Nightmare In Halloweentown

Chapter: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Chapter IX

They kicked and yelled, trying to escape from the bag, but their pleas were ignored by their captors. Soon enough, the children were let out in Oogie's Casino.
"WHY'D YOU BRING US HERE?!" shouted Sora, dusting himself off.
"Nothing personal," said Oogie in a twisted, jocular way, "just following orders."
Before either Tom or Sora could retort, there was that familliar "BAMPF!"ing sound. "Good evening, gentleman..." said Number 208 in a bored voice; he looked down at Shock, "...and lady." he added.
"Here they are, 208," chuckled Oogie, obviously proud of himself, "the bone-bag and the flesh-wad."
"Well done." said Number 208.
"Why am I here?" asked Tom impatiently. "I haven't done anything wrong!"
"Ah, but you have!" said the cloaked man. "You are being charged with the crime of hiding a wanted man in your 'home.' If you can even call that peice of crap you live in a home."
The skeleton glared at him.
Number 208 gazed up at Oogie. "Once again, I thank you, Mr. Oogie Boogie. I'll take in from here."
"Whatevuh." he said, sounding disappointed. Sora figured he must have expected a reward.
The IDP member stood both Sora and Tom up so that one was on either side of him. He put one hand on their shoulders. Neither boy would run, for fear of what may happen.
Silence for a split second, then...BAMPF!

Oogie's casino disolved before Sora eyes. It was all sucked into a dot about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. That all happened in a milisecond. The nextmilisecond, Sora was flying forwards at what seemed to be the speed of light. Color and light skyrocketed past him--or was he zooming past them? He couldn't hear a thing because of the whistling of the hot wind in his ears.
"TOM!!!!" he screamed. No answer. Or did he answer, and he just couldn't hear it?
His eyes, now tearing, slammed shut. He screamed. The wind stopped. He still seemed to be moving a little. Then, he felt like he was sinking--fast. Then...BAMPF!!!
Sora landed with a thud on a hard, cement floor. He opened his eyes and Tom lay right next to him.
"Your first time's your worst." said Number 208 who stood above them, but he was blocked by bars.
Sora got his bearings took a look at their surroundings. They were in a jail cell! And Number 208 was outside calling the shots. The room was dreary; the floors and walls painted gray. There were two bunkbeds in their cell and other cells occupied the room.
"Let us out!" shouted Sora.
Number 208 said nothing, and walked away.

He walked into the monitor room where Betelgeuse sat in the revolving chair. "What's up?"
"Sora and your nephew are in custody." he said. "Now get out of that chair."
Betelgeuse got up and let Number 208 sit down. "R-really?"
"Yup. I really don't understand how you couldn't capture just one of them."
"HEY, that kid attacked me!"
"Oh, boo-hoo, Betelgeuse." he mocked, forgetting to use the ghost's codename. "You're dead. He can't kill you again."
"So are you, Barkis!" Betelgeuse snapped back. "But that doesn't mean you can show off by going out on dangerous missions, knowing nothing can kill you!"
Number 208, better known as Lord Barkis Bittern, turned around and leered at his partner. "That is NOT why I get to go out on dangerous missions."
"Oh?" Betelgeuse said snidely.
Barkis pulled down his hood. His skin was blue and his eyes were yellow. His hair was a sallow gray and there were large gashes and scars on his face. "THIS is why I get to go on dangerous missions!" he said, pointing to the largest scar. "Do you know what those idiot corpses did for killing their beloved Emily? They wanted to give me a fate worse than death!! They tortured me; beat me! But I escaped! I go on! THAT'S why I go on those missions and not you. Your failure to capture Sora just proves your incompitance."
Betelgeuse turned and walked out of the computer room, muttering something about him probably not being able to feel the pain. The ghost with the most wandered through the enourmous IDP HQ silently until he got to the dorm section. He got to dorm number 278 and rapped on the door.
"Yes?" came a young girl's voice from the other side.
"It's me." said Betelgeuse sadly.
"Oh! Come in!"
Betelgeuse walked in. On the bed was a pretty girl with dark-caucasian skin about 13 years old. He had beautiful blue eyes and long blue hair. She, too, was in an IDP robe. "Zoe..." he began forlornly.
"Are you okay, Dad?" she asked him, seeing the look on his face.
He ignored her. "Zoe; I think it's time we have ourselves a little family reunion."
"Huh?" the girl named Zoe was confused.
"Just come with me."

