Halloween town, November 1st:
I was back in the tree portal, spinning in the center of the mini tornado. Did it help that I felt like Alice Kingsley and Dorothy at the same time? All around me leaves swirled, but this time, terrifying faces were behind them. Dream Catchers, Pumpkin head monsters, all of the things you don't want to see late at night. Trust me, you don't. They all snarled and hissed as I heard evil laughter pierce the night, and a silhouette of a humanoid potato sack appeared in front of me. "It's OOGIE'S turn to boogie now!" It cackled. Screams pierced the air….
Then I woke up.
I heard a knocking on my bedroom door. It must be my mom, I thought. "Mom, I just had the strangest dream! There were flaming skeletons and talking potato sacks…." Then I realized I WASN'T in my bedroom, and I was talking to my door.
Jack grinned. "Slept well?" he said, entering my room.
"Guess so, considering I called you mom." I responded, deciding not to tell him about my dream. "So what's on the agenda?" I said, rising up from my cot.
"I was thinking about going to find some books on the town history. There might be a page on portals or keys to the outside world. I saw some books on the matter at Doctor Finklestein's lab when I did research on Christmas."
"You did research on Christmas?! Why?" I asked.
Jack proceeded to tell me about when he first discovered Christmas, from falling down the tree to his and Sally's kiss on spiral hill.
"How sweet!" I exclaimed.
Jack blanched a bit, and I could tell he was recalling the night. We walked in silence for a while (oh yeah, I forgot to tell you we were outside at this point. I still had my Elphaba costume on, so I didn't change.) Suddenly, he asked me why I called myself Elphaba instead of just a witch. As soon as he had mentioned that, my eyes opened wide, all sparking and eager. I smiled, and enthusiastically told him all about Wicked. I talked his nonexistent ears off about the musical, and my dream to star in it when I grow up. When I was done, the lab was in view.
"You sure know a lot about it" Jack said, slightly overwhelmed.
"Sorry, I get carried away when I talk about it. It's my dream to be up there belting out Defying Gravity."
"Well, I believe that you'll live your dream someday."
With that, I smiled.
…..
(Narrator's POV)
When Jack saw Millicent smile, he thought back to the defiant and angry girl he found on spiral hill last night. The fire in her eyes was replaced with childlike wonder and delight. She was different than everybody else, a spirited girl that was a child in many ways, but had the wizened look of someone beyond her years. This separated her from the rest of the world. A very confusing child, indeed!
They walked up to the entrance, and Jack knocked on the door. It was answered by Jewel, a loving creation of the doctor.
"Hello Jack, what a pleasure to see you. Who is your little friend?" Jewel said.
"This is Millicent, and we're here to see if the doctor has any books on the history of Halloweentown." Jack said.
"Well come on in, then. The doctor is busy on something in his lab, so I don't think we should bother him. Personally, I'm a bit worried about him. He's been acting stranger than usual…" Jewel sighed. "The library is down this way."
Jewel led them to a metal door. Above them, they could hear strange clanking and shouting. The doctor, everyone thought. Inside the room were shelves of books, some messily stacked on the ground.
"This is where most of the books are held when not circulating around the house." Jewel said.
Millicent started looking through stacks, while Jack scanned the shelves. While looking, he was surprised by another pair of eyes staring back at him on the other side of the shelf!
"Sally?" Jack said, walking around the shelf to meet her.
"Hi, Jack." Sally said shyly. "Looking for books too?"
"Yes. Jewel said the doctor was behaving strangely earlier. Do you know anything about that?"
"No, but we're all very worried about him. He's never acted like this before, even when he's mad."
"Don't worry; he'll be back to normal soon." Jack said, putting a bony hand on her shoulder.
The two gazed into each other's eyes for a while, until the silence was broken on by Millicent.
"Hey, I think I searched the whole library, and found some good books to investigate. Let's go."
When they got the books together and headed for the door, they heard commotion and racket from upstairs.
I hope everything's lright. Jack thought.