Ok. First off, I know I put a similar note in the last chapter, but who is that person from Canada who somehow manages to be the first person reading the new chapter? Seriously. They've been on point nearly ten chapters in a row, I think.
Also, I'm not apologizing for the emotional turmoil of the last chapter But am sorry if you were exceptionally upset. Thank you for the reviews!
Chapter 27
Harvest
Anna listened to her whole world once again crash down around her.
Jack forced himself to take an even breath, "Horrible death?"
The demon smiled sickeningly. "Didn't I say? Doing this would break more than a few… 'rules.' We'll have to get very specific about who dies without going so far as to name them."
Jack was silent.
Anna was….
She started to shake…
Jack thought about James and the cost.
"What else?" he asked sternly, with a deathly tone of finality.
"Hmph. Well, by cursing your family like this, that person will have a very unprotected soul. They can't 'pass on' until the years they could have had are used up. Up until that point, they're essentially fair game for anyone who likes souls. Namely us." The demon smiled viciously. "I'm not going to hide anything from you, Jack. I want you to understand exactly what you just did to some stranger."
Jack kept a stony glare. "Are you saying that when they die, they'll have to wander around this world like me while being hunted by you?"
Anna stiffened with a raw strike of fear that chilled her bones. She didn't know about that. She didn't know about any of this. Why didn't Jack tell her something so crucial? At least about the demons hunting her bit. Forget for a moment selling her life like it was his to barter.
Anna was starting to spiral. She wanted to laugh. And cry. And throw herself off a cliff.
No need. Jack did that for me. Was my life ever mine to live? Apparently not. Maybe I'm dreaming. Or maybe I've always been here. What is sanity? Not this. Is this real? What is real? Maybe I imagined a life. Perhaps imagined a death. Maybe I have always been here. Maybe I got sick of this existence and dreamed a different world for myself. Where did I start? Is this the world? I can interact with this world, in this time. I must be real here. I'm not really in Halloween. I can't hear anymore.
People rarely notice insanity or understand it. From the inside looking out, you can't explain it. From the outside looking in, you can't understand.
Does Anna's internal tirade sound reasonable to you? If so, I would consider waking up. Or seeking professional help.
The demon chuckled darkly, "Yes. What do you say, Jack? I'm almost willing to give you a chance to back down."
"…You said we have to be specific."
The man scoffed, "Well it's not like we can just curse anybody. They have to be reasonably untainted for one thing." He lowered his voice slightly, "At first."
Jack shut his eyes sockets and forced a nod, not letting himself be curious about that last bit. "Is that it?"
"Ha! If you want me to do this to save your daughter-in-law and her kid, then I get to choose our little criteria."
"No, you don't."
All two of the three people on that hill jumped in shock at the voice. The third was too lost and sick with betrayed grief to pay attention anymore.
Chakis stared at the demon. "Speak no more lies."
The demon wiped his smile so suddenly Jack almost didn't recognize his face for a moment.
"Who are you?" Jack demanded, moving away slightly. He tensed at the power he felt.
Both of these creatures were stronger than him, though for different reasons. With age comes power and these two were ancient.
Chakis calmly looked up and down the skeleton. "I'm the Angel of Death who has a say in this deal. That soul will be mine to take, whomever it may be."
Jack stared at her as the demon remained silent. "You…you seem familiar." He almost whispered the words but not quite. This lady caused him some fear with her quiet demeanor and too calm stare.
"I should hope so. I followed you from behind as you walked to your death on a long road so long ago. That day you locked your soul away from me with a few words and a cross carved on a tree."
Jack gasped in shock. "I…I didn't die that day…"
"Didn't you? You might as well have. No soul is set in eternity until that last thought has left the mind in death. You could have redeemed yourself at any point before you died, even after taunting my brother. But by tricking the Devil, you tricked yourself into believing you were more powerful than God himself. That was your folly. Not your deal."
Jack gaped, fear and shame striking his face. There wasn't much he could really argue.
Chakis continued, "But I didn't leave my post by your son, daughter, and granddaughters' side to simply scold you."
"Granddaughter…" Jack breathed, completely missing Chakis' use of a plural.
Anna didn't miss it.
Please just let me wake up, Chakis. I'm going insane.
But even waking up wouldn't be an escape for her.
The funny little knife in the back of her head reminded her that she would have to face Jack, her Jack, eventually. The quiet vengeful sliver of her personality was more than looking forward to the opportunity.
The angel nodded. "I came so that you understood that there is hope for the soul you've already decided to cheat." She stared at the demon. "I will tell you what must be. Don't let the demon let you believe they choose who dies. These criteria were chosen by you and your fate."
Jack glanced at the demon, who in his silence didn't seem all that powerful. "I don't want to hear."
"I don't care. You just damned an innocent. The least you can do is feel guilty and understand your choice. So, listen well. They must be born on the Hallows Eve, like you and the grandchild whose fate you've traded."
