Chapter Twelve:

It took all of five seconds to convince Jack S. to help us.

"Anything for my friends!" He had insisted. The rest of the town was a little harder to convinced. The mayor was worried about the 187 days left till Halloween, to which Bunny argued that he only had 25 more days until Easter. This set off a chain reaction of nasty arguments between the mayor and Easter Bunny until North had to ask Bunny to wait outside and cool off.

After that, things still didn't improve. The debate had moved to the mayoral building and only the town council (consisting of Jack S., the Mayor, Dr. Finkelstein, Sally, Wolfman, Undersea Gal, and Hanging Tree) and the Guardians (minus Bunny) were allowed to partake in the discussion.

"This is a matter of the living," Mayor insisted. "The living are no concern to us unless it's Halloween night. I really don't see why you expect us to care about a matter such as this. People are brutally murdered every day."

I felt a prickle of irritation at the portly man's disinterest.

"I can think of several reasons," I growled, slowly growing out my fangs. "One being that you owe me for making this town. You owe me for creating Halloween. You owe me for giving your pointless afterlife purpose. The living are your concern because without mortals, there would be no Halloween. The living are your concern because you used to be mortal. You should help us because I have done several dozens of favors for you and this town. You should help us because it's the right thing to do!" I fixed him with a glare, daring him to deny any of what I had said. He didn't, only squirmed uncomfortably.

"True as all of that may be... I cannot simply put all of Halloween Town on hold to help you search for something that has not yet been identified." My glare hardened and he looked away. "I can however allow citizens to volunteer themselves if they would like." I growled and stood to jump across the conference table and slap (or scratch, or bite) some sense into him, but North held me back with a heavy hand on my shoulder.

"We will except your most gracious offer."

"I can't believe him!" I said for the hundredth time that night. After the disappointing council meet, we had retreated to Jack S.'s place to regroup and plan. "He is the Mayor of Halloween Town, not the king! He never, for a second considered the outcome of having a spirit like this on the loose. This isn't the Boogie Man we're dealing with, it's a serial murderer! What if he takes over Halloween? All of those kids out trick or treating would be playing right into his— its— hands."

"Right little prick in the foot," Bunny muttered, and Sandy nodded in agreement, blowing puffs of sand out of his ears like steam.

"Unfortunately, there's not anything else we can do," Jack S. sighed. "I think we can still get up a good number of volunteers, but..."

"Wait!" I said, a realization just then dawning on me, and spun on Jack S. "Why wasn't Vlad at the council meeting?"

"Vlad?" Jack S. asked. "He moved away a few centuries ago when he wanted nothing more to do with Halloween. Now he lives with his son and granddaughter at a Hotel in Transylvania."

"A Hotel?" Jack F. asked. "What sort of Hotel is that?"

"Apparently it's a Hotel for monsters," he said slowly. "Count Dracula built it to be a safe haven from humans centuries ago, but a few years ago, a few monsters revealed themselves to humans and his daughter married a mortal, so now it's a hotel where mortals and monsters can coexist peacefully. Not really the place I would visit, but I've heard it's nice."

Tooth looked at me thoughtfully. "Do you think you can convince some of the monsters there to help us?" She asked.

Jack S. and I exchanged a look. "Well, I think I can convince a couple of old friends, but Vlad and I parted on bad terms..." I said. "He wasn't so accepting of humans last we talked, but that must have changed if he's living full time at a hotel open to monsters AND humans. I wonder what changed..."

"Well then let's go!" Tooth chirped, jumping to her feet.

"Hold on there Sheila," Bunny said. "We don't know anything about these guys. How do we know they're trustworthy?"

"I don't think they would run a human friendly hotel if they weren't friendly Bunny," I said with a wry smile. "But you're right. Let's not go just yet. I want a chance to look at some of my spell books before we leave."

Sandy looked up in interest and made a picture of a book with his sand, than a question mark.

"Spell books?" Jack F. translated and I nodded.

"Yes. My incantations and spells and such. I used to have most of them memorized, but... Well, after a couple centuries you get a little rusty."

"What kind of spells?" he asked, leaning in curiously, a mischievous glint lighting in his eyes.

I thought of all the trouble he could get up to if I told him the true extent of my spells so I just nonchalantly said, "Oh just things like conjuring, and fog spells, and some healing spells. Nothing big like curses or transfigurations."

"Would you happen to have any tracking spells?" North asked. "Would help search along if we can track it."

I thought hard. "Sort of... I think I do, but I don't remember exactly and I would need something belonging to whoever I was chasing down."

He hummed his disappointment and sat back in his chair. "Unfortunately, we know nothing of thees spirit. But, maybe memorize; just in case."

I nodded and looked to Jack S. "I lost the key to my place a few decades ago but I was hoping maybe you..." He caught on and smiled.

