CHAPTER 17

It’s a Wrap

Cleo stared at the comet crystal in the museum. Nefera’s words echoed in her head. “It’s what everybody wants.” Cleo imagined herself in front of the pyramids, holding hands with Seth, a huge crowd cheering. The ancient Egyptians would be so happy. But then a picture of Deuce, smiling, floated into her mind. He was wearing the gold beard she had given him. He took it off and flung it to the ground, where it melted instantly.

What should she do?

Cleo took a deep breath. “I am Cleo de Nile. And I’ve got to give the people what they want. She picked up the train of her gown and marched through the crowd to find Nefera. “I’ll do it,” she told her sister. “I’ll promise to join our families in the Promise Ceremony with Seth.” Her heart was broken and she felt cold and empty inside, but Cleo knew that she was doing the right thing.

Across the rotunda, Catty was lost in her own daydreams. She was remembering her magical time with Pharaoh. She kept finding herself humming the love song she had written with him at the top of the statue. Would she ever see him again? She had to.

Luna came over to the ghouls. “That’s the end of my shift,” she told them. “I’ve gotta fly.” Her wings fluttered.

“You can’t go!” exclaimed Draculaura. “Stay awhile.”

Luna looked down at her waiter’s uniform. “I’ll have to change first.”

“You better hurry,” said Clawdeen. “You don’t want to miss…”

But before Clawdeen could finish what she was saying, Luna had transformed. She spread her wings and circled them around herself, creating a kind of cocoon. In an instant, it cracked open and there was Luna, wearing a beautiful gala ball gown!

Clawdeen’s mouth dropped open. “Can you teach me how to do that?”

Madame Ptolemy was speaking again. “Attention, please! It is with great pleasure that I present the future of the Ptolemy–De Nile dynasty!” Holding hands, Seth and Cleo stepped forward to murmurs of interest from the partygoers. “Under the light of the great comet, my son, Seth, and Ramses de Nile’s daughter Nefera…”

Ramses tapped Madame Ptolemy on the shoulder and whispered to her.

She smiled at the crowd. “I’m sorry, there has been a change. Cleo de Nile will be joined with Seth for all eternity in Boo York City’s very first Promise Ceremony!”

Cleo bit her lips and held back her tears. She could see that her ghoulfriends were shocked. Behind his gold mask, Seth’s eyes were darting back and forth as if he were looking for something.

Madame Ptolemy smiled. “Let me be the first to congratulate the happy couple!”

“No!” proclaimed Seth suddenly, startling everyone.

Madame Ptolemy spun around, dumbfounded. Nefera’s mouth fell open. Ramses looked panicked, and Cleo looked stunned but relieved.

Madame Ptolemy glared at her son. “What do you mean, NO, boy?”

“I’m not going to do it,” said Seth, determined. “I’m not going to let you take my voice away.”

Something about the way he spoke caught Catty’s attention. The very next moment, Seth ripped off his golden mask and behind it was the face of Pharaoh. Seth was Pharaoh!

He grabbed the microphone from his startled mother. “You’ve offered me fame and money and you want to make me the king of the world, but I’m giving it all up…”

Catty’s eyes were wide with shock, and her heart was thumping in her chest.

“I have found my voice!” Pharaoh told the crowd to startled gasps and whispers. “You are not going to take it from me. I don’t want to be Seth Ptolemy. I’m Pharaoh!”

He slid down the polished banister from the balcony, rapping to the crowd as he descended. His mother wasn’t going to hold him back anymore. He wasn’t going to hide behind a mask anymore. He wasn’t going to be the king of the world—because he already was the king of the streets!

Elle whipped out her turntables and added a mix of old-school record scratching and boppin’ electronic sounds to accompany him. She loved Pharaoh; everybody did! And his music was better than ever now that he didn’t have to hide anymore, now that he could be who he really was and speak the music in his heart. He’d been quiet for too long!

Pharaoh had made his way through the crowd to Catty. He held out his hand to her. “I’ve got you to thank,” he sang.

They began singing together, their voices weaving in and out with power and beauty, a duet nobody could resist. Everyone in the crowd was dancing and waving their arms in tune to the music—except for Madame Ptolemy.

“Ain’t nobody stopping this Pharaoh’s on top of this coming back to life straight out of the sarcophagus. I’m rapping these lyrics and this corner’s my scene, Boo York is my town and I’m living my dream,” rapped Pharaoh. “Can I get a boo yeah?”

Catty grinned. “Boo yeah!”

“Can I got a scare yeah?” asked Pharaoh.

“Scare yeah!” Catty responded.

“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 life!” he sang.

“Other towns are terrific, but let’s be specific, Boo York is the best,” Catty joined in.

“Just read the hieroglyphics!” added Pharaoh.

“Go, Pharaoh, go, Pharaoh, go!” chanted the crowd.

Catty and Pharaoh were dancing and singing together. They were telling the world that they had found each other and that they had found a love worth singing about.

“You’re the cat’s meow,” Pharaoh serenaded her. “You’re the coolest ghoul around, and your sound makes me wanna unearth myself, come from the underground.”

“And the time is right now!”

“Found each other in the Boo, now let’s do it together now. Yeah!” They finished on a high note together.

Seth took Catty by the arm and led her out of the rotunda into the dark hallways of the museum. The crowd cheered.

Up in the balcony, Nefera was fuming, her fists clenched in fury. “I don’t understand! What does he have with Catty What’s-Her-Face that he doesn’t have with Cleo?” she said to a skeleton mummy in a top hat.

“Looks to me like it’s their music,” answered Toralei.

“No!” exclaimed Nefera “It’s not boo-tiful; it’s disgusting.” She spun around, determined to solve this glitch in her plans to take over the world. “It was all going so well,” she muttered to herself. “I knew persuading Cleo to do the Promise Ceremony was going to be tricky, but I never dreamed that Seth would be a problem.” She stomped through the crowd in her high-heeled sandals. “But now he has to go and ruin my dynasty over some sick musical crush on a pop singer? Finding my voice? Ugh! More like, losing my lunch. I have to do something fast.”

Nefera stopped right in front of the comet crystal. She looked up at it, thinking. “If it’s music that brought those two together, then somebody needs to take it away from them.” Her mind was turning over possibilities. “Whatever is spoken in the presence of the comet will be for all time,” she realized.

She laughed and grabbed the comet crystal from the podium. What was she up to now?

The comet crystal was hers—and she had a promise for all of eternity she wanted to make. Now all she had to do was find Pharaoh and Catty.