Jack tensed in pain and blame. "Then the baby would have been the one to die…"
"You are trading someone else's years for theirs, yes. That doesn't matter now. The soul that has been cursed is what is important. They will die by the same fashion on the same night as you, as you are the one making this deal. But their soul will be safe by your side. When you find them, whether in their life or their death, keep them close."
Jack shifted. The years hadn't dulled the most painful moments of his death. Fire still terrified him. "What makes ye think they'll let me near after what I've done."
"Hush. There will be safe havens for souls like you and them. Places demons cannot touch. You will find your haven. I needn't tell you how."
Jack refused to meet her eyes and stared at the dirt. "Art thou nearly finished condemning my conscience. I understand what I have done. And I will take whatever torturous punishment ye sentence if Mira and her baby live," he almost pleaded.
The demon rolled his eyes but didn't dare speak.
"I'm not sure you do understand," Chakis said.
The demon suddenly looked up at Chakis as another soul became visible to him. He snickered. "You call yourself good to my evil with this ploy, sister?"
Chakis ignored him. She gestured behind Jack with a hand that had been hidden in her cloak.
Jack turned over his shoulder. There wasn't any…
He saw the tree … Why would they care about that spirit?
He eyed the demon, remembering the fear on the girl's face, but Chakis gave them both a look. That kind of look that left him knowing that the girl was far safer with the angel nearby than he ever could be.
He went around the tree, keeping the powerful beings in his line of sight, and knelt by the girl.
"There you are…" he said kindly, regretful that this young woman was witness to his…murder…There wasn't really another honest word for it. "I'm sorry you heard all th—." He cut off as the spirit turned to look at him.
She…
She stared at him with such abject betrayal and pain that his heart would have stopped if it still beat.
He breathed in sharply, air whistling through his rib cage audibly. There are no words to adequately describe that moment when he suddenly realized exactly why she stared at him with her nonexistent eyes so steeped in righteous anger and pain.
"You're my…" his claw-like hands twitched, as if he wanted her reach for her.
Anna glared at him silently, tears stinging the burns on her face. She had no words herself yet. They were all in her head, spinning around and ripped to pieces until nothing made sense.
"No…" the skeleton whispered. He fell back on his heels heavily, his bones feeling like iron.
Anna couldn't help the strangled whine that came from the back of the throat. She clamped her skeletal hand against her mouth and tried to stifle the choking wailing sob. She refused to look away.
"…I'm….I'm so…" Jack couldn't even get the words out.
For a moment, he just stared at her and her damaged burnt shell, the giggling demon and stern looking Reaper not even there.
Anna sniffed and shakily opened her mouth to scream at him.
But nothing came.
She woke up.
She stared at the ceiling for a long moment.
Then she screamed in pain and rage, crying out in grief reminiscent of when she ran into the woods her first day in Halloween. She slammed her fist into the floor beside her, not even sitting up. She barely registered the cracking of bones in her hand from the force.
"Why would you take that away from me!" she screamed at the ceiling as she scrambled to her feet, almost tripping on her striped, ripped coat jacket that lay on the floor still. "I have every right to be angry! He killed me! He killed me! And the moment I get to scream at him for it, you wake me up! Why would you do THAT?! Look what he did!"
She was too furious to notice the door of the room open to reveal a very concerned man and woman with a nervous ghost dog and black cat at their feet.
"Why would you just let him do that to me!" she shrieked, uncaring of whoever listened. She had words just for one person. The one person who could always hear her because Jack himself wasn't in the room. "I have a family! I had a life! I wasn't supposed to die!? I wasn't supposed to! I have years ahead of me that I'll never see because YOU let him kill me!"
She cried now as her exhaustion started hitting her bones. She continued to scream even as her voice broke and she stumbled clumsily against a wall.
"What did I ever do?!"
"Rrreow?" if a quiet meow could sound hesitant, then that was the strangled, confused sound Jasper made, more because Anna needed to know she had an audience.
Zero whined a little and inched closer. He glanced up at the two people who were staring at the eight-foot-tall stick figure throwing a grief shaded fit.
Anna gasped as she looked down and across the room at Jasper, Zero, and the two humans. No. They weren't human. Not really. They were Thanksgiving Citizens.
Her feet slipped out from under her, and she fell against the bottom of the wall, hitting her head while her right arm twisted badly and popped out of the socket.
She blacked out for a moment. A second later, she blinked up at someone with a wince as they helped her sit up against the wall.
It was the woman.
"Thanks," Anna murmured at the much smaller Pilgrim lady a little numbly. She wasn't sure this lady was human sized…but by Halloween! Anna wasn't expecting to realize just how massively…tall she really was compared to the woman.
She was suddenly very aware of her skeleton body made of sharp angles and thin bones. She could better understand just how scary she might look to a human. She was freaking huge!
The woman seemed pleased at Anna's choice of words, though concerned at how the skeleton unconsciously tried to tuck limbs away from her. "You're very welcome, Halloween Citizen." The women wore all black and had lovely raven curls and rosy cheeks. She didn't seem too old. Forties maybe.
