Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the nightmare before Christmas

Chapter Nine

Finding Jack

Sally sat on top of Spiral Mountain and gazed out into the distance beyond Lock, Shock and Barrell's tree house. The events of the previous night kept spinning round in her head. Jack's heir had arrived and surprised the whole town. The residents, of course, were delighted. They missed Jack but at least they had a leader now. They wanted him crowned straight away but they had to follow the laws of the Charter. First, Jerod had to prove he was Jack's heir and could handle the responsibility of running a town and organising a holiday. Then there was the legal side of things. The Mayor, acting as Jack's representative, had to sign all control of the town and of Halloween to Jerod, who could then be crowned.

Sally sighed and rested her head on her knee. By her ankle, Zero gave out a low whine. She gently patted his head.

"I know boy. You miss him to."

There was something strange about Jack's sudden disappearance after his announcement and something even stranger about Jerod's arrival. And why had Jack never mentioned him before. As far as anyone knew, Jack was the end of the Skellington blood line.

On the road below, Sally could make out the Mayor's hearse, trundling past the tree house.

"I think we need to talk to the Mayor. Come on Zero".

Jack stood in his dark cell, gazing miserably out of his small window. In the distance, lit up by the last rays of the pumpkin sun, he could just about make out Spiral Mountain. As he stared out at it, he could have sworn he saw a figure standing there.

"Sally?" he whispered.

At that moment, the figure turned and ran down the hillside.

Sally followed the Mayor's hearse into the town centre, where it drew up along side the Town Hall.

"Mayor!" called Sally as she saw him step out of the door.

"Ah Sally! What can I do for you?" asked the Mayor cheerfully. Since discovering that the town would have a new Pumpkin King, the Mayor hadn't been able to stop smiling. It meant that he didn't have as much responsibility and only had to worry about making plans for next year's Halloween.

"Mayor, I was wondering if I could have access to the Records Room tonight?"

Here the Mayor's eyebrows wrinkled slightly.

"What ever for?"

"I just wanted to…to…research my family tree!"

"I'm sorry Sally I will holding a meeting with Jerod in there tonight. I have to take him through all the paperwork before I sign the Town over to him."

"Please Mayor." Sally batted her eyelashes and smiled sweetly at the little man. "Only for an hour?"

"Oh ok. As long as you leave it as you found it. I have a very strict filing system."

Sally forced a grin as she remembered his "filing system", and saying thank you, she headed off home.

Back in the tree house, Lock, Shock and Barrel were busy planning and trying out pranks for the towns people. Barrel crouched in the bathtub, waiting for Lock to pass by. Clutched in his hands was a spider. An evil grin spread across his face as he saw Lock's devil horn's over the rim of the tub.

"Payback time" he whispered.

Being careful not to be seen, he watched as Lock approached the tub and walked round the edge of it. He waited until he was sat on the floor torturing the bug he'd caught for Oogie's dinner before leaning over the side of the tub and slowly lowering the spider onto Lock's head.

Giggling to himself, Lock poked a sharp pointy stick through the bars of the cage and stabbed at the bug. He didn't notice the spider on his head until he felt a tickling sensation on his neck. He ran his hand through his hair and didn't feel anything.

Frowning, he carried on stabbing the bug. Yet he could still feel the tickling sensation, now continuing down the back of his devil's suit.

"Funny…" he mused. "It feels like…" the look on his face changed to one of pure horror as he realised what it was.

"AARRGGHH!" he screamed. Jumping up he wriggled around, desperately trying to shake the spider out from his suit. From the bathtub behind him, Barrel let out screams of laughter and hung over the edge of the tub.

Shock came through the door carrying a empty sack and stopped short when she saw the funny dance Lock was doing.

As the spider shot out of his trouser leg, Lock turned to face Barrel, his face now as red as his outfit.

"You!" he snarled.

The spider scuttled away as fast as it's legs could carry it towards the dark corner where his web was. It nearly made it when a foot came rushing down and squashed it into the floor.

Lock and Barrel paused mid-fight and turned to stare as Jerod stepped into the room.

He lifted his foot, looked at it with a sneer and flung the squashed remains of the spider towards Lock with a flick of his foot.

Shock dropped the sack she was carrying and went running up to him.

"Welcome back Jerod." she said, bowing respectfully. "May I get you anything?"

