Happy Halloween! It's been a while! Thank you everyone for your patience. I do apologize for the inconsistency. My life has been incredibly busy but hopefully this special Halloween bodes well for a productive year.
Wonderful news! To make up for my hiatus, I've created a joint server for me and Aria of Life. If you're a reader of this story or Tricked Out, boy have we got a place for you. It's also to be the home of my community for my original work on Uncanny Inklings, a website where I will post short stories and the revamped original of this story after filing off all the little things Disney would sue me for. :) Please join! The code (that you put at the end of the discord invite link)is 5tT9dcE
Thank you Aria for being such a cool writing buddy
DarknessAndLight665 Thank you so much for your kind words! They mean a lot to me.
Loxiety, SUch a sweetie. It's so cool you stuck around this long. Thanks for joining the server!
Shortsquad, tada! Damnit how long have I been on hiatus?
Cheyenne A, I'm glad you loved the chapter. Now that I'm trying to get back into the swing of things, hopefully we'll be seeing more of the Creature and Anna will take his words to heart
JEN! Lol jk, thanks for the honest feedback.
Thank you everyone who also left a review! I read all of them, I promise, and they mean a lot to me.
Important! Two things! I'll be gradually going back to rework some earlier chapters, particularly the ones dealing with Mark and Anna's relationship. I'll admit, I really didn't know what I was doing. I wrote most of that when I was 13 or 15. I'm warning in new author notes when something's changes and encourage you to go reread the chapter if the plot gets edited with it.
Secondly, to get me back into a grove of consistency and quality over quantity, the length of chapters are going to be much shorter for the time being. Events that I would usually weave together as one chapter will now be spread over two or three chapters after this one. I don't like dragging on plot points, but I would prefer to work a buffer into my writing so that I can post higher quality shorter chapters over every week instead of super long chapters that encourage me to suffer perfectionism paralysis as I pick it apart for six months.
Chapter 46
Catastrophe, Because Puns
Cats are strange creatures. Humans may have "domesticated" them, but they keep many of their instincts. Despite being very self-sufficient, usually, the bastards are pretty good at being mysterious.
Lily was no exception. She was very much a house cat, but she hated being cooped up inside for too long. She always convinced Annalise to let her out. It was a silent trust that Lily would always come back, eventually. And she did.
Annalise was a source of food and warmth and companionship that Lily wasn't interested in gaining from other felines.
Then her human left and never returned.
The air stiffened.
Spirits that shifted through the town and surrounding lakes were anxious.
Ghosts Lily rarely cared about hid and whispered, "Demons."
Even the cat-murdering goblin in the neighbor's vegetable garden didn't show its face.
Fae knew when to stay silent and out of sight.
Lily knew it had to do with her person. Her human.
The rest of the family cared about the cat, of course. They fed Lily. She slept in Jillian's room when Anna's felt too empty. But she wasn't their cat.
She found the in-between world easily enough, but it was a long journey. She was tired and hungry and very very cold when the woods shifted in the way she wanted and welcomed the estranged daughter. Cats' breath didn't usually mist, but hers did when the air shifted; darker, colder, and more magickal.
She shivered under her white and gray fur, her footsteps silent as she wove through the dead leaves and ashen dirt that made up this odd smelling world.
Lily had lost the scent she was tracking ages ago, the winds and dampness turning her around until she couldn't detect the strange sickly sweet that was almost-death but not quite. It didn't fade to nothingness, rather blended into the underlying smell of this other world. She didn't have a direction to follow now.
She was so tired.
She had to keep walking, hoping to catch a whiff of something else. Anything else. Anything before she lost this hunting game.
She was so hungry…
She was so thirsty…
She had found no water since the woods shifted around her. It was her own fault. She asked to come here. She asked to follow her mistress. She supposed there was more than one way to interpret that request. Part of her knew she didn't have long if she didn't stop to hunt soon. Could she even hunt? She just wanted to sleep.
She would get what she wanted sooner or later, she just wished she would be done with it already.
Eventually Lily had to admit she was hopelessly lost. It was more embarrassing than disappointing.
The night promised predators larger and more deadly than herself. Her sickle claws would likely be far too small to dispatch an enemy, though she promised to make them bleed before succumbing. She didn't come this far to go without a fight.
She didn't even notice when she had collapsed, her breath ragged from dehydration and her muscles strained from lack of food, the gray world sucking the life out of her with every heartbeat.
Cat's can stumble, apparently.
She forced herself to move enough to lie down under the roots of a large tree with branches that disappeared into the fog above her. The tree was dead but still felt alive in its own way.
Could trees have ghosts?
She had just enough energy to dig a shallow den into the ashen spirals under the roots.
Even curled up, she shivered. She wasn't entirely sure what was wrong. She had lasted through nights much colder than this.
