Sally crossed the hall for Guy's bedroom door. Her grip slid on the glass doorknob. She found it strangely cold to her touch. Freezing, actually. She gasped, noticing a layer of frost, now furrowed by her fingernails. She wrenched the doorknob once more, banging in sudden unhinged panic against the wood with her other hand. Sally heard a whisper of Guy's voice on the other side. He was calling for his father, thus eliminating any desperate hope she held that Jack was already inside the room. Where on earth was Jack? she wondered, then shoved the thought from her head. Right this second, it couldn't matter.
Roused from her bed by the noise, Hazel ambled into the hall, half asleep. She was nearly knocked down by her mother as the queen ran back into the master bedroom, to reemerge a split second later holding something small in her hands.
"Mama? What's happening? What are you - "
"Stand back for a moment, lumpling!" said Sally, breathless. She pushed Hazel aside for the second time.
Guy yelped again for his father, as he dodged The Beldam's lunge. Another leap found him clinging precariously to the pendant lamp which hung from his ceiling. He perched there, panting. Where, where, WHERE was his father? He cried out as loud as he could manage. The Beldam laughed.
"I've managed to keep your father busy, Guy." she explained. "I'm sure he'd be here by now, but those spiral stairs from his tower have a way of multiplying! He'll exhaust himself before he ever reaches the bottom step."
"What about my mom?" asked Guy. He hoped to stall his attacker, as much as anything else.
"I'm reasonably sure I can handle her." replied The Beldam. She wasn't sure at all. The boy's mother remained discomfitingly elusive to her usual methods, but there was no time to explore new tactics. On the other hand, what little The Beldam had seen of her indicated she wouldn't be much of a worry.
"Now then, Guy. No more play. Let's be off, shall we?" She reached for the child's thin arm, catching it easily in her mechanical claw. She began pulling him toward the hearth, as he wailed in protest.
"Guy, Guy, please!" she hissed. "So much noise! You'll wake the de-"
She couldn't finish her thought. The pair was stunned by a sharp explosion of sound, like a concentrated thunder clap. The bedroom door flew free from its hinges, thrown across the room. The Beldam found herself directly in its trajectory. She was knocked from the boy, and momentarily pinned to the wall.
The Pumpkin Queen stood in the empty, now smoking, doorway. She looked only slightly less surprised than her young son and his unwelcome guest. Guy ran to her.
"Mom? Mom! How did you-?"
The Beldam shook her head. Her brain was ringing from the impact of the door. For several seconds, she found all of her thoughts cut free, like errant balloons. Struggling to refocus, she squirmed from under the door. Guy scrambled behind his mother. As he did so, he thought he glimpsed a slip of dark shadow race across the ceiling. He hid his face in his mother's shoulder, dreading what more could possibly happen.
"What are you?" Sally demanded of the invader. She didn't sound afraid in the least, but Guy could feel her trembling against his bones. Despite this, she stepped closer to The Beldam.
"Are you finally going to let me examine you, your majesty?" laughed The Beldam. "I've been trying and trying, but I just couldn't get a good idea of you before!"
"Get out of our house!" Sally shouted. She tried to move still closer, but Guy held her back. He eyed The Beldam's metallic sharpness, aware of how soft his ragdoll mother felt in comparison. The Beldam laughed.
"I was just leaving, when you so rudely brought the door down on me!" she said. "I'd be happy to continue on my way, but naturally I'll be taking young Guy with me. After all, it's not as if he's been happy here. Correct, Guy?"
"I am happy! I'm very happy here!" Guy answered. Sally cut her eyes to her son for an instant, before again turning to The Beldam.
"I know what you are." she said. "I didn't recognize you at first - but now I know."
"You were expecting an 'other mother'?" said The Beldam.
"You're not taking my child." said Sally quietly.
Smiling, The Beldam lowered her stance. "Do I understand you?" she asked Sally. "Are you challenging me to a fight, gentle one?"
Sally tipped her eyes to the ceiling.
"No. I'm distracting you."
Guy peered over his mother's shoulder. The Beldam had been taken entirely by surprise when The Pumpkin King pounced on her from above. The shock was an advantage he needed. The Beldam was not only larger than he, but a more dangerously constructed creature. Jack however trumped her in speed and agility, making clumsy her attempts to snatch at him with her claw. He drew her closer to the hearth, and angered to blind irrationality, she leaped in pursuit. He slipped away yet again, leaving her to fall through her own door. She caught the sill with her hand, her arachnid-esque body scrambling in panic. Jack fought to close the door against her. The heavy needles making up The Beldam's hand held fast to the hearthstones. Overcome by a wave of bravery, Guy ran from behind Sally, and landed at his father's side. As his Jack pressed the door, Guy used every crumb of his strength to force The Beldam's hand to the other side. At last, exhausted and defeated, she released her grip, falling silently into the nothingness.