Disclaimer: I do not own "Coraline" or "The Nightmare Before Christmas"

Betaed by: Zim'smostloyalservant and Trackula


The Price

Chapter 3

Discussing the Price

"BONE MAN COME OUT SO I CAN CRUSH YOU! SMASH YOU! GRIND YOU! CRUSH YOU!"

The guardian Likaces was a giant taller than the hills around him, the ruined stone structures dotting the valley only coming to his waist. He was made of rocks, too. Not like a statue, but rather like a mass of rocks put together in the rough shape of a man by some unseen adhesive.

"Well, not quite a man shape," Jack conceded, glancing around the dead tree which, while thin, provided quite adequate cover for him. Despite the giant's insistence on calling him a bone man, and he'd introduced himself even, the guardian seemed to be modeled after a skeleton. The head was shaped clearly like a skull, and anyone else might find it a truly terrifying visage. The body too was a tad too gaunt just for a human look, in his opinion.

This fellow wouldn't be that bad for Halloween, but not too good either. He was just too loud and overwhelming, no subtle intimidation.

"CRUSH YOU!"

Repetitive, too.

So this was the first guardian, and he had to make him submit. Well, Jack admitted, he was rather puzzled on how to do that. True, evading this fool was no great task for him, but this did not seem to be a game of hide and seek. And the giant did not seem to be tiring. He had been looking for about two hours around this place, thinking maybe there was some weapon or trap he was supposed to use. Nothing so far, just dead plant life and empty ruins. And rocks, lots of rocks he noted, nudging one at his foot.

He raised an eyebrow when his shoe sunk into it. A second glance showed some of the rocks were just mud clumps, huh. But back to the matter at hand.

Perhaps there was some weakness to the giant's body? A keystone or such to unravel him like Oogie?

Shortly:

Jack deftly fell through a large crack in the stone floor to land in a hand stand in the cellar basement. A thunderous crash shaking the earth and shaking dust down from the ceiling saw him nearly lose his balance, only to spring up and land on his feet.

"Well, that didn't work," he remarked, batting some dust off a shoulder. He had just barely but quite safely evaded the giant slamming its back into the ground, trying to crush him. One of the creature's less stupid tactics, honestly. He had been able to get it to hit itself with uninspiring ease. His goal of climbing about on it had been to inspect for some Achilles Heel. Seeing if he could trick the brute into beating himself up had been an improvised strategy.

Taking a seat and ignoring the repetitive ranting above, Jack drummed his phalanges upon his skull. The giant, true to its boast, was so hard it was harder than its own strength. Unbreakable, it would seem.

Well, he supposed tradition would be to bury it or such and defeat it that way. But there was nothing on hand for that. He didn't even have a spade to his name, and these cellars would at most trip his opponent up. It was a true mini-world too, looping back on itself outside this bit of hill country.

It was possible the giant was a distraction, but not likely. The verse called for this guardian to submit. That required more than simple evasion. But time was a wasting, and how could he overpower something like that when everything seemed to funnel him toward a physical contest?

With a frustrated sigh, he grabbed a rock from the floor with a mind to throw it against the wall, only for it to crumble in his grip.

"Another useless mud clod."

Jack paused, narrowing his eye holes as he ground the fragments into dust.

"Submit…" he turned his gaze upward with a grin worthy of the mantle Pumpkin King.

X X X

The guardian was actually stooping to try and peek into a ruin when Jack walked into the intersection of a road's ruin. Naturally, the brute was looking in the wrong direction when he wanted to be seen.

"COME OUT BONE MAN!"

"I have!" Jack declared. Likaces practically fell on his rear trying to stand up quickly from his crouch. Jack was not about to let a poor audience affect his performance, pulling out three of the rock-like mud clumps carefully.

"Likaces! I am tired of this game! The time has come for you to submit to me!"

"HAHAHAHAHA! STUPID BONE MAN! LIKACES STRONG AS STONE THAT IS STRONGER! NOTHING TO SUBMIT LIKACES TO!"

"Questionable grammar aside, behold! I am stronger than stone!" Jack said, taking out one of the grey clumps. And crushing it into powder with ease in his fist.

The giant paused, stunned. Jack did it again with his other hand.

Advancing on the giant calmly, he took out the final clump and broke it between thumb and forefinger. Then he gave the giant a grin.

"Now it is time for Likaces to become dust in the wind! BWAHAHAHA!" Jack cackled, hand outstretched, fingers dancing as he advanced toward the cowering colossus.

