A/N So I've taken the time to reread the first two chapters and I found some issues. I've gone through both of the chapters and edited everything again. Hopefully the story (especially chapter 2) is better now. Also, shout out to Gothic girl for the review. Thank you! Enjoy!

Chapter 2

Only a few minutes had passed since Harlequin left the shop once each and every detail of his order had been recorded in the ledger. Maris quickly rattled off a list of supplies for Shock to fetch after she promised Harlequin that his order would be ready for pickup on Thursday at 1:00. Though one would be surprised to think it, there was a lot of work that would be needed to complete Harlequin's order; a spell to allow one's head to spin around was not a simple spell.

Maris spent no haste in fetching a nearby journal. Maris flipped through a plethora of chapters and pages before she reached the notes she was searching for. After she had broken her arm in an accident when she was twenty-one, she had fallen into an obsession to study anatomy; and not just human anatomy either. She studied in depth on whales, birds, rats, squirrels, cats, any animal she could get her hands on. It turns out her research had proved worthwhile. A spell to spin a head around a perfect 180 degrees without snapping the neck would have to be as intricately performed as an open heart surgery. Maris poured over the research, pondering which angle would be most appropriate to take in this situation when Shock broke into her concentration.

"So, what happened this morning?" Shock inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"I overslept. That is all." Shock's eyebrow shot higher. Shock knew as well as Maris that she never overslept, no matter how exhausted she was. There were potions that would provide plenty of energy after a night of hard work.

"That's it?" Shock responded in a sort of mocking tone, hand on her hip.

"Everyone makes mistakes, Shock. You should know that." If the jab hurt Shock, she didn't express it, which would be a surprise since the girl was an open book; a fact Shock was oblivious to.

"Not you. What happened? Something about you is off this morning."

"Off?" Maris questioned the observation.

"Yeah, you're the most composed person I know, but today you're so...unsettled." Maris tried to hide her pause. Could Shock be seeing Maris's puzzlement about the dream? It had been bothering her all morning, as Maris had had similar dreams lately. Only they weren't dreams. They were memories. Warped memories of the life she used to have to be exact. They had been happening more and more often. First it was only a library. Soon it was running from some invisible foe until she spotted Adam observing the contents of one of the shelves. He had been younger than he would be now in that particular dream.

And then their were the dreams of Lawrence and Millicent playing in a park or arguing about how to best make a sleeping serum. Both of them were wrong, of course. Neither had included Deadly Nightshade as an ingredient!

It wasn't the dreams themselves that were bothering her, it was the sudden loneliness that enveloped her after the peaceful bliss of being with her family once again. The embrace of her children, Adam's arm around her waist at the gala last night, the cadence of their sweet voices, their presence which she missed more than she could ever put into words.

Maris had grown to love Halloween Town a week or two after her arrival, but the affection for the beloved town would never replace the affection she had for her family. Maybe that was why she admired Shock so much. Shock reminded her of her fiery Millicent. As far as Maris was concerned, Shock was the only family she had left.

"Nothing is wrong. You know that we ran out of supplies yesterday. It took me all night to restock and I happened to have about twenty minutes available for resting before opening up shop. Only it appears that twenty minutes turned into three hours. I must have forgotten to set an alarm."

"You did set an alarm. I turned it off."

"Oh." Maris did not know what else to say to that.

"So I suppose you were also accidently careless enough to go to work without getting dressed."

"Yes." It was almost funny. Although Maris had about twenty years of age over Shock, she was the one being grilled like a guilty child.

"That's bull. You don't do things on accident. You do things for a reason."

"Shock, it was only an accident."

"Exactly! You don't normally make accidents. You are the most prepared, composed, and organized person I know. The fact that you of all people made a mistake proves that something's up." Maris said nothing. She stared the mint skinned witch down, hoping to intimidate her. No luck.

"Last night, did something happen last night." Shock was hopeful now, sure that she was onto something, that she was going to pull something out.

"I had a dream." Shock instantly deflated.

"That's it? You're so worked up about a dream?"

"It was of my family. And now I have fallen into despair for their loss. That is the uneasiness you are seeing." Shock nodded with as much understanding as she could. Shock, like most citizens, didn't remember anything from before. She could only guess what it would be like to live on in the afterlife knowing that your family was alive and well and grieving you. That you would never see them again. Shock tried, and failed, to imagine the feeling. It was tough when she couldn't remember anything of what she used to be.

