Quintessence by Hugs.And.Kisses (romance book recommendations .txt) 📖

"We knew it was going to come to town sometime."

Aubrey sighed, shifting her grip on her weapon. "Yeah, but I wish it hadn't."

"Too late, here they come!" Barrel yelled, swinging at a pair of skeletons that had leapt out of the pack to try and attack him.

Aubrey flew up into the air, swinging the scythe. The blade detached from the handle and flew down on a chain, slicing through a ghost and two skeletons before hitting the ground. The fight proceeded this way for almost ten minutes, with the four trick-or-treaters managing to slowly but surely cut down the ranks of the mindless slaves, until...

"AIIIEEEEE!"

Aubrey looked over her shoulder, holding off a pair of skeletons with her scythe's handle, and her eyes widened. "Mercy!" A glowing green skeleton had the youngest Skellington triplet slung over its shoulder and disappeared into the Town Hall. Shoving away her own assailants, Aubrey flew out of the mass of fighting and through the doorway. The doors slammed shut behind her, and a glowing violet barrier cut them off from the rest of the town.

"Aubrey!" Lock shouted, turning around. A skeleton swiped his back with clawed finger bones, leaving three long scratches through the devil's shirt. Lock turned around, cutting it in half with the blade in his hand.

"Lock, we'll get her out of there later! We have to get rid of these guys first, before they destroy the town!" Barrel yelled, emphasizing his point by smashing a skeleton who was trying to rip off the head off a fountain near the walls INTO said wall. Lock grimaced and, with one last look toward the Hall, dove back into the fray to help Barrel.

Aubrey jumped as the door slammed shut behind her. "What the hell?" She yelped, turning and grabbing the knob. She let out a hiss of pain and pulled her hand back as a pulsing purple barrier attacked her hand with small bolts of lightning. "A warding barrier...?" She murmured. Shaking her head, she turned back around, adjusting her grip on the scythe. 'Let's deal with this first. Save Mercy, then deal with the door.' She looked around. 'But... where's the skeleton?' Taking a few steps forward, she lowered the weapon to her side. "Mercy? Are you in here?"

"Oh yeah. I'm in here." Aubrey looked up to see her little sister sitting on stage.

Aubrey let out a sigh of relief, putting her hand over her chest. "Mercy. You're all right. Wait, where's the thing that kidnapped you?"

Mercy shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't say kidnapped. I mean, is it really a kidnapping when you've got it all planned out?"

Aubrey took a step back. "What? Mercy, what are you talking about?" Something cold wrapped around her ankle and pulled her down to the floor. Aubrey looked over her shoulder to see that her own shadow had somehow grabbed her leg and was pulling her down to the ground. "Wha-what is this?"

"What's wrong, angel?" Aubrey froze, watching with terrified eyes as another shadow rose from hers, in an all too familiar shape.

"No." She whispered, her voice shaking. "No, no, no, this can't be happening. We killed you."

The Oogie-shadow chuckled. "Now, that's an interesting story." As Oogie continued speaking, more shadows wrapped around Aubrey's ankles and wrists, lifting her into the air. "You see, your fire happy boyfriend DID kill me. But thanks to the key's evil power when possessed by your dear father Raphael... well..." He did a twirl.

"Bastard." Aubrey spat as more tendrils of shadow crawled up her body, wrapping around her torso and pinning her arms to hers sides. She struggled in the bonds, glaring hatefully at Oogie.

"Ooh, I'm SO scared." He laughed. "But, before I decide what to do with you, I'll finish telling you my little story. Raphael's magic may have brought me back to "life," but my ashes were still all shook up with your precious tree's. It took me months to pull all my pieces back together, but when I finally did, I found myself buried beneath the ashes, paralyzed by the lingering magic that Raphael hadn't managed to destroy."

She spat at him, then shrieked as the bonds tightened, making her bones creak under the pressure, on the edge of breaking. Aubrey went limp in the tendrils' grip, tears of pain and beads of sweat mingling on her face.

Oogie seemed not to notice, thought Mercy was grinning sinisterly. "All I needed was a little help to get free."

"Which is where I came in." Mercy said, hopping off the stage edge and walking over next to Oogie.

Oogie patted her head. "Yes. That's where Mercy came in. The Skellington magic in her broke through yours and allowed me to escape. She collected the spell ingredients, the book from that idiot doctor's library, and did everything else I needed to get my body back. All just so she could get revenge on you. And now, I'm getting revenge on Halloween Town, and the rest of the Holidays. I'm going to become the king of all seven holidays!" Oogie cackled.

"You're insane." Aubrey gasped. "This will never work. We'll stop you."

"'We?'" Mercy asked, scoffing. "Who's this 'we' you speak of? Daddy's gone, and once we deal with you, Lock, Shock, and Barrel won't be a problem."