"BONE MAN STAY AWAY! LIKACES NOT WANT BE DUST!"

"DO YOU SUBMIT?! WEAKLING?!"

"Yes! Bone Man is winner, go away!" the giant whimpered, falling to his knees and driving his massive fists into the ground. The ground ruptured under the impact, an ornate door with the crescent carved on it popping up from the dirt.

"Much obliged," Jack said, straightening his tie as the giant cowered behind the door, hands covering his head.

Later:

"Arrogant phantasm, you think you have won?!" Dirujad said from within the cask. Jack leaned against it, looking over the dingy wine cellar he had lured it into from the manor above.

"Did you decorate this place yourself? My sincere compliments if so, it really pulls off the classic look. All the creaking floorboards as an alarm system, excellent utility but hardly original. But those creaky beams for when I tried hiding on high, now that was clever," Jack said, scooping up a bottle from the floor.

The captive spirit cursed at him as he uncorked the bottle and poured the dust out. The cask shook in its bracket as Jack blew into the bottle, clearing out the last dust, and produced a handkerchief to clean the outside.

"You think you have trapped me? You have only delayed me! There is ample room to rage in here, and wood and rusted iron will hold little against me in time. I deny I am trapped."

"Prove it. Oh darn, what is this my coattail has caught on. Gasp! A spigot?" Jack drawled, turning the spigot on the cask as he placed the bottle flush with it.

"DIE FOOL!" the spirit shrieked, slamming itself into the bottle. Quick as a trick on the night, Jack popped the cork into place.

"WHAT?!" Dirujad cursed squeakily, his shadow and smoke swirling in the bottle. Jack grinned at the mighty voice becoming so puny.

"Now do you admit to being trapped?" Jack asked the angry bottle of smoke. When he was answered with tiny profanities, he frowned a bit and shook the bottle.

"What's that? Can't hear you," Jack said, shaking the bottle. With a rumble of the building, the cask rolled away and another crescent moon door was revealed, concealed behind it.

"There now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Jack asked, uncorking the bottle.

X X X

The last guardian was not what Jack had expected.

Rather than some arena, he had stepped into a simple stone corridor, no door behind him in evidence, just a stone wall. And there was a door a short walk from that wall. A rather plain door, except for a glowing white eye the size of a bowling ball bulging out of its center with an hourglass-shaped pupil.

"Be welcome, Pumpkin King, you have done well to come so far. I am Lan Deach, who holds the door," the eye spoke. Well, not quite; Jack was pretty sure something was just peeking through from the other side.

"The book said you guarded a gate."

"Poetic license. Now, here is my riddle…" the guardian challenged, giving Jack a riddle he had never heard before.

"That's it, a riddle contest?"

"Did you want something more difficult?" the guardian drawled, the eye rolling.

That had been some time ago. And Jack sat with his back to the wall, no closer to an answer.

He had to admit, the final challenge was not something he could outwit. It was a door where the only key was an answer he did not have. He had inspected the area for any alternative path or cheat. But no, it was a direct course, and he was outwitted and therefore defeated by the question in the battle of wits.

"I failed, didn't I?" Jack said with a frown. By his watch, time was nearly up for the full moon to start rising soon on Coraline; he had spent more time here than the other two put together by far.

So, at this point lingering was just vanity, wasn't it? Like his Christmas plot, sometimes you just have to admit you took a wrong turn and need to quit and retrace your steps to find a better way.

"Lan Deach, I cannot answer your riddle," Jack admitted, standing up.

"Very good," the guardian said, and the eye withdrew, with the door clicking and swinging out and wide, blowing up a wind around Jack.

"What?" Jack wondered, peering into the darkness. At least ten eyes to match the one that had peered through the door lit up, and a pale tentacle stretched forth, its tip curled.

"The test was one of humility. The wise first admit what they do not know. Had you simply guessed, hoping to hit upon an answer by chance, or retreated for now hoping to return after someone else aided you, this would never be yours," Lan Deach said. The tentacle uncurled, revealing a stone about the size of a peach, a wavy line dividing it into polished black and gleaming white.

"It is yours. By my authority over it, I add to your person the title Steward of the Moonstone. Use it as you will, but know if you forget the virtues that got you here, I will come for it. And you."

Jack smiled fondly and bowed slightly, accepting the offered artifact.

"I accept, thank you."

Looking down on the stone in his hands, Jack wondered at how light it felt. But raising his gaze to inquire on its use, he stumbled in surprise.

