Chapter Twenty-One:

A Change In The Air,

As Halloween Draws Near.

"Jack…" The voice seemed to come from far away. "Jack, wake up." He felt someone touch his shoulder and shake him lightly.

As the young man came out of his slumber, the sound around him seemed to intensify. He opened his dark eyes and sat up. The figure beside him recoiled a little at the suddenness of his actions.

Jack yawned and raised his hands to his face to rub the sleep from his eyes.

"Alice." He said shortly, while turning his head slightly to look at the young woman who had been calling to him in his sleep. She wiped a bit of her shoulder length black hair out of her face and crossed her arms.

"How does someone fall asleep while their painting a Halloween decoration?" She asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.

Jack gave her an embarrassed smile and side looked a mirror in the corner to make sure he didn't accidentally get paint on his face while he was sleeping.

"I…haven't been getting much sleep lately…" He said before standing up and covering the ghoul he had been painting. Alice nodded. She was familiar with Jack's unpredictable bouts of insomnia.

"I'm here for the car." She said, watching him in an amused fashion as he tried to straighten up his unruly hair.

"I figured.' He said. "It's out front." He grabbed his jacket and led her out of the room, making sure to check for his car keys first.

Alice cast him brief looks down the hall, wishing, lightly that that at some point he would turn and meet her gaze. Jack was an attractive man, despite his almost foreboding countenance. This being the dark lines under his eyes caused by his odd sleeping habits, his untidy black hair which fell messily down his forehead and neck, and his almost unhealthily pale complexion. This frightening façade was only made worse by his obsession with Halloween. Still, Jack was beautiful in his own way. He had a nice smile, he was very elegant and charming, and he was one of the kindest men Alice had ever met.

This is why it dismayed her that the man hardly noticed her at all. Yes, they were friends and yes, he was very kind to her, but it seemed that when his mind was not on work, it was either on his home town, or in some cold and mysterious place that seemed to haunt him in his wake and sleep.

"There it is." Jack said brightly. Alice snapped out of her thoughts and smiled as she gazed at Jack's car.

"Morbid and lovely as ever." She said brightly. "Wonderful. The Truck is at the other side of the building. The tarp is in the back, try to bring it back with gas in it this time, please." Jack grinned at her as they exchanged keys.

"I will." He said.

"Are you leaving this morning?" She asked curiously. Jack shook his head sadly.

"I can't. Not until tomorrow evening. I haven't gone over my plans with the Director yet." She nodded.

"How is that going?" She asked curiously.

"Well enough…I suppose….his idea's aren't…" Jack seemed to be fumbling for the right words.

"Quite to your own capacity." Alice added helpfully. Jack smiled.

"Well…I was going to say that they weren't good…but I suppose that that is a bit kinder." He shrugged. Alice shook her head.

"No one's ideas are to your capacity, Jack. Your creations are…" She paused and bit her lip.

"Too detailed?" Jack asked. Alice grinned in amusement.

"Well…I was going to say horrifying…but…yes…we'll go with too detailed." Jack returned her smile and for a moment her heart leapt up to her throat. In the darkness he was like some sort of beautiful master of the night. As mysterious and frightening as he was lovely.

"Well, I believe in doing it right. If you are going to make a horror film, you might as well have the right sort of decoration for it." Jack said, breaking eye contact with her and looking off into the distance as though he knew some sort of deep secret that no one else knew.

"Well," Jack said, making Alice jump slightly. "I should probably get back to work. I have a few designs to finish and I must decide what all I'm taking back for Halloween. I will let you go." He said. He gave her faint smile. Inside, she wished that she did not have to go. On the surface, however, she returned his smile and shoved his key into the car door.

"Very well. In that case, I will see you on November 1st." She opened the car door and lowered herself in. "I know it's early…but Happy Halloween, Jack." She said softly. His smile widened and he nodded.

