Lenora's wing was healing fairly well, and would probably be ready to unbandage and stretch soon. She could hardly wait; she had only actually flown twice before, and both had been times of extreme anxiety and confusion. She longed to try it at a time when she could really feel the thrill of flying and enjoy it.

A week or two later, around May, Lenora was back about town. It'd taken a while before she had stopped twitching at the mere mention of 'science' or 'experiments', and going into panic mode at any sudden noise. She was still jumpy, as she was likely to always be, and the citizens loved taking full advantage of it when they had the chance.

Nathan, the mummy cyclops child, was one of the few who didn't try to frighten the girl. On the contrary, he had developed a slight crush on Lenora, so rather tried to help her overcome her fears. When he could, anyway. Being friends with Monty, the corpse boy, made their parents somewhat close as well; and his friend's mother couldn't have been more adamant about anything than about not letting anyone she knew near the 'disgraceful faux pas', as she called her. "Nothing scary or fearful about her except her shameful fear of everything." She'd said once.

Of course, Lenora didn't really notice anything much; all she realized was that Nathan didn't try to scare her as badly as others, and helped her calm down, which she appreciated. Sally somewhat noticed, since she preferred to at least know where Lenora was if she didn't stay around her, but said nothing. It was good for her to have at least some friends in town, even if it was just one.

As for the other children, they had begun to see her as a possible playmate, but found scaring her much more fun. On her part, Lenora thought she felt a sort-of connection with the Bat Boy, since he had wings too. However, he felt nothing of the same sort toward her, as he usually either scared or ignored her (as did the others).

Anyway, Lenora had managed to get herself somewhat lost in town one evening; she knew what area she was in, but wasn't really sure how to get out.

While she was looking around, she spotted a trio of children grouped together whom she hadn't seen before, and became curious. They hadn't really noticed her yet, and she approached them. "Um," She said, slightly more confidently than she felt (she'd learned that showing nervousness only made others want to scare her more), "Where are you going?"

They stopped and looked at her, and she got a better look at them. One was dressed as a witch, another a devil, and the third a skeleton. They all looked older than her, and had masks on. "Hey," The devil said, looking closer at her, "You're that angel kid we've been hearing about, aren't you?"

"Uhm, probably…"

"Huh; you look scrawnier than I thought." The skeleton boy laughed in agreement as Lenora subconsciously retreated a little, pulling her wings in closer.

"Well, what do you want?" The witch snapped after looking at her for a moment.

"I… wanted to know where you were going." Lenora repeated.

"That's none of your business." The skeleton stated decisively.

"Well, would you tell me anyway?"

"No!" The group yelled at her before cackling and continuing on their way. Lenora winced and watched them, hesitating, then followed them.

After a few blocks, the trio noticed her still behind them. The devil stopped them and turned around. "Hey, can't you hear? Scram!" Lenora stepped back, shrinking against his voice, but stayed near. She'd have to be braver if she was going to make any friends here, she'd resolved.

"Would you want to… play a game?" She asked pathetically.

The skeleton boy put a finger to his mask in feigned thought. "Mmm; no."

"Why would we want to play with you?" The devil snickered. Unnoticed to any of them, the witch's eyes gained a sudden gleam as an idea came to her.

"Now boys," She said sweetly, putting her hands in front of them, "let's be nice to the little one. Of course we'll play with you." The other two were confused for a moment; weren't they just trying to get rid of the girl? Giving them both a quick look, however, she passed on that she had a plan, and they grinned beneath their masks.

"Really?" Lenora asked, surprised. She'd been too nervous to notice their suspicious behavior.

"Sure." The devil boy drew out, "We were just messing with you before."

"Having some fun." The skeleton chimed in.

"Ok…" Lenora said, somewhat relieved.

"I'm Shock" The witch said as she took of her mask.

"Lock." The devil added, removing his mask.

"And Barrel." The skeleton boy finished, removing his mask and licking a swirly lollypop.