"It is because you weren't meant to be here. The land welcomes you, but doesn't claim you as its own."
Lily stiffened and growled at the voice without opening her eyes. "I'm not ready yet."
She was tired. She was cold. Mud caked to her fur in patches that she could no longer lick out. Her coat seemed to do nothing against the chill.
She lied earlier. She didn't want to be done with it.
"Hello little one."
Lily's blue eyes looked at Death and her ears folded back.
"I'm not done, " she argued. "I'm not..."
"You've nearly spent one of your lives," the Reaper said, bending down, "How many left dear?"
"Enough," Lily wanted to hiss, but it came out as a whimper. "I just need a little food. I am not done. I am not ready to go."
"Animals sometimes take after humans living with them so long," Chakis said softly. "This stubbornness doesn't suit one of your kind."
"Please...just...let me find her?"
The silence was telling to Lily's ears.
"Please?" The pathetic moan slipped past her breath and she hated it. "I just need a little water. I'll be fine."
"Your journey has been long. You haven't stopped in days, even if you lost the trail long ago."
"I know I'm going in the right direction."
"You are."
Lily looked at the Reaper for a long minute. Not that it mattered. Cats didn't count time. Not like humans. Not like beings that called themselves above beasts.
"Can I reach her?" Lily asked.
She hissed as the angel gently picked her up, her arms solid and wrapped in the cloth of her cloak.
"Don't fight me," Death gently said, running her thin fingers through Lily's fur as the cat felt the urge to give up.
Lily didn't dignify that with an answer. She understood the hierarchy of nature.
But she wasn't dead yet. She saw no body left behind under the tree below her.
"If you're not here to take me, what then?"
"I'll offer you a gift, Cat," Chakis said. "I will meet you halfway."
"I'll take it."
"Shh shh. Listen. She may need you, and when she does, that's all your lives, sweetheart."
"Fine."
"There was no hesitation in your words."
"What words? They are the meanings of sounds stolen from humans," Lily said. "Annalise was my mother. She gave me warmth, she gave me food, she gave me love when I could have been another's food. When I was a scared kitten. I know what I promised. I was supposed to go before her, anyway. She's barely lived longer than the years afforded my kind. That's not right."
"Cats don't care about right and wrong. You're mimicking a human."
"So are you. Shame on you."
Death laughed.
"I'm making it a little easier for you to get to where you wish. Sleep."
So Lily drifted off into a dreamless sleep, tucking herself in Death's stable arms.
It could have been hours later when she realized she was awake again, focusing her blue eyes on the skeleton man before her. She hissed and backed up against the tombstone behind her.
"There you are," he said, tilting his head with a grin. He could tell, and she could tell, that she wasn't a normal cat. Anymore, at least. He was supposed to find her. "You seemed to be in a stupor, little one."
He picked her up and started walking, shocking Lily with the heaviness of her own limbs. She barely heard the words that fell out of the monster's mouth. He wasn't eating her, so that was fortunate, but the unfamiliarity wasn't something she was the most pleased with. Nor was her weakness.
She twisted around with an angry hiss as the shock wore off.
"Hold on, now I know this is shocking but I'm sure we can…" the skeleton (that smelled familiar) was rudely cut off as the cat flung out her claws with renewed strength to clamber up his face then down the back, hooking into the threads of his clothing in the chaos.
She heard him shout, but not in pain. Dismay. She really didn't care. She slid around, arching her back a second after she put some between them. She hissed and spat. Normally she would take off running to some hideout, but her mind was still addled, and she was painfully aware of it. The world was spinning a little. She suffered from dehydration; she was sure.
"That really wasn't necessary," the skeleton said, clearly offended as he rubbed at tiny scratches etched into the edges of his jaw and eye sockets. He still kept a soothing tone of voice. "I suppose this explains the knolls… You clearly aren't a toddler. I terribly apologize for picking you up. I really should have asked, I know. I do hope you aren't too offended?"
Lily wanted to pant a little despite the chill but swallowed her hooked tongue. She shifted, still unsteady on her usually nimble feet.
"If you'll let me, I'll explain before you hurt yourself. I would suggest we at least head inside though," the skeleton gestured at a gate that Lily had noticed in her clamber to the ground.
"Perhaps introductions are in ord—" the skeleton cut off. He stared for a moment before his tone dipped. "Sorry, have we met?"
Lily noticed the dread in his off-guard tone, but was a little preoccupied by the awareness of a fresh smell.
Pencil shavings and charcoal. A whiff of something burnt(that wasn't the charcoal). Ink. Old ink and old books with some sort of spice.
It was very, very different from the ink and glue and apple and floral scent that she knew, but she knew who it was. She blamed the angel for adding a memory that shouldn't belong to her. Yet.
