CrusaderTransformer1: Sorry about the long wait guys, I had some computer problems and then I'm kinda occupied with my new deviantart account too. Cassandra, will you do the disclaimer?
Cassandra: My sister does not own Nightmare Before Christmas or the company, and she never will.
CrusaderTransformer1: Okay thanks...
Cassandra: She also does not own me or Tara, we own ourselves. She only owns herself and her crazy ideas.
CrusaderTransformer1: Okay...thanks Cassandra...
Cassandra: She also owes us a box of Nerds, but I don't think that she'll...
CrusaderTransformer1: ENOUGH! Chases a giggling Cassandra out
After Emily took one look into the bag, her eyes widened so big that the eye that always falls out...fell out. I caught it before it fell on the ground and handed it back.
"Thank you," Emily said as she took back her eye, "But I have to say, I think he really, really doesn't want you to scare him anymore."
"What do you mean?" I asked and then added while pouting while folding my arms across my chest, "And why not?"
Emily giggled loudly at what I was doing and I dropped both pout and arms.
"Oh Tiffany...you are so funny." Emily told me after she was done, "And there's quite a lot of money in here. I think I see hundred dollar bills in this bag."
"WHAT?" All of us said in unison.
"That's what I see in this bag." Emily told us as she handed the bag back to me and put her eye back in its place.
The girls and I couldn't help but stare at one another as we thought this over.
"So...by scaring the Mayor we did more than put him in his place, huh?" I commented, looking at the bag in my hands.
"You certainly did." Emily replied, chuckling a little bit, probably thinking of what we had done yesterday.
"I'd say! We're rich!" Cassandra said, trying to take the bag from me, but I held it out of her reach out of pure irritation, "Come on, Tiff! I wanna see!"
"You will have your fair share." I told her, getting kind of grouchy by the childish way she was acting that day, "Just chill out!"
"So, do you want to go shopping now?" Emily asked me, looking like she didn't like the sight of us fighting.
"Yes, let's." I said as we started walking to town, and I added over my shoulder, "You get some of this money too."
"What? I couldn't possibly..." Emily began, showing her English elegant nature.
"You're shopping with us, therefore it's only decent." I insisted.
Cassandra and Tara nodded quickly, showing their support of what I had said. Emily didn't argue anymore, already seeing that I wasn't going to take no for an answer and she had a slight smile on her face as we walked side-by-side, the girls ahead of us.
"So, what did you have in mind for shopping, today?" I asked her as we walked at an easy pace.
"I was thinking of getting some new clothes," Emily told me, "I'm kind of tired of wearing this old thing all the time."
"I think it's a pretty gown." I told her honestly, and it was, despite it being slightly dirty and torn.
"Thank you, but I think everyone likes a change of pace now and then." Emily pointed out.
"That's very true." I replied, thinking back to the times when movie/game adventures didn't pop up on us and how bored we had been.
I had been dying and wishing for a change of pace and we got that change of pace in our first two adventures in the Labyrinth. (I wrote those when I was twelve, and I may redo them and put them on here)
I was still thinking about how we had to face the Goblin King Jareth in all of his glittery fury when Emily broke me out of my thoughts with this comment.
"I would really like an outfit like yours." Emily surprised me, making me look her in surprise, "I always thought that you and your sisters looked so comfortable in them. I never did like dresses, anyway."
"Maybe we'll find something like them." I said, but in the back of my mind, I seriously doubted it considering where we were.
I suddenly felt something like a light sheet on my head and I also felt purring as a gray see-through tail was tickling my neck.
"Burrs!" I said in a slightly teasing tone, hearing the lovable cat ghost purr louder on my head.
Emily giggled before reaching up to pet Burrs, and I slightly bent over so that she could do so without having to stand on her tip-toes.
"Hershey!" I heard Tara from up ahead and I reached up my hands to pluck Burrs off my head.
"She seems to truly love you and your sisters." Emily commented and I grinned as I handed Burrs to her.
The minute Burrs was settled in Emily's arms, she began to sniff the Corpse Bride on the cheek and after she did, she began to lick Emily's cheek.
"Awwwww! She likes you!" I said to the now happy Emily who was hugging Burrs.
All of a sudden, I noticed that there were three children circling us, eyeing Emily in particular. I recognized them as Lock, Shock, and Barrel and I felt a dangerous chill going down my spine as I eyed them as they circled us. Emily didn't seem to feel the same way as she continued to be her elegant self.
"Hello." She said to them, and Burrs squirmed out of her arms to float quickly to me, growling slightly as she came into my arms.
"Hello." They replied to her, eyeing her up and down before doing the same to me.
"Hi." I said, letting them know with my expression that I didn't want them near me.
Emily didn't see my get-the-heck-away-from-us expression, but I know that the trio did and they went away without a word or even a look, passing Cassandra and Tara who in turn looked at them in surprise and then back at us before stopping to wait on us.
"They were nice." Emily said to me, continuing the walk.
I'm not so sure, even with Oogie Boogie being only a bad memory now. I thought, Burrs calming down since the three were gone and I began to walk again.
"Where are their parents, do you think?" Emily continued, pausing a little so that I could catch up.
"I don't think they HAVE parents." I told her, not feeling bad at all for the Boogie's Boys.
They give us brats a bad name and that's saying something!
"Oh, well that's too bad...do you know who's taking care of them?" Emily asked, showing concern for them, and if only she had known...
"I don't if anyone is taking care of them." I said carelessly, mentally pitying whoever would take care of them.
Emily started moving quickly like she was going to go running after them and mentally kicking myself, I stopped her with an arm.
"I'm sure that somebody is taking care of them, Emily, and I meant to say that I didn't know who is taking care of them." I told her, and that seemed to satisfy her as the girls continued to wait until we reached them before starting to walk again. Burrs and Hershey flew back to the house, probably not wanting to wait outside the shop for us, seeing how there were no-pets-allowed-signs were in almost every single window in town.
We didn't talk much more after that, having nothing else to say I suppose, and after walking around Halloween Town, we found a promising-looking clothes store called Death Diamonds. The two witches, we had seen during the Halloween that we had arrived to, owned that shop plus another called Witches' Shop (typical), and they greeted us while they stirred a bubbling green liquid in a large black caldron that was behind the desk with the cash register. As we walked around, I was shocked to find that they did have clothes like ours, ripped pants and all!
Well, Emily going to get the kind of clothes she wants after all! I thought as I watched the mentioned Corpse Bride go over to them and start looking through them, the skeleton hand I could see as she pushed clothes aside to see what else she could find.
The girls were going over to some sparkly clothes (typical), I myself went over to some dresses that looking like they would be suitable for a special occasion that was probably coming our way. I went through about ten dresses before I found one that I liked and pulled it out.
