Author's Note: I'm taking some time out from re-editing to update. Isn't that swell? What's really swell is The Nightmare Before Christmas. It was a poem, then a movie, then an object of worship for rabid fans such as myself. Its characters, songs, settings, and situations belong to it and the wonderful people that brought it to life, including Tim Burton and Danny Elfman. We all know that, but I'm just reiterating it since if I don't and on the quadrillion-to-one chance I'll get sued, the only thing I own is my soul, and I'd like to keep that thank you very much.

As Patience made her way to Daniel's house, plans were being made in the Native village to deal with the demonic kidnappers. The men gathered outside the dwelling of Pallaton anxiously awaiting what the spirit man would do. See, he was supposed to have told them his plans earlier, had someone not delayed him. That someone was none other than the missing child's aunt.

"Pallaton, reconsider all of this," Kimi said as she blocked the spirit man's exit, despite the fact she was much shorter than him and might not have been able to take him by force.

"You're one to talk," said the spirit man as he squared his brown eyes, "You just went to that settlement to beg Jacob to allow me to help. I recall that he said yes."

"Jacob still does not trust his Elders, neither do I."

"I trust men more than I trust demons."

"Those men are demons."

"Kimi, Takoda is in danger, a danger only I might be able to handle. You want your nephew to be safe, don't you?"

"Of course I do. I also want the truth, Pallaton. You will be no better than those old fools if you spill the blood of the innocent."

"Demons are never innocent. If you excuse me, I have to meet with the chief."

With that, Pallaton finally brushed past Kimi and stepped out to the crowd. He looked as fierce as his prey in the light of the setting sun as he approached the center of the village. The men waiting for him gracefully made a spaced themselves to form a path as Pallaton approached an older man of the tribe. This man had long white hair tired with leather and held a wooden staff covered with shells and feathers in his hands.

"Pallaton, is it true you are to find our missing boy?"

"Yes, Chief Mingan. I have finished my training as an achak hastiin. It will be an honor to defeat the demons that have disgraced our tribe and bring Takoda home."

"You will need this," Chief Mingan said as he handed Pallaton the staff, "It has been given the blessing of the entire village. Most important of all, Nitis and Kanti have blessed it."

"Are they here?" Pallaton asked.

"Look behind you," the chief said.

Pallaton turned around to see a Native couple slowly approaching him. The husband seemed close to carrying his grief-stricken wife. The woman could barely do anything but cry, she was truly a mother who feared for the life of her child. The man himself held in his emotions, but it was obvious that he too was worried about his son.

"Pallaton, on behalf of Kanti and myself, we thank you," said the husband.

"I will have your son with me when I return, Nitis. He must surely have missed both of you."

"Be careful, Pallaton," Kanti said as she began to control herself, "Bring my baby home."

"I swear to bring him back on my honor as an achak hastiin. Do not think that those who did this to him, to you, will go unpunished," Pallaton said before bowing to the couple and then turning to face the crowd, "I leave you now as a man on a mission. I hope to return as a hero. I bid you all farewell."

With that, Pallaton left the village, with his staff in hand and head held high in pride. However, he had hardly gotten into the woods when he was approached by Kimi again. Pallaton was starting to have doubts about Kimi's true feelings about her nephew. At least, before she hugged the spirit man.

"What are you doing?"

"Pallaton, I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate this."

"I think the gratitude in my home was enough."

"Please, Pallaton, be careful and trust your instincts. If you feel something to be good, than do not harm it. If you feel evil, than fight it as well as you can. Looks can be deceiving."

"Kimi, I'm not going after the Elders of the Pilgrim Settlement. Nothing you say is going to make me do that."

"Must you always think I'm trying to order you around?"

"Probably because you are."

"I am not."

"You are an absolutely insufferable woman."

"Too bad. If you are going to be so stubborn-"

"You are the stubborn one."

"Then I'll have no choice but to go with you," Kimi finished.

"No, Kimi. This isn't a hunt or a visit to Jacob."

"If you thought I was really going to stand by and let others save my nephew, then you obviously do not know me well."

"Just don't complain when you realize this isn't as easy as you think it is."

Kimi let out a frustrated sigh before following the spirit man. However, she knew this was the only way she could get Pallaton to eventually check on the Puritan Elders. As horrible as it was to hear Takoda had been taken by demons, the story never really did sit that well with Kimi.