"Wait!" Jack immediately wanted to curse as the cat ignored him and darted from her defensive position to the spaces in the gate.
And she was gone.
"At least she went inside…" he muttered to himself as he quickly lost the animal from sight. There was a lingering of the smell, but cats were insufferably clever about that.
As a crowd gathered at the calling of bell tolls and the gate lifted to let him in without him having to squeeze through, Jack sighed, making a mental note that his first order of business was to track down Jasper or Trouble.
He suspected Helgamine and Zeldabourne might not be the most willing to act as intermediaries until after he admitted to losing track of two newcomers in a row.
Which reminded him…where had he seen that cat before? She was a distinct color. Nothing like the formless blacks that made up the cats of Halloween. It wasn't even a pure ghostly white, which he suspected would be equally respectable.
The answer of where he had seen the cat before rudely hit him at the same time as the Mayor's voice.
"Was that…" Nevermore leaned out of his station, speaking over the Mayor's cry of "Jack!"
The bird stared in the direction the cat ran as Jack didn't outwardly acknowledge that the gatekeeper had seen that entire mess. "Was…that the furball that damn cat from Anna's living…her…uh…hometown?" The distaste was clear in his voice. He didn't like cats… "That was the cat at the family house, wasn't it?"
Jack sucked in air that was completely pointless. Fuck.
Annalise slipped into the crowd. It was a small crowd, but gradually growing as those nearby satisfied their curiosity one by one.
Breathing, while ultimately useless, was calming to her bones. She let the smell of pumpkins and sweetness fill the cavities where her lungs should be. She imagined the air warmed by her aura wrap around her ribs like a cushion. No one saw her. She was fairly sure of that. No one saw her as an inky shadow streak down the black wall of the bell tower as the last Death Knell faded out. She was simply on a walk through the back alleys of the town. That wasn't strange in the slightest. They expected her to be exploratory; at least the witches had.
"Excuse me," Annalise said as she waved to catch the attention of a couple monsters nearest to her who were chatting. "What's…?"
"Oh, there you are!" the monster whose name she didn't know said. "We were just talking about how you should witness this. Oh, you probably don't know what's going on." There was less mockery and more understanding of the naivety Anna might have about the situation.
Annalise sniffed the air, half in insult. The air wasn't as damp as in the alleys, and the scent of leaves and spice came in waves the further into the plaza she stood. There was the faint smell of baked bread around the creature before her, a lady it seemed. Anna still wasn't sure whether it was the smell or her sense of smell that was stronger.
"Actually I…" she started.
"That bell signals when a newcomer is in the graveyard," the lady said primly, as if she hadn't heard. "It knells the number of years they had in the Land of the Living." The stranger chuckled slightly. She spoke like she was educated and proper. "I've heard it ring for days on end for some newcomers. Though four this time around is honestly a bit concerning..." she shifted her eyes as she thought about a possible child newcomer. Her expression wasn't one of grief or sympathy, but nor of flippancy either.
Anna couldn't pin it down.
Her sockets shifted over the crowd, glancing away from Jack as she got a glimpse of his tall form and pinstripe suit near the gate, his round gleaming skull poking out above the muddy colors of everything else.
He seemed to be talking to the citizens closest to him.
Anna resisted the urge to sneer and looked back at her conversationalist.
The woman had bright blue eyes that Annalise could see through like glass to the woman's brain-if she stood at the right angle. She seemed to be a spirit. Closer to a ghost type than a physical creature. She was gorgeous, even if her cheekbones seemed a bit sharp and she spoke through lips sewn shut with a thick waxy string. The string gleamed silver in the moonlight and black holes of nothingness shifted across her form like mini black holes that couldn't decide which part of the woman's body they should consume.
Annalise didn't think the woman was physical because there was no blood where the holes appeared. They were holes in the simplest of terms. Black cartoonish abysses that swallowed points of light. The skin that wasn't missing was oddly translucent, as was the flesh beneath.
The woman was wearing clothes, a dress in a practical yet flattering Halloween style with spiderweb lace and stripes and a complimenting apron speckled with batter, blood, and flour.
Anna was sure she could see the woman's organs if the clothing didn't cover them.
The lady wasn't blind, like other cave dwelling creatures that came to mind. She more resembled the transparent fish Anna saw in a book or those deep-sea fish that almost never saw light. On second glance, Annalise realized the woman's blue eyes were glowing. Bio-luminescence was more a characteristic of deep-sea creatures, wasn't it? So were sharp teeth. The lady's teeth behind the stitched mouth were rather human, if a little pointy. But they seemed...fake, like an illusion.
Anna didn't know how she knew that.
"If it is a child, I wonder who will take them in..." the stranger said.
The words fell away as Annalise strained to look for the newcomer. Her eyes were sharper than when she was alive, she noticed, but she still didn't see anyone that might be a newcomer near Jack. Then again, she already didn't recognize most monsters.
