Chapter 13 Jesters and Gypsies and Demons Oh My!

There they where. Sleeping peacefully in the clearing. Oblivious to what tragedy came to them last night, for now. They were also young, they looked either six and a half or seven; just about the age of Violet. The closest to Shock was a beautiful little girl dressed like a gypsy. She wore a burgundy, long sleeved shirt like her own, a skirt that looked like it was made for dancing, her hair was held back by a scarf headband, she was barefoot with two bengals surrounding each ankle, and had a gold coin necklace and belt. The other one was a jester with red and black striped clothes and hat. His shoes where black and looked suspiciously like ballet shoes. In one hand he carried a short, striped jester staff. The two looked so peaceful… wait, just two? Before Shock could start worrying about anything the jester boy started to stir. Shock hung back, motioning Violet to do the same, they would give them some time before they made an appearance.

"Ok, that hurt," the jester said, rubbing his head, "I wonder if dad can fix my trampoline like he can fix the car… Hey, since when is it day time?"

The jester looked around in a daze for a few seconds. Then he noticed the gypsy girl, who was starting to get up. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Still in a sleepy state she looked down at her bare feet and sleepily said.

"Oh, my sandals are gone. I must have lost them when I fell into the water," the gypsy girl gasped and clasped a hand over her mouth. Her eyes grew wide with horror and she started rummaging in a little bag tied to her costume. When she remained empty handed she jumped up and screamed, "No! Mr. Snaky! Mr. Snaky where are you?"

"What's wrong?" the jester asked.

The gypsy girl spun around, noticing the jester for the first time, "My snake! My pet snake Mr. Snaky! He was in my pouch and now he's gone. He has to be around here somewhere."

"Mind if we helped?" Shock stepped out from her hiding place behind a tree, Violet followed.

"Who are you?" the jester asked cautiously, hey what would you do in a situation like this?

"We're friends," Shock said smiling, "Now about your snake, are you sure he was in your pouch when you fell in?"

"Of course," the girl answered, completely ignoring the fact that she fell into a river, "He's a little heavy, I'd notice if he left. Please we have to find him; he might get cold out here."

"Well he can't be too far can he?" Violet said looking around, "What does he look like?"

"Greenish-brown with tan-brown rings," the gypsy said.

"Kinda like that tree over there?" the jester said, pointing a shaking finger.

They turned to see the tree in question not too far outside the trees that ringed the clearing. Huge brown and tan spot markings ran up the length of it, shimmering in the early morning sun. As their eyes traveled upwards the noticed the curve of a snake hood. Before Shock could stop her the gypsy girl sprinted towards it. The gypsy girl ran strait ahead until she reached the colossal creature. One of the creature's coils was bigger than she was, even taller than Shock once she caught up; Violet and the jester behind her.

"Mr. Snaky?" the gypsy girl gasped.

The creature turned its massive head around, lowering it to scrutinize the gypsy with one of its pitch-black, unblinking eyes. It opened it's mouth a little, revealing two fangs the size of spears inside. Shock whispered to everyone to remain calm, although she was stiff with fear herself. A pink tongue flickered out, rapidly waving around the gypsy girl, who giggled.

"Mr. Snaky that tickles!"She giggled again, "It is you! Wow you got so big!"

Mr. Snaky withdrew his tongue and moved his head closer to her, allowing her a hug. Then something strange happened. Scales around the part she touched started rippling like water, sending waves throughout the snake's body. Shimmering scales began to come off in waves of layers, flying off then vanishing like ghosts. In an entire mist of scales the huge snake disappeared. Leaving a much smaller Mr. Snaky in the palm of the gypsy girl's hand.

"Hey, your back to normal again," the gypsy girl said, stroking the snakes head, "I guess that's a good thing 'cause it'd take a lot more than a mouse every other week to feed you."

"Whoa," the jester said, "What just happened?"

"Can I ask you something," Shock approached the girl, "Why did you have a snake in your pocket in the first place?"

"Oh right," the girl stated, "I took Mr. Snaky out of his tank last night to show him my costume and to let him see all of the other kid's costumes out the window. My mom called me and said it was time to go trick-or-treating. So I went to put him back, but he wouldn't let go of my wrist. I couldn't get him off so I brought him along, hiding him from my mom by wrapping the pillowcase I was using as a candy bag around him. Later on he eased up and I moved him to my pouch where he wouldn't get cold."