"And to you I wish the same." He said. He waved as she started up the car and slowly inched out of the parking lot. When his car was out of view he spun on his heel and headed back towards the dark building. It was October 22nd and the sun was just coming over the horizon.

Gregory was hurrying back home. If his aunt caught him out of the house at this time (or any time after the events from the day before.) she would kill him. Violet had just headed back to her own house after going over the plan with him one last time.

That night he was going over to Jeff's for dinner (Violet had laughed at him and then had said if it was her going, she would have hanged herself by now. He ignored her.) When he had been there before with Justin (Coughing from Violet. He ignored that too.) he had seen the large map displayed in the hallway. He remembered because he had looked at it rather fixedly for a good five minutes. That night, when he went over to the Kings house, he would slip away from the table (For whatever reason.) and look around the rest of the upstairs for Hectors Will. Violet, who would be waiting in the Kings backyard at around 7:00, would meet him at a window. He would give her the Will, she would take it back to her house, then, the next day, they would both meet back at Brutus'.

Gregory nodded to himself as he reached his house. It was about 8:00. He hoped that Anne was not up yet. Gregory shut the front door quietly and tip toed into the kitchen, where he sat down with a sigh of relief.

"Gregory!" He jumped at the sound of his aunts voice behind him.

"I didn't do nothing!" he said quickly. Anne frowned.

"That's not proper grammar Gregory. I was just going to say that I'm glad you're up early, but I suppose with no dinner last night, you would be. I'll fix you something before you go to school." Gregory nodded, as some of the color ran back into his face. Apathy tried to scratch at him from under the table. He frowned and kicked at her before she could. She recoiled from him and let out a long hiss.

On his way to school that morning Gregory felt a little different. He couldn't decide how…but something had changed, something that was affecting the whole town. Instead of feeling his usual sense of forebode he felt oddly at ease. The cold October sunlight lit up his face and a cool breeze ruffle through his hair. Gregory grinned.

When he was much younger, Gregory had always enjoyed Halloween. He had always been fond of the autumn weather and the pleasant grayness of the October sky. And he had been captivated by the mystery of the dark Holiday. Then he got a little older and was turned off by the utter foolishness of it. He got sick of the stupid costumes he had to wear every year (His mother had been a stern woman when it came to certain things and would not tolerate her boy dressing up as some flesh eating zombie, or wearing a mask that oozed fake blood.) So he'd dressed as a cow…or a large pumpkin…or some stupid type of clown.

He had thought the holiday was dumb because once he got old enough to participate in the foolishness, he had found that there was no true mystery to it. It was just a bunch of dumb kids in masks.

But this place was somehow different. He felt a shiver go down his spine that was entirely unrelated to the chill in the air. This was the kind of place that did not just hide a face behind a mask…but changed it too. And he was enjoying it! Him! Gregory Garr…no…Gregory Barrel was actually taking pleasure in the horribly twisted feeling that hung in Kingston…in Pumpkin Towns air! He took a deep breath and let his grin widen. For the first time in all the time he had been there…He liked it that he was a resident of Pumpkin Town.

Marion was standing in the schoolyard. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Gregory approach and sighed bitterly. His mom had told him to apologize to Gregory for being so rude the other day. He tossed a quick look around to make sure no one was watching. It wasn't that Gregory was that dorky of a kid or anything; it was just that, he really didn't want to get on the wrong side of either of the Wayward kids.

He turned towards the boy with an awkward smile on his face.

"Listen Greg-" He stopped short at the sight of him. The smile fell from his face. Gregory had a grin on his face that might have had the power to make the Waywards take a few steps back and reconsider their actions. Gregory's grin faded a little when he saw him.

"Huh?" He asked, while re positioning his backpack.

"I…er…was just going to say…that…I was sorry." Gregory gave him an odd look.

"Why?" He asked as a bit of breeze ruffled through his hair.