"I'm Lenora. What do you want to play?"

"Pummel the Mayor?" Barrel suggested right off.

"No, let's play bombarrage!" Lock countered.

"Shut up!" Shock screeched as she whacked them both with her mask. "I think we should play hide and seek." Barrel was rubbing his head where Shock had hit him, and Lock was glaring at her; but both smiled at the idea. They jumped up and pranced over to Lenora.

"Hide and seek! Hide and seek!" They chanted merrily, circling her, "You shall hide and we shall seek!"

Barrel sang, "But you'd better hope that-"

"We'll not find you." Shock continued.

Lock carried it out, "Otherwise," and he held out his plunger (which Lenora hadn't noticed before), "we'll pulverize you!" They all snickered as Lenora looked at them, unsure what to do or say.

"Umm… ok…" Lenora said hesitantly.

"Don't worry about it." Lock said teasingly.

"We'd never really do that to you." Shock comforted. Of course, Lenora couldn't see them all crossing their fingers behind their backs.

"So, who's going to be 'it'?" Lock asked.

"Didn't we just say we were?" Barrel asked, referring to their previous tune. Lock hit him with his mask.

"No, you idiot! We can't all be it; it doesn't work that way!" Barrel protected his head from another blow, then rolled his eyes and made an annoyed imitation of Lock blabbering. Lock then whacked him again.

"Quit it!" Shock barked. "I say that Barrel should be it; since he brought it up."

"But I-" Barrel began to protest, but a quick glare from Shock shut him up. "Fine.." He mumbled as he turned around to face a wall. Lock and Shock put their masks back on as he began counting, and ran in different directions. Lenora just stood there, not entirely sure what she should be doing.

Lock looked back and loudly whispered, "You're supposed to hide, dimwit!" Lenora looked around, hesitating to go somewhere. Shock rolled her eyes as she saw and ran back, grabbing her hand.

"Come on!" She ordered as she dragged Lenora behind her. She didn't mind, though.

Winding through some backstreets, they finally slowed to a stop. Shock looked around, then looked up. "Hey… kid." Lenora looked up at her. "See that roof up there?" She pointed at a slanted roof a few stories above them, maybe 10 feet away.

"Yeah."

"I'd say that's a pretty good hiding spot."

"But how're we going to get up there?"

"Oh yeah," Shock said, pretending to have forgotten, "you can't fly." She went over to the building's nearest window and peeked in. Finding nothing threatening, she went to the door and tried the handle. It was unlocked, and she motioned for Lenora to follow her in.

"What're we doing?"

"Getting to the roof, of course." And maybe seeing if there's anything good enough to take, Shock added to herself.

"Can we?" Lenora asked cautiously as they passed into the next room, finding the stairs. They saw many pots with various plants in them, including a venus flytrap.

"Why wouldn't we? We're just going up and the door wasn't even locked." Shock said sweetly. Of course, it wouldn't have mattered even if it was, but she didn't mention that. They reached the top of the 3rd flight of stairs, and found a window leading on to the roof. After Lenora got out, Shock turned back.

"Wait!" Lenora cried, but Shock turned and put a finger to her lips.

"Shush! I'm going to go keep a watch out for Barrel."

"..Alright."

"You stay up here and hide." Lenora nodded earnestly as Shock disappeared down the stairs, then left the window area hesitantly. Shock snickered to herself; this was way easier than she'd thought.

Going back through the rooms a bit slower, she looked through things to try to find something worth stealing. However, all she could find was books, plants, and gardening materials. Well, she assumed they were used for gardening. All she ended up taking was a small whip and a pair of pruning shears.

Before she headed for the main door, she came to a door with a sign saying 'P.P.' on it. Right underneath in red letters was written 'keep locked!' Lifting her mask and grinning, Shock put aside the shears and undid the deadbolt. She tried undoing the key lock with a paperclip, but found the lock too large for just one. Taking another look at the double-lock, it took a little longer but she finally got it unlocked.

