Chapter 32

Meeting Shadow

The demon stopped three feet in front of Sydney, hip popped to the side with her hands planted on them, "…we need to talk."

Sydney studied the demon for a moment. Her eyes casually traveled the she-creature's body. This was their first time meeting.

Sydney didn't know what else to say, "So…you must be Shadow."

"Yes," the demon replied, "The one and only."

"Oogie told me I would eventually run into you. Nice job bagging Raggedy Anne. But I never met her myself, so I wouldn't exactly know how much of a fight this Sally girl was."

Shadow glared. She took offense to that, "She was simple enough to apprehend. But the fact remains that I got my job done, like I always do. Can I say the same for you…what was it…Sydney?"

This time Sydney glared. She crossed her arms and popped her hip in a badass attitude pose, "I'm doing just fine, thank you very much. I'm leading Jack on like a blind puppy; loyal and clueless."

Shadow's glare now added a sneer, "Excellent. I'll report to Oogie Boogie that all of his operatives are cooperating and that all is going according to plan."

"Trippy," Sydney remarked as a confirmation.

Shadow gracefully turned on her heel and headed away from Sydney. The red jewel on her bikini began to spark inside its crystal self.

"Wait!" Lock cried as he jumped up from behind the crates he had retreated to once again from the mob. He scurried over to Shadow and Sydney, waving his arms excitedly as he motioned Barrel and Shock to fallow him.

"What?" Shadow asked slightly annoyed.

"Just wait," Lock begged, "I think I just thought of a plan! No, wait…" Lock thought for a second, "That's not what it is, but it's but it's important for Oogie Boogie to know. I thought of…ummm…leads! Yeah, that's what they're called! Just give me a moment to discuss this with—"

"Thing One and Thing Two," Sydney said with a grin. She just couldn't keep quiet when there was a perfect opportunity to add a sarcastic remark.

Lock starred at her blankly, "Errrrrr…okay."

Lock gathered up Barrel and Shock into a huddle, where he began whispering his thoughts. Shadow looked over to Sydney, Sydney looked back at her, and they shared the same look of, "We're gonna be here awhile. Might as well grab a set". Both girls advanced over to the stack of crates and pulled one out to sit upon. They sat there with a few seconds of awkward silence.

Well, this is…quiet. Sydney thought. Us both being a so called "lackey" for Oogie Boogie, you'd think we'd have more to talk about. Well, I've always been one to start conversation...

"Soooo…how did you get that funky nightmare of the holiday worlds' past? Did you watch it from Hell or something? You know, you being a demon and all?"

"No," Shadow said in a mellow tone, "Believe it or not, but I was once a human; very beautiful, actually. Can't say much has changed since then."

Sydney started to get real interested, "So, were you there?"

"Yes, I was there. I was rich, fancy, and crazy in love! My relationship was a romance more hot than the fires of the stars. I'll never forget that man," Shadow was speaking in a daze of remembrance. She smiled as she gazed off into the sunny sky. This was the first time Sydney had seen Shadow resemble something even close to being human happiness. Of course, Sydney hadn't known her long, but she figure that there weren't too many moments like this one anyways.

"Wow," Sydney breathed, "Sounds magical."

Sydney had the urge to say something stupidly sarcastic that would ruin Shadow's mood, but managed to contain herself. She really wanted to hear her story.

"A gorgeous, sweet man," Shadow continued, "Our love was forbidden by his family. So we ran away. We ran as far as we could until…" Shadow paused for a moment, reflecting. Her happiness was becoming dampened by her repressed memories, "I thought it was the end of the world. I was scared—no, frightened," Shadow's eyes began to water, but she was tough. She wasn't going to let a little thing like bad break-ups get her down. She discreetly wiped her few tears with the back of her hand, "He promised so much. He promised to never let me go.

Sydney was overflowing with sympathetic awe, "What happened?"

Shadow let the question hang for a moment, "He let me go. The winds pulled us into the forbidden woods. We were pulled through the branches and hitting each tree that came in our way with great speed. It was almost like falling. Eventually, my dress became snagged on a hooked branch. I was torn from the arms of my lover as he was sucked even deeper into the woods. There was nothing I could do to help him…or to help myself when a heavy branch came soaring out of nowhere at my head. I died just as he disappeared."

Shadow's jaw tensed and gripped a hand on her red jewel. It seemed to give her some kind of relief, or power to over come her loss. It had been along time since Shadow had even attempted to think of her Skellington.

Sydney gasped, "Gracie?"

Shadow nodded, "I remained a melancholy spirit of the town. I saw all, but none saw me. I was a ghost to the ghost. Because I died in the woods, I had no town to claim me. I choose to stay in Sleepy Hallow, drifting around, because it was still my home. I saw everything from the beginning. I saw the newly changed residents rebuild themselves. They created a society based on their holiday and they never got bored with it. The town name changed, but everything else was kind of the same."