"Loss? If anything they have lost you." Maris didn't miss a beat.

"No, they believe they won't see me again because I'm dead. I know I won't see them again now that I know where I am. This is not heaven for it is not a perfect world, but it is nowhere near hell either. I believe this place to be one of many purgatories. Since I died on the night of October 31st, I have been sent here to live my afterlife. The chances that they will follow the exact same path and end up here is almost impossible. It is why the population here is so small. There are so many slots of days on the roulette wheel of death and this one is skinnier than a post."

"This place isn't heaven?"

"No. I am sure of it."

"But it is a wonderful place."

"Shock. There are no angels or clouds or pearly gates here. This town may be wonderful, but it is not heaven." Besides, I would never be allowed in heaven even if I begged from my knees. Maris thought to herself.

"It's heaven to me." Shock replied in a small voice. Maris nodded. The town was it's own unique kind of paradise. Not only that, but Shock had friends who loved her very much. She wasn't fooled by the fights and bruises they gave each other. The Boogie boys all cared for each other deeply.

"I could only call this place heaven if I had my family with me." Maris spoke in the same vulnerable voice.

"I guess that makes sense. I don't know what I would do here with you or Lock or Barrel."

"You've known those boys for a long time, but I must say that I am surprised you included me on that list."

"You've started to grow on me." Shock mumbled in a muddy voice Maris was sure she wasn't supposed to hear. Maris smiled at the compliment. It meant more to her than Shock would ever know. If Maris had to live here, she might as well change someone's life if she could. Mentoring Shock had created an affection for the girl that Maris hadn't expected when she first made her offer to teach her magic almost three years ago.

Maris surprised the eucalyptus colored witch by embracing her in a tight hug. Shock flailed at the touch of affection.

"Oh please, you have just confessed to looking up to me as a friend. Do not go through the futile struggle of hiding it from me." Maris could hear the eye roll as Shock melted into the hug, wrapping her own arms around her mentor and stayed like that for a few minutes before separating and Shock proceeded to break the ice.

"So, have you been in love before?"

"Yes." Maris answered, careful to mask her curiosity. She wasn't sure what turn this conversation would take.

"Do you remember it?"

"Every single thing."

"Is it as wonderful as all of those mushy books say it is?" Maris couldn't hide her curiosity anymore. What angle was that girl playing? It was highly out of character for Shock to display interest in romance.

"What do want, Shock?"

"Do you think you could be in love again?"

"No. I've done it once and once is good enough for me."

"What happened?"

"I died."

"Oh, right. Of course." Shock answered, flustered

"I just told you I miss my family."

"You never elaborated who made up your family. I thought you were kind of young to be married and have children so I assumed you meant your parents and siblings." Maris was taken aback by this. Too young? Maris was thirty-six when she died. A lot of women were married and had children by then. Of course their oldest child probably wasn't seventeen.

"I was married," Maris lifted her left hand to Shock so that she could see the gold band and tiny diamond that still sat on her finger,"but death has parted us. My love story has ended. I will never love another like him." Shock stared silently at the ring. Shock did not take her eyes off the ring as she spoke her next words.

"Can you teach me how to make a love potion?" Maris immediately snapped out of her haze of memories of Adam. Love potion? The girl wanted to make a love potion.

"Why would you want a love potion?" Shock clammed up, not wanting to reveal the unlucky soul who would be tricked into drinking the concoction.

"Shock."

"Mmlawkmm" Maris's brow shot up.

"Speak up, please."

"Mmmlawkmm!" Shock murmured much louder.

"Well, that's a good enough volume, but how about some enunciation? Come on, speak clearly.

"Lock." she replied in a clear voice before looking away to hide the tinged cheeks.

"That's what I thought you said. Well, if you truly have feelings for him that you wish to pursue then I recommend you tell him yourself.

"I can't do that."

"Pray tell why not?" Maris rolled her eyes. Teenagers and their drama. Then again, Lock and Shock were good friends. The confession could shake the foundation of such a friendship. Maris understood the hesitation. Hadn't she been there herself once?

"Because I just can't risk that."

"Well a love potion isn't the right answer. I will tell you that right now."

"Will it work?"

"You mean will Lock fall in love with you if he happened to drink it? Yes."