Shock opened the door fairly wide, but there wasn't a whole lot of light to shine in or reveal much. The few windows inside were covered with drapes; and the shadowy objects she saw didn't look very useful. There were a few tables, some random containers, and vines. Almost everything was covered with vines, though they weren't quite overwhelming. She shoved them out of the way as she looked at the tables, opening some random drawers and rummaging through them. She didn't find much except papers, bags, and some spiders. On the tables, occasionally a beaker would have a mystery substance or object in it.

One of them she unscrewed and looked at for a moment before putting it back up. As she did so, a piece of her hair accidentally went in and she heard a small sizzling sound. Quickly bringing the container back down and her hair out, she saw the hairs that looked like they'd been singed a little. Intrigued, she tore off a corner from one of the papers lying around, and put it into the glass container. She watched as it quickly dissolved into nothing. Another small fizzing noise accompanied the brief reaction. Grinning, she screwed the top back on tightly and held it in the same hand as the whip. Finally, she'd found something useful.

Unknown to her, the vines that she'd been so violently pushing around had been snaking around her feet, slowly coming toward her. Moving one foot, Shock tripped and almost fell over one of the small vines. Mumbling angrily, she kicked the vines that were by her feet, still not realizing they'd moved on their own. Starting to step towards the door, Shock saw a vine sluggishly reach out and grab her ankle.

"What? Get off of me!" She yelled at the plant, shaking her leg. It kept holding on, and other vines were beginning to move her way. She half walked/hopped as best she could to the doorway, but couldn't quite get there and fell over. Another vine had grabbed her other leg, and more had strengthened the first one. She made sure to keep the bottle raised out of danger of cracking as she fell, though.

The bottle; she could use the acid inside! But the idea was quickly tossed aside; no way was she going to waste the acid on a stupid plant! Glowering at the vines, she thrashed for a little bit. It made no difference; they'd gotten a hold on her dress now, and were working up. She could feel them beginning to pull her back farther into the room.

The whip wasn't much good; she couldn't get a good enough start to it, and the vines could just grab it from her anyhow. They didn't seem to be moving very fast, or extremely strong, but they still held her fast. The shears, those could work! But she'd left them outside the door! Shock rolled her eyes at herself; why'd she left them so far out of reach? She couldn't break the vines on her own; she'd tried. Great, she thought, I'm being held hostage by a freaking plant! She pounded her free fist against the floor in frustration, growling to accent it.

Suddenly, a crash came from the room just down the hall. Shock froze; were the owners home already? No, they shouldn't be; most everyone was more or less out or getting out by now since it was getting darker outside.

Before she could decide whether or not to try to hide, a round white mask rolled into view. Barrel shortly trotted into view, picking up his mask and his back facing Shock's way.

"Barrel!" Shock said it sharply, and caught the boy off-guard. He promptly dropped his mask again, then looked her way and grinned as he bent to retrieve it.

"Haha; I found you."

"Shut up!" Shock growled at him, "Hurry up and hand me those scissors outside of the door!" He walked over and picked up the shears.

"You mean these?" More vines attached themselves to Shock.

"Yes!" She said urgently, "Now give them to me!"

Barrel grinned. "What for?"

"Just hand 'em over!" She slid back even further, a large jolt in comparison to the previous ones.

Barrel held them out, but out of her reach. "What's the magic word?" He asked tauntingly, waving the shears.

"NOW!" Barrel quickly came inside and gave them to her, and she immediately began whacking the vines nearest her other arm. Handing the container and whip to Barrel and getting a hold on the handles, she started nipping off whatever she could reach. The vines all tightened momentarily, then began retreating. Aiding them move away faster, Shock kicked and scooted away from them, then yelled at Barrel, "Don't just stand there, help me!"