"Um…because…I was rude…and…well…my mom…she…" He stammered off. Gregory raised his brow. Marion swallowed and looked sideways only to find that much of the schoolyard had cleared out. He was struck by sudden uneasiness.

"I mean…yeah…well…sorry." He finished lamely. Gregory frowned.

"Fine…whatever. Get out of my way so that I can get to class." Marion moved quickly. Gregory passed by with one look backwards. What had that been all about? He had had a look of absolute terror on his face. That was something Gregory was not accustom to. He shook his head and mounted the stairs into the school building.

Marion shivered as a cold October wind blew past. He heard a crashing sound that made him jump. He turned quickly to see what it had been, only to find the King School sign had been ripped out of the ground by the harsh blustery weather. Marion whimpered and hurried inside.

Violet climbed the rope ladder of her and Edward's tree house wearily. She decided to sleep a few hours out there until Edward woke up and came to find her. He was used to that sort of behavior and therefore would not ask any questions.

She was startled when she opened the wooden door and found him asleep in one of the chairs. She swallowed and started to retreat back out of the room. The floor gave a large groan and Edward's eyes flickered and then opened up. When he saw her, he sat up quickly.

"Shock…there you are…where have you been?" He noted the look on her face and the fact that she was wearing her jacket and was dressed in her regular daytime clothes. His eyes narrowed. "Where'd you go?" He asked suspiciously.

"Just…to Brutus's" Violet said carefully.

"Why?" Edwards asked, a puzzled look on his face.

"Just…to knock over his mailbox." She lied. Edward looked at her doubtfully.

"At six o' clock in the morning?"

"Yeah…why not?" Violet pretended to find interest in something on the wall. Edward wasn't buying it.

"You've been acting…really strange lately, Shock" Violet glared at him.

"Have not." She said darkly.

"Yeah…yea you have. You've been really quiet and you haven't wanted to play tricks on anyone lately. Your not yourself."

"Shut up Lock!" She said angrily.

"Make me! Say what you want. It doesn't change the face that you've been acting like some freaky zombie lately." A look of horror crossed over his face.

"Your not…scared of those kids are you?" He asked carefully. Violet looked at him oddly.

"Who?"

"Justin and his cousins…you're not afraid of them are you?" Violet raised her brow. For a moment she looked as though she were considering something. Then, her face cleared.

"No! I haven't thought about that since it happened." This was the truth. Her mind had been far too occupied to think of anything as menial as Justin King.

"It's just that you haven't wanted to dump on him lately." Edward said. Violet glared at him.

"For your information, I just taped him to a park bench yesterday."

"Really?" Edward asked, a bit of relief ebbing into his voice.

"Yea." She said.

"Oh…great. What about Gregory? Have you gotten him lately?" For a moment the confident look fell from Violets face.

"I…um…uh…no…not lately." She stammered weakly.

"Oh…" Edward looked at her oddly. She was fiddling with her sleeve. This was a nervous action he was not used to.

"Why not?" He asked uncomfortably.

"Uh…well…I just…haven't had the opportunity." She said with a nod.

"Ok…" He said. He grinned maliciously. "Well, how about if we get him today then?" He asked brightly. Violet stared out of one of the windows. This action disturbed Edward.

"Shock?" She swallowed.

"No…" She said finally. "I think not."

Yay! I realize that I really should be working on Special Keys For Special Doors instead of Pumpkin Town, but I can't help it. I really want to finish this story. And I am getting SOOO close! Sigh. Thank you for your reviews! Updates soon!

To Megan W: I assume that since you called me by my nickname in one of your reviews that you have been to my web page. I tried to describe human Jack a little better in this chapter, but if your interested in seeing what he looks like (In my own imagination, anyway) as a human, I'll post a picture I drew earlier this year on the page. It's not wonderful,  but it'll give you some idea of how he's supposed to look. I haven't, unfortunately drawn any Zero pictures. I'm not good with animals. Also, I thank you for your super long reviews  I enjoy reading them.