Speaking of "demons", Jack and Sally had been trying to come up with a good way to avoid a permanent trip to the Great Beyond. Poor Jack was still shaken over his meeting with the other Holiday Leaders before. Even so, he had managed to come up with something that could very well work.

"Billy. We can leave Takoda with Billy," Jack said.

"Are you sure about that?" Sally asked as she cradled the baby in her arms, "You did say he was sick."

"Billy can handle it. Besides, if Takoda falls ill in the Real World, they have medicine there to cure him. The baby is better off there until I can find the real kidnappers."

"Will Billy mind?"

"He probably will, but right now, that's my best plan."

"Jack, you're not taking him out to the Real World tonight, are you? You need rest."

"I can't rest now. Not with the threat of the Great Beyond looming over my skull," Jack said as he picked up the carrier and motioned for Sally to place Takoda inside of it.

"If you say so," Sally said as she was about to put the baby in the carrier.

She would have done so, had Zero's barks not caught her attention at the moment. They came from outside of the house, yet were loud enough to be heard within. Jack put the carrier down for a moment and opened the front door to see where exactly Zero was. It turned out the Zero was at the bottom of the steps, but he was not alone. The spectral canine glided into the house, leaving a tall figure in a white sheet with two holes punched out for eyes waiting to come in.

"Billy?" Jack asked the figure before it sneezed.

"Booooooooo," the figure said as it pathetically flailed its arms around, one of them carrying a plastic bag, "I'm not Billy. I'm a ghost. A spooooky ghost."

"That is the most pathetic ghost costume I have ever seen on an adult," Jack said as he smacked his forehead.

"Come on, you know I hated Halloween for most of my life," Billy said before he coughed, "Can I come in?"

"Quickly."

Billy ran up the steps, sensing that for once, Jack was the one without patience. When he got inside, Billy removed the sheet and looked around the Pumpkin King's house. He nodded politely to the blue-skinned, stitched woman carrying Little Jack before turning to face, well, Big Jack.

"I kinda felt guilty about getting the little fella sick, so I brought the medicine early," Billy said before noticing the worried look on Jack's face, "Something wrong?"

"Did anyone see you when you got here?"

"No. If it's about the costume, you try coming up with something good on short notice."

"Alright. Billy, you wouldn't mind taking care of Takoda for a while, would you?" Jack asked, regaining some patience to ask the question.

"Who's Takoda?"

"He is," Sally said as she nodded to the baby she was carrying.

"I thought he was Little Jack," Billy said.

"Well his name is Takoda now," Jack said in an exasperated tone. "Does the name really matter? Does it?"

"Ma'am, is changing a kid's name like this normal here?" Billy asked Sally.

"It's a long story," Sally replied with a weak smile.

"One I'd like to hear, Jack," Billy said, turning his attention to the skeleton.

"Fine, but don't say she didn't warn you."

Billy asked for quite a lot. By the time he had heard every detail of Takoda's journeys from the woods to Halloween Town, It was close to ten. Billy certainly had not been planning to stay at Jack's for that long, but it seemed wrong to leave the skeleton in such a predicament. Right now, Billy was the only one who could help the Pumpkin King in spite of all their past differences. He was more than willing to aid Jack, but not before giving him some advice.

"Jack, you better get some sleep when I take this kid. I didn't think you could look deader until I saw you now."

"I don't look that sleep-deprived, do I?" Jack asked Sally.

"Well, you could use a nap before you get cranky."

"I think it's a little late for that, ma'am."

"With all due respect, shut up, Billy," Jack said as he massaged his temples, earning a shocked gasp from Sally.

"See? I told you it was late," Billy saidto Sallybefore Takoda began to stir, "Looks like Jack's not the only one."

"Here, you can stay with your Uncle Billy for a few minutes," Sally said as she passed Takoda to him, "Please, try not to cough on him."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to make some formula, he's obviously hungry."

"I got ya," Billy said as he and Jack watched the rag doll enter the kitchen, "So, that's your hopeful mom-to-be?"

"If you ever tell us where babies come from."

"Now's not the time."

"It's never the time with you," Jack complained.

"Hush up and go to sleep," Billy advised as the Pumpkin King yawned.

"I can't. Not like this."

"Well, we can talk."

"About what?"

"Anything to take your mind off of this whole mess. It's not like I'm leaving anytime soon."