"That's what I want. I want a love potion so that he will love me and I don't have to risk breaking the friendship because he will be guaranteed to love me." Shock had started pacing the room, planning how the romance would become inevitable.

"You don't want that, darling. It doesn't really work."

"But you said he will fall in love with me if he drinks it."

"He will, but...:"

"Then there is no problem! We can make one now and I'll slip it in his drink later. It's perfect!" But it is wrong. Very wrong. Maris scolded in her mind. Shock's mind was made up. It would be no use to try to convince the witch of the immorality of love potions. Yes, they worked, but they gave the victim no free will at all. Lock would love her, but it would be the potion forcing him while the real Lock would be pushed down deep inside, kicking and screaming to take back control of himself. It was a cruel lesson that Shock would have to learn for herself.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Shock was ecstatic now that she had thought of the idea.

"Alright then." Maris frowned as she flipped the book to a chapter of dark magic where the recipe would be found.

It had not taken long to brew the cursed potion. Maris questioned Shock once again multiple times through the preparation if she was sure she wanted to go through with it. She had tried many times to warn Shock of the ethics of love potions, but she didn't want to hear it. Maris even threatened that the effects were permanent and that there was no antidote, hoping this would cause Shock to reconsider. It hadn't.

Due to the lack of customers since Harlequin's visit, Maris decided to send Shock home early. So much for spending the night restocking. It was fine; Maris had other things that she needed to get done today anyway just like everyone else. It was Halloween afternoon, after all.

She retreated from the shop and sat down at the desk in the private backroom she had holed up in the night before. It was located just off from the living room she had crashed in that morning. The room was lined with shelves and shelves of books, journals, and studies on magic, chemistry and potions, witch history, demonology, dark magic, voodoo, tarot, psychics, herbology, anything. But Maris didn't need any of the books. She knew most of the facts by heart as she was well studied in all of the subjects surrounding her, and the most important parts amidst her own notes and discoveries were hidden in her prized possession; her spellbook.

She grabbed the book and tucked it under her arm as she left the shop. The book was not necessary for the journey, but she wished to reflect on some notes for the duration of her walk to the forest. It turns out that even after all of that work, Maris had forgotten a couple ingredients for the brew she would need after she returned from the human world early the next morning. Maris flipped to a page on palm reading as she walked on.

The book had been in her hands for over twenty years now. She found it once when she was scourging through a library when she was thirteen. It had been soon after she first discovered her powers. Maris knew how conservative her parents were, what would happen if they knew she was a witch. She did not want to know what would happen, which is what brought her to the library. She was pleasantly surprised to learn that the library did happen to have an extensive selection on incantations, spells, and potions. She was even more surprised to come across a humongous volume among the shelves. The book was about nine inches thick and bound in cracking brown leather. The volume had no script printed on either cover or the spine, a fact Maris found odd.

Another odd trait was that the book contained multiple authors. Silas MaCarthur had written a chapter on the many uses of wolfsbane, Clarissa Von Canton's work made up most of the dark magic chapter. A Helga Hawthorne had an expansive chapter on a variety of herbs. Adam Evans had expanded deeply on this chapter due to his vast and genius knowledge on the subject. There were many other contributions among the various chapters, each were dated and some dates were centuries ago. Maris had added her fair share of knowledge to the book as well. Unlike her predecessors, Maris was not planning on hiding the volume in a place where someone else could find it.

It was a very powerful book, full of almost any kind of magic possible, due to existing a few hundred years, the book was written in several different languages. Some passages were even written in a special invisible ink, enchanted to not show up without the use of a very complicated spell, and or coded in an equally confusing and intricate code. These authors had gone to great lengths to protect the magic from falling into the wrong hands. And Maris was not going to let the book fall into the wrong hands, which is what prompted her to do the most intricate spell she has ever performed then or since; Maris weaved a part of her soul into the book, forever binding it to her.

That particular spell is the reason her treasured possession followed her into the second life. It was transformed to be a part of her soul; therefore, it travels along with her soul. Jack had been quite surprised by the book's appearance when he first found Maris late on Halloween night.

The citizens had recently returned from their very successful night of scaring in the human world and were gathered in the town square, patiently awaiting for Jack to return with any new arrivals who happened to show up. They didn't get new arrivals often; in fact, more times than not there were no new citizens who returned with Jack to town. But that year was one of the special few when someone new was walking behind in Jack's wake to their new home for eternity. That was the year he found the woman dusting herself off after crawling up out of the earth. Jack's sockets picked up on an object lying near her, intrigued he reached to pick up the volume only to quickly let go as the book's touch seared his boney fingers.