"Afternoon, Jack!" the Mayor said, walking by. Jack looked around, finding himself in the busy center of Halloweentown.

"Huh, looks like I can still get taken to school on surprise. Wonderful! Now, let's go get that girl," Jack said with a grin, tossing and catching his prize with flair.

X X X

Some people would say they could find their way through a familiar stretch of wood blindfolded. Wybie was not one of them, he noted with pride as he made his way carefully through the wooded hills he considered an extension of his backyard.

The full moon was bright and high in the sky, the weather was even unusually nice. Stopping on the deer trail he was using, he looked over the hills though a broken foliage and wished he had a camera; it was definitely a Kodak moment to him.

Still, he flipped on his flashlight to check the path again as the trees obstructed the moon. It was a special flashlight he had upgraded himself. Red plastic over the light; let you see, but without it killing your night vision. Honestly, it was his second choice, regular flashlight plus eyepatch was his first pick; however depth perception had nixed that. Had he ever told Jonsie that story, he wondered?

Yeah, she had not been happy to see him any time since she fake attacked him. Well, so she said. Truth be told, he worried he wasn't intruding enough. She had never come out since then, sometimes she didn't even talk to him. Which meant he had to climb up to her nest thing and shine a light into it. Make sure she was okay.

Yeah, she was, he thought. Maybe? He was worried, among other things — it wasn't that she was hiding from him as much as that she might not have moved from that spot in all this time. Metal doll spider thing or not, that couldn't be good.

Well, this time he had very good reason to intrude on her little hermitage. He wasn't sure it would help, but at this point, aside from her clawing his skin off, any change would be good, he decided.

And here was why he didn't say he could find his way blindfolded, he thought, reaching a log in the path. Shining the light along its length revealed the snapped trunk. Rotted through; not every tree falls from axes, kids, he thought with a smirk, sitting down on the log to swing his legs over it. The forest was a living thing, a bit different everyday, even the land and such changed in little ways from the weather and time. A true outdoorsman, as he on occasion styled himself, understood nature could have something new to throw in your face even in the same ol' neck of the woods. The trick was being prepared!

He was not prepared for the sight greeting him as he was about to cut across a small meadow as part of his trek, though.

The meadow was hardly different, and lit up by the beautiful moonlight. But in the meadow, hand raised to brow in a classic gesture of searching, taking long silent steps, was a skeleton dressed in a suit.

Wybie was stuck in his tracks, but his hand moved well enough to tug and twist on his cheeks.

'Ouch! Okay, awake.'

"Oh crap, I'm awake," he whispered. Blinking did not make the horrifying sight go away. In fact, reaching the faint trail, the skeleton paused and knelt down with those too thin legs bending, and pinched up a bit of soil, examining it. Then it pivoted on the spot, rising to its unnatural height, and looked straight at him with the black pits of its eye sockets.

Now would be the time to play it cool and walk away slowly and carefully, hoping it hadn't seen him despite the red light he was holding.

Dropping the light, he ran away screaming.

X X X

"Well, of all the times to pull a good scare off," Jack grumbled as he jogged after the boy.

He could see quite clearly, and he had navigated far more treacherous paths in his day. And he had a strong gut feeling that the boy knew where he could find this Coraline.

Cat had led him to the woods after their trip on the moon road - and what a sight that had been - but his mentor had slipped off at some point. Which meant Jack had a hunt on his hands, and the clock was ticking. No doubt a test of Cat's; infuriating feline couldn't help but be sadistic even when Jack was actually doing his biding.

Well, it wouldn't be one of Cat's tests if it couldn't be done. So he assumed his fellow traveler here was key.

Jack easily leapt up into the branches when the boy looked back, certain he had timed it right to not be seen. The boy was a bit less elegant, running into a log and flipping in the air to land on his back in the mud with a smack.

He was alright, Jack confirmed, stepping gingerly among the branches, them creaking just oh so slightly under his weight. It was vital to know, in his craft, the difference between a bit of pain that spiced up the fear, and the pain that turned matters from thrills and fun to lingering terror that enfeebled rather than emboldened.

Well, the boy wasn't running, and now gathered himself to peek over the log.

"This is bad! What if that thing is after Coraline?" the boy muttered to himself.

'Ah, so he does know something! And a noble spirit too, to quickly think of someone else. Yes, he should do nicely to move this matter forward,' Jack decided with a warm smile.

Time was a wasting, and Jack did have a peace offering. Silently jumping down behind the boy, he figured turning on the flashlight himself was a gesture of good faith and tapped the boy on the shoulder.

