-:-
Shock was laying in bed. She didn't have energy for much else. She took a deep breath. Where could Lock had hidden the extra stack of candy?
She thought he'd have kept it in his room. She'd turned it upside down already, but there was no candy to be found. She then searched Barrel's room for it because Barrel didn't know what all was in his room most of the time and there were plenty of good hiding places. But, as luck would have it, the only candy was Barrel's. Shock always took care to give Barrel the most suckers. He was the only one who had the taste for them.
She relaxed on her bed and tried to sleep, but the hunger wouldn't let her. She jumped up and ran to the playroom. "If I can't find the candy, I'll have to find something else to tide me over… until Friday…"
She did a brief count in her head, not that she needed to, because everyone in town knew that there was only 4 days left to Halloween.
She found an old cage in the piles of stuff they had lying around. There was an old moldy lollypop inside it. Shock got an idea.
She could catch some bugs and make a stew. That would tide her over… she looked around the tree house.
There weren't too many bugs left since Oogie Boogie…
She shook her head and continued towards the door. She'd have to go into the graveyard to find some things.
-In the Lab-
The boys hovered closely behind the doctor's chair and he darted left and right between his many stacks of books. Suddenly, he gasped.
"Jack, my boy! I believe I've figured it out. But the answer is pretty cryptic…"
"Just tell us what you can, Doctor," Sally encouraged.
"…Well, I only found one passage in all of my books about it. Here, look for yourself."
He held out a piece of paper that had sketchy handwriting across it. Like someone had scribbled something down in a hurry. "It was put into this book about general information on the Holiday Worlds like a bookmark, but there's nothing important on either page it's between."
"Holidays are the result of the toil and trouble of the creatures that create them. If this is so, why have so many been lost? I have never been able to figure out the riddle, but I've finally found a solution to the problem. I never expected that it would be so simple to create a Holiday World… perhaps too simple. I've locked the machine away for a while. We've already resurrected two holidays. I'm going to study the effects they have on the other holidays and their inhabitants. Perhaps it's better my founder doesn't find the cabinet…" The Doctor looked up. "The rest is worn off or missing. It's probably an entry in a journal somewhere."
"A machine that creates holiday worlds?" Jack scratched his head. "But wouldn't Oogie have used it if he'd had it?"
"We didn't even know it was down there." Barrel interjected.
"Oogie probably thought no one would ever dare try to get into his lair. Usually, they're trying to get out." Lock replied snidely.
"Oogie always felt that Halloween belonged to him anyway. It's likely he didn't want to have to make another world in order to rule. It would be like he was giving up on Halloween Town." Finklestein replied.
"Well, it doesn't look like there's anything we can do about it until we know who has the machine anyway." Sally tugged at the hem of her patchwork dress. "Besides, it doesn't sound dangerous…"
"Yes, but if someone were to create a holiday on a taken date… like October 31st, it could destroy the original holiday…" Finklestein rubbed his chin in thought. "I'm going to see what else I can dig up. Surely someone has to know something about this thing."
"You do that, Doctor. In the meantime, we don't want a panic. Especially this close to Halloween. Everything you've heard, boys, stays in this tower, understand?"
"Of course, Jack. Our lips our sealed." The boys crossed their fingers as Jack glared down at their would-be-innocent faces.
-:-
Joker and Jesta uninterestedly continued picking at the lock.
"Hey, Joker? How much longer is it supposed to be?" Jesta whined.
Joker sighed, letting his shoulders sag. "I don't know."
Jesta rolled onto her back and glared up at the ceiling. "This is so mind-numbingly, gastronomically, undeniably BORING!" Joker shushed her.
"Alright. I think we need a break anyway. Hey! Lets go find out if we're visiting town for the next holiday!"
Jesta's face lit up. "Halloween! The only prankster holiday left! That's the break we need!"
Joker laughed at her sudden burst of enthusiasm. "But it won't be for long until there are more holidays we'll be welcome in."
Jesta shrugged. "Yeah. I know. But it's nice to get both benefits on Halloween."
Joker laughed before they both said what they were thinking. "Tricks AND Treats!"
Joker ran outside to find Fool or Masqueradia. Masq was standing right outside their door, looking like she was about to have knocked. Masqueradia, unlike most of the other people in the caravan, had always been a Holiday Gypsy. Fool had once told them that she was the spirit of all the old masquerade balls that used to go on before "modern times" when no one was interested anymore. She's always in a long white gown, ripped and fringed at the edges, and she always wears a mask. Today, she was wearing a mask with black streaks under her eyes. It was her normal face, meaning nothing had happened today to make her feel any particular way.
"Hey, Masq!" They said in unison.
"Oh… hello. Fool was just looking for you."
Joker shrugged. "We'll catch up with him in a minute… but first, we have a question."
Jesta smiled at the two eyeless holes that Masq always looked out from. "We want to see if were doing anything… special in about 4 days."
Masq smiled, causing her mask to change into her happy mask with a sun over her right eye and little sunbeams coming out towards her mouth.
"Actually, Fool and I were thinking of attending a certain party, yes."
Joker and Jesta smiled knowingly at each other. "You mean crash a certain party." This caused Masq to laugh.
"Whatever you say, guys." She floated happily towards the forest.
-:-
Well, I'd like to take this time to apologize for all the people waiting for this story to continue. I wanted to, but my monitor was fried. (I've been saying that a lot lately…) Freak lightning storm… you know the story.
If you want another update I'm going to require three reviews. Thanks!
