“It’s probably nothing,” Frankie answered. “But sometimes my bolts get all tingly when there’s going to be an electrical storm. And you ghouls do not want to be in the water if lightning strikes.”
“We’d better move fast, then,” Draculaura replied. A damp breeze had kicked up; she couldn’t be completely sure, but it looked as if the dark clouds were moving closer.
“Move where, exactly?” asked Cleo. “All I see is water—no coastline, no islands, and not a single monster we could ask for help.”
“No Normies, either,” Clawdeen added.
Draculaura pointed into the depths of the water. “I was underwater over there,” she said. “The reefs are amazing—and filled with sea creatures! Maybe Lagoona is down there with them. We are Down Unda, after all!”
“Let’s take a look!” Frankie exclaimed as she paddled over to Draculaura.
“Ghouls, I’ll stay at the surface,” Cleo offered. “I can’t dive underwater with my life vest, and this way I can keep an eye on that storm.”
“Fangtastic idea,” Draculaura told her. “You can signal to us if there’s trouble—from storm or from shark.”
“You got it,” Cleo replied.
The ghouls adjusted their scu-boo masks and checked their oxygen tanks before they plunged underwater. Draculaura swam in the direction of the coral reef, while Clawdeen and Frankie followed close behind her. Soon, Drac saw the dramatic spires of coral twisting up from the sandy ocean floor. But there was a big difference from when she’d been underwater just minutes ago: Now there wasn’t a single sea creature in sight.
That’s weird, Draculaura thought. Where did they all go? And… why?
Then she recalled something she’d read in The Wundas of Down Unda. Coral reefs were especially popular with smaller sea creatures because they offered so many hidden, hard-to-see areas. Maybe they didn’t disappear, Draculaura thought. Maybe they’re just hiding in plain sight.
But unless a sea creature swam out to greet her, Draculaura didn’t know how she’d find one. The coral reefs were as delicate as they were beautiful. She didn’t dare risk damaging their fragile structures by swimming too close.
Just then, Draculaura felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see Clawdeen and Frankie behind her. Even through their scu-boo masks, Draculaura could see the confused expressions on their faces. She shrugged to show them that she didn’t know where all the fish and beasties had gone, either. Then Draculaura beckoned for the ghouls to follow as she swam to a different section of the reef.
This spot was eerily quiet too. The only motion came from the thin strands of sea grass that swayed back and forth with the currents.
This isn’t right, Draculaura said. The books all say that coral reefs are filled with life.
A new worry started to gnaw at Draculaura. Had something happened to all the creatures who made their homes in the coral reefs? And if so—had it happened to Lagoona too?
Draculaura felt another tap on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Frankie pointing at the surface, and she understood perfectly.
It was time to regroup—and figure out what was going on.
CHAPTER 8
The first thing Draculaura heard when she popped her head above water was a scream.
It was Cleo!
She was waving wildly in the water, farther away than Draculaura remembered. Either Cleo drifted away—or we did, Draculaura thought as she started swimming as fast as she could.
Cleo screamed again.
Clawdeen was the fastest swimmer of all the ghouls. She blitzed past Frankie and Draculaura as she swam directly to Cleo, a blur zooming through the choppy water.
“What’s wrong?” Clawdeen shouted to Cleo. Draculaura could just barely hear her voice, carried on the wind.
“I’ve been calling and calling for you ghouls!” Cleo cried, clearly upset. “Why did you swim so far?”
“Sorry,” Draculaura apologized. “We didn’t mean to. I think the current carried us away. The water’s getting rougher.”
Frankie put her arm around Cleo’s shoulder and gave her a squeeze. “We would never leave you, ghoul!” she said.
“I know,” Cleo said. “But that’s not what I was worried about.” She stretched out her arm and pointed at the horizon. “The shark is back!”
Draculaura’s breath caught in her throat. She stared at the water. At first, she didn’t see anything. “It’s okay, ghouls,” she began. “It’s probably gone by now. Remember, sharks don’t want to eat monsters. They—”
And then Draculaura saw it: a dark, sleek shape slicing through the water. The arced, pointed fin skimming through the waves told everyone that Cleo was right.
