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"you... how are you doing that?" Her honking was a little disconcerting, but it seemed effective in clearing at least a narrow path.

The crowd didn't seem to be thinning much though, he didn't like it at all. "Die-ner... sounds.. good" He struggled, reaching out to grab her hand so as not to lose her amongst all these monsters.

Perry chuckled.
"Wasn't aware it was by invite only." He grinned "But thanks, could be cool to fang out. "

He gathered his things together, checking his phone as he did so.

"For Posideon's sake.. " He muttered to himself, showing Dashner his phone.
On the screen he'd brought up the Ghostly Gossip who had already gotten hard at work uploading all those kiss cam videos.

"Works quick doesn't she?" He snickered a little at the repeating animation of Nathair getting a can of drink to the face. "And he tells me I'M bad with ghouls." He shook his head. "Hey... isn't that your friend?" He pointed to Marceline, she did NOT look happy.

Perry was cackling. "He's a moron. Oh man.. i'm not letting him live this down. I wonder if I can download this and set it as my screensaver or something."

He made a note to bring this up each and every time he saw his friend from now on.

"Poor ghoul, got quite an arm on her though." He whistled, impressed.

He scrolled through the rest of the videos but none were as hilarious.

Whinnie and Devlyn, Rory and Jewels... poor ghoul looked devastated, Doriana and Mothew... hey go new kid!. Kai and Demona...

"Well..." He straightened his glasses and put his phone away. "I'm famished."
He waved to the other guys.
"Catch ya all later dudes."

The team responded with cheers of "go nightmares!" to which Perry responded without quite so much gusto. Honestly he found this school spirit thing a little hexhausting, now was time to kick back, get some chow and wait till tombcoming.

Monsters of all shapes and sizes were milling about the school grounds as the team members made their way outside.

“Perry!” A little Peryton girl rushed at the boo, wrapping her arms around his legs and giggling as he struggled to keep his balance.

“Hey Ayla... Do you mind? Kinda hard to stand with you attached to me.”

“Great game out there.” An older man approached, smiling broadly as he coaxed the youngster away from her brother.

“Mom not with you then?” Perry didn’t sound at all surprised.

“Afraid not.”

“Too busy?” He quirked an eyebrow.

“Yeah.. let’s go with that.” The older man chuckled and ruffled his son’s vividly red hair.

“What’s her real excuse Dad?” He ducked and swatted his father's hand away.

“She didn’t give one, she said...” He sounded like he was reading from a card. “She loved you very much and thought it was great you’d found something to keep you out of trouble, but the idea of attending a school football match was her idea of Tartarus.”

“Yeah that sounds about right.” Perry chuckled, his mother hated sport and he knew it. Still, one day he hoped she might come watch him play. “At least she’s honest.”

The older man looked to Dashner.

“Friend of yours?”

“Yes Dad, he's A friend." He shot his father a warning glare before continuing. "Uh. Dash, this is my Dad and my sister Ayla” The little girl giggled and waved coyly. “This is Dashner Hawke, he’s also on the team.”

“A pleasure to meet you young man.” Perry’s father extended a hand to shake. “Amazing touchdown out there, you’ve got a real future in football you know that?” if he’d noticed Perry’s tone, he’d decided to ignore it.

Perry rolled his eyes.

“All right, all right. I’ll leave you boos to your celebrations. I’m sure you’d like to spend the evening partying with your friends rather than hang out with your stuffy old family.”

“I’ll see you later ok?”

“Have fun, and congratulations on the win.”

“Tell Mom she’s not getting off so easy next time.”

“I will, I will.”

Ayla waved once more and the pair disappeared into the crowd.

"Eugh... parents." Perry huffed.

"So, let's move on to the in-depth part of the Q&A. Rory, what's the beast book you've read?"

"Scarry Potter and the Sorcerer's Bone, since I haven't finished the next one after that."

"And your favorite singer? Or band?"

"Uh...Bruno Martian, I guess."

"What about boovies? What's the beast boovie you've seen lately?"

"I liked Bro-zen, that story about the two monster bros, and one of them's an ice witch, and-"

"Got it! I think that gives me enough for tomorrow's article!" Iris West was scribbling furr-iously into a notebook as Rory did his best to spit out answers as fast as he could. He longed to catch up with some of his friends, but the duties of a Scream King came first. At least he didn't have to endure it alone, as Iris was rattling off questions just as fast to Jewels.

He picked up his crown and his scepter. With the grimterview over, at last now he could-

"WAIT! I almost forgot the most important question of all!" Iris cried out, making Rory and Jewels freeze in their tracks. Rory groaned inwardly. For the first time in his un-life, he wished someone would say his name 13 times into a mirror and summon him away. Anyone, anywhere...he'd heard Albuscareque was nice this time of year...

"What is it?" Rory asked. Maybe she wanted to know his favorite color, or what side of the bed he got up on in the morning.

Iris looked at both Jewels and Rory in the eyes, which was quite a feat, with only one eye.

"What...is your idea of a scream date? A date that would be a nightmare come true? Inquiring minds want to know!"

Rory side-eyed Jewels. They should have known this was coming...

"Well, uh, I guess my idea of a scream date would be, uh, the ghoul I like and me, together, out doing something a lot of fun. But safe! Safe and fun. Like, spooktator sports. Or going to a concert. The type where the acoustics aren't too glass-shattering. Or even just...sitting around, and talking. So long as it was with the ghoul I like, any kind of date would be a scream come true."

The dance committee had done a great job, the entire auditorium sparkled.

At the centre of the room hung large, ornate glass stars that caught and reflected the light in a cascade of shimmering rainbows. From the ceiling were hung black and gold ribbons along with long tinsel fringes across every doorway. The walls were panelled with jet black, with a deco geometric pattern painted onto each panel in gold.

The dance floor was bathed in artificial starlight from countless tiny sparkling lights embedded in the ceiling and stage.
The stage itself had been decorated to look like a vintage cinema stage, with heavy black curtains drawn across waiting to reveal the band. Bunches of gold and black balloons were tied to either side of the stage and more in every corner.

Around the walls; so as to make as much space for dancing as possible; were chairs draped in black cloth.

A long table to one side of the room offered refreshments of every sort, all served from silver dishes and bowls.

To one side of the entrance had been set up the traditional “photography arch”, an art deco affair in black and gold to match the panelling of the walls, draped with ribbon and backed with a curtain studded with tiny lights.


Jewels had made a point of being there to help out, not only did she feel it was her royal duty to ensure the venue was as sparkly as possible, she also felt a little protective over what was, after all, HER theme.

She finished tying the last ribbon and grinned down at the rest of the committee.

“It’s so pretty!” She squeaked, tears of emotion threatening as she climbed down from the teetering step ladder.

“It’ll look amazing when the lights dim.” The purple haired troll girl smiled.

Jewels clapped her hands excitedly. “I can’twait!”

“You have done an hexillent job”
Headmistress Bloodgood’s voice rang out across the transformed grimnasium and the assembled all cheered.
“Now everyone go get themselves ready, you don’t want to be late to your own tombcomming.”

The committee scattered, most muttering about the time and how much they still had to do.
Jewels took one final look at all their handiwork, smiled to herself, and headed back toward the catacombs, beneath which her family made their home.

-Half an hour earlier- Doriana's aunt and uncle's house.


Ronan straightened his bow tie, adjusted his hat and gulped nervously before knocking on the door.

He still wasn't convinced he believed Doriana's insistence that her family would be fine with him picking her up, prejudice ran strong amongst Selkie and he wasn't really sure what to expect from her Uncle and Aunt.