It was a black dress that looked like some Mortisha Addams would wear, it even had the same style, and instead of being just black, it had a dark-gray glittery belt and on that belt was a couple of metal black widows, silver webs hanging from them to dangle around the skirt in a cool, mysterious way.
I looked for the changing room before finally finding it behind a skull door and after going in and locking the door, I changed into the dress. It turned out that the dress fit me like a glove and I went out to show Emily.
"Hey Emily!" I said as I found her, still at the clothes where she had been before, "What do you think of this dress?"
Emily turned around to look at me and as she opened her mouth while smiling, someone else answered for her.
"Wow." I heard someone say behind me and I turned so that I could look over my shoulder at the speaker.
There was a tall male skeleton at the door, and I would have mistaken him for Jack if it hadn't have been for the nearly shoulder-length black hair on his skull. He was nearly as tall as Jack and his attire consisted of a black T-shirt, black leather pants and jacket, complete with black boots.
As I stared at the stranger, he gave a charming grin at me and wolf-whistled while he was at it.
"You look hot, babe." He told me, and I was surprised to hear a voice almost completely identical to Jack's, only a little deeper.
Although I was flattered, I was also a little...okay, more than a little wary of the fact that a complete stranger was calling me babe, like I was his girlfriend at first sight.
"Thank you, but no one asked your opinion." I told him and I walked away to the changing room, feeling a little proud of myself as I had caught the stranger's look of shock as I left.
I didn't know Emily had followed me with some clothes she had picked out until she spoke, nearly making me jump right out of the dress and through the roof.
"That wasn't very nice, Tiff." Emily said and after I had jumped, "He was nice enough to give you a compliment."
"Yes Emily, but that's not the point." I said to her as I closed the door, gently so that she didn't think I was mad at her or anything, "But he called me babe, and that's something guys call their girlfriends."
"Girlfriend? If he wants to be your friend, why not let him?" Emily asked and I resisted the urge to slap my forehead in frustration.
"Emily, a girlfriend is not just a friend unless said otherwise, it's a relationship where a guy and a girl are..." I paused, not sure how to explain something I was so used to when the other was completely obvious to its meaning.
"It's what?" Emily asked patiently from the other side of the door.
"Give me a second." I said before adding, "Please."
There was a long pause as I stood there, scratching my skull and trying to think of a way to explain this in a way that Emily would understand. I was pretty sure that smoke was coming out of my ears as I FINALLY came up with a way to explain boyfriend/girlfriend relationships.
"Okay! You remember how some men in your lifetime would court a woman that they wanted to be their wife?" I asked.
"Yes." Came the answer.
"Well, boyfriend and girlfriend relationships are like that in a lot of ways, but in some ways, it's completely different." I said, "Here's an example, only ONE man can court a woman in this kind of relationship, and this kind of couple..."
"OH! Boyfriend and girlfriends are couples!" Emily exclaimed from the other side, and I just stood there, both relieved and surprised that my explanation wasn't needed after all, "Why didn't you say so?"
"I didn't know how to explain this to you." I admitted and I could feel my cheeks warming as I changed into my clothes.
"I see...oh, now I understand why you weren't very nice to him." Emily said kind of sheepishly from the other side.
"Hey, don't worry about it." I told her, now fully dressed and putting the dress on the skeleton hanger that it was on, "You didn't understand and now you do. It's not a big deal."
"If you say so." Emily said and I came out, allowing her to go into the dressing room.
As I left the skull door closing on its own, I looked for the girls to see what they were doing and found to my displeasure that the stranger from before was still around.
"Hi again, babe." He said from behind me and I held back both feelings of attraction and irritation as I turned around only to find that he had leaned down so that our faces were close...too close.
"Get...out...of...my...face." I said slowly as I backed away, and he followed as though he was a dog on a leash, our faces still close.
"Please don't play hard-to-get, babe, how about we do something crazy together?" He asked smoothly as he followed me and this time I got mad, but before I could say or do anything, someone beat me to it.
"DUKE! LEAVE HER ALONE BEFORE I CAST A HEX ON YOU!!" The big witch yelled, her high-pitched voice making my ears hurt as she shook a fist at him, her sister glaring at him beside her.
The stranger now known to me as Duke ran out of the store like she was chanting her hex on him already and I laughed hard as he fled. I wiped tears away as I finished laughing and I turned to the now-calm witches.
"Thanks a lot." I said, "Who was that, by the way?"
"That was just Jack's nephew, Duke Reaper." The big witch said, just waving it off, "He's always flirting shamelessly with the local girls and hanging around his two troublesome friends."
"Reaper? As in...the Grim Reaper?" I asked, feeling slightly scared that I had just been smarting off to the son of the Bringer of Death.
"Yes, but he's not a Grim Reaper yet and probably won't ever be." The big witch replied, rolling her eyes at the subject, "That responsibility's going to fall on his younger brother, Howl, I just know it."
"Is Howl like his big brother?" I asked, but pretty sure that I was going to hear the opposite.
"Oh no, Howl is a complete gentleman, unlike his brother." The little witch replied, "A lot more mature too, and he follows in the Grim Reaper's footsteps, therefore Howl more than likely will be the next Grim Reaper. As far as we've heard, Duke couldn't care less that his birthright is going to be given to the next of kin."
"Maybe he just likes being his own person?" I suggested, feeling some need to defend him a little bit, thinking that the witches were being a little hard on him.
"That could be it...at least he has a job and not spending his family's entire fortune." The little witch said, looking at her sister as she spoke, probably talking more to her sister than me.
"He may have a good job and a home of his own, but he still acts like a punk teenager, friends and all." The big witch replied.
"The dude needs a girlfriend." I said out of the blue and ending up getting a strange look from both witches.
It was a short uncomfortable silence before one of them decided to say something.
"Are you volunteering for the part? Hmmmmm?" The big witch asked in a teasing way.
"...No, I was just saying." I said in defense, trying to stay calm so that they didn't think otherwise.
"If you say so, by the way, I think your friend in there needs some help." The big witch said, pointing at the skull door with her thumb.
I put the dress onto a chair that was nearby and walked quickly to the dressing room, wondering what kind of trouble Emily managed to get in while I was talking to the witches.
As I entered, I could hear Emily making sounds of frustration from behind the door. I paused to listen to the sounds before walking closer to the door and stopping in front of it.
"Need help?" I asked, leaning towards the door so that I could hear better.
"Oh no...no I'm fine." Emily said, but I could hear the uncertainty even from behind the door.
I waited a little more and after a little bit of silence I heard another noise of frustration.
"Are you lying?" I asked, and this time I heard a sigh.
"Yes." Came the answer and I slowly opened the door and went inside.
Emily stood there in the orange pants while she was messing with a black shirt that seemed to keep catching on her dirty and lacey corset.