Sydney was giddy with curiosity. She was crouched on her crate like a monkey, "But weren't they upset to be changed all of a sudden? To be deprived of a choice?"

Shadow shook her head, "From the moment their transformation became complete, everyone just forgot. They forgot everything. It think that crazy storm had the side effect of amnesia. All that they had left from before was their vibes."

Sydney took in a breath to ask, but Shadow answered first.

"Vibes are the signals you can read off people. Like if you just know someone is hiding something, or if someone's in love—"

"Or if someone's gay!" Sydney chimed in.

Shadow just ignored her, "I personally couldn't read the vibes because I was deader then dead to them. The vibes the residents read off of each other told them where their place was. Some things were forgotten in the process, but for the most part, their lives resumed and that's how everything came to be."

Neither one spoke after that. The awkward silence between them had become a hundred times more silent and a hundred times more awkward.

Great. Sydney thought. Nothing like a trip down Repressed Memory Lane to make you want to break a few veins open. I should try to take her mind off this.

"What's that?" Sydney pointed to Shadow's red jewel that she was clutching, "It's beautiful."

Shadow looked down at her jewel. Oogie Boogie himself gave it to her. After Jack had killed Oogie in his lair, Oogie's soul stayed in the astral world, even though it should have disintegrated. When he found Gracie floating around one day, Oogie made a deal with her. If she would work for him on his master plan to avenge himself, she'd get to live again. Gracie agreed and Oogie constructed her the red jewel from his energy. As long as she wore it she'd be alive. But the life of the crystal gave her a new life to live by; Gracie became a huntress demon named Shadow.

"Thanks," Shadow replied to Sydney's comment, "This thing means the world to me."

Shadow looked to the three little monsters huddled together in conference. It didn't seem that they would be done any time soon. Shadow got up from her crate.

"Well I got a job to do."

Sydney got up too, "What do you mean? Did you get a call from Oogie?"

"No, but I saw a potential for a new recruit."

"Who? Surely not someone from Thanksgiving Town?"

"I don't know who exactly," Shadow paused. She eyed Sydney up and down. She knew Sydney would have the answer, "But maybe you can help me find out," Shadow began walking a slow, interrogating circle around Sydney, "Tell me about yourself, Sydney. Have any monsters that thrive in your nightmares? Any friends you imagine having? Any hotties you fantasize about that leave you feeling…wet?" Shadow giggled, but it sounded devious.

Sydney was getting uncomfortable and slightly annoyed by Shadow's interrogation.

"Just what are you implying?" Sydney asked with a raised brow.

Shadow kept circling Sydney, "There was a dream orb that shot out of either yours or Jack's head a few minutes ago," Shadow had a slight shiver at Jack's name, "I saw it from the street. That orb was probably produced because you two were in a dream for too long. And when you're in a dream for too long, your mind confuses what's real and what's not; inevitably opening a doorway in your mind for dream fragments to walk in and out of. Even fragments from completely different dreams," Shadow stopped pacing. She put her hands on her hips and continued circling Sydney in the other direction, "I'm thinking the orb came out of your head. You seem more lonely than Jack," another shiver, "and more desperate for friends. So you just make them up."

Sydney flinched. She acted annoyed by Shadow's hash accusations, but really she felt stung by the truth.

Sydney crossed her arms, "I don't have imaginary friends."

"That's not what I was asking," Shadow corrected, "I want to know which dream fragment of yours seems most real to you."

"Well…" Sydney began to ponder. She felt stupid doing this, but just decided to humor the demon anyway, "I do fantasize about a certain guy."

Shadow was interested, "Oh! Do go on."

Now Sydney was becoming embarrassed more than anything else, "Details? Well, there's not much to say."

"What does he look like?" Shadow said sneering. She stopped walking next to Sydney and braced her elbow on Sydney's shoulder, resting her head in her hand. Shadow was just feeding off of Sydney's embarrassment.

Sydney tried hard to sound cool, "He's my ideal guy: pale yellow hair, fair skin, black duster, tall, tone, pretty eyes, English accent, a bad-ass attitude, and pearly white fangs. All equivalents of true sexiness.

"Hmmmm…a vampire?" Shadow guessed.

"Not a vampire," Sydney corrected, "The vampire. Only the hottest thing dead or alive! You haven't breathed until he's taken your breath away."

"Have you dated this vampire?" Shadow asked with astonishment.

Sydney snorted, "I wish! He's a fictional character on my favorite TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I watch TV only for that show," Sydney's expression became dreamy, "Man, I would give anything to make him real."

