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  Nefera was handing something to Toralei. “Get rid of this!” she hissed. The crystal pulsed with the rhythm of the voices trapped inside of it.

  “Mrreow! It’s a deal,” purred Toralei.

  “Eek!” squeaked Mouscedes. “It’s a deal?” She had to get to the bottom of this… fast.

  CHAPTER 20

  Singing with the Satellites

  The lab at Monster High was packed to capacity. Everybody was playing the satellite game. Ghoulia tried to ignore them as she studied the data on her computer screen.

  Abbey was in a panic. “You try everything! What happens if you cannot reach pilot?”

  Ghoulia gestured and groaned. There would be an explosion—either of the earth or of the comet. She had to figure this out. She had to. She groaned again.

  Three satellites on the screen crashed into one another with an enormous explosion, and Manny bounded out of his chair, celebrating.

  “Oh yeah!” he shouted, pumping his fist into the air. “Triple satellite score! Can’t stop this!”

  Manny strummed on an invisible air guitar, making feedback noises. Ghoulia whirled around, irritated at first. But then it hit her. Yes! She grabbed a piece of chalk and drew five horizontal lines through her data points. It worked! How had she not seen it before? She drew a treble clef in front of the points. They weren’t noise—they were musical notes!

  “There’s music coming from the comet?” Abbey asked, amazed.

  Ghoulia groaned in response.

  “What could it mean?” wondered Abbey.

  Oblivious to the game playing and air-guitar silliness behind her, Ghoulia continued studying the board. It was a code—and she was going to crack it.

  CHAPTER 21

  The Cat’s Out of the Bag

  Unseen in the darkness, Toralei skipped across the Hauntson River Bridge, twirling the purse Nefera had given her. She yowled an off-key tune about making a splash and getting some cash. She stopped in the middle of the bridge and pulled the glowing comet crystal out of her purse. She was just about to hurl it into the churning waters below when she stopped.

  “What am I doing? I have the most beautiful voice right here in the paw of my hand, and I’m gonna just throw it in the river?” She turned the crystal over in her hand. “If this thing can take somebody’s musical voice, who’s to say it can’t give it to somebody else?” She shook the rock. “C’mon, rock. Give me Catty’s voice! Toralei wants to sing!”

  She shook the crystal like a ketchup bottle. She bit it. She put it on the ground and stomped on it. “You listen here!” she told the crystal. “I promise that I will find some way to take Catty Noir’s voice…”

  With the magic word “promise,” the crystal pulsed and glowed brighter.

  Toralei continued talking, “…FOR MYSELF!” The words that came out of her were a high-pitched vocal flourish. She sounded like a feline vocal diva. It had worked!

  Purring to herself, perfectly in tune, she pocketed the crystal and headed back. It was time to show everyone just what she could do.

  Not too far away on a street corner, Deuce was pouring out his troubles to a Boo York ghost. “So, it’s like I’m stuck between a rock and uh, um… uh… uh another rock!”

  “Uh-huh,” yawned the ghost, barely listening.

  “I either break up with my ghoulfriend, and she gets all the rich stuff she deserves,” continued Deuce, “or stay together and wreck her whole life!”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Deuce was upset. “But I love this ghoul, and she loves me.”

  The ghost handed Deuce a haunt dog. “Uh-huh. I always say, you’re in Boo York, you just go for it. Relish it.” He squirted some on Deuce’s haunt dog.

  “You’re right!” agreed Deuce instantly. “Thanks for the talk. You’ve really given me a lot to think about tonight. Thank you.”

  “Sure, kid.” The ghost nodded. “Now you gonna pay for that haunt dog or what?”

  “I’ve got to talk to Cleo!” said Deuce, racing off.

  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 c
rystal 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.

  CHAPTER 23

  Blackout Magic

  The comet was closer to Boo York than ever. It was right overhead, shining like a miniature sun, and it lit up the rooftop of the museum. Madame Ptolemy was standing before a grim-faced Cleo and a blank-faced Seth. They were going through with the Promise Ceremony, but they certainly weren’t feeling in love with each other.

  “It won’t be long now,” Madame Ptolemy noted, looking upward. “Soon, the full power of the great comet’s light will be upon us.”

  At the edge of the assembled guests, Nefera heard her iCoffin ring. A picture of Toralei, her tongue sticking out, popped on the screen. Nefera rolled her eyes. “This had better be important,” she hissed. She frowned. She could hear strange sounds in the background.