"Ah, I see," Shock said smiling, "Well congratulations. Looks like you have your very own animal familiar."

"What's that?" the jester asked.

"When certain kinds of animals get really close to someone they will do anything for them. Like Mr. Snaky here, who sensed danger and wouldn't leave his friend's side."

"Can all familiars do that thing Mr. Snaky just did?" the gypsy asked.

"No," Shock smiled again, "My best guess is what we just saw was what Mr. Snaky wanted to be for Halloween."

They all laughed, except Violet, who was busy looking up the tree Mr. Snaky had been looking at when they got there.

"What are your names?" Shock asked the newcomers.

"I'm Chester, Chester the Jester. My friends call me CJ."

"My name is Geisel, and I'm a real gypsy. My mom said so 'cause my great grandparents where gypsies."

Violet was still looking up at the tree but it was a strain to look straight up so she took a few steps back. Noticing, Shock followed Violet's eyes up the tree. On one of the tree's lower branches, not too far up, a small irregular shape was perched against the trunk. The rising sun was starting to cast more light into the trees, shadowing their view of the shape and blinding them slightly.

"Hey you up there," Violet called up to the shape, which twitched slightly, "It's ok to come down now. The snake isn't going to bother you any more." The shadow shifted but made no move to come down.

Shock could have climbed it but instead she whistled for her broom and started to fly up to the branch, much to the awe of the gypsy and jester. Climbing higher to the creature Shock was able to pick up details about who, or what, it was. It was sleek, had green color skin, and some sort of membrane covering it. As she got closer she realized what it was, it was the missing third child. It was a demon, a winged demon. He looked taller and older than the others, maybe seven. The demon boy was curled up with his claws on the back of his neck, hiding his head with the wings that grew from his back. The branch was strong enough to hold both of them so Shock dismounted and crept carefully towards him.

"Are you ok?" she asked quietly. The demon flinched; then unfolded his wings slightly to shake his head no. "What's the problem? Are you hurt?"

The demon was silent. His wings opened wider and his head came up. Tear trails where running down his green face from yellow reptile eyes. "There were only two of us out there," he gasped, holding back more tears, "Just me and him." The boy looked at Shock desperately, "Where is he? I didn't see him down there."

"Who? Who isn't down there?" Shock asked concerned with the goblin's ranting.

"My best friend, Charlie. Where is he? He.. he has to be here! There were two of us out there." He turned his back to her, going back under his wings to hide his sobbing.

In an instant Shock knew how the goblin boy had died, a long cynical butcher's knife stuck out of his back.

"Has to be here… two of us… easy target. First me… then him… right? Someone else… there had to be… someone else."

Shock's heart broke for him. She sat down next to him and put an arm around him, carefully avoiding the knife. He was so skinny, like he hadn't eaten in his whole life. Her arm fit all the way around him. "Shhh, everything's going to be ok. It's ok. What's your name?" The demon's crying started to subside.

"Marco," he said weakly.

"Marco, that's a good name. It means guardian."

Marco wiped a few tears away, "Really?"

"Really. My name is Samantha, but I never liked it. So everyone calls me Shock now."

"Everyone? There are others here?" Marco asked quietly.

"Yes, I'll introduce you to them. But as a first step we have to get that knife out of your back," when Marco flinched again Shock reassured him, "Don't worry, I know how to heal this kind of wound. Just close your eyes, ball your fists, and stick your tongue out."

"Why do I have to stick my tongue out?" Marco asked.

"You don't, it's already done," Shock smiled and showed him the knife she pulled out while they were talking; "Now there's going to be a scar but other than that you're fine. Step two is getting out of this tree. Can you fly with those wings yet?"

"No," Marco said eyeing his newfound wings, "I climbed up here when the snake chased me."

"Oh well, you'll learn eventually," Shock whistled for her broom again, "What did you do to it anyway?"

"Nothing, I woke up then I saw the other two and when I tried to wake up the gypsy the snake crawled out and chased me."

They both climbed onto the broom and joined the three on the ground, who had been listening intently. The jester was rubbing his head tenderly and the gypsy seemed to unplugging her ears. Violet was petting Mr. Snaky on the head.

"Everyone all right?" Shock asked.