Oogie chuckled. "Well said. Now, say 'bye-bye' to the world, and hello to infinite darkness!"

The shadows wrapped around Aubrey's body slithered around her arms and legs, pulling them out and making the girl look much like a sacrificial offering. Aubrey struggled in their grip. "What are you doing?"

Mercy waved at her. "Bye Aubrey."

"That's the last of them." Barrel said, kicking the arm of a skeleton he just turned into dust.

"Good." Lock said, putting his sword back into the sheath buckled around his waist. "Now we can go-" His next words would have been 'help Aubrey,' if a scream hadn't issued from Town Hall. "Aubrey!" Forgetting any sense of planning he might've had, Lock ran at the doors, only to abruptly and painfully slam into the barrier. He stumbled back, then glared at the glowing purple mist before throwing every ounce of magic he could muster at it.

Shock and Barrel ran over. "Lock, stop it!" Shock said, grabbing his wrist before he could launch another fireball. "This isn't getting you anywhere!"

"Well what do you want me to do?" He growled, eyes flashing dangerously. "Leave her in there?"

"We're not saying that." Barrel said calmly. "It would just be a better idea to not waste all our energy trying to break in through a magical barrier. Trying to flambe it won't do any good."

Lock grumbled, crossing his arms. Shock pushed past him and put a hand against the purple barrier. Wincing as the minature lightning bolts attacked her hand, she sent a pulse of magic down her arm. It ate through the barrier like acid, and soon the purple mist was all but gone. The doors were slammed open, courtesy of Lock, and the three ran inside. "Wha...? It's completely empty!" Barrel said, walking further.

Lock walked up to the stage, looking around the room disbelievingly. His foot came down on something and he stepped back, his gaze switching to the floor. His eyes widened as he knelt down and picked the item up. "No..." He whispered, holding it in his palm.

It was Aubrey's engagement ring.

"Oh my god... Lock, come over here! We found Mercy!" Barrel called. Lock looked over his shoulder, and, tucking the ring in his pocket, walked over. The youngest of the Skellington triplets was lying on the floor beneath one of the benches, unconscious. Lock pulled her out from underneath the bench and scooped her up.

"C'mon. Let's get out of here."


Chapter 4

Chapter 4

In Which the Mad Get Madder

Shock looked up the stairs as Barrel came down. "How is he?"

"The wound wasn't too bad- it just bled a lot." The mage sighed, sitting down on the couch next to her.

"Barrel, that isn't what I meant."

His grey-blue eyes flickered over to her face, and he sighed. "I know, Shock. But he still isn't talking to anyone. Not even Johnny and Ed." He sighed again. "This is worse than the time Aubrey had to go back to Living World..."

Shock nodded, leaning her head on his shoulder. Barrel put his arm around her, kissing her cheek. They both looked up as Sally walked in. She smiled at the two of them. "Hey Sally." Shock greeted. "Did Dr. Finklestein say anything?"

Sally's smile faded, and she shook her head. "No. I'm afraid that the doctor doesn't know what could have happened to Aubrey." Her gaze went upstairs.

Barrel answered her unasked question. "He's still up there."

The ragdoll sighed. "Poor Lock. I can't imagine how he feels right now..." She started toward the kitchen. "I think I'll make him something, even if he doesn't want to eat it."

"You knock."

"What? Why do I have to?"

"Because I'm older than you and I say so."

"Two minutes, Johnny. Two freaking minutes!"

Both boys jumped as they heard a laugh behind them. "He's not going to talk to you." Mercy said. "He won't talk to anyone, and you've already tried."

Ed frowned at his younger sister. "Glad to see you're in such a great mood. You do remember that Aubrey disappeared trying to save you, right?"

"Of course I do. But what do you want from me? I'm not going to sit around and sulk." She turned down the hall and, flipping her hair over her shoulder, walked away.

Johnny stuck his tongue out at her back. "Geez. Cranky much?"

Ed sighed. "Unfortunately, she's right. Lock hasn't said a word in almost a week." He paused. "Did you see that bag she was carrying?"

Johnny raised a non-existent eyebrow. "Yeah... what of it?"

"It was rather large. What the heck is she carrying around that she needs a bag THAT big for it?"

Johnny paused to think about this, then grinned sinisterly. "I think I see your point. Shall we?"

Ed smirked. "Oh, we shall." The two of them took off down the hall, skirting around their mother, who lifted the plate of food in her hands over her head.

"Be careful, boys!" She called. There was a yell of 'okay' and 'yes ma'am' before she heard the door open and shut. Shaking her head, Sally continued down the hall and knocked on Lock's door.

There wasn't a reply, not that she had expected one. "Lock, it's Sally. I'm coming in, okay?" She turned the knob and pushed the door open, expertly balancing the other tray in her other hand. She peered in. "Lock…?"

The devil was lying on his bed with his back to