"Oh...!" Emily said angrily as she tried to pull it over again, only to have it catch again and she got the shirt free before asking me, "How do you get this kind of shirt over your corset?"
I was silent for a bit, just looking at her funny.
"What? What is it?" Emily asked, looking kind of hurt at my expression.
"Well...sweetie. We...don't wear corsets." I finally blurted out, blushing slightly at my own words.
"What?" Emily asked, looking amazed.
"Women from the time where the girls and I come from...don't wear them and...I haven't seen anybody else that look like they wear them, so I don't think you have to either." I said, inwardly bracing myself for what I was sure a lecture from Emily about how improper it was for a lady to not wear a corset.
Instead, here's the reaction I got.
"OH THANK GOODNESS!! I've always hated these things!" Emily said excitingly and I was stunned as she put her shirt down before she started to try and take the corset off herself. I snapped out of it as she untied her corset bow and started to loosen the strings.
"AH! Nonononono! Let me help." I said as I came behind her and started to slowly loosen the corset strings a little at a time, having heard once that if you loosen these things too quickly, it would hurt the woman.
I've heard beauty is pain, but COME ON! THAT'S RIDICULOUS!
As it was finally loose enough to pull off, Emily took a big breath and I smiled.
"Can you breathe now?" I asked as I helped Emily slid the corset off, a strap-less undershirt of some kind still on Emily's chest. (Take that, perverts! XP)
"Yes, that feels so much better...(another deep breath)...Thank you." Emily said as I held the corset.
"No problem...what should I do with this?" I asked, holding the corset up.
"Give it to the witches, I'm sure they'll find a use for it." Emily said looking at the mirror and then looking at me again with a dry look directed at the corset, "They can sell it for all I care."
"Man...you REALLY hate this thing, didn't you?" I teasingly asked as I went out, taking the corset with me as Emily laughed.
As I went out the skull door, my ears suddenly suffered from high-pitched screams from the two witches and I saw the girls pop up from behind a rack that was stocked with jewelry, and they looked around warily like they suspected someone was being murdered.
"What is THAT you have in your hands?!" The big witch demanded, her hands on her hips as she glared at me.
"A...corset?" I said slowly, ready to run in case she decided to put a hex on me.
"A CORSET?! CORSETS ARE FORBIDDEN IN HALLOWEEN TOWN!" Both witches screamed at me, making me drop the corset and cover my ears from the painful volume of their yelling.
The corset didn't even touch the ground as the big witch snapped her fingers and it floated to them. As I uncovered my ears and watched them, they chanted a little before flames came from nowhere and the corset began to burn. I stood there stunned as I watched them cook some what seemed to be ingredients over the flames before dropping them into the slimy-looking water of their caldron. As they roasted what seemed to be their last ingredient, the little witch snapped her fingers and the fires on the corset doubled and it was suddenly just ashes, which also went into the caldron.
"Don't like corsets, huh?" I asked, feeling a slight smile coming onto my face.
"Corsets are forbidden, as I've told you." The big witch replied, not really paying attention to me.
"May I ask why?" I inquired, my hand smoothing back my hair.
"It was one of the rules that the great Pumpkin King Jack O'Lantern himself made long ago." The little witch said, her sister nodding, "It was to please his Pumpkin Queen, the Witch Hazel. According to history, she was rebellious against the ways of proper ladies back then, hated corsets more than anything, so her husband banished them from existence in Halloween Town."
"Awwwww! That was so sweet of him to do!" I couldn't help but say, my hands going to my heart, touched by the history of the rule.
"Oh yes, Jack O'Lantern loved his queen very much, almost as much as he loved Halloween." The big witch said.
There's always something guys love a little more than their women. I thought, groaning inwardly at the thought of having a guy love something a little more than myself.
"That witch was so powerful..." The big witch continued, slowly shaking her head in awe while staring into space, "One of her most important ingredients that she used in her spells was the plants that are known as Witch Hazel now, and one of my great-grandmothers renamed that plant to honor the Pumpkin Queen."
"That's cool!" I said, and at that point, Emily chose to come out of the skull door.
"Sorry that took so long, what do you think of this outfit?" Emily asked me as she came closer.
I looked her over and found that the orange pants and the black shirt with a glittery orange-eyed skull on it suited Emily very well. Her white shoes matched the skull, so I decided not mention buying new shoes when it seemed to be unnecessary.
"That looks so good on you, Emily." I told her honestly, earning a happy smile in return, "You're going to knock some boys' socks off."
"I look that nice?" Emily asked and before I could answer...
"TIFF!" The girls called from the jewelry.
"I've been summoned, please excuse me." I said in an apologizing tone as I walked to the girls and then pretended to be grouchy with them, "What now...brats?"
"Can we get these?" Cassandra asked as they held up a few items (and IGNORING ME!)
As I bent over to see, I almost sighed at what they had.
Cassandra had a jeweled cat collar, an orange/black dress with paw-prints all over it and a glittery pumpkin charm, probably to put on the collar. Tara had a sparkly purple umbrella with black bats on it, a pair of charming spider earrings, and last but not least, a dress that was mostly purple and it had black spider-webs while there was a bat on the chest area that was made to look like it was about to take flight. I took the umbrella from Tara and looked it over.
"What do you need this for? As long as we've been here, there have been no signs of rain." I told her, giving the umbrella back.
"The other vampires have umbrellas to keep the sun off, I need one too." Tara told me, and as I leaned down to her eye level to ask her why, I saw little red marks like burns on Tara's face and some on her neck.
I practically put my foot in my mouth as it turned out that she did an umbrella after all, and I didn't want those burns to get any worse than what they were already.
"Alright, we'll get it, along with the rest of your stuff." I told them, and rolled my eyes at their cheer (YAY!).
Emily was giggling by the time we were coming over.
"What are you laughing at, huh?" I teasingly asked her, making her giggle harder.
I took her by the arm, pulling her over to the cash register where the two witches stood waiting, and I handed her the bag, seeing how she knew what was what in that thing. Emily paid for all the items we had picked out and asked one of the witches for a bag to carry her gown in as we waited with our own stuffed bags by the door. As she came back with her gown in the bag and as we walked out, Emily asked me about something I had temporarily forgotten about as I observed Tara making use of her new umbrella which flashed as she opened it.
"What did the witches do with my corset?" Emily asked me, the question making me stop where I was and double over laughing, earning a very confused look from her, "What...what's so funny?"
"They...(Hahahaha!)...b..(More laughing)..burned it!" I managed to get out and I dropped to the ground, laughing my butt off.
The girls just stood a distance away, acting like they didn't know me while Emily on the other hand, stood there looking at me like I was insane as others passed by and most of them giving me the strangest looks. I finally got up and apologized while wiping the tears from my eyes.