They nodded in unison. "Are there really other people here?" the gypsy asked.

"Yeah, a whole town full of them," Violet said as Mr. Snaky curled around her fingers.

The jester turned to Shock, "Are they all… like us?"

"Yes," Shock said, "Everyone in this world is dead, even me and Violet here. But that's not something to be scared of. You have been chosen to do an important job."

"What's that?" Marco asked.

"To make Halloween happen, every year this world makes sure that the Mortal World has Halloween."

"Where are we?" they asked in unison.

"A wonderful place, a special place where the dead can start again, where it's Halloween everyday. Come on, I'll show you."

She motioned the new arrivals to follow her out of the woods. They talked together about their families and what they liked doing. Chester went on about him having grandparents that had lived as carnies and how he thought he was meant to perform. He even did a few cartwheels just for the fun of it. Geisel talked about her great-grandparents and how they survived the Holocaust. She said the coin on her necklace was a lucky gypsy coin she had gotten from her grandmother. Violet told them about her plants and the tree house.

The conversation then turned to Marco, who had remained quiet while the others were talking. He quickly pointed out his wings and talked about that until Halloween Town came over the horizon. While the other children stared in awe and wonder, Marco gave it a sideways glance before looking down at his feet.

Shock put a hand on the demon's shoulder and pulled him aside, "Marco, you know if there's anything you'd like to talk about, you can talk to me."

Marco looked over his shoulder at his fellow arrivals, "It's just that… I don't really have a story. My mom died when I was born and my dad was never around for more than two days. The only person who was there for me was… Charlie."

Then it was decided, she would have to find him, "Marco, if he really means that much to you, then I will try my hardest to find out what happened to the both of you."

"You'll find him?" Marco said, eyes hopeful.

"If you want me to, but remember Marco, sometimes people are never found. Charlie might be one of them."

Marco's eyes fell for a moment, "But that doesn't mean I shouldn't try. Even if you don't find him, I at least need to find out what might have happened. Just so I know something."

The others had stopped staring and were running down the hill towards town. Marco took the opportunity to shed a few more tears and Shock took the opportunity to give Marco a hug. Much to her delight, Marco hugged back.

"Don't worry Marco, it might take a while, but everything's going to be ok."

Lock was bored out of his head. Shock was meeting the new comers while he was stuck lifting boxes of Halloween decorations in the town's square first thing in the morning. The Mayor wanted them moved around because he couldn't decide how they should be stored for next year. After this he would be stuck taking the Christmas decorations out of storage. Most of the time Lock thought that the Mayor just liked bossing him around without getting his house filled with frogs the next day.

The boxes weren't light either; but that didn't bother Lock so much. He just wished someone would help him, which wouldn't happen anytime soon because when people found out Lock had to help with storage work, everyone else had stopped. They didn't like being bossed around by the Mayor either. Lock leaned against the fountain, watching as the Mayor kept spinning his head from happy to sad and writing things down on the plans for the Christmas celebration two months away. While Lock was slowly losing his mind, he saw Shock coming down the street with the new arrivals in town. He went to say hello and was greeted like a celebrity.

"You made that huge house all by yourself!" Geisel said.

"It's so cool," Marco said.

"Do we really get to live there?" Chester said.

"Uhhh I guess; if the Mayor already gave us permission."

Just then the Mayor noticed their arrival. "There you are Shock. Glad to see you've accepted my terms. Ah, what fine new arrivals we have," the Mayor said, "I hope you all strive to be exceptional members of our town and-"

Lock stopped listening around there and started whispering to Shock, "What did he mean by terms?"

"I hate to admit this but the Mayor is getting smarter. He knew I wanted this so I had to cut a deal with him. Today's my first day on the job."

"Shock you didn't," Lock said sadly.

"I had to. There was no changing his mind. Besides, I promised myself I'd make it up to you for the deal you made with Jack."

"You didn't have to make it up to me, I wanted to do it."

"And I want to do this. You're obviously not seeing the bright side of this. Think about who we're leaving at home, alone, without supervision."

"What about Barrel and Kevin?"

Shock gave one of her famous wicked grins, "Exactly."