That was her fault. Before finding out Jack's little "secret," before she foolishly thought she could go home to her family, before the mess of last week, Anna had even resolved to try socializing. She really wanted to know the names of souls with whom she was sharing space.
Maybe that chance was gone, now that everyone would look at her as only Jack's ill-fated progeny.
"You should ask Jack." The statement cut up her thoughts into ribbons that she scrambled to grasp.
Annalise blinked and looked back at the lady.
"Ask him what?"
The woman smirked a bit; the string straining the skin of her lips. "What will happen if no one takes the child in? Terror-knows I have my claws full."
Anna was thoughtful for a moment.
Chakis hadn't been the most helpful information-wise…
"Otherwise, would you take a kid in?" Anna asked, making conversation even as sockets roved above the crowd again.
She spied Harlequin gossiping, most likely. She glimpsed Sally chatting with the Hanging Tree and felt a twist of guilt. She hadn't tried to speak with Sally since returning from the human world, even to thank the doll for coming to save her.
She had thanked no one. Even less, she wasn't sure what to make about the apparent search Jack had dragged most of the town into. Ghosts flickered through the Veil. Other spirits used their mirrors and reflective surfaces, and even more were told to use their tenuous connection with Earth to get an inkling of where she would be. She only learned about all this by eavesdropping.
So much trouble, for her sake. It seemed so...silly now. Silly and pointless.
She really had caused a mess.
"No. I'm more likely to eat a child not my own," the citizen said so dryly Anna couldn't help but stare. "Even if it is a monstrous child."
Anna could only unblinkingly nod. Perhaps it was best she didn't say anything else.
"How are you settling in, newcomer?" the lady asked suddenly, startling Anna with the personal inquiry.
"Ah, a suitable question. One I wish to ask as well, seeing as you've graced us with a rare appearance, Skellington," Dracula spoke up from a space of air Anna was 60% sure was unoccupied a moment before.
She tried her best not to startle, wrestling that hyperactive fear that didn't know what to do with itself. But the older monsters saw nonetheless. They especially saw her stiffen at the name.
That was Jack's chosen surname. Not hers. She glared at Dracula (shoving away the geeky part of her that wanted to rattle out thoughts about such a thing as "glaring at the Dracula" like a hyperactive fan girl). How dare he?
She wanted to snappishly correct the elder, but considered if he was looking to get a rise out of her that way.
Vlad smiled, though it seemed sharper than it should, even normally. He offered the sea creature lady a polite nod. "Madame."
Calling Anna "Skellington" didn't seem to get a rise out of anyone else in the vicinity, so Anna let it pass. It was another word for "skeleton" wasn't it?
"Come to gawk with the rest of us, Count?" the woman asked, lowering her voice slightly. She stared at the vampire a moment longer before turning her gaze to the crowd again.
"Hardly. I happened to be on a walk when I heard the knells. I take it you were doing the same, child?" The vampire looked incredibly uncaring as he adjusted his pair of snow-white gloves while managing to keep his parasol upright against the weak morning sun.
Anna eyed him a little. "Yes. I thought it was a clock before I saw the crowd gathering. I'm getting the sense newcomers aren't common..."
"They are not," the baker agreed before Vlad could. She chuckled. "I expected you to be our only newcomer for the next decade at least."
"I wouldn't have been so sure," Vlad disagreed. "Less than a month is a little strange but several newcomers a year isn't impossible."
"I supposed we'll see how strange this is when we see if the arrival is a Legend like yourself, or Undead like the two of us sprightly young ladies…" The translucent lady stretched her stitched lips again as she smiled at the vampire.
Anna stared in confusion as Vlad hummed before his gaze landed back on her. Wait, was the baker flirting? She couldn't tell. A smile was not a flirt, she was fairly sure.
"Where are you staying, if I may ask?" Vlad asked casually, his red eyes narrowing ever so slightly.
Anna let the Wind fill her silence with the chatter of monsters before she let the words fall out her mouth easily enough. "How long shall my business be the interest of the whole town?"
What she really wanted to say was, Mind your own goddamn fucking business.
"No need to be rude," the lady monster scoffed with short hiss.
Did I say that out loud? Oh good, I didn't.
"Quite," Vlad said, which didn't really answer her first question. "Your whereabouts are rather the interest of… many citizens, especially at the rumors you've taken up lodging with Jack the last couple days."
"Oh, have I?" Anna said sarcastically, much braver suddenly.
"I suppose you've just confirmed my suspicions, young lady," Vlad said, "I don't believe I've seen you enter or leave anywhere near Skellington Manor."
"If I have, I suppose that's between me and my grandfather, isn't it?"