"I'm so sorry, I don't why that was so funny to me." I said honestly, blushing hard as I realized I had embarrassed my sister and our friends out of death. (Nightmare before Christmas joke, haha.)
"Why did they burn my corset?" Emily asked, not looking mournful at all at the idea, but curious all the same.
I told her what the witches had told me and then she started laughing a little.
"Well, now I understand why they shrieked as loud as your banshee scream." Emily told me and all of us went towards Jack's house, "I could hear them through the two doors!"
As we went towards the rather tall, skinny house, the memory of seeing Boogie's Boys eyeing Emily in particular came suddenly to my mind and I kept watching out for them as we went to our temporarily home, the Mayor just leaving the gate.
"Hello ladies, enjoy your girls' day out?" The Mayor asked politely, his smiling face on.
"Yes, thank you." Emily said as she went past him to the door.
"How about you, girls?" He asked Cassandra and Tara as they passed him.
"Fine." They both replied, making it obvious that they didn't like him as they passed.
"How about you, Miss Harders?" The Mayor asked as I came up, his smiling face surprisingly still to the front, "Are you enjoying the cash I gave you."
"It won't last for long, that's for sure." I told him before entering Jack's house, "Scare ya later."
Smiling at the yelp I heard from the Mayor as I entered the house, I dropped the bag of money onto the table that was in the entry way and I heard Emily talking to someone upstairs. I went upstairs to see what was going on and I found Emily showing off her new outfit to a rather tired-looking Jack Skellington who was sitting at one of his three desks.
"You look very nice, Emily." Jack said smiling kindly as Emily turned for him, "Those clothes really do suit you."
"Are you doing alright Jack?" I asked him as I came over.
"I guess so, the Mayor's driving me crazy this year like he does every year." Jack told me tiredly and a little mischievousness rose in me as he rubbed his skull with his forefingers and thumbs.
"Short drive, Jack." I told him and found myself on the floor trying to squirm from the suddenly energetic Jack who was tickling me!
"HAHAHAHA! STOP! QUIT! I CAN'T BREATHE! HAHAHAHAHA! STOP IT! QUIT IT JACK! HAHAHA!"
"SAY UNCLE! SAY UNCLE!" Jack yelled as he tickled me and I could hear Emily laughing over my own hysterical laughter while I kicked and clawed at the floor trying to get away from Jack.
"NEVER!" I yelled in reply and regretted saying that because he doubled his tickle-torture session on me while Emily and the girls laughed, "OKAY! OKAY! HAHAHAHA! UNCLE!"
"I knew you'd see it my way." Jack told me as he stopped tickling my sides and I stuck out my tongue at him, the Pumpkin King mirroring my action back at me.
I laid there gasping until I got my breath back and then suddenly knocked him over to try to give him a taste of his own medicine. Except, it turns out there was a problem.
Apparently, Jack Skellington isn't ticklish...at all.
He just sat there grinning while I searched for nonexistence ticklish areas and I finally gave up, letting out a huge sigh at having no fun at all.
"Not fair, truly." Was all I said as I sat cross-legged and pouted.
"Cheer up Tiff." Jack told me as he stood and helped me to my feet, "I have something that might cheer you up."
He led all of us into his study, where three jars were in a line on a table. One consisted of a yellow goop-looking substance, the other jars contained the same kind of substance only there was a red one and a really light blue one.
I started to think they were some new kind of candy that Halloween Town produced and Jack wanted to share some, but then the yellow one started jumping around in the jar. My sockets widened I stared at the yellow goop sticking to the top of the jar before it dropped back to the bottom and as I watched, the other two started jumping around in their jars as well.
Jumping Laffy-Screamy maybe? Leaping Gummi-Slime even?
"What in heaven's name is this stuff?" I asked as I bent so that I could look at the yellow goop at eye level.
"Doctor Finklestein made them." Jack explained, picking up the jar of light-blue goop, Cassandra eyeing it particularly, "The yellow one is a Lightening Strike, the red is a Flame Torch, and the light blue one here (held it up) is an Ice Storm."
"So...they're element...things?" Cassandra asked as Jack suddenly handed the jar to her.
"No, they're just bionic whip-like weapons that react to the owners, mine is a Soul Robber." Jack said and as he held up his arm, I saw a green goop wrapped around his wrist like a weird pulsing bracelet.
"Weapons? You're giving us weapons?" I asked, not believing what I was hearing.
"They're not just for fighting, they can be pretty handy for reaching high places." Jack told us and he demonstrated by his Soul Robber to grab onto the rail above us and with one tug, he launched himself upwards, did a flip and landed to stand with us again.
"That's so cool Jack. But why are they called the way they are?" I asked, picking up the Lightening Strike's jar to get a better look and it suddenly lunged at me, stopped by the glass but it made me put it back down on the table quickly anyway.
"It won't hurt you, it's just really excited to meet you." Jack told me assurely and then answered my previous question, "The doctor named them according to the color they turned out to be."
Cassandra suddenly opened the Ice Storm's jar, making horror leap into my throat despite what Jack said about them not hurting anyone and the goop wrapped itself on Cassandra's right wrist, shaping it's self to look like a snow-flaked bracelet. Cassandra's eyes lit up at the shape that it had chose to take.
As I stared at the now pretty thing on Cassandra's arm, Jack lightly slapped his forehead.
"I almost forgot, after these kind of weapons are named, they try to live up to their names, as Cassandra's Ice Storm has demonstrated for us." Jack said, also looking at the 'bracelet'.
"Doesn't Emily get one?" Cassandra suddenly asked, looking at Emily in pity.
"Emily knew about this idea, we talking about it one night downstairs while you were in bed." Jack said to us, putting a hand on Cassandra's shoulder, "We never did take the time to welcome you to Halloween Town properly, so I thought maybe you would like some of these. I offered to have the doctor make her one as well, but she doesn't want one."
I looked at Emily and she shook her head while smiling, showing that she truly didn't want one.
"But aren't you going a little far, I mean..." I said as I picked up the Lightening Strike's jar again, trying not to jump as it lunged at me again, "These have to be very valuable, and the good doctor must have..."
"Nonsense, he was happy to do so after I told him about you three." Jack replied, waving it off, "Besides, what are friends for, anyway?"
I couldn't help but be touched as Tara then picked up and opened the Flame Torch's jar, the stuff also latched onto her right wrist, turning into a flame wrist band. Everyone then looked at me and I gulped slightly as I slowly opened the Lightening Strike's Jar. It moved slowly out of the jar, like it sensed how nervous/ready I was and as I watched, it wrapped around my right wrist slowly, the texture of it feeling like living silk. As it came completely on, it shaped itself into a form that looked like a looping gold bracelet that curled at the ends.
"There, you see, it won't hurt its own master...or mistress, in your case." Jack told me, smiling as I relaxed, and then asked me a surprising question, "Tiff, would you mind traveling with me in a few days' time?"
