As Psyche dragged Sally back to Venus' Temple, there were other problems looming in the holiday worlds. For one thing, Christmas Town had three new visitors. Well, not exactly new since they had journeyed there once before. Therefore, they knew exactly on whose door to knock on if they were seeking the Lobster Man.
However, this time, Sandy Claws did not answer. Instead, an elderly woman in red and a white apron was at the doorway. She looked down to see the three confused children staring back at her. Her eyebrows raised themselves beneath her gray hair as she began to speak to them.
"May I help you?" she asked.
"Yeah. Where's Sandy?" said the child in red as he removed his mask, revealing frustration on his identical face.
"Sandy? Do you mean Santa?"
"The fat guy who gives out the presents," said the girl of the group impatiently.
"Hmmm, three rude children dressed in costumes. Santa's told me all about you. Lock, Shock, and Barrel, correct?"
"How do you know that, Lady?" asked the last child.
"I'm his wife. Mrs. Claus to you three rascals. Even if he were here, I doubt he would like to talk to you. You've been very naughty recently."
"He's not here? We came all the way to this dump and he's not HERE!" Shock yelled, "This is all your fault, Lock!"
"Don't start blaming this on me."
"But it was your idea."
"Shut up, Barrel."
"Why are you so desperate to find him?"
"Listen, some bad stuff is going to happen soon. Our boss is back, and he's got friends. A lot of them," Lock explained with a sour look.
"Oogie Boogie? That's impossible, Santa told me he was taken care of."
"Well he isn't. If we don't stop him, we're going to have to do his dirty work forever," Shock said.
"No more trick-or-treating, no more pranks, no more fun. It's too horrible to even think about," Barrel said.
"Well, you have good intentions."
"We never have good intentions, Lady. We're Lock, Shock, and Barrel."
"Listen to me closely, you little demon. Santa is not here, but he isn't so far away."
"What do you mean by that?" Barrel asked, only to be shushed by Shock.
"There is a land not far from here that Santa's been visiting. He's sent messengers from it when he can. If you really need to find him, go into the forest and through the door shaped like a heart. He will be there."
"You better not be lying to us, or we'll egg your house."
"You can trust me, little witch. I have no reason to lie to you. Now, before you go, would any of you like cookies? They're fresh, and it wouldn't be polite of me to send you off on empty stomachs."
Since they were never ones to turn down free food, Lock, Shock, and Barrel decided staying in Christmas Town a little longer wouldn't do much harm. As they snacked on cookies and milk, Halloween Town was in an uproar. As it turned out, the entire town was inside the Town Hall still waiting for Jack. However, it was a completely different scene waiting them once four men dressed in black opened the door.
"Aye, 'Tis a foul stench of demon in the air here." said the Grand Elder as they walked in.
"Who are you? You can't just come in here!" the Mayor exclaimed, nearly tripping over himself as he ran towards them, only to have three guns pointed at his head, "Now, now. No need for violence."
"Hear me now! Thou art to walk silently with us if thou wish to be saved.Thy hideous fate can be averted if thou follow us!"
"What hideous fate?" asked the werewolf.
"Those guys are crazy," the harlequin demon added.
"We're not going with you. We're waiting for our king," said the clown on the unicycle as he tore off his face revealing a large space of nothing.
"King? Thy king is gone. Gone to rid the world of evil such as thineselves. Now either come with us or we will have to turn thou over to others."
"Do your worst!" yelled Mr. Hyde and his two smaller selves, causing the entire Town Hall to rise up and walk menacingly towards the intruders.
"Thou leavest us no choice," the Grand Elder finished as he motioned for his companions to allow the townsfolk through.
The entire town walked out into Guillotine Square only to see soldiers. Men carrying spears and swords surrounded them on all sides. Their armor seemed to be of an ancient kind, yet strong. The Halloween Townsfolk were no match for them, and they quickly decided to follow these men. Their cries for Jack went unanswered as the Pumpkin King was currently flying his way to the mortal world.
What the Halloween Townsfolk didn't know was that there were others planning to help them at this very moment. In Venus' Temple, the Council of Celebrations was interrupted when Psyche, Sally, Cupid, Zero, and Kitty burst through the doors and made it into the same circular room where Cupid was cured. Venus was not amused by their entry.
"What, pray tell, is going on?" Venus asked.
"Look, a lavender," Psyche said, out of breath as she passed the flower to Venus, "Touched by Jack himself."
"Oh, really? This could prove to be useful," Venus said.
"How can a flower help us now?" asked the Pilgrim.
"Cupid, go borrow some incense from the Priestesses and have some cherubs gather wood. Psyche, grab a cauldron and fetch some chamomile to balance this out."
"What are you doing?" Santa Claus asked Venus as the other deities left the room.
"I'm making a special arrow. Lavender is a soothing plant. With the right mixture, it could put someone to sleep."
"Sleep? It's not going to hurt Jack, will it?" Sally asked.
"Not before I do," said a completely different voice.
Every head in the room turned to see that Psyche and Cupid had stopped and bowed to a man. This man was wearing a long red tunic that nearly swept the floor with every step he took. He had his arms crossed as he walked towards them, his brown-eyed gaze never leaving Venus'. This man, with a notebook held in his arms and black hair sweeping his face could be none other than Valentine. And right now, he wasn't very happy.
"Venus, may I ask why I have been kept in the dark about these little meetings you have been holding?"
"Well, Saint Valentine, I did not wish to disturb you in your work," Venus said sheepishly.
"Venus, who is this holiday named after?"
"You, sir."
"If anything happens to disturb this holiday, I would like to know," he said before turning to the others. "Nicholas, Patrick, have you been hiding this from me as well?"
"We thought you knew," Patrick said.
"Well, I had no idea. Fellow Saints should not keep secrets from the others."
"Valentine, we all know you take your work seriously. We apologize. We just figured that with your responsibility of keeping couples in love, you had enough work on your hands."
"Thank you for thinking of me, Nicholas. It is true that love is much harder to control nowadays. But it is easier to take care of when flying skeletons are not rampaging all over the world."
"Excuse me?" Venus asked as her eyes widened.
"I heard Psyche was to bring a cauldron soon. When it comes, perhaps I can show you what I mean."
Uh-oh, trouble in the Real World. This can't be good. How is Jack rampaging anyway? Will they be able to stop him before the whole world goes into mass chaos? And when will the Terrible Trio get moving to Valentine Town? That's for the next chapter to answer, whenever that comes along. (Re-edit Comment: Poor Valentine was so underused. I'm going to have to bring him back too.)