A smile spread across Shadow's slim face. It was a good-natured smile, but somehow all Shadow's smiles came out looking evil. Must be a demon thing.

Shadow came close to Sydney's ear. She figured that this vampire was obviously the one that came out of Sydney's head. The demon whispered lightly, "You may be closer than you think."

Sydney sucked in a surprised breath of air.

Shadow sneered and stepped away. While Sydney was left contemplating Shadow's whisper, Shadow lowered her hand into her boot and pulled out a six-inch-long, brown, turkey feather. Shadow spun it between her thumb and index fingers.

"This, deary, is your leg up," Shadow said, "I swiped this from his majesty's royal tush. Take it," Shadow extended the turkey feather to Sydney, "You're running out of time."

Sydney obeyed, and then spun the feather in the same fashion as Shadow, "I don't even remember how long I've been here. It's only been like a day, I think. I left Earth on…October…20th. So I still have like…nine or ten days, right?"

"No," Shadow said firmly, "You've been going to different towns and losing track of time. Here," Shadow reached into her other bootleg and retrieved a small, blue object. When Shadow extended the object to Sydney, flat in her open palm, it looked like a smooth stone in the shape and size of a pocket watch; perfectly round, and was a glossy color of pure ocean blue, "I think you'll need this more than me."

Sydney blankly looked at the stone for a moment, then into Shadow's eyes. With suspicious locked eyes, Sydney took the stone.

"What is this?" Sydney asked.

"It's a count down clock. Just briskly run your palm over the top of the stone to see how much time you have until midnight of October 31st; the end of the 30th and the beginning of the 31st."

Acknowledging this, Sydney broke her stare on Shadow and ran her hand over the stone. On its surface, numbers and words appeared in gold, italic calligraph421 BT font. At the bottom of the stone's surface read Seconds: 33. Hours: 12. Minutes: 45. And at the top, Days: 6.

The numbers didn't change like a digital clock would, but the Seconds read 25 the second time Sydney swiped her palm. After a moment the inscriptions disappeared.

Sydney looked down at the stone resting calmly in her hand. She was a little nervous when she saw the amount of time left.

"I really only have six days to get the rest of the holiday stuff?" Sydney asked.

"You're about half way through your journey. This should be plenty of time."

Shadow turned her heel and began walking away from Sydney toward the street. Her red jewel sparked inside and shot one of the sparks out a few feet ahead. From that spark spiraled out a green portal. Shadow began to step through it.

"Wait," Sydney called to her, "What if I run out of time?"

But it was too late; Shadow had already stepped into the portal. It spiral inward to a close once she was inside it.

Sydney stared off in a few minutes of silence. She looked back down at the stone, and then slipped it into one of the breast cups of her bra. The Indian costume she was wearing didn't have any pockets. While Sydney tried to stick her turkey feather in the back of her fake animal skin bandana, she noticed the little huddle between Lock, Shock, and Barrel had broken.

"What were you three talking about over there?" Sydney asked.

"No time to talk," Lock replied in a hurried tone, "This is hot news we need to report to Oogie Boogie!" Lock turned to his other two teammates, "Let's go around the corner guys to deliver the news."

Shock agreed, "Its best we don't leave our unconscious bodies alone and stranded."

And with that, the three jogged off in the opposite direction of the street to the other end of the ally. They passed by Sydney in their hast. Barrel skidded to a stop a few feet from her while Lock and Shock kept going. He looked to the Indian girl with his big eyes and shy voice.

"Sydney?" Barrel asked sheepishly.

"Yes Barrel?" Sydney replied with a big smile.

"Good luck. And…be safe," Then Barrel took off after his two companions.

Sydney just smiled and shook her head. She wasn't very fond of Lock or Shock, but she thought Barrel was just the cutest thing ever. The way he acted shy and smiley around her just warmed her heart.

Awwwwwww! Sydney cooed in her mind. He's so cute in that little skeleton costume. His little crush on me really makes my…butt itch.

Sydney started scratching the small of her back. Her face tensed when she scratched as hard as she could, but still the itchy feeling wouldn't subside.

Sydney cursed, "Something must have crawled into my dress."

Sydney gnashed her teeth and began scratching with both hands.

"Oh god, what is this? It burns! The pain is killing me! I can't take it any more!"

Sydney grabbed the bottom hem of her Indian dress and yanked it over her head. With one arm she slung it hard against the ally wall. The silver rod's metallic bounce noise was muffled in the folds of her dress.

In nothing but a black bra, black panties, and an Indian bandana, Sydney stood feverishly scratching her lower back in the middle of the ally. Her bangs and hair waved with each fierce backward and forward motion of her arms. Tears started to accumulate in Sydney's eyes.

She screamed, "What is this? Why won't it stop itching? Why wont it STOP!"