"Excuse me…is this normal for you?" another voice said.
Anna looked to her side as she felt Zero nudge her dislocated arm toward the American Indian man. He seemed older than the woman though that could have been because of his deeply sun bronzed skin. He had spent many more years outside in the woods than a Bostonian magazine editress.
"Sorry…about…um…all that," the gangly skeleton whispered, still too angry to be suitably embarrassed. She couldn't actually reach the arm from where she sat but didn't want to ask him to hand it to her, given how disturbed he looked. They were dealing with it remarkably well, but Anna could till they were very afraid of her. She was honestly somewhat impressed at how they handled it.
She also found herself honestly surprised to see bone again. She had almost gotten used to the burnt flesh after spending more than twenty-four hours in it. Pain and all. She could almost still see the blood.
The man and woman shook their heads and shared a glance. They weren't sure what to make of the female creature's earlier rant.
"That obviously wasn't meant for us. We shall not speak of it if you do not wish it. I'm only somewhat surprised that it was God you were yelling at," the woman said with a reserved tone. She eyed the creature almost warningly.
The man seemed to steel himself and gingerly picked up her arm by the forearm and carefully held it out as if it might bite him.
Anna took it, mildly pleased that her arm didn't hurt too much. She wasn't quite sure how to reconnect it though.
The lady noticed her lost expression and held out a hand. "May I?"
Anna nodded in relief and gave her the skeletal arm. "Don't worry about it hurting—."
CRACK!
The woman shot her hands away from Anna and backed up cautiously.
"Cat's Tail!" Anna swore with a shout, curling the right hand into a fist before letting out a second cry. "Ow!"
That hand had a few nasty cracks in the bone. A-plus to the floor installation.
She held the hand close to her and assured the lady whose gentle yet firm composure broke at Anna's cry.
"I'm okay. I just got a little carried away…earlier. Why are you surprised that I was…yelling at God?"
Jasper and Zero shared a look. Were they supposed to just ignore that rant they heard?
"We were under the impression that Halloween was pagan."
Anna's sockets widened slightly while Jasper yowled quietly and Zero's confused bark startled the Thanksgiving Citizens.
"That's not….Halloween is actually…" She trailed off sharply as the man raised his hand to silence her.
"While we appreciate an explanation of your Holiday to our understanding, I'm afraid we'll have to wait until more…urgent explanations are forthcoming," he said meaningful with a stern look at the creepy creature's empty sockets.
Anna was still very preoccupied with the information she recently had thrown at her with enough force to make her soul twist in pain. However, she had just enough self-awareness to realize that now that the danger of her anger was passed, she was in a lot of trouble with this Holiday.
So much trouble.
It wasn't all her fault. She didn't know much about what each Holiday expected from each other. Still, as she sat there on the dusty yellowish wooden floor, she realized that she hadn't exactly considered if whoever was in charge of Thanksgiving would be okay with her hitching a ride.
"I'm really sorry about…" she really hoped they could hear her sincerity through the other emotions that were fogging up her mind.
She was cut off by the look from the man and woman. She quickly looked down sheepishly and was silent as Jasper and Zero flinched and slunk dejectedly until they stood by her sitting form.
The man pulled over a chair into the middle of the room.
"Sit."
Anna scrambled to her feet and immediately did just that, crawling more than running in her haste. In a moment, she sat stiffened straight like a rod was stuck to her spine. She folded her hands and stared at them respectfully.
The staring, in addition to the spider-like movements, just creeped the older holidays out.
Jasper and Zero darted under the chair behind Anna's feet. Neither of them wanted to admit it, but anyone can be scary if they can pick up a yowling, scratching witch's cat by the scruff with barely a flinch on their face like that man did.
Jasper rather amusingly threatened Zero with tearing Jack's curtains and framing him if the ghost dog mentioned his humiliation to anyone.
Meanwhile, Zero was busy counting how many bats, rats, owls, cats, and fellow dogs he could tell the story to before Jasper pulled some magic trick on him.
The silence dragged on. They just glared at the girl. Well, it wasn't really a glare. The two elders were silently waiting for her reaction. In their experience, people tend to reveal more when given a chance.
"Uh…" Anna murmured, "May I…ask…How did I get here?"
The woman glanced at the red leaves sitting on a nearby table. They had disconnected from the giant maple tree when the skeleton crashed into it. It was a rather spectacular crash at least. Most citizens avoid the Tree with awed reverence and this visitor went head first.
"We brought you here after you ran into our Tree…"
Jasper made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort.
The Thanksgiving citizens glared at the black cat.
"…and these two ran out a nearby alley and promptly proceeded to further terrify our townspeople."
"How?" Anna asked dubiously even as the cat and dog looked insulted by the scaring amateur.
The man sighed sharply and continued to let the lady explain. He was still a bit cross about the whole ordeal, as evident by the cat scratches on his hands.
