Here's chapter 6! Again, thanks to my beta for giving it a looksee first!
Guy rearranged his bed pillow, folding it in half to lift his shoulders and skull from the mattress. There now, he thought. He could keep watch on the hearth wall across from his footboard, without sitting up. The whisper of rectangular light shimmered among the mortar lines, between the bricks, as it had before. Guy tensed his eye sockets, imagining he was in a staring contest with the light. A strange urge possessed him, one which he was certain wasn't wise, yet felt nonetheless irresistible given how many nights of uneasy sleep he'd endured. Anyway, he told himself, it's almost all over. Tomorrow is Halloween. After that...
"You might as well go home." he said, mustering more bravado than he felt. "I'm not going to go through your door."
He thought he saw the door pulse softly after his words. Then again, he'd been staring at it for a while. A trick of the light was more likely, he reasoned, but then door pulsed again. This time, Guy was certain it was brighter. He popped upright in his bed.
"Go away!" he yelled. "My dad's going to get you! He's -"
The glowing rectangle flashed brilliant green, lighting the room. The door flew open, slamming back into the wall. Too shocked to scream, the best Guy could produce was a gulping swallow of air as he scrambled against the headboard of his bed.
Sally's eyes opened. She wondered how long she'd been out. After so much busyness and holiday preparation, she practically fell asleep before her head touched the pillow these days. She rubbed her cheek, shuddering as she registered a hint of that same imperceptible oddness she'd noticed in her son's room. She reached beside her for her husband, hoping he'd done as she asked and investigated the matter. Her hand met with empty sheets on Jack's side of the bed.
Guy recalled the warnings he'd heard of The Beldam. He'd been lead to believe that she would look, for the most part, like his own mother. The creature which had burst through his fireplace looked nothing of the sort. She was metallic and fearsome, bristling with sharp edges. A mouth full of silvery teeth split the cracked porcelain of her face. A physical instinct for self-preservation moved Guy to leap like a cricket from his bed, to the top of his bookcase. Had he not been so utterly terrified, he might have noticed the split instant's worth of bewilderment this maneuver caused his attacker. The pursuit of little ghouls is a constant parade of pros and cons, she thought. No human child had ever proved capable of literally climbing the walls to slither out of reach. The pair gaped at one another for several seconds, before The Beldam decided to speak.
"Guy! At last we meet! Forgive my ill manners, lurking in your hearth all this time without coming out to say hello, but here I am! I thought I heard you saying something about not ever coming through my little door. That hurt my feelings so very badly, Guy. But then, wonder of wonders, I realized that I was able to just pop right through and visit you!"
Guy's heart thundered behind his ribs. He took a breath, preparing to say something defiant to throw The Beldam off of her guard. The best he achieved was to squeak:
"You don't look like my mother."
The Beldam waved her remaining hand.
"Now, now, there's no use for all of that, is there? Not with you. You're not some squishy little human. It's all above boards here in Halloweentown, Guy. You know who I am, and you know what I want."
She stepped toward the skeleton child, her sewing needle legs scratching the floorboards. At her approach, Guy leaped again, this time to his bedroom door. He took hold of the knob, only to find that it wouldn't turn.
"DAAAD! DAAAAAD!" he screamed, pulling violently at the knob.
"Ah, well, you see... That would be the other reason I didn't have to bother with disguises here." The Beldam sighed. "Here in your world, I can make things behave just as I'd like them to."