The Mayor was still going on about being a good citizen, not knowing or caring that the kids had stopped listening and where just spacing out. A loud honking racket pierced the air bringing them all back to their senses. The Mayor's black hearse drove down the street, without a driver. The mayor ran yelling after his blaring hearse. The kids started laughing like crazy. Barrel and Kevin showed up then, with mischief written on their faces.

"And that dear pupils is how much fun you can have around here with just two bricks, a lock pick, a piece of tape, and some string."

Marco recovered from laughing first, "You know, I think I'm going to like it here."

"Same here," Geisel and Chester said at the same time, causing them to giggle again.

"Good, I was afraid that we were becoming model citizens. I mean, you don't look like the hooligans of tomorrow," Lock said.

"We are too!" CJ said, "I've got in trouble for cheating on my spelling test and eating everything in my classmates' lunch bags before they even got to recess."

"Ha! You were caught," Gisele said smugly, "I on the other hand got away with convincing the kid who sat next to me to give me his answers to the math test and taking other kid's lunch money."

All eyes turned to Marco, who looked a bit nervous, "Uh… I um… break locks?"

"That's it?" Gisele said.

"Hey, don't be like that," Shock said, "Picking locks is a very useful talent, got me out of jail more than once."

"Really!" the kids said, including Violet.

"Yeah, long story, I'll tell you later. But for now…" Shock trailed off as The Mayor came stomping towards them, having caught up to his run away hearse.

"Cretins! Do you think this is an acceptable for legal guardians to behave?" You could almost see the steam coming out of his angry-sad face.

Shock tensed, Lock stood a little straighter, and Barrel and Kevin braced themselves as thought they were just waiting for the beating that Shock would inflict.

"Follow my lead," Gisele whispered to her new arrival peers, her face then turned into the picture of innocent concern, "Oh my gosh Mr. Mayor what happened to your car?"

The flustered Mayor did a double take before answering, "What happened? They happened! Everything was peaceful in this town until those ruffians showed up! They-!"

"Hey, wait up," Gisele interrupted, "What makes you think that they did that?"

"I know they did it!"

"Can you prove it?" Gisele asked. The other kids caught her drift and started to ask questions too.

"Did you see them do it?" Chester asked.

"No, but I-"

"Does your car have evidence of forced entry?" Marco asked.

"The lock was OK, but-"

"Did you compromise the scene so that searching for fingerprints will be useless?" Violet asked.

"Yes! Wait, what?"

"Do you have an mechanic?" Chester asked.

"The Werewolf usually-"

"Do you even have insurance?" Violet asked.

"Uh-"

"Forget it, how good can a hundred-year-old hearse be?" Gisele asked.

"Hey! This is-"

"A classic yeah, yeah but come on. It's bound to run into problems eventually. Right?" Gisele cut in.

"Right…"

"Right! So instead of standing around yelling at people you should get someone to look into this before you get yourself in an accident." Gisele encouraged.

The Mayor straightened himself, lost in thought. He slowly turned and walked away.

A collective, "Wow," came from the quartet.

"In all my years of schmoozing and conning I have never gotten The Mayor to do that," Shock said, "How'd you do it?"

The new arrivals shared a look at each other, "T.V."

After a moments pause, the whole of the group burst into laughter. They spent the whole day in town square sharing tales of mischief, adventure, and even the trio's banishment. Before they knew it, was time to go home. Violet chose a small room close to Shock's and almost designed the same, the "prototype" as Lock called it. Geisel had chosen what had once been a plain room but which mysteriously had been decorated with lots of draping lengths of fabric, it was later discovered that the extra bed sheets had gone missing. Jester decided he didn't want a bed in his room and mad himself a nice hammock to sleep in. Marco decided on a room that started on the second floor and went to the third, it had lots of exposed beams that were good for climbing. Shock went around to each room and checked on them before she went to sleep. She had saved Marco for last.

Marco was up on one of the high rafters looking out a window when she reached him, "How are you holding up?"

He smiled back, "It's better here than I thought. I talked to more than three people today, figured out that rat stew really tastes good, and for the first time in a long time I didn't have to cook my own dinner."

"Didn't anyone take care of you at all?" Shock said with concern.

"There was my neighbor, Ms. Jacobson, she was really nice but she was really old and it felt like I was taking care of her most of the time until she…" Marco trailed off.

"…she what?"