"You see, dear. Halloween may have its own way of doing thing, but here black cats are a terrible sign of bad luck and ghosts…well. They aren't much better than skeletons. Most have never seen one of your kind before."
"I believe it's our turn, young lady," the man said. "Introductions are in order. Who are you?"
Anna took a moment to decide how formal she should be. Better safe than sorry.
"…Annalise Grisholme, Sir and Madame," she clicked her teeth nervously, "I'm from Halloween."
She wasn't actually a citizen yet, right? But she was literally coming straight from Halloween, so it wasn't a lie.
There was a brief flash of surprise on their faces at her name.
The man frowned but nodded. "We suspected as such." Ah, an old man's sarcasm. "I am Chief Squanto of Thanksgiving."
"And I am Sarah Josepha Hale," the woman said. "The Governor of Thanksgiving."
Anna sat straighter at their words and stared at them. She had always loved History class after all. Their names distracted her and she couldn't take the moment to appreciate that the governor, co-ruler of Thanksgiving she assumed, was a woman. Give her a moment to freak out in excitement about one thing at a time.
"You're…" Anna said quickly even as the animals looked lost at the skeleton girl's reaction, "You're Squanto? The brave that…"
"If you're referring to the first Thanksgiving, yes. Though we didn't call it that at the time."
They looked confused and surprised that a Halloween creature would know anything about another Holiday.
Anna gaped, and her eye sockets shot toward the lady.
"I don't expect you to know me," Ms. Hale said hesitant, narrowing her eyes at the skeleton in prim suspicion. "It's a rather trivial story to many people I suppose. At least not common knowledge."
"What?! You're the one who convinced President Lincoln to make Thanksgiving an official national holiday. You pretty much founded Thanksgiving."
Sarah stared, dumbstruck at Anna's knowledge even as Squanto chuckled.
"See Governor," he said, incredibly impressed, "You haven't been forgotten, my friend."
"…" Sarah just stood wide-eyed and perplexed, "Not even King Jack knows of this. How do you, young lady?"
"I wasn't great at taking tests in school, but History was my favorite subject, so I wrote a lot of papers for extra credit," Anna babbled excitedly. She frowned as they still looked confused. "When I was alive," she added.
"You…were alive once?"
"Yes, ma'am."
The Governor shared another glance with the Chief.
"Would you excuse us one moment?" the Chief said, straightening the cloak like shawl he wore over one shoulder.
Anna nodded, and the man walked to the door to open it for Gov. Hale.
This changed a few things. Their initial questions were going to have to wait.
Once they were gone, Anna studied the room she woke up in.
It seemed to be room someone would only use for storage, despite the bars on the window.
Why would Thanksgiving put much work into a jail after all? It was part of a larger building, Anna guessed since there was only one window on the back wall and pipes were running out one side wall, across the ceiling, connecting to lamps, then out through the opposite wall.
Once again, a little more technologically advanced than Anna expected from any holiday.
Besides a few empty crates in the corner, the only furniture was the chair that she sat in and the table by the door with the red leaves.
Anna noticed the leaves, of course, they were the brightest color in the room, but she didn't think they were important besides being the same color as the leaves from the tree she vaguely remembered crashing headfirst into.
She sure gave a spectacular first impression.
Anna winced. Looking back, she realized that her entry into Thanksgiving wasn't taken very well. She wasn't sure what to expect, but in hindsight, she should never have expected it to go well.
"Reow," growled Jasper, clearing his kitty throat. "Not bad for a redeeming impression I'll admit. Better than most of ours at least."
Anna glanced down at him as Zero floated up to her eye level. She gave him a little pat on the head and gestured for Jasper to jump into her lap.
"What do you mean?"
"Most holidays don't seem to like us it at first. It takes a while for them to…warm up to us. We often don't have that kind of time together. They're really very strange and rude anyway, so I don't bother." He got up to put his paws on Anna's collar bone to inspect her face. "You have some bark scuff on your cheek bone, child. Anyway, what were you talking about just then? Who are they?"
"Arf!" Zero was just as curious and got close to help Anna clean up.
Anna sputtered and pushed him and his ghostly tongue away from her face while pushing Jasper off her chest with the other arm.
"Phfft. Gross, Zero!" she snickered, smiling at them with a strain. With the other two gone, it was harder to distract herself from what she witnessed in the past. "Squanto was an Indian, American not Asian, who participated in the First Thanksgiving when the Pilgrims first came to America."
"Uh huh… and what are Pilgrims?"
Anna stared at the cat. "Do you know anything about basic history?"
"I can tell you how many real witches died in the Salem Witch Trials and the number of Kings of Halloween going back to when pumpkins became our symbol. But I don't suppose you'll find that interesting."
It might please the reader to learn that the word "sarcasm" literally means "flesh cutting." There a reason Halloween Citizens, cats especially, are so good at it.
Anna continued. "That's cool…so…Jack hasn't always been King?"