The two elder monsters stared at her a moment, and Anna was hit with the pleasure that she had successfully caught someone else off guard for once. Maybe. All it took was an easily uttered word and hiding her discomfort. Ha!
"Stercore," someone in near earshot slipped out, making Anna aware of how many eavesdroppers were suddenly more interested in her voice than whatever newcomer Jack had brought from the graveyard.
Anna smiled sharply. "Excuse me."
She turned and wove herself around the outer edge of the (mostly) shorter crowd without looking back at the famous vampire or the other citizens.
Halfway through, she realized that her escape meant risking a conversation with Jack if he wasn't properly distracted and wanted to try talking to her again.
Even as she tried to process that, she noticed the crowd was dispersing. She hopped up on the rim of the fountain to get out of the way, ignoring curious looks.
Where they curious about her standing on the fountain, or just her in general?
"What's going on?" she asked Vinnie as the young mummy passed. Anna waved a little to catch the kids' attention.
The small-stature child looked up at Anna with a bit of confusion in her one visible eye. "Jack couldn't find them," she said.
Anna hopped down to sit on the fountain's edge instead of towering over the little monster.
The lady Anna was speaking with and Dracula were far behind her, pulled into a conversation that didn't include the young skeleton. But she knew they were still there, on the other side of the plaza.
Anna didn't notice—ignored it actually—as another one of the children she hadn't interacted with nearly enough almost flew into her face.
"I think they ran away!" Angus said. "Hi, Miss Skellington..."
Annalise stiffened violently. "Angus, we've met...I'm just Anna."
Angus, Jersey's older brother if Anna remembered correctly, looked confused. "But you're Jack's granddaughter, aren't you? Doesn't that mean Skellington is your family name?"
"It's...more complicated than that," Annalise muttered, disturbed how fast they got on to this subject. "How did you learn about that?"
"Oh, everybody knows," Vinnie said softer, her slightly muffled voice reserved a bit as she shifted. She glanced over toward where her mother was still with a small crowd talking to Jack.
Anna didn't respond for a second. Crap.
"We were talking about it in lessons yesterday," Angus said, mentioning the rumors, teetering on his wings as he distractedly talked. "Mother said we have to be respectful, you know. Well, I mean I think I was pretty nice to you when you were just a newcomer cuz you're like a baby and don't know stuff, but Mother and Father said we have to be extra nice because you're going to be helping Jack with Halloween planning..."
Annalise blinked, tearing her sockets from Vinny. "I haven't exactly spoken to Jack about that."
Angus looked confused. "But you're his apprentice, aren't you? And his granddaughter? And since you're the heir now, that means he won't just teach you scaring skills, though that's pretty awesome too. You're going to learn how to do the boring planning stuff too."
"The planning isn't boring," Vinnie cut in reproachfully.
Angus rolled his eyes. "Well, not to you. You actually want to be on the Council." He looked back at Annalise. "I want to be a Chaser! If I had to boss monsters around like Vinnie wants to, then I wouldn't get to do as much."
"Angus!" Vinnie hissed, glancing at Anna nervously.
Anna's stared at her in confusion. "I don't bite you know..."
"Would that be rude for a skeleton?" Vinnie asked.
"I'm a skeleton last I checked. So yes, I suppose it's rude if I think it is."
"Oh."
"Is there a...particular reason you're acting like you're scared of me? I'm not trying to scare you or anything."
"I'm not scared," Vinnie immediately said before backtracking. "Not that you aren't scary..."
Anna looked at her a second longer before turning to Angus, "Angus? Can you just call me Anna, please? My last name is Grisholme, not Skellington, alright?"
Angus stopped his excited rocking. "Um. Sure. But why wouldn't you want Jack's name?"
"I'm..." she hesitated. She closed her eyes for a minute and spoke carefully and clearly, trying to sound as even as possible, "I'm very angry with Jack right now. I don't want his name."
Angus noticed her expression. "O-okay..."
Anna offered a toothless smile. "So about this newcomer. You didn't see anyone at all?"
"No," Vinnie said. "The adults are deciding whether to go looking." The mummy fiddled with her bandages. She twisted the end of one around a spindly thin finger that turned to point at the adults.
Jack was glancing at Anna when she looked his way.
"But they don't even know what they look like. Jack seems weird," Angus said.
"Weird?" Annalise asked not taking her eyes off Jack. "What do you mean by weird? What does 'weird' look like on Jack?"
"I dunno? He usually catches the newcomer almost right when they get here."
Anna hummed and looked toward the small group of adults. She stood up and gestured at the other two. "Come on. Lets go listen in."
The mummy and winged demon shared a look but fell in line behind the teen like ducklings.
Anna wasn't sure where she got their admiration from. They all only spoken a few times. But she did like most of the kids in town, the ones she had met at least. Even Lock, Shock, and Barrel were more "interesting" than distasteful to her.
