My thanks to those who reviewed… I'm just glad at least one person reads this story… So here's Chapter Three..

Chapter Three

Disclaimer: I do not own Jack, Sally, Lock, Shock, Barrel, or the Mayor. Or the Halloween jazz band. But the rest of the people are mine. Steal them and I bite your head off…

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"What were you up to yesterday, Shock?" asked Barrel, awakening his older sister with the sound of his voice as he sat down on her bed next to her. "Lock was distraught. We couldn't find you anywhere."

Shock rubbed her eyes drearily and slowly sat up, shaking away her blankets and sheets before registering what Barrel had said. What had she been doing yesterday? Oh, yes… "I was wandering the back alleys of the town," she said, pushing Barrel off the bed so that she could get up. Her nightgown, which was a sleeveless black satin that went down to her ankle, made swooshing sounds as she walked into the bathroom which was connected to her room.

Barrel sat back down on Shock's mussed up bed as she closed the door and got dressed. "I heard that the Skellingtons were around yesterday," he called through the closed door. "Did you get a good look at them?"

Shock grinned wryly to herself as she finished pulling on her witch's dress. "Yes, Barrel dear, I did," she replied as she began applying some black eyeshadow to her face.

Barrel grinned greedily, and pulled out a lollipop and began eating it. When Shock exited the bathroom, he turned his gaze away from his lollipop in order to stare out the window. "I want them dead," he said. "We've waited long enough, Shock. They need to pay for what they did to our father."

At his words, Shock winced, but she didn't know why. She'd always wanted the Skellingtons dead, just like her brothers, even though when she was little, Oogie hadn't been the greatest man, and she had hated them. In fact, it almost seemed ridiculous for her and her brothers to go gallivanting off after the Skellingtons.

But now… something was wrong. Her plan to seduce the oldest Skellington child, Paul, had worked, even though she was eight years older than him. And it had been too easy. He'd never kissed anyone before, she could tell, because he had been nervous, and she saw the look of triumphant surprise in his eyes when he had pulled back. Why did he have to be so innocent?

Shock realized that Barrel had stopped ranting about the Skellingtons and was staring intently out the window of their house. "What is it?" she asked him, sitting down on the bed next to him.

"There they are, Shock. There that murderous family is," Barrel growled, pointing at the Skellington house off in the distance.

Shock squinted as she tried to see why Barrel was suddenly so angry, and then almost gasped with surprise as she saw the entire Skellington tramping down their front steps, Jack leading the way, carrying two xylophone cases. Sally was just behind him, carrying the other two cases, and their children trailed after them. Shock saw the two youngest children- what were there names again? Ron and Mary- close behind their parents, while Jane was the last child out of the door. Paul was there, and Shock felt something inside her twist painfully as she watched him walk down the steps, talking jovially with Jane. And then suddenly, he broke off his conversation, and stared directly at Shock, or at least, at the window where she was watching him with Barrel. For a moment, time stood still, and then Paul resumed walking.

"What's wrong with you, Shock?" Barrel demanded. Startled, Shock realized that she was breathing as if she had just climbed up several flights of steps. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Of course," Shock replied hastily, regaining control of her breathing.

"Watching the Skellingtons again, dearest siblings?" came a low, silky voice. "I think it's becoming an obsession…"

Barrel hopped off Shock's bed, dropping his lollipop on the ground as he stood up. "Look who decided to sleep in. Have some good nightmares, Lock?" he asked, giving his brother a quick hug.

"When do I not, Barrel dearest?" Lock replied, mussing with his younger brother's slicked down hair. He looked over at Shock, who was still staring out the window. "What's wrong, Shock? You look like some tragic heroine who's just lost her husband to some terrible monster."

Shock turned away from the window and got up. There was no point watching the house anymore- the Skellingtons were off for a day in the town. "I think we should say hello to the Skellingtons, Brothers," she said, slipping on some boots. "It's been a few years, hasn't it?"

The Skellingtons were off to play a special xylophone concert for the mayor of Halloween, and once they had left their home, they quickly made their way to the Mayor's home, just off of the town square. Paul had a rather bad headache, because he had stayed up rather late listening to his music (turned down of course- his father would have grounded him if he had known Paul was up so late) and thinking of the witch.

He didn't even know her name, and he realized that he should have asked her it before he had returned for the night. Perhaps if he wandered the back alleys again, just maybe, he might see her again. Or perhaps she was just a visiting witch who just like randomly kissing strangers. It hurt Paul to even think that she might have just been using him for fun.