"Of course not. Back to these Pilgrims? Strange word."
The skeleton rolled her eyes, tempted to keep asking about Pumpkin Kings. "Fine. You at least know white skinned people, Europeans, haven't always been nearly everywhere right?"
"Of course," Jasper sounded a little surprised, "That's actually how pumpkins became part of Halloween. Europeans brought Halloween to America. Pumpkins are from America, girl. We used to use turnips for Jack O'Lanterns ever since the very beginning of Halloween." He grimaced at that. "Bit before my time. Turnips?"
Zero yipped lightly, getting a little annoyed that he had to let the stupid cat do all the talking. First thing when they got home, he was asking Jack where that translating spell was. Even if it were temporary, it would be good to know since even he could pull it off. Why hadn't he bothered before for Halloween's sake?
Anna clicked her teeth, knowing just where the turnip thing came from. How can Jack O'Lanterns be such a big part of Halloween and Jack not be the King the whole time? Was Jasper even suspicious about the name of those lanterns?
"Uh. Right. Well, when some of the first Europeans came, one group had it really bad one winter. Spring came around, and the American Indians decided to help out and taught them how to grow crops. Squanto was there. He was a translator and guide for the Pilgrims. Harvest came, and the Pilgrims decided to have a feast. They went hunting, and the tribe thought their friends were under attack because of all the gunfire. When everyone calmed down, the Pilgrims invited the Indians to join their feast of thanks. Squanto was also there."
The animals considered it.
"Hm. Alright…what about the lady?"
"Do you know that rhyme 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'?"
"Some of us aren't that out of touch with the human world," Jasper growled with a roll of his eyes, wishing the girl would get to the point.
"Sarah Josepha Hale wrote that."
"…Really? Interesting, but what does that have to do with the turkey freaks."
Anna stiffened, still unable to squash her still new fear. She really hoped there weren't any eavesdroppers listening in. They probably wouldn't appreciate some Halloween Citizens' little nickname.
"She spent many years petitioning for Thanksgiving to be made an official Holiday. It was really only popular in the Northern states. In the US," she clarified. She had no idea how much the cat knew about different countries. "Before, it was just a little party that families would have when the harvest finished. Like Halloween actually."
Jasper's hackles raised defensively a little. "We're…both harvest festivals?"
"Claws in, Jasper," Anna scolded. "We have very different reasons. I'm new to this, and even I know that."
The cat hissed lightly at being told off. "Respect your elders, girl," he purred. "Continue."
"She petitioned for many years, I don't know how many. Twenty I think."
"Seventeen actually."
The animals glanced toward the window, and Anna jumped, but she continued regardless. She never really liked being interrupted. "Finally, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln decided it would be a good idea to make it official. Something to bring families together and lift spirits in a terrible war."
There was clapping. "Wow. Not bad. A little sparse on the details though you'd make high marks in Governors Hale's class. Granted she mostly teaches the kids, and she's a little biased on the subject of course, so it's really not all that impressive."
Anna finally turned around in her chair, knocking Jasper off her legs, to glare at the girl who pulled herself up by the window sill again to peer inside at the skeleton.
It barely took Anna a moment to remember the girl's face.
"You poked me in the eye!" she accused, almost tipping the chair as she threw out an arm to point at the Native American girl in the window.
"Well you're the one trespassing and terrifying everyone," the girl shot back, her voice muffled by the glass, "Hurry up and open the window."
Anna raised an eyebrow ridge. "Why?"
"Cause, I can't see you that well. And they aren't letting anyone in Town Hall with you here."
Anna frowned and got up, bending over with her height. She hooked a couple skeletal fingers under the window and pulled it open. She didn't even need to reach for it with her height.
A crisp breeze flowed in the room, rustling Anna's messy hair and Jasper's fur.
"Now help me up!"
"There are bars in the way," Anna deadpanned to the white knuckled hands. The girl seemed to be struggling to keep herself up.
"They're just for looks! Yank them out and help me in!" The girl grunted in strain.
"You're rather bossy," Anna said but did as she asked, pulling out the three metal bars with ease.
"And you're tall so help me up."
Anna kept her confused yet annoyed frown and grasped one hand, acutely aware of the flinch and shiver the other person had from being touched by her bones.
The two girls struggled for a moment while one of them wiggled through the small window.
Apparently, the Thanksgiving Citizen wasn't expecting the six feet off the ground the window was from the inside and shouted as she started slipping out the rest of the way.
But she didn't fall. Anna caught her around the middle and huffed at their little tangle of limbs for a second.
"Ow! Stop kicking!"
"My foot's caught—."
"Just let me—."
Suddenly the room starting spinning and Anna felt the side of her head hit something hard. Not enough to knock her out at least.
There was a crash.
Jasper and Zero were left staring at two creatures and four pieces.
Zero couldn't help think it hilarious that Anna had more bodily malfunctions than Jack. Given how he was a dog whose master was made up of many gnawable bones, that's saying something.
