Note: Enjoy the chapter! This one is a bit of filler and somewhat smaller but it should be fun nonetheless.

Chapter 57
Council

Thankfully, for Jack, he got her to shut up about kissing demons before they were in hearing range of the council. Although Jack was sure some had heard.

They immediately noticed her when she and Jack entered the chamber.

The first person she saw was Zeldabourne who raised a bushy eyebrow at her arrival. Seems the witch had enough rest and recovery from being nearly killed by a demon. She hadn't made many appearances in the shop when Anna had checked, with Helga and Rosie usually running the store.

Annalise recognized some of the other monsters, but didn't know all the names.

"Greetings," Jack said, taking a seat in the largest, fanciest chair that seemed to swallow him. But that wasn't the chair's fault. Jack looked thin as ever in any chair he sat in. "I see we're missing a few."

"Auger had to step out. He said to start without him."

"Splendid. Annalise, sit down." Jack gestured to a seat beside him.

"Why is the newcomer here?"

"Is it not appropriate for a master to bring his apprentice along during duties?" Zeldabourne said. "The only reason I haven't brought Rosie is that she's doing inventory with Helgamine."

"Apprenti-!"

"Of course," one other interrupted. "Hello, Miss Grisholme."

"Annalise," the Mayor greeted, giving her a look.

She figured he was still upset about her, Lock, Shock, and Barrel wrecking his house. Although that was probably only the beginning of the list.

Anna nodded, looking at Jack in confusion.

"Is the human not joining us today?" Vlad drawled.

Anna frowned and perked up in interest, part of her confused and scratching for a memory that should be far clearer than it was.

Something about the past… Damn. Did Chakis screw with something in her head or was her head just messed up by all the time travel? What day was it even?

The human! There was that girl…

Fucking hell. When did she bring that up? She was just assuming that's who they were talking about.

"She is not. Something about an exam," Jack coughed. "She said, and I quote, 'you better have got yourself shot by a missile again if you're calling right now'."

Jack shifted a bit and grimaced as a few chuckles circled the room.

"I thought it prudent to close the scry at that point," he admitted.

"This is turning into a pattern, Jack," Zeldabourne said. "Letting little girls walk all over your dingy sticks."

Anna frowned as the council tried to stifle their snorts.

Nevermore raised an eyebrow and looked Anna directly in the eye.

She squinted back.

The smile Jack sported belied a monster who was supposed to be irritated by the casual joke. He actually seemed quite pleased with the teasing, if a little unused to it.

"Now then, what's this I hear about a wraith in Bejing?" Jack asked, standing up to study a map laid out of the table.

Annalise almost didn't see it under the piles of papers.

"We aren't sure it's a wraith. Jerico was haunting the ruins of a temple and overheard whispers speaking of several missing humans. Humans walking into the forest and disappearing."

"Well, they didn't end up here," someone chuckled.

"The point being. Whatever the cause, it's a possible legend we can take advantage of."

"I see," Jack said, nodding. "Chifte, you keep in touch with Jerico please. Has there been any word about the Gateways in…" He squinted at the map. "Florida?"

"I…uh…" Anna interrupted quietly, suddenly awkward speaking out in front of others who definitely weren't Jack. "That's…Louisiana."

"Louisiana, yes. Thank you," Jack said easily before the Mayor spoke up like the correction hadn't happened.

"The humans must have gone through with it," the Mayor said, annoyed. "We need to find a new gate near the area."

"Otherwise, we risk someone being stranded," Jack agreed. "Annalise, you look confused."

Anna blinked at Jack and shifted, embarrassed as they stopped their discussion to stare at her. She was silent for a moment, but Jack didn't move on. "….Uh…What happened in Louisiana?"

"A graveyard was demolished," Jack said with a frown, although it wasn't directed at her. He stared over the top of her head, thinking. "Presumably. If the gate won't open. One of the gates we have to use was destroyed."

"Idiots didn't even move all the bodies and lied about it to their people!" Chifte snapped.

Annalise blinked again. "I think I read that in the news. There was a protest about digging up a historic graveyard for condo development. It was part of a slave plantation."

They looked at her.

Annalise tapped her head. "I still have my memories," she reminded. She faltered in the middle of her last tap and got an odd faraway look. Did she? She couldn't remember where she read that report. Why would news from Lousiana get up to…to Washington? Right. Washington. She was from Washington.

Jack quickly moved on with the rest of the meeting.

Annalise got lost as the meeting wore on for over three damn hours. They didn't need a break for physical reasons but not needing facilities didn't mean they couldn't be bored to death. She sat quietly, barely making a comment unless Jack asked. She didn't pretend to understand half of what they were talking about.

"Before we adjourn," Jack said right as the Mayor began stacking papers and the other monsters started shifting in preparation to leave. "There is a matter of the upcoming town meeting." He kept speaking before someone, including the Mayor, could complain about disrupting the schedule or, more likely, grumble about this meeting stretching any longer. "I mean to start off the meeting by getting some news out of the way as soon as everyone is gathered."

Anna didn't like how Nevermore's eyes immediately slid to her. But Vlad beat the bird to it.

"Explaining the newcomer as you promised, then?" the vampire asked.

If Jack was bothered by the tone, he didn't let on. He simply nodded. "And fully introducing her as my granddaughter." He and Annalise met eyes for a moment as a small ripple of mutters went through the small room.