He became reanimated and ran up to her, grabbing her dress' shoulders with one hand and helped drag her out of the room. "Watch the bottle!" She said crossly as she finally freed her legs and stumbled backwards. After getting up, she ran to the door and shut it, Barrel just getting out of her way. Locking the deadbolt, she waited a moment to listen for any sign of retaliation on the other side of the door. Hearing none, she backed up to the opposite wall and let go of the pruning shears. She was panting slightly from the adrenaline, but it subsided shortly.

Barrel carefully set down the whip and glass container, then went over to the shears. Experimentally, he held them and snapped them a few times, shifting the weight in his hands from time to time. "Hey Shock;" he said casually.

"What?"

"I'm gonna keep these."

"Fine." She got up and brushed off her dress; "Just be careful around that glass bottle."

"Why?" He asked, purposefully swinging the shears close to the container. Shock immediately came and pushed him over, grabbing the glass and holding it protectively.

"Because I told you to!" He stuck out his tongue at her briefly.

"Fine. What's so special about it anyway?"

She grinned smugly. "I think it's an acid of some sort, or maybe a potion. But whatever it is, it was in that room with that plant-thing."

Barrel's interest rose, and he came closer. "Ooooo, an acid? Can I see?"

"No!" Shock said sharply as she picked up the whip, "Not right now."

Barrel pouted. "Then you're it. I found you."

"No, I'm not. I called out to you; you didn't find me."

"Did too!"

"Did not! Besides," she continued, "right now we have a little bird girl to tend to…"

Barrel grinned, and Shock beckoned him to come closer. As she whispered her plan to him, he cackled maniacally in anticipation.


Barrel climbed fairly noiselessly up the flights of stairs, Shock a ways behind him so as to not be seen and be a lookout. She held the pruning shears along with the other stuff, as Barrel might need both his hands getting around on the roof.

Once they got to the window, Barrel went out first and went around the side of the window entrance. Climbing up a little, he saw Lenora's shape near the other side of the roof, facing into the setting sun. Well, with it being twilight, Barrel somewhat had to guess that she was facing the sun, since he couldn't see much but shadows. But she wasn't moving away or towards him, so at least she didn't know he was there yet.

Keeping his laughter to himself, he tiptoed over to the area behind her, but was still out of reach. Putting his hand above his eyes so he could see better, the other buildings around them came into view. The one next to them wasn't very far away, a grown person could jump the distance if they wanted to. But it was just a bit farther than a child could jump; they might catch the edge of the roof if they were lucky.

Barrel grinned, and shouted "Found you! You're it!"

Lenora visibly jumped, and turned to face him. But before she could even do that much he lunged out and roughly 'tagged' her with both hands.

She stumbled sideways/backwards towards the edge of the roof, and temporarily balanced on one foot, waving her limbs around and extending her wings to try to stabilize herself. It only lasted a brief moment, during which her head blocked the sun from Barrel's view and he could clearly see her face. It was fearful, panicked, asking for help.

But then she fell out of sight.


Ah! Another chapter finally finished. And in record time, sorta, too.

And around 3,000 words! Yay!

Sorry to say, though, that updates will probably be back to usual speed after this; I had most of this written before, but now I gotta start again. But I will try harder!

I want to thank seyin800, Heavenly Swords, and michaellover for reviewing!! I greatly appreciate feedback, and opinions of any sort on my writing. So thanks again!

That brings this little paragraph back around - If you have the time, could you please leave a review for me? I love hearing/reading anything you might have to say about this story, and it inspires me to continue. If you have some critiques, I'll be happy to make some changes if you tell me what I need to improve on.

Moving on...

What's happened to Lenora? She fell of the roof, of course! \gets pelted with stuff/ Aaahh! Ok ok, I know there's more to it! But that's all you're gonna have for now.

And what about that mysterious plant that attacked Shock? Was it protecting that acid, or was it just attacking her because she was there?

I forget these sometimes -

Disclaimer : Lock, Shock, Barrel, and Halloweentown belong to Tim Burton

Claimer : Lenora, the plant, and that acid belong to me.

Ja