"Out of my way brat. I'm here to see Oogie."

"Of course sir. Follow me."

Hurrying more than usual, Shock lead the way outside to the cage.

Pointing to it, she explained it was the only way to get down to Oogie's lair. Curling his lip, Jerod grabbed hold of the rope and slid all the way down to the lair's entrance.

Sally spent the rest of the afternoon sitting once more on Spiral Mountain She wasn't allowed in the Record's Room until after the Mayor and Jerod's meeting, which wasn't until after sun down. She knew she was ignoring her duties at the Doctor's Laboratory, but she no longer cared.

She gazed out at the Pumpkin Patch below her. The new crop was just starting to grow. They needed god looking after if they were going to be ready for Halloween. As the sun set, Sally's eye was caught by movement in the tree house. As she watched, she saw a tall figure climb the rope which lead to Oogie's lair and walk across the bridge. With a shudder she remembered her experience down there last year.

The figure looked exactly like Jack.

"Jerod." she muttered.

Laying down so she couldn't be seen, Sally watched as Jerod followed the road back into town.

"What's he doing at Oogie Boogie's?" she whispered. "I don't like the looks of this Zero." Once Jerod had turned the corner and disappeared from sight, Sally crept down from Spiral Mountain and ran the path towards the tree house.

Sally managed to get round to the lair's entrance without being seen. Lowering herself to the floor, Sally strained to hear what was going on in the lair.

Try as she might, Sally could only vaguely hear voices, not what was being said. Staring at the weak rope, she realised she would have to climb down it again. After last year she hoped she never had to do this again. Taking a deep breath, Sally started to descend.

"…according to plan! And there's nothing you can do to stop me!"

"The residents will never fall for it!"

Sally gasped as she heard Jack's voice coming from inside the lair. Hearing it again gave Sally courage and she started to hurry. Reaching the vent, Sally crouched inside and peered through the wire and couldn't believe her eyes.

Pressing her hand to her mouth to stifle her cry of anguish, Sally watched helplessly as Jack sat upon the roulette wheel, his hands bound behind him.

"They already have Jack! Jerod is to be crowned the New Pumpkin King tomorrow night. He's now on his way to meet the Mayor and sign the papers!"

Jack sat and stared in disbelief at Oogie.

"Then if it is all going according to your plan why keep me alive?"

"I want to have some fun Jack. I don't want to just kill you…" Oogie leaned in until his snake tongue flicked back and forth across Jack's cheek. " I want to destroy you!"

"And what if someone finds me?"

Oogie's laugh was cold and cruel. "Your little rag doll for instance?"

Oogie bounced over to the pipe in the corner.

"Barrel! Lock!" Come take Jack back to his room."

Above her head, Sally heard the tramp of footsteps. A door burst open and Lock and Barrel ran in. Grabbing Jack by the ropes the bound his arms, the pair of them dragged him out of the room.

As the door closed, another pipe above the roulette wheel began to rattle and a cage came falling down and landed with a clang.

"Oh yummy! Cackled Oogie, and started to head towards it.

Sally turned her head away and tried not to vomit as she heard the sounds of Oogie's feast.

Back in the small room, Jack stood staring out of the window at Spiral Mountain. He ignored the cage of bugs that had been left in his room, even though his stomach was screaming out for nourishment. He felt so helpless and wished he could do something to stop Oogie's evil plan.

"Jack?"

He heard a soft whisper from outside and felt a smile creep across his face as recognised the voice.

"Sally?"

The familiar feet appeared at he window.

"Jack? Where are you?"

"Down here."

Sally looked down and saw Jack's warm smile beaming up at her from a low lying window.

"Jack! You're ok! I've been so worried."

"Sally, you've got to get me out of here. We've got to stop Jerod from becoming Pumpkin King! If he does, Oogie will use him to rule over Halloween Town!"

"I don't understand. How does Oogie fit into all of this? Is he the one who found Jerod and brought him here?"

"No, Sally, Jerod isn't my heir! Oogie forced Dr Finkelstein to make him. Oogie is controlling him!"

Sally stared through the bars at Jack's anguished face in disbelief.

"I'll explain later. You have to get me out of here. We don't have much time!"

Note: I know this has been a bit long in coming, and I'm not entirely happy with this chappyas I had a bit of writers block, but please tell me what you think!