Anna blinked, wondering briefly why someone's boot was in her face. She reached to rub her sore head only for her four fingers to miss and wave across her line of sight definitely not where she expected them.
The sudden disorientation of not understanding where every part of her body was in reference to her head was enough to make her stiffen in fear of making it worse.
"Oh ow..AHHH!"
Anna winced, unable to turn her skull to glare at the other girl, so she settled for a sideways look out the corner of her socket.
"Maybe not scream? I have the feeling you're not supposed to be in here and I'm in enough trouble probably."
"Oh good, I didn't break you," the other person said, ignoring Anna for the moment. She didn't sound especially apologetic.
"Break me?! I can't move."
"Um…do you need some help?"
"Well I can't turn my head, and something's twisted around, but I can't tell what. So yes, maybe I need some help."
Anna suddenly shouted as someone held her by the sides of her head and lifted. She was surprised that she didn't feel the pull on the rest of her body and tightened her fists. She kicked out a foot to brace instinctually.
The other girl stared at her. "You've…never done this before, have you?"
"What are you…"
The girl turned Anna's skull around.
"…oh."
The Thanksgiving Citizen was in one piece thankfully. Pun not intended. However, Anna's headless body was missing (besides her head) one arm while the other arm was twisting backward at an odd angle. The twisted one actually hurt more than the disconnected one, but she could feel both.
It took a moment for Anna to reorient herself and get used to the new point of view.
"Um…" She was aware of the Halloween pets laughing at her in their own silent way. "Keep holding my head for a second."
"Er…okay…this is really weird…Do you have to talk so much? It makes your…head…vibrate weird. And your jaw moves a lot. Ugh. Your hair's a little dry. Why am I doing this?"
Anna ignored most of the commentary.
She focused on figuring out where the twisted arm was in her mind. "I'm Anna by the way."
"Little…"
CRACK. Anna threw the arm back into place with a wince.
"Braid," the girl finished with a squeak and ill expression, not that Anna could see.
"Horrid to meet you, Little Braid," Anna said as she picked up her other arm and tensed. "What are you even doing sneaking in here, wherever 'here' is?"
"Um…Well…I intended to interrogate you…"
Yes, it was just as noisy and painful as Anna expected to pop the other arm back into place.
Little Braid jumped at the noise and looked about to throw up.
"Heh. Yeah. How's that going for you?" Anna grinned.
"…Not as I expected…"
Anna snickered. She held out her hands and Little Braid quickly handed off Anna's talking head and shuddered violently.
"Ugh…"
"Hey, you're the one who fell on me." The bone girl tested her joints and rolled her neck. "Ouch. That's better." She looked toward Little Braid and frowned. The other girl actually did look ready to puke. And she stood a bit too close.
Little Braid jumped at realizing the Halloween Citizen stared at her. It was hard to tell with those eyeless empty holes. How could the skeleton even see?
"Must you…um that was a little…sick," Little Braid said hesitantly.
The formally white Anglo-American with an interesting Irish heritage tilted her head in confusion.
"Thaaaanks?" She shifted back a little, eyes never leaving the Thanksgiving Citizens ill face. "Could you maybe back up a bit?"
They glared at each other awkwardly, each of them usually polite to people they just met.
"You…um…you look like you need to puke…"
Those words were enough as Little Braid remembered the sickening crack of bone. She turned away and gagged as Anna pulled her feet away quickly.
Thankfully nothing came up.
Anna tried not to smirk. For someone without much control of her emotions, she at least had better control of her guts. This girl should never go to Halloween if a little cracking made her gag. Yes, stray mummified hands, broken necks, and pickled eyeballs scared Anna briefly, but they never made her rightly sick.
Oh, wait, Anna was a skeleton. She didn't have guts. Could she still get nauseous out of disgust?
She frowned. "Are you…alright?"
Little Braid just waved her hands and took a breath, done dry heaving for now.
"I'm fine."
"You don't look fine," Anna said as she got to her feet. And then promptly hit her head on the low ceiling. "OW!" She got on her knees. It looked funny, but at least she wasn't bending over ridiculously.
"Why would you care? Isn't this something you freaks would want?" the girl muttered sourly.
Anna's frown deepened. She didn't know very much about Halloween as a town, but she knew enough to know that wasn't true.
"Actually, if I were a Halloween Citizen I'd want to scare you more than anything. I wouldn't necessarily want to make you sick unless as a secondary feeling."
Little Braid straightened and wiped her mouth, staring at Anna in confusion. "What do you mean if you were a Halloween Citizen?" she snapped.
"It's a long story," Anna said, pursing her lips and glaring at her hands as she crossed her arms.
Little Braid shifted. Now that her stomach had calmed down, she could better sense that something was up. Besides the obvious "up-ness" of one Holiday trespassing in the land of another.
Holidays are good at that type of thing, sensing things, whether they're aware of it or not. It was their job to make humans feel a particular kind of way after all. Usually, they only pay attention to their particular emotion. Fear. Or Thankfulness.