"Huh?" Was all I got out, a confused frown coming onto my face.
"I need new ideas for a Halloween, and I need someone to come with me in order to look for some good Halloween ideas." Jack explained as I stared at him like he was crazy (oh wait, he is!), "I need somebody adult, travel-worthy, and who knows how to scare."
"The girls can scare and travel just as well as you probably think I can." I said in their defense so they wouldn't feel over-looked and unappreciated, "They're also more adult-like than people give them credit."
"I know, that's why I wanted to put them in charge of watching after Emily while we're gone." Jack replied.
"I don't get it Jack." I said honestly, folding my arms across my chest, "Why me? Why me in particular? I'm sure there's somebody else that could be a better traveling companion."
Jack fell silent for a long time, not looking at any of us as he held his hands behind his back. I was beginning to feel bad and stupid when Emily came up suddenly and put her hands on my shoulders, making me jump for the second time that day.
"Please excuse us." Emily said to us politely and she steered me by the shoulders out of the study into the kitchen.
"Yes?" I asked after she let go and let me face her.
"Tiffany, please don't be so difficult." Emily pleaded, her hands coming up in front of her like she was praying.
"I'm not trying to be difficult, Emily, I'm confused!" I said in pure defense, my anger rising up, "Why does he want me to..."
"Have you looked at Sally's pictures?" Emily asked, suddenly whispering as she leaned towards me and I leaned forward as well, curious to what she was getting at, "Have you ever considered...how much you look like Jack and Sally combined?"
I fell into a stunned silence as my jaw snapped shut, feeling surprise and guilt clash against each other in my heart.
"Tiffany, I think he wants you to go with him because you remind him of better times." Emily told me and I could see unshed tears as she spoke, making the guilt stronger, "I think you remind him of both Sally and what could have been their child."
As I thought about it, a sudden thought made me want to run away as far as I could from Skellington Manor.
"Emily, what if he's falling in love with me...or my image that reminds him of Sally?" I asked, fear of the unknown trials coming right for me.
"Is that so bad?" Emily asked, looking surprised at my alarm.
"Love can be bad if it's for the wrong reasons." I replied, "I mean, what about you?"
Now Emily looked really surprised at that point.
"What do you mean, what about me?" Emily asked, her eyes nearly growing to the size of dinner plates and a sensible part of me made me hold a hand ready in case her eye popped out.
"Don't act dumb, I know for a fact that you admire him." I replied, earning another shocked look, "And I know for a fact it's not like the type of admiration that his fan girls in town have for him."
"How do you know I have an admiration for him?" Emily asked, suddenly seeming playful, and her acting skills would have made Shakespeare proud, she nearly fooled me.
But she didn't fool me, if I may go straight to the point.
"That day after we had scared the Mayor, when you fell across his lap and stared up at him." I replied, smiling a slightly evil smile as I remembered the admiring look on her face, "And the fact you keep looking at him when you think no one's looking while you're cooking and when he's looking at a book or one of the plans for Halloween, you just stare at him like you're smitten. Not that I blame you, of course, he is a charmer."
I was only teasing a little, but Emily then suddenly left the kitchen while her cheeks turned purple from blushing, and I mentally yelled at myself for being inconsiderate as I followed her to apologize for embarrassing her, but ended up getting a door in the face as she had gone into her room.
STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! YOU KNOW HOW SENSATIVE SHE IS! I raged at myself in my mind as I stared at Emily's door and I could hear a sorrowful sigh from the other side, making me feel even guiltier. You might as well go traveling with Jack when the time comes, that's what they both want. Goodness knows that they've been so good to you and the girls.
Leaving Emily to have some time to herself, I went back into the study, and had to duck an Ice Storm that went for my head, whipping the door instead.
"Sorry Tiff!" Cassandra said, looking pale at the thought of nearly hitting me.
"It's fine, calm down." I said somewhat irritated at my head been nearly taken off, holding up my hands and then looked at Jack, who was coming over.
"Tiffany, if you don't want to come with me..." Jack started.
"I'm coming with you and that's final, I don't wanna hear any more argument." I told/teased him and he suddenly looked very happy.
"That's great. I'm glad you decided to come with me after all." Jack said, making me feel a little better about myself.
A little, not much at all.
That night I took care of supper, and before I dined with everyone else, I took a plate of food up to Emily's room. Jack didn't ask why I was doing that, which saved me the complication of an explanation that I didn't really have.
"Emily..." I said, knocking on the door, "Supper's ready."
I didn't hear anything and I withheld a sigh as the guilt game back to nip at my heart.
"Okay, the plate and silverware are outside your door." I said, putting the dish down right in front of the door and stepping back to leave, "When you get hungry, please eat."
With that I left and as I went back to the dining room, I could hear the door open and I smiled slightly while hoping that tomorrow she would be her usual self. I went towards the dining room where I could hear Jack talking to the girls about their Ice Storm and Fire Torch. I had to go by Jack's study in order to get there and when I passed it, I spotted something in the open door that made me stop and step backwards to see it again.
It was a picture of the Valentine's Tree, and as I stared at it, especially at the heart in the middle, an idea began to slowly form in my mind as I made my Lightening Strike shoot out and grab the picture. As I looked at the picture in my hands, the idea became more and more appealing to me.
Maybe...just maybe...I thought as I left the picture by the open door and to the dining room, We can get Jack and Emily together somehow. And that way, Jack won't fall in love with me for the wrong reasons or any other reason, and Emily will finally get the marriage she deserves. And since we're dealing with a holiday, why not have them fall with love with a holiday way? Sounds legal enough to me.
That night after we did the dishes and we were going to bed, I grabbed the girls and pulled them into my room while covering their mouths so that they wouldn't yelp. After they were inside and on my bed, I shut the door quickly but quietly.
"What?" Cassandra asked as I locked my door, making sure that the discussion I wanted to have with the girls wouldn't be interrupted.
"I have an idea to get..." I started but then listened hard for a noise that meant either Jack or Emily was coming and after I heard nothing, "As I've said, I have an idea...to get Jack and Emily together."
"You do?" Both girls asked, looking surprised.
"Yep." I replied and then I told them all about my idea that involved Valentine's Day, which earned me some really positive reactions.
"That's a really good idea, Tiff." Cassandra asked while Tara nodded while grinning.
"When are we doing it?" Tara asked, and both girls looked at me in anticipation.
"Tomorrow." I replied, "We'll take Ivory, Angel-wing, and Snowball to look for the Holiday Trees. We'll tell Jack we're going for a ride tomorrow morning. The sooner, the better."
"Okay, but..." Cassandra started and then left off, her ears drooping while having this uneasy look on her face.
"But?" I inquired, leaning to look her in the eye.
"We can't just go to Valentine's Town and steal some love arrows!" Cassandra said in a nervous tone.