"She… died. About a year ago, she went to the store and had a heart attack. No one even came to see me, not even Charlie knew. I found out then that I could take care of myself, that I was already doing it for a while. So for a long while, I did. When I came home from school one day and found out that dad was coming home for a day I faked her voice and made an excuse why she wasn't there. My dad didn't even care."

Shock knew that Marco was done talking, for now, "Don't worry Marco, you'll find that people around here care. Even the Mayor has something like caring in him; I just haven't found it yet."

Marco gave a small laugh before climbing down from the beam and into bed, he yawned, "Goodnight."

But before Shock left the room she herd him quietly say, "You know, I thought I'd never get to have one."

"A what?" Shock asked.

"A family."

Page Break

Belinda surveyed the damage done to the lab. Their potion was gone and their scientist was turned to stone. All that time wasted, for nothing. The only thing that gave her satisfaction was that the idiot Vincent didn't spill that they where behind it. Her partner didn't seem so upset. He was busy slinking around the broken bottles and searching higher shelves for something.

"What are you doing Oogie?" Belinda snapped angrily at him, "Forget it! We lost!"

"You don't get it do you? We never loose," Oogie said, "So what if they win a few rounds? The game isn't over until one side gives up. Aha!"

Oogie crawled from a higher shelf, holding something that looked like two test tubes and a gray rock. When he was down Belinda took the items from him. One test tube was filled with red goo, Shock's blood. The other was empty but for a few drops of a shimmering blue liquid, the stone potion antidote. With a closer look at it, the gray rock was really a stone bug. What was she supposed to do with all this?

Oogie chuckled at the look on her face, "Don't be fooled, these are the very ingredients needed to… attain a new scientist. He won't be as brilliant as Vincent, but he will have a certain edge that will prove most useful to us. Now I believe there is still some stone potion in that bug sprayer."

Belinda walked over and picked up the abandoned bug sprayer, she felt some of the potion swish around inside. Maybe enough for one dose. She packed the items in a tattered backpack as Oogie motioned her out the door.

"Where are we headed?" she asked him.

Oogie chuckled again, "Remember that sickly-sweet little town we visited last year?"

"Yeah, but how does that help us? You said it would take a long time for it to be ready."

"It won't be. But remember the green house where we left it? Well, that happened to belong to our unsuspecting scientist's sister. His twin sister, his only family, someone he could never ever live without."

"I get it. Off to Nod's Limbs." Belinda smiled.

"Hold on," Oogie interrupted his partner, "Remember that they are the ones taking care of the plant. We'll have to wait until it's finished."

"What! That could take months! What are we going to do? Sit around and talk for almost a year?"

"That doesn't sound too bad. I like it when we talk," Oogie thought, and then quickly brushed the idea away.

No, there wasn't room for those kinds of thoughts. Belinda was ruthless and merciless, something that he admired in her. If she started thinking he was useless she might desert him and his plan will fail. He needed to think of something for her to do. Oogie recalled a phase two of the master plan; maybe it would be enough for Belinda to use that one first.

"Ok, ok, since you're so impatient we can start phase two of the plan early. So long as you swear that if it works, and you have your revenge, you still stay with me to carry out the rest of the plan. Deal?"

"You and your deals," Belinda mumbled, "Fine. I swear to carry out the first plan with you. Now where do we find this 'golem maker' you talked about?"

"Oh, in a wonderfully miserable and gray town called Clamburg. There we find an evilly charming little girl named Vendetta. She's the one we need."

"We're getting help from a little girl?" Belinda asked.

"Maybe you need a little history lesson. Shock joined me at the age of seven, by the time she was nine she had successfully broken into more than ten different homes, stolen more candy than you can imagine, learned to make and wield weapons, been arrested and escaped twice, and even kidnapped a certain notable figure. Never underestimate what little girls can do."

"Whatever," Belinda grumbled, she didn't admit it, but that was kind of impressive.

She offered her hand and Oogie climbed on. No matter whom they need help from, no matter how many people she needed to hurt. Shock was going to suffer for what she did to her. Belinda would have her revenge.

Huzzah! Yes it is me so soon after my last chapter! I had written the bulk of it in advance and it turns out that the blank spots were easier to fill in than I thought. Yes this is the end of this story. As you can see, the story is not yet over. *mysterious evil music plays* Look for my next title "Friend or Fiend". Coming eventually. Comment or suffer! Muah ha ha ha!