"Alright," Jack said as he stretched and yawned, "Did I ever tell you about the time I was Sandy, I mean, Santa Claus?"

"Nope. I'd remember something as weird as that," Billy pointed out.

"It wasn't weird," Jack said before noticing Billy's skeptical facial expression, "Ok, it was. But I had good intentions. Honest."

Billy had even more of a night of storytelling ahead of him. Still, it was much more entertaining than what Patience had to deal with. It was already getting late and Daniel still had not come home from his Elders meeting. Patience was going to leave and forget the whole thing when she heard the door open and saw her cousin creep in.

"About time you got here," she said.

"Cousin, I think your mother should have named you Impatience," Daniel said.

"Daniel, I know you wanted to talk, and I'm here now."

"Right. Well, I don't know how to put this."

"Words would be nice."

"Must you be so critical?"

"Must you beat around the bush so much?"

"Fine. Patience, you have to swear to keep your mouth shut about this."

"It's about the baby, isn't it?"

"You said it, not I."

"Get on with it, Daniel."

"The Native child was not initially taken by demons."

"Who did take him then?"

"I did."

"WHAT?" Patience exclaimed, "Daniel, how could you?"

"I had to, Patience. The Elders wanted to cast me out of the group."

"This is low, Daniel, very low."

"You don't understand. The Elders felt I was weak in the whole situation with Lady Eris."

"Who, pray tell, is she?"

"It does not matter. The point is they wanted me to show my loyalty to them by helping to carry out their plan for domination," Daniel said before holding his hand to his mouth, "Oh, Lord. I've said too much."

"Domination? Are they mad?"

"They want the Natives gone so that we can conquer the land. They felt that if the Natives attacked our village looking for one of their own, we could strike back and, unfortunately, kill the entire tribe. They decided that our best bet would be to kidnap the child Takoda. He is only one month old, so he would not put up a fight, and the Natives care deeply for their children. It made sense that all of them would look for Takoda."

"You disgust me."

"Patience, please. I haven't finished. The child is still alive. The plan was for all of us to abandon him in the woods and leave him to die in the cold. I felt badly for him, so I swaddled him up in a blanket when the others weren't looking to at least give the poor child some comfort. You see, someone picked him up out of the woods that day."

"Let me guess, a demon?"

"Actually, yes. Elder John saw the tall skeletal demon from beyond the Pumpkin Door take him into his care."

"Oh, Lord," Patience said, "He was here tonight, in Jacob's house. Kimi was talking about sending the spirit man to look for Takoda. He looked horrified when I saw him, the poor thing. To think, he's probably wondering how to bring Takoda home now with everyone looking to banish him."

"He is a good man, well, dead man. I feel horrible for what we Elders have done to him."

"Do you, now?" asked a voice not of Daniel's or Patience's.

The cousins turned to see that Elder Robert had just walked into the house. He was not alone. Elder John and Grand Elder Joseph were with him. All of them looked about ready to attack Daniel, but they restrained themselves.

"We were wondering why you left so soon, Daniel," Robert said.

"This isn't what it appears to be," Daniel said.

"Please, we heard the whole thing. It's amazing how people can become so caught up in conversation," John said.

"You brutes!" Patience exclaimed as she jumped to attack, only to be held back by Daniel.

"Enough of thy blasphemy, Patience Carrington," said Joseph. "Thou art hereby accused of witchcraft."

"On what grounds?"

"On the grounds that we cannot have you telling anyone else of what transpired this night," Robert said, "Do not bother trying to fight it, we can have you hanged in two days time."

"Don't let them do this to me, Daniel!"

"He cannot help you. He's being hanged as well, for treason."

"I am no traitor."

"No, just a bloody savage lover," Robert said before being cut off by the Grand Elder.

"Enough, Robert. Thou and John can escort the prisoners to the jailhouse. We will have the trial tomorrow, and the execution the day after," the Grand Elder said.

Without any more protest, Patience and Daniel were taken to jail. No one else in the settlement knew of the injustice taking place right under their noses. As far as they knew, they would be waking up to quite a scandal the next morning.

Oh NO! The only two people who know the truth and the whole truth are going to jail! This is bad. Will Jacob save his lady love from the gallows? In turn, can Patience and Daniel prove Jack's innocence? And will the Pumpkin King ever sleep again? More to come, so stick around. (Re-edit Comment: I loved the mix in this chapter too. Jail and a crappy costume. Sweet.)