Disclaimer: You know the drill; I don't own Nightmare Before Christmas, blah, blah, blah, now on with the chapter!

As Barrel continued to walk, he noticed something odd. The trees were getting thicker and taller. He wasn't sure if this was normal for human forests, but either way, to him it was odd. Hearing the rustling of leaves behind him, as if a thin fabric was gliding over them, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Was somebody following him? He shook his head, deciding that he would have heard footsteps if that was true. Even so, he glanced behind him, and gave a sigh of relief when he saw that nobody was there.

I've got to get out of her, the teenage boy thought, I'm hallucinating. He gave an amused smile at his own thoughts, before turning on his heel and walking forwards again.

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The same figure that had locked Barrel's friends in the tree stepped out from behind the tree, still hidden in the shade. A slender, albino white hand reached up and pulled the hood of the cloak down, revealing electric purple hair that hung down to the woman's shoulders in loose curls. She brushed a strand of hair out of her pink eyes.

The woman drummed her long fingers against the trunk of a tree thoughtfully, carefully placing the pieces of her next scheme together in her head. There was still a piece missing. She decided to stop following the boy for the moment, for there was nothing she could do at the moment. Turning left, she pulled the hood over her head, completely hiding her identity in the shadow of the hood. The partial albino walked away, leaving behind nothing to suggest her short presence there.

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Barrel walked for a few minutes, before he saw something that caught his interest. As if randomly placed there, an old wishing well was in front of him. It was all too clear that it had been abandoned; as he walked to it, he saw that the inside was boarded up. He shook his head; this place was getting ridiculous. He yawned, and only then did he notice it was getting dark. Maybe, just maybe, if he made camp in the morning he could get back, since that was, kind of, the way he came. He highly doubted it would work, but it was worth a shot, right?

He really didn't want to make a fire, so he laid his sweater on the ground under a tree (he had learned not to sleep in the open during winter; you get snowed on), curled up in a ball on it, and tried his best to get some sleep before morning. He never thought it'd be so hard trying to go to sleep without his best friends.

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As soon as her cold lips met his, Lock's mind went blank. He wasn't quite sure what to think or do, but even so, his cheeks slowly turned as red as his hair. After a second, he put his hands on her shoulders and softly pushed her away. He lit another match, which cast a dim light, before looking her in her light gray eyes, which, he noticed, had just the slightest bit of lavender in them.

"Who are you and what have you done with Shock?" He asked after a second. She gave him an odd look, one of her eyebrows raised, before looking at her boots. Shock gave a weak laugh before crawling through the door she had made. He blinked, standing there for a second, before he realized fully what just happened, and then he realized, a split second after the first realization, that she had probably been expecting him to kiss her back instead of pushing her away. Lock let out a defeated sigh. He knew then that the rest of the trip to find Barrel would be silent and awkward. He crawled through after her, emerging out to see that she was waiting, arms crossed and in a very sour mood, by a burnt tree. She gave him a cold stare, before turning on her heel and walking away, not even bothering to check if he was following. This is going to be a long walk... He thought. As he followed her, he wondered to himself if maybe he should've just kissed her back, and wondered if he would've liked it if he had...

I know, I know, that was short. I tried to give Barrel more of the thunder in this chapter, 'cause I kind of felt I wasn't giving him enough attention.

I know you guys are going to hate me for not making him kiss back, but I hope you can forgive me, since I updated so soon. If I can, I'll update tomorrow, so keep an eye out!

Please review, and what do you guys think of our revealed, partial albino? Hate her? Love her? Not sure what to think of her yet? Either way, please review for homemade brownies! ^^

~InfernoShock