"I still have the backup," he said. "I go in there and clean up every once in a while. Cobwebs are nice and all, but not when you can't walk through a door without getting a mouthful of the stuff."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks Jack," I said, speaking earnestly. "That really means a lot."

"Anything for a friend."

Sleeping arrangements were quickly sorted out— the girls (so basically just Tooth and I) staying in my castle, and the guys staying with Jack Skellington.

"It will be just like a slumber party!" Tooth had all but squealed. "We can tell each other secrets and learn all about each other!" I almost asked to stay with the guys. I didn't though, and as it turns out, all three of us (Baby Tooth included) were tired enough that we all fell asleep the moment there were settled in.

  I had strange dreams again, filled with faceless men and inky tentacles, but when I woke in the morning, the dreams slipped from my my like water between my fingers and I let them go.  

In the morning, I was the first to wake up. Tooth was burrowed deep into a misshapen nest of blankets and pillows, quietly muttering something about floss related paper cuts. And people called me an odd one.

I spent the first few quiet hours of the morning reading up on useful spells. I cleared away the last reminisces of my fight with Bunny and looked up tracking spells, defensive spells, offensive charms, anything I believed would be useful. There had been one that was supposed to summon particularly powerful intangible creatures such as ghosts, poltergeists, phantoms, etcetera. I quickly memorized that one and continued on to research the Wanderer.

"Well this looks boring," a voice moaned from the window. A glance at the visitor confirmed it was Jack Frost. He let himself into the room and looked around the study with thinly veiled interest. "Are these all of your spell books?" He asked.

"Some of them are," I answered lightly, flipping through the Ghastly Ghostlyhood Encyclopedia. "Some of them are Latin translation dictionaries, others are encyclopedias on different types of Immortals, Forsaken, and Wanderers."

"What are 'Forsaken?'" He asked. "You've mentioned Wanderers too. What's the difference?"

I used a faded, moth-eaten, ribbon as a bookmark and set the encyclopedia aside. "Well, wanderers are normal mortals who have died. Nothing has been done to preserve or trap their spirit, so they are free to move on to their after lives— sometimes with a bit of help. Forsaken are spirits like Jack Skellington. Their original mortal spirit has been taken and preserved within their bodies, whatever state they might be in. If it's hundreds of years after they died, like with Jack, then their spirit is returned to their corpse. Zombies are by far the most common type of Forsaken spirit."

"Alright," Jack F. nodded slowly in understanding. "Then does that make our murderer a wanderer or a forsaken?"

"A wanderer," I answered. "But from the looks of things, he is a very old wanderer and has accumulated a lot of ectoplasmic energy— energy stolen from the living. He could very well be older than I am."

Jack F. looked surprised. "Older than you? Then how did he avoid you for so long?"

I shrugged. "I can't be everywhere at once. It would seem that his soul is not trapped in one area like some wanderers, so he could have been actively avoiding me for all this time. It's not very likely, but it's possible."

He nodded again. "Alright, so what do we do once we do manage to find the guy?"

"He'll most likely put up quite a fight," I said. "He will use his powers sparingly though, so we just need to exhaust him until I can get in close enough to use my banishing spell. Then, he's gone. Hopefully."

He raised an eyebrow, and I tired not to stare at what the sudden light change did to his eyes. 

"Hopefully?" He repeated. "What could go wrong?"

"Well," I hesitated, then decided the hard truth would be better than a comfortable half-lie. "It's never happened before, but It could be possible that he— it— has become powerful enough to deflect my spell at which point it would have no affect on him. If that happens, then... I have no idea what we'll do."

Jack F. nodded seriously, considering the outcome of the situation, before smiling reassuringly at me. Did this guy ever stop smiling? It was having a disgustingly positive affect on me. No wonder I was smiling more often. Between him and Christopher Robin (and Bunny, Tooth, North, Sandy, and Jack Skellington) I would be a happy little dandelion.

.... Naaah.

"Well then, let's just take one problem at a time and cross that bridge when we get there," he said. "Until then, Bunny and North are getting angsty, so we had better head for Transylvania as soon as Animalia and Tooth wake up."

I nodded— I suddenly didn't trust my vocal cords— and stood to my feet. I had changed back into a plain black dress, and a new cloak was draped on my shoulders. Jack F. looked my outfit up and down and I felt uncharacteristically self-conscious.

"What?"

"Nothing," he chuckled. "Just, are all of your outfits exactly the same?"

I raised an eyebrow at the little hypocrite.

"You've been wearing the exact same pants and hoodie for how long exactly?"

"Touche."

****I DO NOT OWN DREAMWORKS, RISE OF THE GUARDIANS, NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, DISNEY, WINNIE THE POOH, SLENDERMAN, HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA OR ANYTHING ELSE!!!!! JUST THE STORY PLOT!