“Come on, ghouls!” Clawdeen said urgently. “We’re about to be shark bait!”
“It’s swimming right at us!” added Frankie.
Draculaura frowned. Something didn’t seem quite right. “Wait a minute,” she began.
“Drac! Let’s go!” Frankie urged her.
Draculaura narrowed her eyes as she squinted, trying to get a better look.
“Draculaura! Please!” Cleo cried.
The creature was still swimming toward them. It came closer and closer until—
Draculaura spun around in the water to face her ghoulfriends. “It’s not a shark!” she exclaimed in relief. “It’s a dolphin!”
“Huh?” asked Cleo.
“How can you be so sure?” Frankie said.
“I read all about them in The Wundas of Down Unda!” Draculaura said excitedly. “See the fin? It would be much farther back on a shark. Plus, it would stand straight up—not curve backward.”
“I’ve never seen a dolphin before,” Clawdeen said. “Look at how it leaps over the waves!”
“Dolphins are playful creatures,” Draculaura told the other ghouls. “But . . .”
“What?” asked Cleo.
“I’m not sure,” Draculaura admitted. “Something seems… off… but I’m not sure what.”
“Uh-oh,” Frankie said. “Maybe it’s a shark after all!”
“Okay. Now that I’ve seen it closer, I’m even more convinced that it’s a dolphin,” Draculaura said. “But—it doesn’t seem like it’s having fun. It seems kind of… stressed.”
“How can you tell?” asked Clawdeen.
“It’s swimming so fast,” Draculaura replied. “Like it’s trying to escape or something.”
“Escape from what?” Frankie said.
“I don’t know,” Drac said. “But did you notice how it keeps slapping the water with its tail? It seems upset.”
“Yeah . . .” Cleo said slowly. “I see it too.”
Draculaura shivered, even though the water still felt warm. Must be that cool breeze, she thought. Then, a sudden flapping movement near her face caught her eye. It wasn’t a bird, though. It was—
Draculaura lunged and grabbed on to a piece of damp, wrinkled paper. “Ghouls!” she cried. “What’s this?”
“Trash, probably,” Clawdeen said with a frown. “Some Normies are total litterbugs.”
“It—it’s a poster or something!” Draculaura exclaimed. She read the sign aloud. “Warning. Tropical cyclone approaching. Avoid the ocean until further notice.”
And there was a small, wavy symbol at the bottom of the page.
Where have I seen that symbol before? Draculaura wondered. “Does this look familiar to you ghouls?” she asked, tapping the symbol with her finger.
The ghouls stared at the sign for a long moment. “I know!” Cleo said. “Wasn’t there a symbol like that in Lagoona’s e-mail?”
“Maybe!” Draculaura said, getting more excited by the minute. “What if Lagoona made this sign? And posted it to warn Normies about the tropical cyclone?”
“What is a tropical cyclone, anyway?” Cleo asked. “I’ve never heard of that before.”
“They’re rare—but they can be dangerous,” Frankie replied, shouting over the brewing storm. The wind, though, was so strong that the
other ghouls heard only one word: dangerous.
“Do you think that could be why the dolphin was acting strange?” asked Draculaura.
But before the other ghouls could answer, Clawdeen suddenly yelled out, “I see it!” She pointed at the horizon, where a tall and ominous funnel cloud seemed to materialize from the depths of the ocean. It was swirling faster and faster, zooming across the waves. The winds were even stronger now, whipping the ghouls’ wet hair across their scu-boo masks and making it hard to see.
“Now, the ocean is not my specialty, but I’d say this looks bad,” Cleo said urgently. “Very, very bad.”
“I agree,” Draculaura replied. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Where are we going?” Frankie asked.
“Back to Monster High,” Draculaura said firmly. “It’s the only way. We’ll wait out the storm and hopefully when we come back, the cyclone will be gone. Maybe we can find that dolphin again—or someone else who can tell us about Lagoona.”
