CHAPTER 22

A Star Is Born

Catty was sitting on the steps that led up to the museum. Frankie and the ghouls were trying to figure out what was going on. “Catty,” she said, “you just sang your heart out with that boy and all of a sudden it’s over? You must feel awful.”

“That’s the thing,” Catty answered, shaking her head. “I don’t feel awful. I don’t feel anything. And I don’t think Pharaoh does, either.”

“Listen, what this ghoul needs is a healthy dose of vitamin music,” suggested Operetta. “Elle, how about something in the key of Catty?”

Elle started to play “Scared of Love,” but Catty just sat there.

Operetta tried to coax her. “All right, now that’s the part where you start singing.”

Catty just stared blankly down at the red carpet. Operetta squeezed Catty’s cheeks to make her mouth move. She tried singing for her. Catty opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t. Elle switched off the music.

“She can’t sing,” said Operetta. “It’s like a part of her is missing.”

“Her voice,” announced someone standing over the ghouls. Mouscedes sat down beside them. “Her musical voice, anyway. I saw Nefera give something to Toralei. Eek! I bet she has the comet crystal!”

Frankie was nodding, trying to figure it all out. “If she wanted to get rid of the crystal, their voices must somehow be trapped inside of it.”

“So how do we find her?” Draculaura wondered. “She could be anywhere in Boo York!”

Luna laughed knowingly. “If she has the singing voices of two of the most talented singers ever, then I know where she is. C’mon, ghouls, it’s time to head to Bloodway.”

Luna followed the bright lights to the heart of the city, and Clawdeen used her wolf hearing to identify exactly where Toralei was singing. They all snuck quietly inside and slipped into the last row of seats. Toralei was onstage belting out a show tune, and she was amazing.

“Wow!” Draculaura was impressed. “She’s pretty good.”

“She’s pretty cheating,” growled Clawdeen.

Operetta was checking her phone. “The Promise Ceremony starts in less than an hour!”

Toralei was bringing down the house. “Get ready for a standing ovation! Buy a ticket and off we go!”

“We have to act fast,” said Frankie.

All the ghouls nodded.

Luna had a plan. “I know this show like the back of my wings. I think I know how to get the crystal back.”

Onstage, Toralei was singing. She had a big brassy sound that hit every high note and could plunge down the scale to the throatiest low notes. She was going to be a star—only it wasn’t really her voice that was singing.

Operetta and Elle took positions onstage with a keyboard and DJ setup. Mouscedes found an electric guitar, and Frankie sat down behind a drum set. Luna flew into the spotlight. “Scat, cat! Get offstage, hit the bricks, this is not right, you stole that voice and I’m here to pick a cat fight! Let it go, don’t you know, onstage you’re a fright. Stage fright!” she sang.

“They call you Toralei, it should be Tora-liar, the audience should run like you’re yelling ‘fire.’” Luna, wearing a police officer hat and badge, magically transformed and landed on the stage right next to Toralei. She pretended to be a writing a ticket. “Get ready for a singing violation. Get a ticket and off you go! I’m the next big stage sensation, listen up, ’cause I came to save the show! Watch me save the show!”

The audience was clapping wildly at this unexpected spectacle. What a show! What a hit. Upstaged, Toralei was furious.

Luna enthralled the crowd. They couldn’t get enough of her. She shimmered and shone. She was a star. “For a ghoul with stolen pipes, you talk a big game. You may fool some folks, but it’s pretty lame. Let it go, don’t you know, the stage is not your right. See the light.”

Luna fluttered her wings and swooped over to Toralei—and snatched the crystal out of her hands. “You’re a phony! You’re no Catty, so take a catwalk!”

Catty reached out her hands and took the crystal from Luna. Her voice was back. “Nice try kitty cat, with the voice-jack,” she sang, hitting every note. She joined Luna onstage and the other ghouls appeared behind her, all in police costumes. It was time to stop this theatrical catastrophe!

The audience applauded. This was an amazing show. Battling feline divas!

“I’ve got friends looking out, they’ve got my back!” Catty was at the top of her game!

Toralei, realizing she’d been caught, was trying to sneak offstage, but Luna and Catty wouldn’t let her. Catty was singing like never before. Her voice was hers, and she was never going to give it up again. What power she had! The audience cheered.

“Now you know, stealing the show is a crime, unless you do it right, all right!” Catty laughed as the spotlight hit her. “You can try and imitate me, copycat, but my voice is made of more than that. You can’t bite my style, let’s face it, you’re just catnip!”

Catty hit the final note and brought down the house. Some people in the audience recognized her. Wasn’t that the famous Catty Noir? Hadn’t she dropped out of the music scene? What was she doing on Bloodway?

Toralei was dumbfounded. She tried to sing, letting lose a raucous caterwauling of sound. “You’re a catty-weirdy, yeowl!”

The audience covered their ears.

“Get off the stage!” someone shouted.

“Booo!”

Some people were even throwing rotten tomatoes!

A stagehand tried to pull her offstage with a long hook that sent her spinning. She got tangled in the ropes. She meowed.

Catty took a bow and then another bow and raced out of the theater with her ghoulfriends, triumphant. Everyone was praising Luna for her cleverness.

“Way to go, Luna!”

“That was clawesome!”

“Luna, you were so phantasmic in there,” enthused Operetta. “You’re gonna be the next big star on Bloodway for sure.”

“You bet she is!” The vampire director had followed the ghouls outside. He put his hand on Luna’s shoulder. “I want you in my next big show—Jersey Ghouls!”

“Not if she’s starring in my next Bloodway hit, The Book of Gorgon.” A werewolf director who had been in the audience had also noticed Luna.

A two-headed-monster agent pushed through the crowd surrounding Luna. “Luna, you’re gonna need an agent!” said one of the heads.

“Back off,” said the other. “She’s my new client.”

Directors, agents, and managers were pushing close to Luna.

“Over here! You’re gonna be a star!”

“Can I have your autograph?”

“Star in my revival of Bats!”

The ghouls were thrilled for her. “Her hard work paid off,” said Frankie. “It looks like Luna finally found what she was looking for.”

“And we found Catty’s voice,” Draculaura reminded them.

Catty held up the glowing crystal. “And Pharaoh’s voice, but I don’t know why it’s still locked inside the crystal.”

Frankie thought about it. “We may not be close enough for his voice to return to him,” she suggested.

“We better get this back to the museum,” Catty said, “before he and Cleo finish that Promise Ceremony.”

Mouscedes stepped to the curb. “I’m on it.” She put two fingers in her mouth and whistled. In the blink of an eye, three cabs screeched to a halt in front of her. “Pick a cab, any cab.” She laughed like a game-show hostess. The ghouls piled into the first one.

“Wait!” called a boy’s voice. It was Deuce! “I’m coming with you. Because I may not be fancy rich like the prince of Boo York, but I know in my heart that Cleo and I belong together.” He caught his breath as he shut the door to the cab. “Also I’ve been wandering around the city all day, and I have no clue where I am.”

The ghouls laughed. It was good to have Deuce back. If only they could get through traffic to get back to the Museum of Unnatural History in time.