Anna walked up to the group of elder monsters and stood close, staying just outside of the group but clearly listening.
Jack noticed her. They all did.
She didn't come any closer, leaning against the gatehouse to listen. But she was there.
He was equally worried and grateful at the sight of her. Thank Halloween. He hadn't seen her in several days and his efforts to ask the ghosts to keep an eye out for her were met with empty hands. Or ectoplasma actually. His attempts with catching her at the witches' place were met with equal frustrations.
"Sorry, Jack. She's not here right now," they'd say with no other given information.
He knew they were hiding something, but he would not press.
Rosie had returned from her first solo sojourn, safely, so that was incredibly pleasant news, but the young witch didn't seem to know much else about the young skeleton besides what her stare at the back of his skull gave away.
He could likely find Annalise if he really tried, but did he really want to invade her privacy at the moment?
But here she was, and he wasn't too willing to let her slip away again to whatever hovel she had hidden away in.
He took the chance.
"Ah, Annalise! Just the pair of sockets I was looking for," he called pleasantly, not belying the tension in his voice as their soft, hollow, black gazes met. He didn't dare glance down the alleyway that Anna's cat had disappeared.
Anna stiffened as he threw attention her way in the form of gleaming eyes and hissy whispers. She didn't need to look to know Nevermore was watching her from his place a bit behind Jack.
The bird was in his humanoid form, beak as sharp as ever and his not-quite-proper hands shoved in the pockets of his large overcoat as he stood with one eye on the twisting hills of the graveyard.
Jack waved her over.
Curiosity got the best of her and she was let through immediately as she moved closer, stopping an arms length from Jack.
"Someone new?" she asked, standing tall. Her chin was up a little. She wasn't willing to cower in front of anyone anymore, much less Jack.
"Oh, you know already. Splendid," Jack said with a smile.
She met it with a frown.
"Yessss," she said slowly, very aware of the bell tower looming behind her and the ghosting vibrations that still ached her arms as she shoved her hands in her pockets. She gestured with a nod at the Mayor. "But I...uh...couldn't hear what you were just saying."
"A runner," Nevermore said with a sigh.
Anna squinted a little, exhausted of hearing the tone from monsters that always seemed to imply she should know what they were talking about with no one explaining anything.
Ever.
Jack seemed to have pity at least, and it made her squirm. "Whoever it was appears to have had their wits about them very soon after appearing. There's currently no sign of anyone in the graveyard," Jack explained. "It appears they've run off."
"Much like you did," Nevermore quipped, staring at the teenager.
The bird met Anna's gaze as her skull jerked a sharp turn in his direction as she flinched apologetically.
Anna winced, thinking of all the effort Jack dragged the town into for her sake. "Sorry…" she blurted without thinking.
Jack continued as the Mayor glared a little. "…And I need a few sharp eyes to help me look for the new tombstone."
Someone nearby made an amused noise and Anna could tell Jack's sharp gaze flicked that direction even if they couldn't tell.
"And perhaps aid me on a search in the Hinterlands," he added.
His gaze shifted back expectantly.
The tone of the listening group quieted after that.
"I see a logical issue with your request," Anna said dryly.
"And what would that be?" the Mayor asked, addressing her but eying Jack.
What was he thinking? After the mess Annalise just put them through? The girl didn't even know the basic defensives against rouges.
Anna shifted on her feet as she pointed outside the gates with her elbow, hands still shoved in her pockets. "I'm not familiar with the graveyard. How could I tell if something was out of place or new?"
"Fair point," Jack admitted. "But nonetheless, I would greatly appreciate your assistance. If you will give it."
Was that a plea?
Several citizens looked restless. They would have jumped at the offer to help Jack with anything if he asked. Why was the newcomer hesitating?
Anna rolled her eyes, seeing his innocent ploy for what it was. She still wasn't keen on given him her time of day. Maybe not for a while. But maybe she was just incredibly bored, because she didn't feel resistant to the idea.
"Fine…"
She was also interested in what creature she had rung into town with all the other monsters none the wiser.
What was Chakis playing at? Was this newcomer important or was the Reaper being…
Anna couldn't think of a good word for it for a minute.
Precocious?
She still didn't know much about Reapers. Despite staying underground in the Library, she had had little luck understanding the catalog system the books and scrolls seemed to be organized with, so answers weren't the most forthcoming.
Jack smiled and for a moment Anna could almost believe it was genuine, as if he was truly happy to have her coming.
She immediately didn't trust him.
"Damn it," Nevermore hissed as Annalise disappeared over the hill and out of sight with Jack as he and the Mayor shooed the crowd.
The crowd began to truly disperse after not getting even the slightest hint of what or who the newcomer was.
The eavesdropping children left with their parents, but strained to look out the gate to watch Anna and Jack disappear.