Draculaura reached into the secret pocket of her wetsuit and pulled out the Skullette. She held it out for her ghoulfriends to grab hold of—but the wind yanked it from her fingers. It fell into the sea with a splash!
“No!” Draculaura cried.
Without even bothering to adjust her scu-boo mask, she dove after the Skullette. It was hard to see now; the strong tide was picking up broken bits of shells and tiny grains of sand, swirling them together so that the water appeared thick and murky. Luckily, though, the Skullette glinted and caught Draculaura’s eye. Draculaura grabbed it and clutched it in her fist. Then she surfaced and took a deep breath, filling her lungs with air. “Ghouls! I got it!” she cried.
But in the short time she’d been underwater, the tide had carried her friends even farther away.
The cyclone was still approaching—and it was moving fast.
Draculaura knew two things for certain:
She had to get to her ghoulfriends.
And they all had to get out of there!
CHAPTER 9
Swim closer!”
Frankie’s voice echoed faintly over the crashing of the waves. Draculaura used every last ounce of her energy and every bit of her strength to swim through the churning waters. The cyclone picked up strength and speed as it tore across the surface of the ocean.
But that same current that was making it so hard for Draculaura to swim was pulling her friends even farther out to sea. “Fight the current!” she screamed. The fierce wind seemed to pull the words from her mouth and throw them away. There was no indication that the other ghouls had heard her—or could even see her as the white-capped waves rose higher and higher.
Draculaura’s arms and legs ached from the effort of swimming in such rough seas, but she wasn’t about to give up. She reached down deep for one last burst of energy—and that inspired a new idea.
Swim under the waves, she thought suddenly. Don’t fight against them. Go under them.
Why hadn’t it occurred to her before?
Well, it would be scary, for starters. The water was rough beneath the surface too—and murky enough that it would be hard for Draculaura to see where she was swimming. She would also run the risk of losing sight of her ghoulfriends altogether—a thought so scary Draculaura had to push it from her mind. After all, she could just as easily lose them if the cyclone got to them before she did.
I’m on my way, Draculaura thought with determination.
She had to try, after all. It was the only thing she could do.
Draculaura checked her oxygen tank, took a deep breath, and plunged under the water. Her muscles burned, but that didn’t stop her from pulling herself through the cloudy, churning ocean. Draculaura kicked and kicked and kicked until finally, she had to surface. She had to know where she was, where the tropical cyclone was,
where her ghoulfriends were—
“Draculaura!”
The sound of Cleo’s voice filled her ears before Draculaura had a chance to wipe the water off her mask. It was enough, in that moment, to hear her ghoulfriend’s voice. If nothing else, it told Draculaura that she was close enough to hear Cleo over the whipping wind. Draculaura opened her mouth to call back—but a huge wave surprised her, crashing over her head and filling her mouth with salt water.
Dragged beneath the waves, Draculaura struggled to pull herself back to the surface. She finally rose above the water, still sputtering and trying to catch her breath. She glanced around and saw that Cleo was just a few feet away.
“Cleo! I’m coming!” Draculaura said. It was so hard to swim those last few feet, but somehow Draculaura managed to do it. She hated to admit it, but she was exhausted—just as the swirling ocean demanded more and more from her.
Cleo seemed to understand. “Hold on to my arm,” she said. “My life vest can keep us both afloat.”
“Where are Frankie and Clawdeen?” Draculaura finally managed to ask.
Cleo pointed; Draculaura looked in that direction and saw her ghoulfriends bobbing together on the rough water. “They tried to dive beneath one of those big waves—but the undercurrent dragged them that way,” Cleo explained. “I’ve been trying to swim toward them, but they’re just getting farther and farther away.”
“That’s because the current is pulling them toward the tropical cyclone,” Draculaura said grimly. “We’ve got to get out of here before it gets worse.”
“And it looks like it’s about to get a lot worse,” Cleo said anxiously. The tropical cyclone was bearing down on them fast; Draculaura was worried too. If they didn’t reach Frankie and Clawdeen soon—
Stop, Draculaura told herself. Don’t even think it.
“Let’s go,” Draculaura urged Cleo. “Kick, kick, kick as hard as you can!”