The woman looked up at Jack, for she had not yet spotted the skeleton man. Her eyebrows spiked in a look of amused surprise, but not exactly fear.

"I see that you have found my spellbook." she said bluntly, stooping down to retrieve said book. Jack was about to voice a warning of touching the book as her words had not sunken into his skull quite yet. He was genuinely shocked when the witch picked up the volume with no protest whatsoever. Jack said nothing as she quickly leafed through a few pages.

"Excellent. The ritual appears to have been successful." she closed the book with a slam, posing her question to Jack.

"Perhaps you could escort me to that town up there?" she nodded to the town situated on the hills of pumpkin patches and graveyards.

"Escort you?" the baffled Pumpkin King inquired.

"Well, that is where I am to stay in my afterlife, correct? The wailing of horns and flash of headlights are stilling echoing in my brain. I cannot imagine that I made it out of that alright as I happen to be standing in a cemetery as I speak. It seems that I have been sentenced to this town. Would you be so kind as to escort me to it and show me around, sir?"

Jack snapped out of his stupor, "Of course, of course! Follow me, Miss...Miss…?"

"Maris." the woman supplied.

"Miss Maris!" the king repeated jovially as he offered his arm, "This way, if you please." He was happy to show the woman around although it was odd. The woman remembered her death. She claimed that the book was her spellbook. This woman remembered her life. How odd, thought Jack.

By this time Maris was deep enough in the forest to gather what she needed. She checked over her list one final time for any other missing supplies. Then she checked again, and then she triple checked. Once satisfied, Maris decided to head back to town through the graveyard where the Deadly Nightshade was located. She had saved it for last as she figured it would be more convenient to pick some on the way back to town.

Maris located the plant in no time. She arranged the sprigs among her other supplies that were contained in an old wicker basket, hanging from her arm. She climbed off of her knees to head back when she noticed a figure approaching her.

"Sally! What a surprise. What are you up to on this fine afternoon?"

"Oh, the same as you. I have run out of Deadly Nightshade. That Witch Hazel is looking pretty good too, though. Perhaps I'll gather some of that as well." the rag doll smiled her warm stitched smile. Maris returned it with one of her own.

"That sounds nice. I'll leave you to it. Good day, Sally." Maris began to walk away.

"What kind of spell are you making with all of that, Miss Maris?" Maris stopped and spun on her heel to face the Pumpkin Queen.

"How much has Jack told you?" Sally seemed slightly confused at the question before seeming to come to an understanding.

"If you are referring to how fake your annual Halloween gimmick is, then yes. I am well aware that it is just an oddity that you mask for the other 364 days of the year. Although why you hide it, I cannot understand."

Maris was not sure how to answer that. Her "gimmick" unsettled her, and she did not wish for the other citizens to know that it was not a trick at all. There was no hiding it from Jack. He had seen it that first night, and although Maris had quickly developed an elixir the next day and told the citizens that it was only a trick, Jack had not been convinced.

"Yes, this is for my annual elixir. It is, after all, Halloween. I will need it for the morning so that everything will be normal again." The rag doll looked rather disappointed as Maris turned to leave again. Sally called after her.

"Maris, dear, we are all monsters. We adore and worship the creepy and frightening. The others would not care if they knew that it is not a gimmick, but who you are." Maris gave a small smile over her shoulder as she continued.

"Maybe, but I'm not comfortable with that scenario yet."

"Perhaps next year! Or some years after that. Time may change your heart." Or not, Maris added in her head.

Thoughts clashed around in her mind as she journeyed back home. The other citizens had started to finish up the final preparations for the coming night and were beginning to gather to converse about how horrifying it would all be. The Clown with the Tear Away Face wheeled around excitedly on his unicycle, almost running over a small bat child that was chasing a little mummy. Chattering citizens were startled by the children weaving in and out of legs. The unfortunate Behemoth lost his balance in the game, tumbling off his feet.

Maris smiled at the sight as she climbed the three steps up to her small porch and door. The eyeball door recognized her as the mistress of the house, therefore, opening up since he had been instructed to keep the house locked. The door unlocked and swung open as Maris came face to face with giant red, beady eyes and black claws. An enormous black scorpion was headed right her way.