There was a vague air of disappointment filling the void of excitement a newcomer usually caused.
Bets were already being placed and Nevermore was tempted to throw his lot in with the guess that it was an animal (given the age), but that would obviously give it away.
He cursed the loss of the massive pot in his favor and stalked away when no one would notice him.
Why exactly did Jack want Nevermore to find the cat while Jack kept Annalise out of town?
Annalise would not take being lied to well. Especially not now. How could Jack be so thick?!
All he seemed concerned with was Anna being upset at finding what was likely a beloved pet dead and somehow in Halloween.
She was going to learn anyway!
Damn it Jack, you're making it worse!
Unfortunately, she showed up before Nevermore could say this to Jack's face.
Since when was he concerned with pointing out Jack's eccentricities? He preferred not to make a fuss and let the leadership of town work itself out. So why was he so irritated?
Because the pain of Annalise's words with a glass of burning brandy in her hand was still sitting on his mind and he couldn't shake them. That and the image of white and purple fire burning in her eyes as a demon screamed.
Where did that damn cat go?
Jack didn't say a word as he and Anna walked by the tombstones.
He noticed she kept glancing over her shoulder.
"Expecting something?" he asked eventually, doing his best to sound casual.
They couldn't exactly pretend like the previous chaos didn't happen. There was still the faint scent of human blood in the fountain.
"More than just you and me out here," Anna answered. "I expected a few others. Is this lovely walk supposed to be a treat or something?"
Jack squashed the lump in where his throat would be.
"I won't hurt you, Annalise…"
The young skeleton glanced at him in confusion.
"You already have," she said matter-of-fact.
It was a heavy silence before Anna spoke again.
"I don't know what we're looking for," she admitted, sockets landing on one of the newer headstones. Her feet halted and Jack silently cursed as he noticed which one caught her eye.
Annalise Grisholme.
Jack hadn't intended to walk this direction in particular. He just wanted to move her farther from town.
"I have a middle name, you know," Anna murmured. "Why didn't it show up?" She leaned forward to poke at the stone.
"Were you known with your middle name?" Jack asked, lowering his voice to match.
"No. Only Mom called me it. Not when she was mad at me either. My grandmother has trouble with English names sometimes so Mom uses Cambodian names when talking about us."
"Your mother is oriental?" He hummed in interest. That most likely meant Anna was his blood from her father's side.
Anna couldn't have know of Jack's silent assumption or that she should correct it. She didn't think about her adoption often.
Anna nodded with a small grimace. "That's a racist term these days."
"Ah. My apologies. It was the regular term when I was learning English."
Anna nodded. "The more you know I guess…" She stared at her name for a moment longer and Jack didn't press for them to move on.
"Annalise—" he tried when the moment stretched.
"I'm going to forget aren't I…" Anna said. She crossed her arms and tucked her head a little to continue staring at the name, willing a space between "Annalise" and "Grisholme" to fill with a certain word. "Forget my own name?"
"It's a unique situation," Jack admitted softly, lifting his sockets to compare the color of the sky with the gray of Anna's tombstone. "I wasn't expecting your memories to snap into place like they did. Usually if someone arrives and they don't have a story attached—"
"If they're an Undead."
"Yes. If they're an Undead they typically arrive with their life already cleared. A blank slate, if you will. It's possible to recover those memories, but I would never suggest it. I've seen that refusal of ignorance drive some citizens mad, and worse, a few to second death."
"Lucky me," Anna snorted.
"Like I said, this is a…unique situation. Are you forgetting things now?"
"Maybe. I don't know. Little things I think. And other things are just…very very clear.
Jack folded his hands behind his back so Annalise wouldn't see him tug at a loose string. "I…know you don't really want to hear what I might say…"
Anna scoffed.
"And that's fully your right. You have a right to be angry at me. You aren't with your family right now directly because of me."
"Get to the point, please…" Anna begged quietly.
Jack heard the weakness in her voice as her harsher mask cracked a little and had to resist the urge to pull her into a hug. Don't you dare, Jack.
They didn't have that closeness.
"I would suggest keeping a journal. Document as much about your life as you can remember. Carry scraps of paper in your pockets so not a moment is lost as it comes."
Anna shifted her gaze from the tombstone to stare at him in confusion again. "Didn't you just say you wouldn't suggest keeping memories?"
Is that what you do? She thought.
"For the third time, this is a unique situation," Jack argued lightly with a hint of a smile. "I'm drawing inspiration from another unique case and it seemed to do well then. Ah…well enough."
Anna looked confused, but he kept going.
"Oh, and I would also encourage you use 'we'," Jack said quickly.
"We?"
"Yes. So when you read what you've written back, it won't sound like someone is ordering you to think a certain way."