  “Don’t get mad,” said Toralei’s voice. “It’s really not that big a deal, but I think you should know…”

  Nefera became angrier and angrier as she listened to what Toralei was saying. “They WHAT?” she screamed into the phone. Guests turned to stare at her, and Nefera plastered a sweet smile on her face. “Excuse me.”

  Nefera stormed off of the roof down to the empty rotunda. “Ahhhhh!” she screamed. “All I wanted was a little help manipulating my sister into marrying a prince to make me fabulously wealthy and powerful. Is that too much to ask?”

  She looked around the room and grabbed one of the ancient artifacts on display. She needed some extra magic power—and one of those old museum pieces was sure to be filled with it. She snapped the artifact in half, and the entire floor of the museum began to shake. But Nefera needed something bigger. She grabbed another and broke it open. A windstorm whirled through the rotunda. Still, it wasn’t as much magic as she needed. She broke more and more ancient statues and vases and obelisks. Finally, she cracked open a tiny amulet and all the lights flickered and died. The whole museum was dark. Energy swelled through the building as the magic spread. The lights all along the city streets turned off until all of Boo York was black.

  The cab the ghouls were in was stuck in traffic. The stoplights weren’t working. Cars were honking. People were yelling. The city was at a standstill.

  Catty looked out of the window, worried.

  In the rotunda, Nefera clutched the amulet. She raced back up to the roof and looked out on the darkened city. Only the glowing light from the comet illuminated the gala guests.

  Nefera put on her happiest voice. “Come on, why’s everyone just standing around? Let’s get back to the promising—chop, chop.” She slipped the amulet behind her back.

  “She’s right,” Madame Ptolemy agreed. “The only light we need is the magical brightness of the great comet. Let us resume.”

  Cleo grimaced and took Seth’s hand.

  Comet-crazy Boo Yorkers had filled the streets to look up at the sky. The ghouls jumped out of their cab and tried to push through a sea of monsters on the sidewalks.

  “Excuse me!”

  “Pardon me!”

  “Coming through.”

  “It’s no use,” cried Draculaura. “At this rate, we’re never going to make it to the museum in time.”

  “We have to try,” Frankie urged.

  Catty looked up toward the rooftops. She had a plan! “We have to travel like mummies.”

  “I’m willing to try anything,” said Deuce, who began walking like a mummy.

  “I don’t think that’s what Catty had in mind,” said Clawdeen, shaking her head.

  Catty grabbed hold of a fire escape and pulled herself up. The ghouls followed her up, up, up and then across the rooftops, down the railings of advertisements, and through the city. They arrived at a big billboard connecting two buildings, and they dashed across the top of it like it was a tightrope.

  “We are movin’!” exclaimed Operetta. “We’ll be back to the museum in no time.”

  “Nothing can stop us now,” Clawdeen agreed.

&n
bsp; Elle froze midstep. She was having another attack. She was in a trance, buzzing and pulsing and whirring, louder than ever before.

  Clawdeen sighed. “When am I gonna learn not to say things like that?”

  “Oh no, Elle,” cried Frankie. “It’s never been this bad. We have to do something.”

  “But we don’t know anything about robots,” said Draculaura.

  “But I know someone who does,” Frankie remembered.

  CHAPTER 24

  The Comet Chorus

  Abbey had found Ghoulia a keyboard, and she was experimenting with it. She played it slowly, following the notes from the comet that she’d charted. Everyone else in the room was too busy playing the satellite “game” to notice what she was doing—except for Abbey.

  “I’ve got to say,” admitted Abbey, “for song that comes from a destructive comet, this is a happy tune.”

  Ghoulia threw up her hands. If only she could figure out what it meant! Her iCoffin buzzed, and Frankie’s face appeared on the screen.

  “Ghoulia! We need your help!” begged Frankie from Boo York. “All the lights in Boo York have gone out, and we have to save Cleo! And now our robot friend Elle is fritzing out. Is there anything you can do to help us?”

  Ghoulia’s laptop was scanning the sound coming over the phone. Ghoulia squinted, listening. The strange electronic noises were actually notes! Ghoulia’s eyes widened.

  The ghouls were holding on to Elle as she zapped and fritzed. The comet crystal in Catty’s hands glowed brighter for a moment and faded. Elle shivered and shook. She seemed to be coming out of her trance.

  Frankie stared at her iCoffin, confused. Abbey’s face appeared. “Sorry. Ghoulia had to go. She just figured out how to save entire world from total destruction. Bye now!” The screen went black.

  The ghouls stared at one another. They looked up at the comet. What did Abbey mean—save the whole world from total destruction?