"Good evening," he greeted cheerily.

The boy screamed, going through impressive ranges of pitch before he seemed to realize his feet were treading air as he tried to flee again. Going quiet, he stared as Jack held him aloft by his collar and handed him back the flashlight.

"For the night vision? Smart boy. Now, I am deeply flattered by your reaction, but I have pressing business to attend. But manners first — I am Jack Skellington, Pumpkin King, Protector of Halloweentown, Warden of the Hilly Wastes, Watcher of the Misplaced Woods, Heir of Samhain, Binder of Boos, Sovereign of Scares, Master of Monsters, Record Holder of the Best Skeleton in Show Award, and recently-named Steward of the Moonstone, etc. And you are?"

"F-f-f-freaking out!"

"…Good bit, but we just don't have time for a gag like the mistaken name, I am afraid," Jack sighed. Some of the best improv in years on his hands, and he couldn't even try to make the most of it. Tragic, but it was a king's duty.

"So, it's polite to introduce yourself now," Jack said, setting him back on his feet.

The boy glanced around, even down to his feet.

"…Wybourne, but everyone calls me Wybie," he said, putting on a brave front.

"Very good to meet you, Mr. Wybie. Now, can you tell me where Coraline Jones is in these woods? I really need to speak with her," Jack asked.

"…What do you want with her?" Wybie asked, eyes narrowing a tad, back straightening.

"To help her. I am told she is in a bad way, and it's all because of Beldam, and Beldam and all that came with her is my fault. Hmm, time grows ever shorter, so while I am sure you have questions, I'd rather not repeat myself. And she's the one who most needs to hear this. So, will you help me, or must I continue my search alone?"

"…Boy, Jonsie may kill me for this," Wybie sighed.

X X X

"Well there it is, Coraline's little hideaway," Wybie said as they entered the shadow of a great tree.

Jack peered up at the structure built into the barren branches, like a squirrel's nest writ large, he noted. Though certainly not bad for a first effort. Distressing that a recent human would live like this.

"So, what now?" Wybie asked.

"Why, announce ourselves, of course. Coraline Jones! Good evening! I am Jack Skellington, young Wybourne here has brought me to talk to you!" Jack called, a hand lifted.

"Are you sure she's in there?" Jack asked Wybie.

"I don't think she ever leaves. Besides, can't you sense with magic or something?"

"That's not really how it works. Now, some of my subjects can hear or sniff out a fly on a rainy day, but I digress. So, assuming she is in there…" Jack pondered.

"I don't know where else she would go," Wybie remarked. The more he talked to this guy, the more he seemed a bit off and weird, rather than scary. Or this was a very weird dream. Dream would probably be the better choice.

"Well, I can't just barge in, that would be rude. So how to make her come out? Ah — perhaps we could set it on fire!" Jack remarked, punching his palm.

"Wha-what?" Wybie asked.

"If we set that little nest on fire, she'll probably come out of her own accord, don't you think?"

"…So you think barging in is rude, and then… burn the house thing down?"

"Well, I won't be going in uninvited then, will I? Ah, but no, a forest like this might be more vulnerable than I think. Different world, different rules, so setting fires all willy-nilly may be asking for trouble."

"Yeah, that's a good reason not to start setting things on fire, your royal bonehead."

"No need for titles, this is hardly a formal occasion. So perhaps the treat more than the trick? But candy won't work if she doesn't have a mouth-"

"SKREEEE!"

With an inhuman shriek, Coraline burst out of the foliage around her tree shelter, landing right in front of the pair and screaming in their faces, swiping the air with her hands while her legs kicked up clods of dirt. Wybie yelped and stumbled to the ground as he took an instinctive jump back.

After an awkward moment of her scream running out of seeming breath and her motions not doing anything, she slumped a bit and looked at Jack. Who for his part frowned slightly as he raised an inquisitive expression with his eyes and tapped his chin once

"Hmm, sloppy and heavy-handed. You'll need to work on that. The basic fundamentals are there, but you just over play it, and no fallback either if the initial jump doesn't work either," he commented, examining her closely. If Coraline still had real eyes, she would have blinked in confusion at his reaction, before turning to glare at Wybie, who was seemingly passed out on the ground.

"Seriously? Not only do you not leave me alone like I asked, you bring some weirdo along with you? And you faint so I can't even yell at you right?!" she asked harshly, "Really? Some guy in a bad skeleton costume? Of everyone, that's what you bring? Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"To be fair, I already gave him quite the fright earlier. Oh, and this isn't a costume," Jack said, leaning forward to let Coraline get a closer look at him.