"We're not...stealing, we're borrowing." I corrected and then added, "We'll just take two arrows and a bow, that's it, nothing else. After we're done, we'll return the bow."
Cassandra looked like she felt slightly better about my plan after I told her that and I got up before unlocking the door to send them to bed. After they left, and as I lay down in bed while smacking aside a tentacle of the monster-under-the-bed that tried to grab my foot, I was wondering how we were going to find the Holiday Doors before we were gone too long.
The next morning...
I went into the kitchen while grabbing a black apple from a bowl and was not surprised to see the Mayor talking with Jack again. I could hear the girls behind me taking some apples as well and one of them pulled on my hand. I lifted up a hand to silently tell them to wait a moment and then as the Mayor FINALLY stopped talking, I cleared my throat. Jack turned around and gave us a warm smile.
"Good morning, ladies! I hope you slept well." Jack said in his gentlemanly manner.
"We slept fine, thanks." I said, smiling at him, "The girls and I were wondering if it would be alright to ride the reindeer this morning."
"Oh, by all means, go right ahead!" Jack said, gesturing towards the door, "The Mayor and I will be discussing Halloween preparations for quite some time, so have fun and be careful."
"We will Jack, thanks." I said as we passed him and the Mayor.
I couldn't resist giving the Mayor an evil smile as I passed him and his nervous face came on as we left and I could hear Jack laughing. As soon as we were outside, I bit into my apple.
I thought I would give a little bit of a note here by this point. Halloween Town's food is not actually what it's called, except for Frog's breath. Emily tried to get me to try some Frog's Breath in some soup, but I couldn't breath much less taste it, so that's off my list of things edible. The black apples were called Poison Apples, but instead of being poisoned, they were sweet and crunchy. Cassandra, Tara and I loved them apples! Halloween Town just gave scary names to their food, to add to their list of scary things, I guess.
The apples didn't last long and soon we were striding towards the stable. As soon as we opened those doors, we were greeted by the reindeer shaking their head and grinning their big happy grins.
"Hey Ivory, miss me buddy?" I asked as I grabbed his bridle and saddle before going into his stall.
The reindeer were completely still as we saddled them, but when we were leading them out...they were hopping on their hooves like they were just aching to get some action.
"Whoa, whoa! Easy boy, easy!" I said as I tried not to laugh at Ivory's excitement and he stood still, but kept nodding his head as I tried to get on.
Cassandra and Tara got on their reindeer without difficulty despite their reindeer moving around and we took off flying. I saw Jack waving at us from a window and I waved back, the girls doing the same thing as we flew away. As soon as we were in the clouds, I began to shout instructions to the girls.
"OKAY! Now all we have to do is look for Spiral Hill!" I yelled to them, "After we find it, we have to go onto the ground to look for the Holiday Trees in the woods!"
"What if we get lost?" Cassandra asked/yelled.
"Yeah, what if we get lost?" Tara also asked/yelled.
"We'll fly over the trees and go back to the beginning!" I yelled back at them, urging Ivory to go a little lower than the clouds so that I could see Spiral Hill. We flew for a long time, just looking for an abnormal hill, and I was being to wonder if we had passed it when Cassandra yelled at me.
"TIFFANY!" Cassandra yelled excitingly.
"WHAT?!" I yelled back.
"I SEE IT!"
"WHERE?!" I asked, looking at the ground.
"THERE!" Cassandra yelled, pointing at something on the ground ahead of us.
I looked in the direction she was pointing and there it was, a huge hill with its famous spiral that gave it its name, Spiral Hill. We made the reindeer fly quickly toward it and we landed smoothly. As I sat there on Ivory's saddle and looked around, the scene of Jack and Sally's confession of their love in this very place in the movie flashed in my head.
Memory...
Sally walked with some difficulty through the snow to the top of Spiral Hill, and finally making it to her desired spot, she sat where she was and picked at the petals of the dead flower that she had carried with her. As she reached for another petal, she heard a voice she never believed she would ever hear singing to her.
My dearest friend, if you don't mind,
I'd like to join you by your side.
Sally turned to see Jack Skellington walk towards her through the snow, and she stood as he stepped over the fence that she had to climb over. Jack continued to sing as he stepped towards her, his sockets never leaving her as he walked up the hill.
Where we can gaze into the stars.
Sally joined him in his song as he came closer and closer, his hands reaching towards her.
And sit together, now and forever.
For it's as plain, as anyone can see.
We're simply meant to be...
Jack's hands joined Sally's as their song was done, and they drew close, kissing for the first time.
End Memory...
I wasn't aware that I was crying until Cassandra spoke up.
"Tiff? Are you okay?" Cassandra asked in concern.
I jumped, having temporarily forgotten that Cassandra and Tara were there with me, and I realized that I had tears running down my face while I automatically sniffed.
"I'm fine!" I said, a little too harshly even to my own ears as I wiped at the tears on my face with my sleeve and then I grabbed the reins, having Ivory trot to the spiral, "Let's go."
Spiral Hill immediately started unroll as we rode towards the top so we went ahead and rode down the tail-like spiral. After we made it to the ground, we had the reindeer go into a gallop into the woods. As we rode, I allowed the girls to ride in front of me and I looked back at Spiral Hill, thinking of poor Sally and the story of how she had died.
I hope you won't think ill of me, Sally...for what I'm trying to do for both Jack and Emily, I thought as I looked at the girls in front of me and had Ivory run a little faster in order to catch up, Rest in peace, wherever you and your child may be.
We rode forward, dodging only trees that were dead-looking, and as the Pumpkin Sun was high in the sky at noon, we finally found the Holiday Trees.
"OH! Finally!" Cassandra said in relief as the reindeer slowed into a walk and we rode into the circle of trees.
Then we reined in the reindeer and dismounted, giving our poor legs a chance to walk on their own. I stretched and then started to look around, walking as I did so. The first Holiday Tree I spotted was the St. Patrick's Day, then as I turned, there was Independence Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day...
"Here's the tree we want." I said and I walked towards it.
"Tiffany?" Cassandra suddenly said and as I turned around, she pointed to a tree, "Isn't that supposed to be the Halloween Tree?"
I looked at the tree she was pointing at in confusion and found to my amazement that instead of the Halloween Door, there was a door in the shape of Cassandra's and my house.
"Yeah, that's supposed to the Halloween Door." I confirmed and took a few steps towards it, looking at the knob.
"We're not going home already, are we?" Cassandra asked, looking at me in alarm, and Tara also looked at me like she was about to panic, "What about Jack and Emily?"
I looked at her and then looked at the door, a part of me feeling homesickness somewhere in my heart cried at me and that same part longed to reach my hand out to open the door and go home. But most of me wanted Jack and Emily to have what they deserved, and that was love.
