"Something isn't right." Barrel said uncertainly his bright green eyes looking up at the still night sky. Lock and Shock exchanged brief glances, looking around the giant bags of food they were carrying. Shock shook her head.
"Not again Barrel." Lock complained his tail twitching in an irritated fashion. "I'm getting fed up with this! Just because you can 'see into the future' doesn't mean that we need to raise the town into a panic every time you get a bad feeling!"
"I'm serious guys!" Barrel objected. He knew this time something was seriously wrong, or something will be wrong very soon. "Something bad is about to happen. And I'm talking Oogie taking over Halloween Town bad."
"Well if that happens you can let me know, until then being psychic and predicting the possible end of our town does not get you out of doing the dishes." Lock replied harshly. "Or carrying stuff. Now catch!" he added chucking a bag at Barrel who caught it but lost his balance and fall backward onto the ground. "You can't even catch that?" Lock asked sounding rather disgusted with Barrel's fall. "I swear you are not my brother."
"At times I don't wanted to be related to either of you but you don't hear me complaining." Shock replied tartly tossing her head so that her black and green streaked hair moved in the classic feminine hair swish; keeping one hand on her purple witch's hat so it didn't fall off.
"You just did complain about it." Barrel pointed out. He saw his mistake at once as his sister's eyes lit up and he lifted up off the ground. "Ok! Ok! I'm sorry! C'mon Shock put me down!" Barrel yelped. He was dropped and fell once again to the ground with a thud, much to the amusement of his older brother. It wasn't fair! He didn't have Shocks telekinetic powers or Lock's pyrokinetic powers that developed as they hit about ten. But instead he was late in developing and didn't even get his powers until this year when he turned thirteen. And seeing the future didn't really help him out against his siblings. Truth be told, he and his siblings should be a lot older; but, Oogie had them sign some sort of magical contract that stopped them from aging so they would never become older and thus never become wiser. Eventually Jack tore up the contract and broke the curse, but he was a bit late. Barrel had been repeating the same grade for who knows how long, and both the Skellington kids had passed him in age. Hally was a year older than he, which made her a year younger than Lock, and Jake was Shock's age.
"Barrel! Will you stop spacing out and hurry up!? Count Dracula assigned us way too much History homework and I don't want to fail his class. I've repeated enough grades to last me a lifetime." Shock said irritably.
"Coming!" Barrel called running after his two older siblings who were much further down the path than he. He tripped and crashed to the ground spilling food in every direction. At once he started picking it up as quickly as he could, in an attempt to avoid being yelled at.
"I can't believe this! Barrel, you are such a klutz." Lock said rolling his dark emerald eyes. Barrel didn't respond. Normally, Lock and Shock weren't this mean to him... well Shock wasn't. "You must be failing Coach Freddy Kruger's P.E. class."
"Sorry guys," Barrel apologized knowing all to well that in this mood Lock just was waiting for Barrel to challenge him. Barrel knew better than to even try to fight his stronger, faster, older brother who just happened to also control the power of fire.
"Oh look, he's sorry. Yeah well sorry can't always cut it." Lock grumbled as Barrel rose to his feet running after his two older siblings. "Come on hurry up." Lock snapped. Finally Shock seemed to have heard enough of Lock yelling at Barrel. "Ow! Hey what was that for!?" Lock shouted as Shock's broom came down upon his fire red hair with considerable force. Lock whipped around seeing his older sister holding the food with one hand and the thin wooden handle of her broom with the other. Lock scowled at her; his abnormally sharp teeth glittering in the dim light. "Your lucky we're here our I'd beat you down right now." Lock said angrily.
"If you didn't pick on Barrel so much and actually started helping out I wouldn't have hit you." Shock replied following her younger brother inside the dark looking house. Barrel took his time going inside his short dark green hair being pushed behind him by an icy forbidding breeze.
"But something bad is going to happen." Barrel told himself his voice no louder than the wind rustling the dead leaves around him. His bright green eyes looked at the bright full moon hanging high in the sky, just like every night. So what made this so diffrerent? It is different, Barrel thought to himself."I know it."
****************
"Double, Double, Toil and Trouble." Trouble began one hand gripping her brothers pale strong hand and the other tightly holding Toil's smaller more slippery hand. Toil was trying to escape her older sister's grip but did not succeed. This is really stupid, Trouble thought to herself watching the yellow, blue, and orange flames dance beneath the black caldron.
"Fire burn and caldron bubble." she continued but this time her brother's smooth and icy voice joined her in her tired and sarcastic chant. Once he joined in some of her self doubt seemed to vanish. The liquid in the cauldron began to twirl in a counter clockwise motion. The blackish green mixture never once spilling out over the edge.
"The powers of the holidays are right now to be freed." Toil had finally joined in and to tell the truth Trouble was almost enjoying herself watching the liquid stir and flames rise with each and every word she said. "Escape from those who've held you; and our words you shall heed." She felt the sizzle of magic all around her. It was the witching hour, three in the morning and not a soul, except perhaps Emily Rose, was up. Even the vampires had stopped their nightly hunt. The effects of this disaster would have a few hours before they were discovered. "Those who've used you for so long; have caused your humiliation!" No longer were the siblings recalling old words from a spell they had studied a few years ago. Trouble felt the words sounded so natural flowing from her mouth mixing with the voices of her siblings. "A new Master's, what we offer you, who knows the purpose of your creation!" They were underground so it was a sign that their spell was working when wind began to flow around them in the direction of the swirling water. The water itself was slowly turning into a drab gray smoke that moved around the kids and out across the town looking like nothing more than a light fog. "Never used for causing pain only causing the smallest fright," Trouble continued her eyes blazing with pure undeniable power. All the liquid was gone and the fog and left the cavern. Trouble's black and green hair lashed around wildly her; her voice was filled with excitement. This could be fun after all. "Your new Master Oogie Boogie knows how to treat you right!" she almost screamed the last words trying to be heard over the wind which howled in her ears it's ear piercing screech was almost deafening as the spell began to take effect on the unsuspecting town around them.
****************
A low fog drifted lazily through the town, but unlike the normal hazy mist, this strange gray mass of air slid through the open windows and under the small gaps under the door. This persistent fog blocked out the pale moon as it lay like a suffocating blanket over the sleeping town. But not only Halloween was covered by the ghastly smoke. The eerie fog traveled over the snow of Christmas Town, through the four leaf clovers that covered St. Patrick's Day Town; every Holiday world was covered in this strange spectral smoke. It slipped in and out of the houses; washing over each of the citizens. Even the Skellington house had fallen under this spectral mist. Under the door and up the stairs it traveled as if in search of something, or someone. Under the door of Jack and Sally's room the evil mist crept gently covering the skeleton man and rag doll woman. Sally moaned in her sleep but the mist made no sort of sign of its arrival. Sally rolled over giving an involuntary shudder. Even in her sleep her prophetic powers were telling her something was up. She opened her mouth and a small orange and black wisp escaped her lips. At once her stitches began to grow smaller and smaller eventually fading away into nothingness. Beside her Jack's bony jaw fell open the slightest bit only allowing a small wisp of the same orange and black color escape him. At once flesh began to spread over his bones his chest began to rise and fall as breathing became a necessity. Hair began to grow from his head as Jack Skellington lost all the power he had once possessed. No longer was he the Pumpkin King, King of Halloween. For Halloween was no more. Jack and Sally were not the people they had gone to sleep being. Instead they were now human. Just like in the morning, everyone in all of the Holidays