Coraline's eyes took in the skull, and the spine it was attached to, and Jack with a grin opened his coat halfway to display a white shirt that was clearly plastered to bare ribs. Which he strummed, eliciting a strange musical sound before closing his outfit again.

"So, greetings from an inhuman race," Jack said with cheer, offering a hand.

With a screech, Coraline turned to scamper back up her tree. Or tried, with Jack casually grabbing one of her needle-like legs and without leaving his leaning position holding her in place as her effort tore small trenches into the ground and sprayed his pants with bits of dirt.

"I hate to lay hands so casually, Miss Jones, but time is not on our side and you need to hear what I have to say."

Coraline stopped and looked back at the skeleton man holding her in place, and was clearly surprised at his serious expression.

When she seemed calm, Jack released her leg, pointedly pulling off one finger at a time. When standing to his full height, he walked over to a fallen tree nearby and took a seat. He patted the spot next to him on the log, giving Coraline a look.

"Now then, I believe you are overdue some answers. I can't go into the details now, tick tock, but I will tell you what you need for what comes next."

Coraline approached but didn't take the spot next to him, instead lowering her body a good ways in front of him, out of reach and eyes fixed on him. Jack nodded a bit sadly, as if he had hoped for more but was not surprised.

"Well, to start with, there are realms beyond what humans know. Or perhaps it is more humans never understood and they have forgotten even what they once misunderstood. Among the realms are the Holiday Realms. I hail from the realm of Halloween, more accurately its center Halloweentown, where I am the Pumpkin King, in summation ruler and Guardian of that realm and its people."

"Was Beldam one of you guys?" Coraline asked. Jack looked up with a jolt, and Coraline just shrugged.

"Well, yes. Once, at least — she broke many of our laws even before her imprisonment in the Other World."

"Some prison."

"I'll get to that. Anyway, I was not always Pumpkin King. Samhain ruled our realm for time beyond memory, though time is not so stringent there as it is here. But one day, Samhain declared to the realm his time was at an end, and for the realm to prosper a new Pumpkin King was needed. And Beldam, of the many worthies, was chosen."

He looked to Coraline, who didn't say anything but gestured for him to continue.

"It turns out Samhain chose poorly. Beldam was… I do not know if power corrupted her or everything before was lies, but she proved an obscenity. We are all monsters in Halloween, of a sort. But there are always limits, a game and playfulness to it. We inspire with fear! We provide a means to be brave, or to realize your limits so you can either accept or push against them. The awe of the strange, the glee and thrill of the horror, the grand spectacle of the bizarre! But she, was not like that. Her horror scarred, and scarred deep. She… killed and hurt. Worst of all, she proved unable to let go. When the children move on it is sad, but proper. Some even pass through almost as shades to us, becoming scarers or apprentices of sorts. But Beldam, somehow she saw what was natural as wrong. She sought to keep the children that pass through our purview. Forever.

"It was the last straw. But she was so strong, and her corruption ran so deep. It was a war in the end, for the soul of Halloween itself. Somehow, in those times of mirthless horror, I emerged as the leader of those who wanted to light the jack-o-lantern anew against those who sought to turn its depths to darkness. We won, and Beldam was at my mercy. But even as the Black Cat and others urged me, I could not swing the sword and exact justice for all she had done and tried to do. So instead we constructed a prison to hold her alone for the ages; my hope was solitude would bring her clarity, and at the least she could do no harm," Jack explained. A slow clap drew both creatures' attention to Wybie, who had woken at some point and was giving mocking applause.

"Nice job on the prison, didn't work," Wybie drawled.

"Good to see you up. And you're right. I failed to make it right, and I failed to check or take the proper precautions. I could claim I was young and overeager to put the business behind me, but that's an explanation, not an excuse. And the price has been paid by you and those who lost their lives."

"…Why did I turn into this?" Coraline demanded softly, gesturing to her body and pulling an errant twig from one of her elbow joints.

"Well, you basically, in killing Beldam, usurped her role. Not a common occurrence. Usually when one of our kind dies, their replacement is born of their native realm. But that's more when it's in house; human involvement can make things tricky."

"But you can fix her, right?" Wybie pressed.

"I don't know."

"You, don't know?" Coraline snapped, getting to her feet. Jack nodded, running a hand over his skull.