With both ghouls kicking in rhythm, they were finally able to propel themselves through the rough waters. Twenty feet—fifteen feet—ten feet to go—
“Frankie! Clawdeen!” Cleo screamed, trying to be heard over the roaring water and howling winds.
Seven feet—
“We’re almost there!” Draculaura cried.
“The Skullette!” Frankie yelled back.
Five feet—
“I’ve got it!” Drac replied.
Three feet—
They were close enough now that Draculaura and Cleo could reach out far and grab hold of Clawdeen and Frankie. But first, Draculaura had to get the Skullette. She wanted to be ready to transport out of there the instant all four ghouls could touch it.
Another enormous wave swelled, crested, and crashed over the ghoulfriends. Draculaura pressed her clenched fist, with the Skullette tucked inside it, against her heart. She would do anything to protect the Skullette. Luckily, Cleo kept a tight hold on Drac’s other arm to keep her from being carried away with the wave. But now the gap had opened up again. Draculaura and Cleo had to swim another fifteen feet to reach their ghoulfriends.
How much longer can this go on? Draculaura thought. She tried to muster her strength. She remembered all the obstacles she had already faced, all the struggles on the way to starting Monster High, and knew that she would never, ever give up.
No matter what.
Kick. Kick. Kick, Draculaura thought, again and again and again, until finally she and Cleo were close enough to grab on to Clawdeen’s and Frankie’s arms. The four ghouls held one another as tightly as they could, and Draculaura knew that they wouldn’t ever let go. Not for anything.
Overhead, the sky crackled. Blinding bolts of lightning leaped from cloud to cloud; it was only a matter of time, Draculaura knew, before one of them hit the water.
But we’ll be long gone before that happens, she pledged.
With the Skullette still clenched in her fist, Draculaura held out her hand. She gingerly opened her fingers so the other ghouls could grab hold of the Skullette too.
The massive funnel cloud was so close, but all Draculaura had to do was say the words.
“Monster High—Exsto—”
Whoosh!
But it wasn’t the Monster Mapalogue that plucked the ghouls from the raging waters.
It was the tropical cyclone!
The funnel cloud sucked them up, whirling the ghouls in an endless spin as it traveled across the ocean. Draculaura slammed her eyes shut and tried to hold on as tightly as she could. But she was no match for the ferocious storm.
None of them were.
CHAPTER 10
It took several minutes for Draculaura’s head to stop spinning. She was pretty sure she wasn’t moving—the ground under her felt strong and solid—but every time she opened her eyes, the bright-blue sky swirled by in a speeding blur. At last, though, the world seemed to slow down as Draculaura’s dizziness faded. She pushed herself up to a sitting position, blinked, and looked around.
Draculaura wasn’t quite sure where she was, but she knew one thing: She was nowhere near the ocean. There was no sign of water anywhere, for that matter. Just a vast expanse of dry, dusty dirt for as far as she could see.
There’s plenty of time to worry about that later, Draculaura told herself. Right now, I’ve got to find my ghoulfriends.
Draculaura stood up and used her hand to shield her eyes from the relentless sun. “Frankie!” she called. “Clawdeen! Cleo!”
There was no response.
“Frankie! Clawdeen! Cleo!”
Draculaura waited, straining her ears to hear anything.
Still nothing.
“Frankie! Clawdeen! Cleooooooooooooo!”
“Draculaura!”
“Over here!”
“Ghouls!” Draculaura cried in excitement. “Where are you?”
Suddenly, she saw Frankie’s head pop up from behind a scrubby bush. “This way, Drac! We’ve been looking for you.”
Draculaura hurried over and pulled her ghoulfriends into an enormous hug. “I was so worried I wouldn’t find you,” she said. “Is everybody okay?”
“Better than okay,” Frankie announced. She held up both hands and wiggled all her fingers. “If I hadn’t been wearing my super-strong wetsuit, I would’ve lost a body part for sure!”
All the ghouls laughed—until Draculaura gasped, startling everyone. Then she spun around and raced away.
Monster Rescue: Go Get Lagoona! Page 5