Anna considered the idea for a moment. She couldn't think of any harm in trying. "Well…where can I find a journal? And a pen…"
"I have a small collection of blank tomes you can choose from," Jack offered. "If you stop by the manor, you're more than welcome to pick a out a few. Pen though…ah…do you know how to use a quill."
"I can learn," Anna muttered.
Jack nodded.
It was quiet for a beat as Jack waited for something. He wasn't sure what. He expected Annalise to ask him something, at least.
"Jack?"
"Hm?"
"Aren't…uh…aren't we supposed to be doing something?"
"Oh! Yes of course, come along!" He briskly started walking toward another hilled part of the graveyard, pretending to have a plan.
Currently, his plan only entailed moving Annalise away from the pet semetary where he was sure the new tombstone had probably appeared.
Annalise stared after him for a moment before huffing with an eyeroll and a small head shake. She jogged to catch up with his long strides; hers making up the difference easily.
In hindsight, beating around the bush was continuously proving itself to be a terrible idea with Annalise involved.
Jack was beginning to wonder if he was cursed when it came to hindsight.
"Excuse me while I process this…" Annalise said with a tone that promised she was going to make someone pay.
She wasn't a true threat to any of them, but still the intent hung in the air. She flinched at the wet crunch of bone as Lily's spine uncollapsed and reattached itself with knitted cartilage in the mammal-red tinted water of the fountain.
Anna was drenched up to her elbows as she glared at the so-called adults while holding her very stressed animal's head above water. She was about ready to cuss out every self-proclaimed nonsensical adult in town.
Except for Sally. Sally was lovely. Sally had some common sense.
Unlike Jack, Nevermore, the Mayor, and a fucking werewolf she hadn't had the pleasure of meeting yet.
The goose-chase through the graveyard ended rather abruptly as she and Jack backtracked through a section closer to town. Shrill curses were a just a precursor before the Mayor appeared to fetch Jack, Anna tagging along.
After a bit of chaos, there was now a small group gathered around the fountain.
She wasn't even scared about her cat dying anymore, since if a being near-bisected by jaws couldn't do it, she suspected something was up with her cat that wasn't an earthly definition of "normal."
"Let me just make sure I understand. My cat somehow followed us back," Anna said slowly as she smoothed the very upset wet cat's fur down over the spot where the spine broke. She ignored the muttered curses that apparently only she could hear. She'd freak out about that in a minute… "And the very first thing you do, knowing it's my cat, is try to eat her?" She glared at Nevermore.
"In my defense," the werewolf Nicholas said, maybe a little sheepish with his bloodstained smile. "If the bird is going to yell at me to catch a cat that runs in front of me I…uh…probably needed a few more specifics."
"Do you need specific instructions about not tackling a tiny cat through a shop window?!" Nevermore screeched. "Or not biting down?"
"Nice catch Fido," a smug voice from someone Anna couldn't see said with laughter, earning a murderous glare at a space of air courteously of Nicholas.
Annalise couldn't bother to ask how long some invisible being had been hanging around watching.
"I tripped!"
"Do I give a damn about someone's shop window!?" Annalise snapped. "You killed my cat!" She turned to the baker who she had spoken to earlier, and whose shop window had been smashed in loud enough that Jack and Annalise had heard it from a distance. Or, at least, they heard the swearing afterward. "Excuse me, ma'am."
"No. No. Continue. Please. This is amusing," the lady said with a small hand wave as she assessed the damage, counting how many pastries had glass pieces in them. She could probably sell them as a specialty.
"Annalise, I sincerely apologize," Jack cut in, already standing between Anna and the rest of them (particularly Nicholas), "I was...ah...hoping to have her found safely before you realized."
"You knew?" Anna hissed.
"It appears she came with the Bell."
"I…" Annalise cut off with a suddenly strange expression. She blinked.
Can you get me out of here already? Lily complained. The water is fucking cold.
Anna shook the stuffing out of her head and lifting the dripping cat, holding her to close and drenching her dress.
She still felt a heartbeat and Lily shivered in the cold.
"Was I going to be told you recognized my cat?" Anna asked stiffly.
"Of course!" Jack said, answering Anna over the yowls of a cat. "Of course. I just was worried about…"
"Upsetting me? Nice job. Brilliant job. I'm ecstatic. Woo wee. Nothing like turning the corner and seeing someone with my bloody cat in their mouth and shards of glass stuck everywhere."
"Did you really have to throw the rock?" Nicholas complained, rubbing his mildly sore shoulder as he wiggled out another piece of glass from his neck, the dark blood spurting a little, "I was already dropping her."
"You killed my cat."
"I rather think she seems…" Jack cut in, not seeing Nevermore's grimace or Anna's squint."…rather fine."
"Rrrrreow…" the cat growled.
Author's note ~ HAPPY HALLOWEEN AND All SAINTS! BLESSED SAMHAINE!