"Your situation is not unique, but very rare. And honestly, in the past it seems either the human embraced the change or any suffering they endured was viewed by most everyone as a just punishment of sorts. An unwilling innocent worthy of asking for the cup to be passed? I haven't found such a reference. So if there is a way out for you, I do not know it. But I assure you I will not spare effort in making this right."

"Wait, so you came here just to say there's nothing you can do?! Why even bother?" Coraline shouted, scurrying up to Jack.

"Well, I never said there was nothing I can do. There's no reason for you to suffer alone in this forest while we research," Jack said as he got to his feet and offered a hand to the metal spider girl, "Coraline Jones, I Jack Skellington invite you to Halloweentown as a full-fledged citizen until such a time as you wish to take your leave of us."

Silence hung under the trees amidst them.

"What?" Coraline asked. Wybie, frowning, walked between the two.

"Hold on now, your pumpkiness or whatever. You told me you were going to help Jonsie, not take her away to some spooky dimension," Wybie stated.

"That is helping, young Wybourne. Here, she has to hide away in the wilderness, but there she will be no more interesting than the new girl in town," Jack said, Coraline perking up a bit at that. Jack carried on, his attention on Wybie.

"And I am not 'taking' her; this is an offer."

"Oh, and if she takes one look and says 'Nope, nope, nope,' she can just walk away?" Wybie demanded. Jack tilted his head and pulled out the Moonstone half aglow with white light from his coat pocket.

"Well, actually… there is a matter of timing with the phases of the moon to consider. Which is why I am pressed for time-"

"I'll go," Coraline interrupted. The boy and the Pumpkin King both turned to see her standing as tall as her strange body allowed.

"Really?" the two said, in quite different tones atop each other. Jack stepped back, silently ceding the floor as it were to Wybie, who walked over to his friend.

"This does not seem like something to leap into, Coraline. I mean, boldly going into strange worlds is kinda what started this mess, isn't it?"

"Well, it looks like its either that or staying here and rotting. I'm turning green in places, you might have noticed."

"Firstly, the whole woodland haunting thing is all you, no one chased you out here. Secondly, shouldn't we take some time and really think-"

"And time for what exactly? What? What?! That suddenly I'll be normal again? Cause it seems pretty clear I'm not going to suddenly grow new skin, organs and, and, and stuff! So if there's no looking and no point waiting, why not leap?! What have I got to lose?!"

"…I'd say you could lose a lot," Wybie said, so softly Jack almost missed it. He couldn't tell if Coraline had heard it or not, as she went on.

"Besides, if there is anywhere a freak like me belongs, it's with the other freaks. So why not?" she remarked, slumping a bit, her tone losing its edge.

"Oh dear," Jack muttered to himself. This was not good, and all his fault. Just now, he rather wished Cat was here to use him for a scratching post.

Glancing around, he caught sight of the moon. The night had not stopped for the travel and the drama. Time drew short, and he hadn't the tricks of the Ghosts of Christmas.

"You are certain?" Jack asked, pocketing the moonstone and adjusting his tie.

"Sure, why not?"

"Hey, she should come back soon to tell me it's alright, right?" Wybie interjected.

"That seems reasonable. The night of the new moon would be the next chance," Jack assured as Coraline came up beside him.

"Wait, wait, wait. We just met you, how do we know we can trust you? You might be here to avenge that monster for all we know!" Wybie accused Jack suddenly.

"Well, I suppose proof of intent is a pickle," Jack conceded. Admittedly, he was a bit out of practice to anyone seeing him as a stranger that he needed to deal with outside bestowing Halloween on them. Even people he didn't 'know' at least tended to know of him.

"Enough, Wybie, your gut trusted to bring him, right?" Coraline snapped.

"Well, yeah, but are you really going to trust my gut for… this?" Wybie trailed off as she turned her back to him and grabbed Jack's hand. The sudden seizure made Jack jerk a bit. A fine grip, he noted.

"So you need to wave your magic wand or something? Flying carpet?"

"Uh, no, not at all. It's not very dramatic, really, we just need to look at the moon together and I visualize it as a round gate opening to a road through…" Jack said.

Wybie glanced away, mind racing to find some way this was okay or talk her out of it. Turning back, a new objection on his lips, his jaw dropped.

He was alone. The monsters were gone from the woods, as if they had never been.

"Coraline? Coraline?! …Oh crap, I never told her I was coming to tell her that her mom is pregnant!" Wybie cursed, alone in the woods.


Author's Note:

I hope you all liked it. A happy holiday season to you all!