Betelgeuse led his daughter to the prison cell that had Tom Bohnne and Sora in it. They were sleeping in the beds, now. Sora, with no blanket, shivered uncomfortably. Tom, on the otherhand,had taken off his sweatshirt and used it as a blanket.
"See that skeleton?" said Betelgeuse.
"Yes."
"He's your cousin; my nephew. His name is Tom Bohnne."
She was silent for a moment. "Who is that boy in black?"
He shrugged. "That's a hard question to answer, exactly who he is. All I know is his name; Sora."
"Sora." she repeated quietly.
There was a long silence. "I know you never knew your mother and the only family you have is me, but maybe you'd like to sped some time with your cousin." Zoe nodded silently, still staring into the cell. This was like a dream come true to her. She had always wanted someone her age to talk to.
"G'night." said Betelgeuse softly. He left the room.
The girl stared into the cell silently for another ten minutes. She couldn't believe she had family. She would've prefered her long-lost mother, but this was good, too. Fate was tempting her to wake him up. She walked right up to the bars of the cell and stuck her head in between two of them. "Tom." she whispered.
No reaction.
She whispered a bit louder this time. "Tom!"
He began to stir and Zoe's heart skipped a beat. "Huh?" he grumbled. He looked over at Zoe outside his prison and his sleepy face turned to an ugly scowl. "Get out of here!" he ordered. "I'm trying to sleep. And aren't you guys supposed to have your hoods up? And--wait! How do you know my name?"
Zoe couldn't help but feel a little giddy. "My name is Zoe." she whispered slowly. "I'm your cousin and I'm going to get you two out of here."
Tom got to his feet. The sweatshirt dropped to the floor and he was only in a black T-shirt and jeans. "But why?" The suprise that Zoe was Tom's cousin and a member of IDP was suprising enough, but now she was going to help Tom and Sora escape!
"We're family." she said, taking a paperclip out of her pocket and trying to pick the lock.
"Wait! I have to make sure I can trust you! Uh...what's my uncle, your father's name."
"Betelgeuse." she said within a second. "Now wake up Sora."
Tom still felt skeptical, but he didn't want to miss the oppurtunity to get out of here. He reached his hand to the top bunk and poked his friend. "Sora! Time to get up!"
He rolled over. "Do I have to?!"
"Fine, if you don't want to escape."
He sat up, wide awake now. ''Escape?'" he looked over at Zoe. "And who's that?"
At that moment, the door swung open slowly. "I'll explain on the way." she said. "We have to get you to my dormroom so we can think of a plan of where I can bring you guys. Now follow me."

Like huge but graceful rats, the three children scampered down the hallway almost silently. The corridors were seemingly endless. They were all a metallic blue color and had doors parallel to each other on each side of the hall every fifteen feet. Occasionally, instead of a door, there would be a passageway leading to another corridor identical to the one they were traveling throught. They could not even see thirty feet in front of them. Past that thirty feet was a seemingly-black abyss. But as they rushed towards it, it became clear that the rest of the hallway was just the same as the last thirty feet. They were running for about twenty minutes when Sora spoke up.
"How huge is this place?" whispered Sora.
"Very huge." replied Zoe simply. "In fact, I have no idea where in the universe it is."
"What was that noise?" Tom said.
They all stopped running to listen. It was the familiar pitter-patter of footsteps.
"Someone's coming!" whispered Zoe. "Hide!"
"Hide where?" retorted Sora. "This is an empty hallway."
Zoe pulled up one of her sleeves to reveal a watch on her wrist. "There's always a place to hide." She pressed a button on the side of the watch.
Nothing seemed to have happened. Sora looked down and his body was gone!
He looked for Zoe and Tom to tell them, but they had disappeared as well. Then, out of the abyss, Zoe's voice came.
"Be absolutely silent." she whispered. "We're invisable now."
How is this possible? thought Sora, his brain hurting from all the insane possibilities.
At that instant, two IDP members with their hoods up turned the corner. They were laughing and joking with each other.
"Well, I'll see you tomorrow." said one of them, a man with a raspy voice. "I've got some paperwork to file, then I'm hitting the hay." He walked to the door nearest to Zoe and turned the knob.
"Alright, then." said the other one, a man with a distinguished Russian accent. "See ya."
The first one stepped into the room and shut the door behind him while the latter kept walking and turned the corner. Once Zoe was sure they were gone, she pressed the button again and she, Sora, and Tom all became visable again.
"How did you do that?" whispered Sora in awe.
"Standard IDP watch." she explained. "Now let's get moving. We turn at the next hallway and then we're home free."

The three of them began running again. They turned the corner of the hallway then...OOF! Zoe had bumped into something, Sora bumped into Zoe, and Tom bumped into Sora. All three children fell to the floor. They all looked up and saw Lord Barkis Bittern glaring down on them.
"Number 478." he sneered. "What are you doing out this late...and with the prisoners?"
"Number 208! I-I-I-I..."
Barkis sighed. "I always knew you were trouble. Any dughter of that hack you call a father could be nothing but trouble."
She got up the courage to talk back. "Leave my father out of this!"
"That's big talk for a girl who's in such big trouble. Number 13 will hear of this."
The hearts of Tom Bohnne and Sora sank. Maybe escape from IDP was futile.
Barkis looked at the other two children. "He may want to see you, too."
Their eyes widened.
Lord Barkis lead them back the way they came with several some different turns. After about ten minutes of walking in terrified silence, they reached a door that looked like every other. It had a gold number "13" placed on it in some fancy font. Barkis knocked on the door.
"Yes?" came a voice almost immediately from inside the room. The voice had an idiosyncratic English accent that sounded nervous, as if something was about to attack the person.
"Number 13; I bring you our traitor, Number 478. Not to mention the two prisoners."
There was no instant answer this time. After two seconds, there was an "alright, send them in."
Barkis opened the door for them. "After you."
The children walked in with Barkis. Inside was not what they expected. It was an office; a plain office. Like one you'd find in a corporation building on Earth. It was very odd, though Barkis seemed to be used to it. In the chair behind a desk was a very odd looking man. He was almost as pale as Tom's bones. He had a long, gaunt face with a long nose. He also had big eyes with unnaturally tiny pupils that looked over the kids. He had a lot of messy, curly black hair that stuck up somewhat and he wore an IDP robe. And, as if he was on Earth, his nameplate didn't say "Number 13;" it read "Vincent Malloy."

Chapter: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9