"No, home can wait." I said shaking my head at the door and I turned around to march straight at the Valentine's Day Tree, "Ready to go?"
"Yeah!" Both girls said enthusiastically and I said to the reindeer, "Wait here."
At first after I opened the door, it didn't do anything at all, and I looked inside the tree to see nothing but complete darkness from top to bottom. I turned around to look at the girls and shrug, wondering why this wasn't working. As soon as that thought left my head, a pink wind with little hearts of every bright color came and swirled around us, pulling us into the tree!
"WHOA!" I yelped as we fell, and all I could see was pink, red, white swirls and the little hearts swirling with us.
"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!" The girls said as they fell with me.
For some reason, that exciting fall into the tree with all the swirls and the hearts made me think of some white ice-cream with little red hearts that I used to eat as a little girl a long time ago.
I think we've accomplished that the girls and I are strange.
We fell for probably just a moment, but it felt like a day to me until we finally landed in a street filled with sparkle dust and hearts, myself on my front and the girls on their backs. As I looked up while spitting out some hearts, I thought this...
Holy cow! Smooch city! So this is Valentine Town. I thought as I eyed the numerous couples that were kissing in public in a rather bright pink, red, and white town. Every building had some kind of heart on it and it looked really nice, but the one thing that caught my eye the most was a tall castle that looked like it was made of light-rose crystal. As I was looking in awe at the beautiful castle, I could finally see the little cupids flying around with arrows.
"Okay, watch out for them!" I said to the girls as we got up, and I pointed at the cupids to show what I was talking about, "They could give us a problem, so watch your backs."
"Are you the one? Are you my soul mate?" I heard a guy ask and I turned to see this brown-haired boy that couldn't have been more than twelve years old, dressed in a pink shirt and red pants looking at me and I swear there were hearts in his eyes as he came towards me!
"I'M GONE!" I yelled and I picked up the girls who yelped at what I did and started running for my life as the boy chased us.
"Wait! Wait! Come back!" The boy called to me dreamily as he chased us.
I looked over my shoulder and (I swear this is true) the guy was floating after us with his arms stretched out towards me while little hearts trailed after him!! I could feel my heart leap into my throat as I tried to run faster and leave him behind.
"GOOD GRIEF! LEAVE US ALONE!" I yelled as I stormed through Valentine Town, startling a few couples out of kissing and they stared after us as I charged through the town.
We finally lost the floating lover-boy-wanna-be in an alley and I sat behind a pink trashcan with the girls, panting and wanting to swear until I was blue in the face. But the girls were with me, so I withheld myself from cussing and I kept looking around in case we hadn't really lost him like we thought. Cassandra was also keeping an eye out while Tara was laughing for some odd reason.
"What?" I finally asked, my breath back.
"That was kinda funny, the way that guy was chasing you." Tara replied, her giggles a little louder after she told me.
"Laugh it up, fang-face." I told her, somewhat angry that she had found that funny.
"Well it is funny!" Cassandra said in Tara's defense, and she started laughing along with Tara.
I rolled my eyes and got up, checking to see if the coast was clear one last time and then walking slowly out of the alleyway, the girls right behind me. I looked both ways up and down the heart-covered street, looking for my recent chaser, but he was nowhere to be seen and I stepped out onto the road carefully. I suddenly spotted a cupid flying down right in front of us, putting his bow and a quiver that seemed to have just two arrows left down onto a rack with other bows and quivers before going into what looked like a cupid-only restaurant. I snorted as I read the pink and red sign in the window, "No Love Arrows or Bows Allowed, Leave Outside on Rack."
"Sweet!" Cassandra said and she shot out her Ice Storm suddenly, grabbing the bow and quiver, "Let's go back to Halloween Town!"
"MY LOVE!!" I heard an all-too-familiar voice call out.
"CRAP!" I yelled and I grabbed the girls again, Cassandra just barely holding onto what we had come for and I sped off like there was no tomorrow.
It took a LONG, LONG time and the guy kept chasing us, but we finally lost him...and got another problem.
"Oh, you are more beautiful than any star!" Another boy in a white shirt and pink shorts said, floating towards Tara.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Tara screamed and all of us started running once again.
It took even longer to lose him, and we were about to catch our breath when ANOTHER boy grabbed Cassandra and tried to kiss her while she fought back by shoving and hissing.
"You're so beautiful with your black fur and whiskers." The boy said dreamily, the hearts in his eyes as he puckered up and tried to kiss my sister again.
"GET OFF JERK!" Cassandra yelled as she pushed and shoved at him, managing to keep him from kissing her, "EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"
"GET OFF HER!" I yelled and shoved him off Cassandra, hauling her under my arm while I was at it and running away with Tara right behind me.
That boy was harder to lose than the other two combined, but we finally managed to figure out how to get back to the Holiday Tree Circle without being kissed by the crazed boys and the reindeer, who had been waiting patiently for our return, walked forward to greet us as we came back.
I shuddered from the experience, thinking about how close we had been to getting...
"EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" I yelled, shaking my head like mad, "I just grossed out myself just by thinking about that place! They should call it Gag City instead of Valentine's Town!"
"Or Gross-so Town!" Tara added, shuddering very hard as well.
"Now children..." Cassandra started, amazing calm about the whole ordeal.
"SHUT UP!" I yelled at Cassandra.
"Well, don't you think that was gross?" Tara asked Cassandra as she started laughing.
I suddenly leaned on Ivory, just so relieved that we had finally gotten away from the love-crazed boys and so tired from all the running, carrying, and yelling that I had done. Cassandra suddenly spoke up.
"Tiff?" Cassandra said, "We sort of...have a problem."
"Oh no, did we lose anything?" I groaned, turned around and still holding onto Ivory while I thought, I hope not, I do NOT want to go back unless it's to return the bow and quiver! Otherwise, I'm not going anywhere near that town again!
"No, we got three instead of just two arrows!" Cassandra said, holding up the arrows for me to see.
"WHOA! Hey, put them back!" I said, holding up my hands palms up as a warning as Cassandra gave me an irritated look while still holding the arrows, "If you cut yourself on one of them, you'll fall in love with the first guy you see! And if it's the Mayor you fall in love with?"
"YIKES!" Cassandra yelped and all but shoved the arrows back into the quiver, "These things are dangerous!"
"And also hazardous to your health if used improperly." I replied, walking over and taking the bow and quiver, slinging both over my shoulder and head.
"Now what do we do?" Tara asked, mounting Snowball.
"Phase two of my ingenious plan!" I said, using an accent from King Julian from the movie Madagascar as Cassandra mounted Angel-wing, "We go make Jack and Emily fall in love! Hurray everybody!"
"HURRAY!!" Both girls yelled back.
"Alright!" I said, dropping the accent and mounting Ivory as we took off flying straight into the sky, "Let's go!"