But Little Braid sensed something from Anna that she couldn't just overlook. The unwelcome visitor wasn't thankful about something. Something of the opposite. Regretful? Something negative at least. If it wasn't Thankfulness or Regret or Remembrance then what else could it be?
The much shorter girl sighed and steeled herself. She was going to get to the bottom of this one way or another.
Anna didn't seem the type to play bad cop with (was that the phrase?). And the skeleton wasn't being particularly hostile, at the moment.
Anna looked down in surprise as Little Braid sat herself down on the floor in front of the kneeling Skeleton.
The skeleton towered over her like this. Anna could feel the twinge of fear coming from Little Braid at putting herself in a vulnerable position.
"What are you doing?"
"Interrogating you."
Anna rolled her eyes. "Isn't that what your leaders were doing?"
Little Braid narrowed her own eyes. "They think you don't really mean harm. They've met your King apparently. They want to know what you're doing here and how you managed to knock a few Thanks off the Tree."
"Thanks?" Anna turned to glance at the red leaves on the table.
Little Braid frowned. "Of course. That's what they're really worried about."
What they were all worried about.
"And you weren't exactly very inconspicuous, so I don't think we need to worry about you stealing our Holiday." She trailed off at Anna's blank look. "You really don't know?"
Anna shook her skull.
Little Braid gasped in shock and got to her feet. As the three Halloween Citizens watched, she went to the nearby table, grabbed the ruby red leaves, and spun around to carefully shake them in the air.
"Then who are they?!" she snapped.
Anna squinted at her like she was crazy. Well, crazier than her.
The cat and dog were just as silently confused.
The Thanksgiving Citizen gaped, looked down at the six leaves, and read aloud the gold lettered names only she could see.
"Thim Chan Grisholme. Harold Grisholme…"
Anna's sockets widened. "H-hold on. How…how…"
"Jillian Grisholme. James Grisholme. Sarah Smith. Marcus De…"
"STOP!"
"Deaton. I was done anyway. Who are they?" Little Braid demanded.
"How do you know their names?" Anna demanded with an equal amount of stubbornness.
"These are Thanks. Every human has something they're thankful for during the year. We take their Thanks off the Tree and remind them," Little Braid explained like it was obvious. Eye roll included. "But only the Citizens going to the Real World usually can take a Leaf off."
"…I'm not sure I…"
"They must be special to you if you were able to knock these off. Everyone looked suitably disturbed," Little Braid interrupted accusingly. Suddenly she froze. "Wait. What was your name again?"
"Anna."
"Your last name."
"Grisholme." Anna could see the gears turning as Little Braid looked down at the leaves again.
She stared at Anna dubiously and squinted. "You're not…you weren't, human were you?"
Anna didn't answer directly. But she did look away and closed her eyes.
Little braid glanced away as she felt that odd negative emotion from Anna again. She still wasn't sure what it was. This changed a few things. For one…maybe she shouldn't be as rude… "Sorry…who are the other two."
"My best friend and my boyfriend."
"Ew."
Anna's sockets snapped up to glare at the Indian.
Little Braid sputtered in embarrassment for a second. She hadn't meant to say that out loud. "I mean…uhhh…"
"I was alive you know."
"I'm alive. You were human," Little Braid corrected with a little scoff. "There's a bit of a difference."
Anna rolled her eyes. Not to her.
"So," Little Braid nervously came back over to sit down, "What are you doing here?"
Anna narrowed her eyes at the other girl for a moment, letting Little Braid squirm under her gaze. "I'm trying to go home."
"Th-then why did you leave in the first place?"
"Not Halloween," Anna corrected. "Washington state. That's where I'm from."
"When you were…alive?"
Anna nodded.
"So you remember being human?"
"Doesn't Mr. Squanto and Ms. Hale?"
"Missus Hale. And…sort of…I think. They only remember things that have to do with our Holiday I think. I'm not sure about the details. I don't ask."
"Oh," Anna fidgeted. She didn't think being able to remember her life was that big a deal. It made sense in Halloween, somewhat, since she got the impression almost everyone who did die had a pretty traumatizing death. Who'd want to remember that? But as far as she knew, Sarah Josepha Hale lived until she was ninety and died of old age.
"Why do you want to get back to the Real World? You're…family?"
"That's my business," Anna scowled.
"Not if it's on my holiday! We heard what King Skellington did to Christmas."
Jasper and Zero perked up and looked a little panicky.
Anna flinched at Jack's name then paused and tilted her head. "What happened with Christmas?"
Little Braid gasped in shock and leaned closer cautiously. "You seriously don't know?"
Anna shook her head, leaning back and away from the overly serious Thanksgiving creature.
"You and your insane asylum of a town took over Christmas two years ago!"
"Thaaat doesn't really sound like Jack…" she glanced at Jasper who just rolled his eyes while Zero stared at the wall a little preoccupied with a couple choice memories.
