Cobwebs Tend to Want Revenge on Halloween

I don't own anything but my OC's.

Chapter 3

Jack sat in his study, surrounded by books. Literally, books were stacked in towers around his desk. He had his spectacles on.

This was just a phase, he thought. In a few days, Maverick would be fine again, he was sure. But…Perhaps Alucard was right. Perhaps this was Maverick's 'true nature'. Jack shook his head. How dare he think that? He knew Maverick's true nature. Witty, cocky, sarcastic and lovable. They were the words Jack would use to describe his late grandfather. Though, most of the time, he would say: "He's just Maverick", which is the way Jack hoped his grandfather would stay. Although…Maverick's werewolf form was something Jack had yet to see, though, truth be told, he didn't want to see it. Maverick was on Jack's side. Jack loved Maverick and Maverick loved Jack. It's the way things are with the Skellingtons. They didn't hide things from each other- well, not anymore. Not since the whole 'I'm-secretly-related-to-you' incident.

Jack groaned tiredly. This was going to take awhile…

Cobweb knocked at the door to his scarecrow best friend's home, Sally waiting patiently behind him. The wooden door opened and Alistair Skelton smiled at his friends, though they did not smile back, which is when he knew something was wrong. His smile faded and he invited them in.

After telling the pumpkin-headed scarecrow what had happened, Alistair rubbed his face with his wooden hands. "But Mav's a good guy…"

"I know." Cobweb nodded. "But he's been trying to kill Dad. Strangling him, almost stabbing him…I mean, I know Father and Teacher fight but this…this is silly…"

"We went to Dr. Finkelstein's lab." Sally added. "But he couldn't find anything wrong with Maverick."

Alistair clutched the arms to his armchair so tightly that they could hear that his twig fingers were close to snapping. He had a thoughtful expression on his jack-o-lantern face.

"Alu?" Cobweb questioned. Although he was now sixteen, Cobweb hadn't grown out of calling his friend Alu instead of Al. "Something wrong?"

"N-No, nothing's wrong." Alistair replied.

"Are you certain?" Sally asked.

"P-Positive."

Cobweb tilted his head. The tone in Alistair's voice was unsettling.

"Perhaps this is a human trait?" Sally asked, tilting her head.

"No. Humans don't act like this." Cobweb replied, shaking his head. Jack had taken Cobweb to the Human World a few times, so Cobweb knew how humans behaved.

"A werewolf trait then?"

"Teacher's been part werewolf ever since he was born. Why would he start acting like this now?"

Alistair sighed. "He's just Maverick, I'm sure this is just a phase."

"Phases are like mood swings." Cobweb snapped. "Mood swings do not include trying to kill your own grandson!"

Everyone went silent.

"Teacher…he-" Cobweb paused to sigh. "He wouldn't hurt Father, not on purpose."

Jack turned the yellowing page to an old book he'd found somewhere in his bookshelves. The book was on werewolves, though Jack could not find the section on half-werewolves. To be fair, they were quite rare. It wasn't common that a human would fall in love with a werewolf. And it most certainly wasn't common for a human and a werewolf to have a child. A child that happened to be his grandfather. The same grandfather that had attempted to kill him just an hour ago. Jack rubbed his face with one hand, turning yet another page with the other. There was the sound of footsteps behind him. Jack turned on his chair. "Shadow? That you?"

No reply.

"Cobweb? Son?"

Silence.

Jack shook his head. "Just my imagination…" He turned back to his book.

Suddenly, there was a loud thud!

Jack turned, only to see that a stack of books had fallen over. "Well, I definitely heard that…" He stood, taking off his spectacles and walking over to the fallen stack. As he began picking up the books and piling them back up, he heard heavy footsteps. But as he turned, no one was there. He shrugged and finished piling the books. Jack heard more footsteps and a grunt. As he turned, he yelled in alarm as a pile of books fell toward him. He didn't have time to move and books fell upon him. He felt one hit his head, then everything went black.

The sorcerer stepped over the pool of books, which had buried poor Jack. "Well, that's him dealt with." He brushed off his hands. "Now, time for phase two." He broke the window's glass with his elbow, then slipped out.

Shadow entered Jack's study, looking around at the many books piled everywhere. "Jack?"

No answer.

Shadow glanced around, then spotted something. An arm. A skeletal arm. With a pinstriped sleeve. Shadow gasped in horror and quickly moved the books aside, revealing the unconscious Jack Skellington. "Jack! Jack, wake up!"

Jack's eye lid flickered for a second before his eye sockets opened. "Sh-Shadow?"

"Jack! What happened?" Shadow asked.

"I…don't know."

"Looks as though these books fell on top of you."

"Books?" Jack looked over at the books on his legs. "No…No, they were pushed over." Realization hit Jack like a sledgehammer. "Where's Maverick?"

Shadow suddenly looked guilty. "That's what I meant to tell you, Jack. I can't find him anywhere. I'm sorry."

"Oh, God." Jack muttered. "Where's Cobweb?"

"Gone to visit Alistair with Sally."

"Oh no…" Jack mumbled and scrambled up.

"Jack, what's wrong?"

But Jack ignored her and ran over to the broken window, careful not to hurt himself on the broken glass. "Oh, good God, no…"

"What is it?"

Jack turned to her hurriedly. "Cobweb. He's gone after Cobweb!"

Shadow's eyes widened.

The sorceress and the skeleton ran out.

The sorcerer walked through town, a heavy frown on his face. "The child of Jack Skellington must die…"

Author's note:

Oh, snap. Maverick has struck again!

So, will Maverick get to Cobweb before Jack and Shadow? Why was Alistair acting weird? Find out next time…