Love at first sight happened, didn't it? After all, his mother and father were practically strangers until Jack had his famous "Christmas Vision." And who in Halloween could deny that they had loved each other before then? Paul sighed. He didn't like the way that this witch had suddenly turned his usually organized brain into a clutter of thoughts.

"What's wrong, Paul?" Mary asked, slowing down to tug on his hand to catch his attention. "Why'd you sigh like that?"

Paul looked down at Mary, surprised. "I've got a really bad headache, and I think playing a concert for the Mayor is going to make it worse."

"So you aren't in trouble?"

Where had she gotten that idea from? Their father had made certain that Mary was out of earshot when he scolded Paul. Perhaps she had been kept up by the loud music, and figured that their father would punish Paul for his inconsideration. "No, I'm not in trouble, Mary," Paul said. "I just have a really bad headache."

"D'ya think that if you didn't play in the concert, it would get better?" Mary asked, her face twisted into an expression of thoughtfulness.

"Probably. Why?" But Mary was already gone, tugging on Jack and Sally's hands, and talking hurriedly at them. Paul watched them, a slight smile on his face. Mary was a precious little girl, and if she ever learned to keep a secret, she'd be a great wife for some lucky person one day.

Ron and Jane were singing some Halloween carol, one that they had made up to go with the new xylophone song that Paul had composed a few weeks ago, and Paul tried to block the sound of their voices out as he looked at their surroundings. The Skellingtons were up early, just after dawn, and Halloween's Town Square looked like a no-man's land. There was no one on the streets, and Paul tried to look down the alleys that they passed. Once, he thought he saw someone who looked like the witch from yesterday, but she was traveling with two other men, raucously singing twisted Halloween Carols.

The family arrived at the Mayor's house, and Jack and Sally handed out their instruments as Ron knocked on the front door. The Mayor opened the door, his depressed face looking around at the world until he saw who was at the door. Immediately, his happy face appeared, like a mask.

"Welcome, welcome, Skellingtons!" he cried gleefully. "Come on in." The Mayor led the way inside, and Sally led Jane, Ron, and Mary after him. Paul reluctantly started to follow, but Jack stopped him from entering the door.

"Mary says you've got a headache," Jack said quietly, his expression serious. "Is she telling the truth?"

"Father, when does little Mary ever lie?" Paul asked, laughing softly. Then he stopped laughing. "I have a killer headache, Father." Jack looked at him with concern, and Paul felt like he was being examined under a microscope. "Seriously."

"How on earth did you manage to get a headache?" Jack asked his oldest son, frowning.

Paul realized that it would be better if he didn't lie. "I stayed up late listening to the Halloween Radio. I know I'm not supposed to, but-"

Jack's eyes narrowed. "No radio tonight, son. You have to go to bed at the same time as Ron, and if you ever stay up like that again, I'll make you sleep up in the spare room." The spare room was just that- an empty room with no furnishings, no furniture, and no window. The door was always locked, and Jack and Sally threatened their children with the room whenever they were bad.

Paul sighed and looked down at the ground for a few moments. "Alright," he said grudgingly.

"You can go home and wait for us there," Jack said. "Get a little more sleep, and take some dogbane. It'll ease the pain."

Surprised and elated, Paul turned to head home, but suddenly looked at his father once more. "But the concert- what will the Mayor say?"

"I think your mother would be more than happy to take your place. She's rather multi-talented, you know," Jack said, grinning. "Now, go home. Everything will be fine."

Paul walked down the front steps of the Mayor's house and started across the Town Square. How on earth did he manage to get out of that? But his jubilation was erased when the sunlight caught his eyes, sending throbbing pains shivering down his brain. He needed to get home, and fast.

The streets were already impossibly busy, choked with denizens of Halloween Town who had just finished their breakfasts. The noise of conversations assaulted Paul's ears, and with a cry of pain, he fled into the darker back alleys. He knew these ones well enough to get home safely without a problem.

Relieved to be free from the press of the crowd, Paul forgot to look where he was going, and bumped into a wall. Stars exploded in front of his eyes, and he fell down, forgetting himself in this sudden outburst of more pain.

Suddenly cool hands were helping him to his feet, and helping him lean against the brick wall. "Are you all right?"

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There ends Chapter Three. Who in Halloween could this person be?

Review, and I shall enlighten you with a Chapter Four!