Freaky Friday (but on a Tuesday)

Chapter 5 - Almost Caught

Meanwhile, Wanda, Eunice, Mandy, and Crystal were inside of the ballroom enjoying the wedding cake. Eunice in particular was eating away at multiple slices, and was about to go back to the buffet table for more.

Wanda stared at her with worry. "Are you sure you should be eating that much cake?"

Eunice waved it off with a dismissive hand. "Ah, don't worry about it. My Frankie can handle it, and so can I!"

Suddenly, the women heard an enormous splash from the pool. With a start, they leapt to their feet and sprinted outside to see what it was. In peering down at the figure struggling to get out of the water, they gasped in shock.

"Hey, guys," Ericka sputtered in between her coughing.

The women immediately began to talk all at once.

"Ericka?!"

"What happened?"

"Is that you? How is it you?"

"You're a monster now? What in the world?"

Before Ericka could answer any of them, a shriek sounded from above their heads. They looked up and saw a dangling figure from the edge of one of the hotel's window ledges. Just then, it lost its grip on the stone and fell downward. As the others tried to make out who it was, Ericka already knew, and leapt to her feet to catch the falling person in her arms just before she hit the ground. The girl shook, and carefully stood up in front of the women on shaky legs.

"Mavis, are you okay?" Ericka pressed.

The female monsters were astounded. "MAVIS?!"

They couldn't believe their eyes, but it was true. Slowly arising from the ground, Mavis stood. She looked fairly the same, though something was off about her. Her skin seemed rosier in hue. The look in her eyes seemed more aged. And when she opened her mouth to take a few heavy breaths of air...

"Uh, Mavis... what happened to your fangs?" Crystal asked, pointing an invisible finger to her.

"What?" Mavis almost screamed out. With a couple of fingers, she felt the upper teeth in her mouth, but could not feel the familiar little points that defined the larger canine teeth within them. She sprinted to a nearby glass door and screamed. "AH, NO! No, no, no, this can't be happening!" She dropped to the ground, sifting around in desperation.

"Oh, where is it? Where could it be? It has to be here!"

"Mavis, sweetie, would you mind telling us just what the heck is going on around here?" Eunice asked, a little impatiently.

"Auntie Eunice, I need to find the ray!" Mavis answered, still looking around.

"Oh! You mean that one?" Mandy asked. She gestured toward a zombie bellman, who had the ray sticking out of its chest. Mavis came up to him.

"Thanks, Porridge Head!" she said and, ripping it out of him, aimed it to herself to transform back into a monster. But it didn't work. The brilliant beam that had fired before did not come to life again.

"Oh no! What's wrong with it?"

Ericka came up and took a closer look. "It's broken!" she said. And sure enough, there was a large crack on the crystal gem that now made it stay in its neutral clear state.

Even worse was when Mavis spotted her father through the glass windows in the ballroom. He came up to Harry Three Eye.

"Hey there, Harry! Have you seen Ericka or Mavis? I thought I just heard them."

Harry nodded. "I thought I heard them too. You might want to check outside."

Mavis gasped. "Quick, Ericka! We should head to Van Helsing. I can't stay a human!"

Ericka nodded. "You're right. If anyone will know how to fix it, he will." She scooped Mavis into her arms and began to head back inside the hotel. As she left, she spoke over her shoulder at the girls. "We'll see you later, guys! I should be back in time before Drac and I depart for the honeymoon!"

And with that, the monster-turned human and human-turned monster departed out of sight.

"Hi ladies," a familiar accented voice suddenly said from behind a few moments later. It was Drac! He was standing right behind the four female monsters with a curious look on his face.

"Was that Ericka I just heard? Or my Mavy?" he asked.

"Of course not!" Eunice quickly said as convincingly as she could.

"Absolutely not, Drac," Wanda added.

"One hundred percent NO," Mandy said.

"Haven't seen hide or hair of neither one of them," Crystal replied.

"Oh..." Drac said a little sadly. Then he raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

They all nodded vigorously. "Of course we're sure, aren't we girls?" Eunice asked.

"Mmm-hmm."

"Yep."

"Totally."

"Positive."

Dracula sighed. "All right, well I'm going to go to Van Helsing and see if maybe he - "

"NO!" they all almost shouted at him in unison. He jumped back, startled, and the girls awkwardly cleared their throats.

"Heh-heh," Wanda laughed nervously. "What we mean to say is that, we didn't want you to go until you saw the brand new dance that Mandy was supposed to perform at the wedding reception, but kind of forgot to because we were all caught up chatting with each other." She pushed the mummette forward with a gentle shove in front of the Count. Wanda shot her a look. "Well, come on, honey. Do your thing!"

"Um... okay," Mandy replied, a little unsure of how to start. She swung an arm out, then pulled it into a circle around the top of her head. Next, she bopped her head and extended her leg out to curve it over in front of herself, then she shimmied downward. Mandy grinned as she felt herself start to get more comfortable with the motions, and soon she was grooving to a rhythm within her own head. The girls watching had to admit that the dance was actually pretty good, an Egyptian type of ballet style mixed with some pop and lock freestyle. Dracula wasn't so interested in the dance as he was in finding his girls, but he politely watched until it was over.

"Yes, yes, lovely. Well, if you do happen to see my Ericka or my Mavis, please don't hesitate to let me know right away." With a swish of his black cape, he turned on his heel and stalked off.

Mandy, Wanda, Eunice, and Crystal let out sighs of relief. The secret of Mavis turning into a human and Ericka into a monster was safe - for now.