Hello there! Back again with another chapter! I know, it's been WAY too long, but you know, LIFE just loves to smack you in the face. Lol, in any event, I'm glad to be back and I hope you enjoy the chapter!
The Thanksgiving Day door swung open violently, smacking the tree and swinging back from the force of the collision. However, before the door could shut, the white-gloved hand of the woman in the pink cloak stopped it and she climbed out of the hole in the tree, her face obscured by the shadow made from the hood of the cloak. When she was safely on the ground, the door slammed shut.
The woman stayed on the ground, sitting on her hands and knees while her head was lowered. She then shook her body, like a dog shaking off water, with several leaves of red, yellow, and brown falling from her cloak and her shoulders. After a moment of silence, she slammed the ground with her fist and gave an angry screech.
"WHERE! WHERE DID HE LOSE IT! I've been wandering the holiday lands for more than a week and nothing!"
She proceeds to yank out the book she brought with her and flipped through the pages, with each one dedicated to a different holiday. As she flipped past the pages with Easter, St. Patrick's Day, Independence Day and Thanksgiving, she said "No, no, no, NO!" However, when she hit the page with Halloween, she stopped, her hand hanging over it with hesitation. She sat up and looked over towards the door in question, the light from the sun peeking on the side.
"Where one would not expect…" she whispered
While tightly gripping the heart staff, she slowly made her way over to the door. Reaching out to the knob, her hand slightly shook, while she gave a small gulp. She was able to open the door and peered in to the dark hole, more nervous about this empty abyss than she had been with the 4 previous doors combined. However, she gave a small gasp when the staff began to pulsate at much greater intensity, which made her look back at the open door.
She gave a small but almost sinister chuckle as she said with determination "Yes, this has to be it. Now it's as good as mine."
Suddenly, a multitude of ethereal ghosts of white and green color flew out of the tree and swirled around her, causing her to gasp in shock, and was sucked in by the spooky members of the Halloween world.
Back in Halloweentown where it was now early into the night, we find Jack, Sally and Zero in Jack's house, with Jack in front of a chalkboard writing down some symbols and words. Sally was sitting nearby in a chair, watching with good focus, while Zero was sleeping in his dog bed.
"Now, when scaring someone, the most important thing to remember is your timing. You could be the most hideous, repulsive, terrifying denizen in all of Halloweentown, but it would mean nothing if you don't catch your target off their guard. Well…I suppose it could still bring out some form of fear, but there's nothing like the true, nerve-shaking, bone-chilling, spine-tingling sensation brought from a well-timed out scare. Really get's the heart pumping, well…for those who have hearts."
"Got it. But what if you're not able to get the timing right? Like if target is moving a lot or is always on their guard. What then?"
"In that case, the best thing to do is to create a distraction. Easiest way to do this is to simply throw a rock to make a noise that catches their attention. And as a bonus, a sudden noise can cause the feelings of fear and dread to rise in the target, thus making it far easier to scare them."
While Jack answered Sally's question, he erased what he wrote on the chalkboard and drew a small play-by-play with stick figures. After setting the chalk down, he quickly turned around and smiled.
"Now, any other questions?"
"No, I'm good"
"Alright, then we'll finish this lesson with a practice run. Fortunately, we have the perfect target right here."
Jack held a hand out towards Zero, still fast asleep in his little dog bed. Sally looked at the sleeping ethereal canine and began to twiddle her fingers nervously.
"I don't know Jack, I wouldn't want to bother him while he's sleeping. And what if he gets upset with me?" Sally replied softly while still looking at the ghost dog
"Trust me Sally, I've scared Zero plenty of times before. Granted, it was done unintentionally, but he was always a good sport about it."
Sally looked away for a second before pressing her lips together in a firm line and nodding her head with determination. She then began to slowly step towards Zero, still sleeping blissfully unaware. Jack took a few steps to the side to get a better view, an impish grin slowly rising on his face. As soon as Sally got close enough, she knelt down on her heels and raised her hands slightly. Then, she let out a scream. Well, a scream that one would think wasn't actually a scream. It sounded more like woman trying to roar but doing it rather awkwardly.
At the sound of this, Zero lazily woke up and, when seeing Sally, gave a smile and a cute bark before floating up and licking the side of her cheek. Sally slumped down and sat on her knees, lowering her head with an audible sigh of disappointment. Jack held a hand up to his chin with a worried look before walking over to her.
"Hey, don't be so down. That was a good try. All we need to do is work on your scream and it will be perfect next time!"
As Jack gave her those encouraging words, he held out a hand to her. She looked up to his hand, looked at his smiling face, then took his hand and he helped her get up. Still looking at the ground, she let go of his bony hand and slowly walked over to the large window of the tower.
"I don't know Jack, maybe we just stop with the scaring lessons. It's been over a week and I haven't gotten any better than we first started. At this rate, I'm afraid I'll just be wasting your time"
"Sally" Jack started, walking over to stand beside her at the window.
Sally, still looking out the window towards the town below, continued with "Before the whole Christmas incident, all I ever wanted was to be free from the doctor, to come and go as I wished, and most importantly, to be able to join everyone in the celebrations. To be a part of it all. But if I can't even scare a little ghost dog, then what good am I to anyone? To you?"
"Sally" Jack spoke up with a reassuring smile, taking her hand before saying "The Doctor might have made you, but no one can deny your place here in Halloweentown. You just have to believe in yourself, just I believe in you."