It was a lot easier going back since we knew where Jack's house and the stables were, so we got there in the shortest time possible for flying skeleton reindeer. As we landed onto the ground, I looked around for anybody who might see us and what we had with us. Seeing no one, not even in Jack's windows, we dismounted and hurryingly unsaddled the reindeer in the stables, who were happy to see their stalls again. As we walked out cautiously, we heard the Mayor coming out of the house and we dove into the space underneath the stairway that lead up to the front door where the Mayor was coming from. As we heard him walking down and humming the Pumpkin Song, Cassandra tugged on my arm.
"Tiff." Tara whispered so that I could hear but the Mayor couldn't.
"What?" I whispered back, using the same volume.
"Can we use the third arrow on the Mayor?" Tara asked, making me look at her funny for a minute until I realized what an excellent idea that was.
"Cover me." Was all I said as I sneaked out while he was just going out the gate and I swiftly pulled off the bow and aiming carefully.
"Shouldn't we do Jack and Emily first?" Cassandra asked, but it was too late.
I shot the arrow into the Mayor's big butt.
The minute that arrow pierced his flesh, the Mayor jumped about fifty feet in the air and landed onto his front, making us hold back painful laughter. As I watched while holding my mouth with one hand to keep back my laughter, the arrow slowly disappeared, having done what it was supposed to do.
"OW! WHO DID THAT?!" The Mayor demanded as he got up and I dove back into the space with the girls.
"I wonder who he's going to fall in love with?" Tara whispering, still trying not to giggle as I settled in with them as quietly as I could.
"We'll have to wait to see in about five seconds." I said, somewhat sure that it took that long.
"Oooooooh! Are you my soul mate, my darling little witch?" We heard the Mayor said dreamily after two seconds and it took all we had to keep from laughing as we peeked out and spotted the Mayor chasing after the little witch while the big witch was staring at them in absolute confusion.
"You are a genius." I told Tara as we came out and watched the fun, leaving the bow and arrows under the stairs in case Jack or Emily came out.
"I know. I know." Tara replied, acting somewhat modest about it and she shined her nails on her shirt as Cassandra hysterically laughed at what the Mayor was doing.
The Mayor was an absolute love-sick maniac with the dreaded hearts in his eyes, chasing after the little witch who had left her broom with her sister by accident and she was screaming at him to leave her alone. She ran all over the Town's Square with the Mayor on her heels (who wasn't floating after her, to my amazement) until she suddenly ran into her shop and locked the door, but that didn't stop him! He BURST through the door and I could hear the little witch scream inside as he ran in to find her. The big witch ran inside after him with the two brooms, probably chanting a few spells while she was at it.
"WHOA! I wish I knew the cure!" I said, regretting that I had shot him with a love arrow as I heard the poor little witch's screaming and the big witch yelling.
"At least we have two for Jack and Emily." Cassandra said, looking on the bright side as she also looked like she regretted suggesting shooting the love arrow into the Mayor.
"Yeah, maybe it won't be so bad that way." Tara said, shuddering underneath her umbrella at the noise from inside the shop.
"What is going on?" We heard someone ask and we turned around to see Jack come out, Emily right behind him and looking a little scared as it suddenly became quiet.
"Apparently...um..." I started, looking at the Witches' Shop and then back at Jack, "The Mayor has gone coo-coo for the little witch."
"Coo-coo?" Jack implored, raising an eye ridge at me while his hands went to his hips while slightly leaning forward in his usual fashion.
"He's in love." Cassandra said, looking at him before watching the shop again.
"Oh when did this happen? And why is the little witch screaming?" Jack asked, coming down to stand with us and also stare at the Witches' Shop.
"Happened just now, I believe." I said truthfully, though leaving the love arrows out, "And the little witch...doesn't...return his feelings I guess."
"I see, but why is she screaming?" Jack asked again, and then suddenly got suspicious, "You three wouldn't have anything to do with this, would you?"
I started to panic but inwardly forced myself to remain calm and I looked Jack in the eye.
"Do we look capable of doing something like making the Mayor fall in love?" I asked casually, ignoring the panic that tried to rise, "And making him chase the little witch all over the Town's Square like a maniac?"
Jack looked a little taken back at my to-the-point-question and then he began thoughtful-looking, staring at the Witches' Shop before shrugging.
"I suppose that is a little far-fetched." Jack admitted finally, and he started walking towards the shop while saying over his shoulder, "Sorry about that."
"It's alright, everyone makes mistakes." I said as Jack walked into the Town's Square towards the shop, which was now crowded by the local monsters, and I thought, And you don't know what a big mistake we made shooting that stupid love arrow.
"I'm...going back inside." Emily said as soon as Jack entered the shop and she all but ran back up the stairs, obviously scared of whatever was going on and she wanted no part of it.
As soon as the door shut behind her, I let out a relieved sigh, the girls doing the exact same thing.
"That was close." I said, watching the shop again for any signs of anybody coming out.
"Tell me about it." Cassandra agreed.
"Yeah, tell us about it." Tara said, slightly copying Cassandra.
Jack suddenly came out of the shop, looking very confused and the big witch came out after him, looking equally confused. The girls and I exchanged a look and we ran down to Jack who stood near the fountain, scratching his skull while his sockets were directed towards the ground.
"What's up?" I asked as we reached him and stopped while skidding a little.
"I thought you said that the little witch didn't return the Mayor's feelings?" Jack implored, looking at us with his confusion written on his skull.
"We did." Tara said as we stared at him in equal confusion.
"Well...they're kissing in there." Jack said and the pointed to the shop, "Here they come now."
We turned just in time to see the Mayor come out while leading the little witch by the hand, the little witch looking smitten now. I was stunned out my mind until I felt an arm around my waist.
"Now if only I could get you looking that way for me babe." I heard an unwelcome voice say in my ear as a head leaned its chin on my shoulder.
"Hello Duke." I said, showing all the dislike I had for him in my voice, "Aren't you afraid that I'll tell the witches on you?"
"Don't be like that." Duke said, and then he actually had the nerve to kiss my neck.
I used my Lightening Strike to flip him over from me and he sat up while giving me the most shocked look I have ever received.
"Now Duke, you should have known better." Jack scolded, helping his nephew to his feet, "Your father and I've told you time and time again, don't kiss a girl without her permission."
"Uncle Jack, I'm an adult, I'll make decisions for myself, thank you though." Duke said in a surprisingly polite tone as he straightened and dusted off his leather attire.
"I'll see you later Jack." I said as I walked back to the house, the girls following after me and I heard one of them blowing a raspberry and I knew without looking that it was directed at Duke.
"Hey! That's not very nice!" I heard Duke call in a teasing tone.
A bit of a jerk around women, but around kids, he's doesn't seem so bad. I decided as I walked through the gate.