rapped.
Catty opened her mouth and out came the purest of notes and the sweetest of songs. “It’s the place we all wanna go. Be the star of the show. When you’re out in Boo York, Boo York,” she sang, “a ghoul can find what she’s looking for!”
He rapped, she sang, and their performance was electric.
But Pharaoh and Catty didn’t even know they were performing. It was as if the crowd and the city had disappeared and the two of them were the only monsters in the whole world. His deep rich voice harmonized perfectly with her lyrical vocals.
The crowd was snapping pictures and videos.
“It’s Catty Noir!”
“It is!”
“Catty, Catty, over here! We love you!”
Still singing to each other, Catty and Pharaoh climbed the steps out of the subway station together. They never took their eyes off of each other. It was a dazzling duet. The crowd followed them, shouting encouragement.
“Okay, everyone, let’s try to stay nice and orderly,” Draculaura urged just as she was almost trampled—luckily she escaped by turning into a bat.
Out in an alley, Catty and Pharaoh were hiding behind newspapers as the crowd raced past. When at last they were alone, Pharaoh leaned over and introduced himself. “Hey,” he said sweetly, “I’m Pharaoh.” As if Catty didn’t already know!
Catty smiled. “Hi! I’m Catty Noir!”
“I know.” Pharaoh laughed. “We sounded pretty good together.”
A scream startled them. Another fan had noticed them, even behind their newspapers! Catty and Pharaoh dropped their newspapers and ran for it, the crowd in hot pursuit. Pharaoh grabbed Catty’s arm and pulled her into a hidden alley.
“Come with me,” he sang to her, reaching for her hand. Pharaoh pulled Catty away from the crowd and together they ran down the alley, laughing and singing. “This way! Let me show you MY town.”
They slipped down another alley as the crowd roared past without seeing them. Pharaoh led Catty up a fire escape, and they watched their fans disappear down the street.
Catty watched, confused, as Pharaoh began climbing the fire escape. “Wait, we’re going up?”
Pharaoh grinned. They were! Up and up, he took Catty to the top of the city. The wind whooshed through their hair. They jumped from one rooftop to another. Pharaoh slid down the railing of a giant advertisement and landed on another building.
“You are crazy!” Catty laughed.
“What’s crazy,” said Pharaoh, “is a famous pop star trying to walk down the street without getting recognized. C’mon. You can get anywhere you want in the city up here.”
Catty took a deep breath, grabbed hold of the railing, and shut her eyes. Pharaoh caught her in his arms.
“Come on, we have a whole city to explore!” invited Pharaoh.
Catty had never been happier. “Well, then we better get started!”
“Hey, wait up!” Pharaoh dashed across a catwalk, and Catty sent a quick text to her friends so they wouldn’t worry—and then she hurried after Pharaoh. Wherever he was going, she was going!
Down on the street, Frankie read Catty’s text to the other ghouls. “She says she’ll meet up with us at the comet gala tonight.”
“Speaking of which,” said Operetta, “we should probably head back and start getting ready.”
Draculaura was disappointed. “But what about the Hauntson River Bridge?”
Clawdeen shook her head. “Sorry, Draculaura, there’s just too much to see and do here. We can always come back for another visit.”
“That’s right,” said Frankie. “It’s not like Boo York is going anywhere.”
Overhead, the comet pulsed and brightened.