Sally looked at him a gave a small smile at his words, then reached out and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back as Zero floated nearby with a happy smile.
Meanwhile, in town square, several residents were going about their business when the Clown with the Tearaway Face and the Werewolf saw something strange as they were walking by the fountain. A figure in a brightly-colored hooded cape was slowly walking up to the main gate.
"Who's that?" The Clown questioned
"No clue." The Werewolf replied with a small shake of the head
The hooded figure made it up to the gate, where the gatekeeper popped his head out of his stand and peered at them through the bars.
"You have business here?"
"Oh yes" A soft feminine voice chuckled, then said "Very important business indeed. You see, I'm looking for something very special, and I now know that it can only be found in this…lovely…town of yours. So if you wouldn't mind opening the gate for me, I'd be thankful."
"I see…and how long do you think you'll be here?" He questioned, unsure if he should let her in.
"Not long at all, in fact it'll just be a quick in and out, nothing to worry about." She replied with innocent-sounding persuasion.
"Well alright then, come on in." The gatekeeper agreed
The creaky gate lifted up and the hooded figure made her way inside. She walked over to the fountain, with everyone in the town square watching her with curiosity. Her bright-colored cape was attracting their attention, as they had never seen a color like that before. Sure, they have seen Christmas town's color scheme of reds, greens, golds, etc. But this color was different then what they've experienced.
"Bunny" The woodsman said while pointing to the cape.
"Bunny? Oh, you mean the Easter Bunny. Yes, the color is practically the same." Mr. Hyde agreed.
The hooded figure got up onto the Fountain and with one hand, pulled off the hood. It was a woman with pink skin and white hair that was tied up with red ribbons in the shape of a heart and adorned with a red, pink, and white rose crown. Her eyes were a golden color, and she sported small gold heart earrings, and what looked to be a heart tattoo under her left eye, as well as white eye shadow and deep red lipstick. Before anyone could say anything to her, she whipped out her staff, which was still pulsating, and held it out as she addressed the onlookers.
"Hear me well, all you members of this…interesting town! I seek the Heart of Valentine! I have it on good faith that it is somewhere in this Holiday town. Whoever possesses it, step forward at once!"
A hushed flurry of whispers filled the air as the denizens of Halloweentown were unsure of what she was talking about. She looked around at them, her face started to become impatient as no once made a move toward her. Finally, the mayor, with his head twisted to his worried face, stepped forward to address her.
"I'm sorry, but what is this "Heart of Valentine" that your looking for. I'm…unfamiliar with the name."
"It is exactly as it sounds. It's a special box containing the heart of St. Valentine, the patron saint of lovers. It holds powers over love like no other. Well, no other than Cupid, but that is beside the point. I know that it is somewhere in this town, so it's best if you give it to me now, as it is unbecoming of it being here in this…place." She replied, with an almost arrogant sounding, impatient tone as she explained
"Well, as much as I hate bringing bad news, I don't think you're going to find it here. We, the good folk of Halloweentown, deal only in matters regarding tricks, treats, frights and scares. If there is such an object here, no one has seen it. I'm sorry for the trouble you had to come out here."
"Ha, you think I'm going to believe that?! Look here!" The woman gave a laugh before showing off her staff, saying "This staff is linked to the Heart, the more it glows the closer you are to it. So it's best you stop lying to me and bring me the Heart!"
"Hey! He said we don't have it!" The Harlequin demon snapped back at her
"Yeah, only hearts we got are those of the dead, so move on!" The taller witch said from above on her broomstick.
The rest of the denizens of Halloweentown began to join in on the defense of the mayor, whose head switched to his happy side in appreciation of their loyalty, and they all got closer to her at they continued to protest. The woman went quiet and looked down with a dark expression. She slammed the staff into the side of the fountain, which sent out a shockwave of pink energy, causing the residents to be pushed back a bit from the impact. This startled everyone, and she looked up with her golden eyes burning in annoyance and anger.
"You all have left me no choice. I WILL be leaving this disgusting town with the Heart, whether you like it or not!"
She threw her arm that held the staff into the air, to which the staff shot out a ray of pink energy into the sky. The energy formed a pink cloud in the air, getting bigger and bigger.
Back at Jack's house, Jack and Sally, who were still standing by the large window looking at each other, didn't notice the pink cloud forming until Zero barked to get their attention to it. When they saw the cloud, Jack opened the window to get a better look of it with a confused look on his face.
"What is that?" Jack questioned
Once the cloud was big enough, something strange happened. What looked to be little human babies, sheep, and deer with feathered wings began popping out of the pink cloud. The flying babies had tiny bows and quivers with arrows in them.
"Cherubs! Find the Heart! Leave no stone unturned! Stop anyone who tries to get in your way!" The woman cried out to the large swarm of cherubs.
At this command, the cherubs began their bright-colored reign of so-called terror. Chasing after the residents, looking through everything that could possibly be holding St. Valentine's heart.
Seeing this attack, Jack said "What is going on down there?!"
Sally quickly scanned the town and to her shock, she saw several of the winged creatures terrorizing the Doctor, who did his best to swat them off of him.
"Oh no, the Doctor! Jack, we have to get down there!"
"Right! Come on Zero, we're going to need all the help we can get!"
With that, the trio made their way down the steps and out the door of his house.
And that's where I'm going to leave it for today. I hope you all enjoyed this new chapter, sorry for the lateness, I was focused on finishing my Frozen 3 story then decided to take a short break from writing so now I'm back ready to work on this story. See you in the next chapter!