"What, so you didn't kidnap the leader of Christmas and attempt to do yourself…whatever it is they do on Christmas?"
Anna just shrugged helplessly.
Little Braid threw her arms up. "Well, what do I know? I didn't even know other Holidays existed a year ago."
"Seriously?"
"Well...yeah," Little put her arms down and looked at the skeleton. The look on Anna's face made her cringe in slight shame. "I guess…it makes sense that there be others besides Thanksgiving…but I never considered what they might be."
Anna's lips twitched. She held out a skeletal hand.
Little Braid looked at her with raised eyebrows and pursed lips.
"Let's try this again. Horrid to meet you, Little Braid. I'm Anna Grisholme. I made be in the process of running away from Halloween, but I certainly know more about it than you. I'll answer any questions to the best of my ability."
"I'm…" Little Braid swallowed, a little insulted by Anna's greeting. "I'm thankful to meet you…" There was a twinge of sarcasm.
Anna stared at her.
The other girl huffed. "What? Just being polite."
"…so was I?"
They stared at each other, trying to understand what the other meant.
Suddenly, Anna jumped and facepalmed. "Oh! Did I say 'horrid'? That's how everyone's been saying hello to me every day for the past month. Look at me. I should remember that's only a Halloween thing."
Little Braid took a moment before nodding slowly. "Do humans…say they're thankful to have met someone? You should know. You were human, right?"
"Weren't you?"
The girl shook her head. "I was born here."
"Oh. Well, sometimes I think they might say that. I think only when they remember someone they haven't seen in a while. Like…" Anna struggled with an example, "Um…there's a teacher I know. I don't know them all that well, but I'm thankful that I met them." She shrugged weakly.
Little Braid blinked. "At least that makes more sense than telling someone meeting them was a 'horrid' experience."
"Well…you did kick my head off my shoulders…"
"…"
Anna snorted at Little Braid's horrified realization. Then the smirk cracked into a snickering fit.
Little Braid's scrunched up face was too much.
Anna burst out laughing.
The Thanksgiving Citizen smirked at the Halloween Citizen's good-natured cackling, despite how creepy it sounded. She wouldn't laugh…She wouldn't…
A single giggle was all it took. Soon they were both in a giggly mess.
Jasper rolled his eyes and jumped up onto the table to curl up.
Wake me when there's something more interesting than…teenagers.
Zero rolled his eyes at the cat before barking and flying over to the girls.
"Um alright. I'm not letting the whole 'you running away from your Holiday' thing drop you know," Little Braid muttered.
Anna huffed. "Can't you just accept that I don't want to tell a stranger my life and death story?"
"Not when you're interrupting Thanksgiving. Everyone leaves soon. I should be out there helping my family."
"Then why aren't you?"
"I thought I'd be more help getting answers out of you. It was a little silly of me, now that I think about it. I decided to come speak to you because the Chief and Governor were outside talking about leaving you here until Thanksgiving was over. I didn't really like the idea of you stuck here with the elders and little children with no supervision."
Anna jumped. "Please don't do that. I…need to…"
"Use our portal to get to the Real World? Yeah, that's obvious. Look, about telling me about Halloween, let's start with you telling me who this thing is, and I might consider helping you. The less time you spend here, the better. No offense."
"…this is Zero. Say hi, boy." Anna raised a brow ridge at Little Braid and scratched Zero on the back of his ear.
"Arf! Arf!"
"He's…kind of cute," Little Braid admitted though she couldn't help edge away from the excited ghost dog.
"Kind of?! He's adorable," Anna pulled him closer and ruffled his wispy ears.
Zero panted happily.
"You can touch him?"
"Well, obviously. It's not that hard. I had a little trouble every once in a while, at first. Then I figured out you have to expect to touch him."
Little Braid looked more than a little disbelieving.
"Here. Help her out, Zero."
Zero did so by nudging the spirit's arm, making her jump.
Little Braid gingerly rubbed his ear with a growing grin. "Heh. This is kind of cool." She paused and looked at her hand as if expecting it to be wet. "Literally. He's a little cold."
"I noticed that too. I think everyone from Halloween runs a little cold. Jasper over there is cold while you hold him, like he's dead. But he has a heartbeat."
Jasper with his eyes closed wanted to correct Anna. Having a heartbeat didn't mean he wasn't dead. With today's medicine, not having one didn't necessarily mean someone was dead either.
But anyway, correcting Anna was out of the question. Not while that other girl was there. Familiars don't talk to people who aren't their witches. But his first mistress was long dead and passed, and Helgamine was his witch now.
That left two times when he broke the rules. There was Anna of course, still not sure why he did that, then there was…
Oh, what was that blasted girl's name? The one with the blue hair and loud voice? Carol? Caroline? Cora? Hmph. Like he told her, names don't matter much anyway. He had a good reason for speaking with that brave little insect. She needed all the help she could get.
He almost chuckled at his little inside joke.
Insect.
Damn Beldame.