"Oh finally," Zelda snorted.

"And your apprentice," Anna added, her joyless smile a threat.

"That too." The near defeated tone Jack slipped through almost made Nevermore snort at the absurdity.

He wondered just how quickly it took Annalise to figure out how to press Jack's buttons.

Vlad frowned and leaned back in his chair. "Should we assume that little problem with demons has been solved?"

"It's being handled."

"…That's a no," the Clown muttered.

"But Halloween is safe…indefinitely. In any case," Jack pressed on, "Annalise is my apprentice and my blood and I would like to snip anymore misinformation at the bud as soon as possible." He didn't mention their little deal outside. Not that he would need to if the gossip mills weren't already turning.

Annalise suddenly stood up straight in the seat she hadn't risen from yet. "Ah, shit… can I be an apprentice under two monsters?"

Jack frowned at her language (which in itself was fucking ridiculous). "Explain."

"Arachne offered to teach me weaving—."

"That spinster what?!" Nevermore sputtered, but Anna kept going.

"And she'll assume me being at the next meeting is me agreeing to an apprenticeship. With…uh…her. Do I need to find her and turn her down?"

"Oh," Jack relaxed a bit and chuckled. "No no. Learning a craft is a completely separate matter. However, you'll be very busy. I don't wish to get into a squabble with Arachne," he said. "But I will say Halloween matters take precedence over town matters. Thus I lay primarily claim on your time, my dear." He frowned again. "But…she would understand that."

Hopefully. What was the Weaver playing at?

"Hold," one of the other council members demanded. "Arachne is coming to a town meeting?"

"Yes?" Anna answered.

"Snakes, girl! Either you've pissed her off or she likes you."

"Which is worse? That is the question," Nevermore groused but he was staring at a space above Anna's head in a way that made her think he was recounting an unpleasant memory.

Jack chuckled at the bird man. "Meeting adjourned."

A few of the council dispersed but the rest of them seemed content to gossip for a moment longer, Jack included.

He immediately shifted in his seat to look more at Anna.

"How, pray tell, did you manage to get under Madame Arachne's skin?"

"I think you mean exoskeleton," Anna snorted. "I dunno. I guess she was just interested in my Trick. With moving threads around." She raised her hands and wiggled her fingers like she was flexing claws.

Tassels hanging from the back of one of the armchairs violently yanked, jerking the seat backwards and nearly sending Chifte down with a yelp.

The shapeshifter gripped the table to save herself and instinctively shifted to look like Annalise, the shell from her previous form (a Hoover vaccum for some odd reason) shedding and covering the chair. Large gobs of "skin" hit the floor and splashed on the feet of another monster who just grumbled and flicked the slime off as it started to evaporate.

"Sorry," Anna winced. She stared at the perfect copy of herself Chifte had made. She tilted her head and studied the detail from across the table. Were her sockets really that big? Also, her hair was a mess. Very short on one side with charred clumpy ends, and frazzled and tangled on the other. She needed a haircut.

Chifte shot her a playful grin (is that how I smile?) and mimicked Annalise creepily, tilted her head as well.

Anna snickered and dropped her hands, not catching how Jack was watching her movements carefully.

"Hm. That would do it," Nevermore said, eyeing the chair tassels as they lifelessly dropped. "Make my words, Skelly. Make sure you get some pay out of her."

Anna blinked. "Um. Okay?"

"She just wants you for your Trick. You'll certainly speed up her production time after she hammers the basic into you. And if she's not providing lodging—," Nevermore threw a look at Jack. "Then she needs to offer you something in exchange for your services." He held up an appendage that Anna still wasn't sure whether it was an actual feather or a finger. "And don't let her snag you into accepting tutelage as payment!"

Annalise blinked, mildly amused. "Is she your ex or something?"

Nevermore stiffened. "My dear girl," he said with intense sarcasm, mixed with an impressive level of deadpan. "I would sooner eat my hat than entertain that woman."

Jack was sitting as still as he could. But Nevermore's dry statement broke him as silent laughter suddenly wracked his bones. He crossed his arms over his chest, mirth in his sockets as one fist rested against his mouth in a simile of concentration.

Zelda didn't care and was outright cackling at some inside story Anna wasn't privy to yet.

Nevermore hat suddenly levitated off his head and Anna jumped at the sound of a man's voice.

The invisible man held the Gatekeepers hat front of the bird. "Well you better get to it before she arrives at the meeting and eats your whole head first."

"Give me my hat or I'll knock you into one!" Nevermore snapped at Marvel before snatching the hat away and stalking out the door.

Jack squinted at a space of air and Anna wondered if the other monsters were just as surprised about Marvel being present.

Anna waited in her own silence for a moment. "That didn't convince me there isn't some history."

Jack could help it. He laughed hard and high-pitched. His (new) charge was wrong about any romantic engagement but there was a thread of truth in the Gatekeeper's annoyance of the Weaver.

Still it was heartening to realize Anna was willing to disrupt the day of other's besides him, especially those he assumed she liked more than him. He wasn't her sole target.

He eyed the others in the room, especially Vlad, and wondered how long until Anna made them just as flustered.

Anna had a thoughtful expression. "I wonder if I just started a custody battle." She eyed Jack, who wasn't completely familiar with the terms but could probably guess what she meant.