Like Father,Like Daughter - Hugs.And.Kisses (best novel books to read TXT) 📗

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"Um, Shock, you suck at white magic." Barrel reminded her.

She glared at him. "Thanks for the reminder. And anyway, I don't know any white magic spells other than laeh."

Barrel looked over at Aubrey. "So, basically then… we're screwed?"

Shock let out a sigh. "Yeah, basically."

"Jack, I can't find them anywhere!" Sally cried. Jack wrapped his arms around her.

"It'll be all right, Sally. We'll find them." There was a loud knock on the door and the Vampire Brothers burst in.

"Jack, you have to come outside!" The eldest pleaded.

"It's an emergency!" The other three told him. Jack let go of Sally and ran outside.

He gasped as he ran out onto the porch. Towering above the Graveyard was a huge castle, about as dark and evil looking as they came. "Oh no…" He turned to the Vampires. "I'll handle this, don't worry." He ran back inside.

Sally stood up as Jack ran into the living room. "Jack? What's going on?"

"Sally, I promise I'll explain everything, but we have to hurry." He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the staircase.

"Jack, where did that castle come from?"

Jack closed his eyes as he led Sally up to their tower room. "Sally, there was a reason that I got so angry when I'd heard the kids had found that part of the graveyard. It… it's been a secret, passed down from Pumpkin King to Pumpkin King." He paused. "There are some evils so great that they must be dealt with."

"Jack?" Sally asked.

He continued, ignoring her question. "Halloween Town is made up of, if you'll excuse the phrase, the living dead. But there is a way to make the dead STAY dead. This condition is called Eternal Sleep, or 'perma-death'. It can only be initiated by the reigning Pumpkin King.

"When my mother was still King, the Skellington's were guardians of the key that connected Halloween Town to the Living World."

Sally gasped. "The one that Aubrey…?"

Jack nodded. "The very same." He opened the door to their room and walked over to the far wall. "When I was still a kid, the key was stolen by three of Halloween Town's best pranksters. The Lock, Shock, and Barrel of their time. We caught two of them, but the third got away, managing to use the key and escape into the Living World." Jack pushed in a piece of the wood paneling on the wall. A piece of the floor slid away, revealing a spiraling staircase. "His name… was Raphael Peterson."

Sally had to stop and think for a moment. "Peterson… you don't mean that he was…"

Jack nodded and took Sally's hand again as they started down the staircase. "Aubrey's father, yes. I didn't even realize it until Dr. Finklestein told me that… well, you remember when we were first thinking about adopting Aubrey? When she was still alive?" Sally nodded. "He ran some tests and found out that Aubrey's soul wasn't deteriorating slower than the normal rate because of her will power. It was because Aubrey was already half dead."

Sally gasped for what seemed to be the fiftieth time that day. "Does Aubrey know?"

Jack stopped as they reached a large, steel door at the bottom of the stairs. "No." He pushed it open.

Sally looked around. The room was large, and looked much like the living room of Skellington Manor. "Jack… where are we?"

"A sort of safe house that my grandfather built to protect my mother and I if something ever happened. We've never had to use it until now." Jack turned around to face Sally, worry clear on his face. "Sally, I want you to stay down here until I come back to get you. It's too risky to leave you out in the open where someone could…"

Sally cut him off, putting a finger over his lips. "I understand, Jack." She hugged him. "Be careful."

Jack smiled and kissed her. "I will be." He ran out, pulling the door shut behind him. He ran up the staircase quickly, his long legs letting him take three at a time. Jack slid the trapdoor shut and the indentation in the wall disappeared. Walking into the living room, he looked down to the floor, where Sally was below him. "I love you, Sally." He whispered before walking out the door.

In the square, everyone moved out of the way of their Pumpkin King as he walked hurriedly toward the Graveyard. The gates creaked open as Jack neared them, slamming shut as he walked through. Jack weaved through the tombstones until he reached the back fence.

Taking a quick glance over his shoulder, he nodded at the town and stepped over the steel fence.

In his throne room, Raphael began to grin. "Cay, Jacob." With a shimmer of the air, they appeared in the middle of the room. "His Royal Pumpkin Head has left town. You know what to do."

Cay nodded as Jacob lifted her up onto his shoulder. "We'll get her." Another shimmer, and they were gone.

Vida was sulking. She was sulking because… well, does someone really need a reason to sulk? Actually, yes, but that isn't the point.

The cat-vampire mix was sulking because of three reasons: Lock, Aubrey, and Sandy. All of which were obvious reasons. She sighed and sat up, pulling her fingers out of the cold fountain water. She shivered. Something was making her hair stand on end. Vida looked around, trying to figure out what was wrong.

A large hand covered her mouth and lifted her up, and that's when she realized it. It was far too dark for ten in the morning. But there was nothing wrong with the sun. The sun was being blocked out by something, or someone, very, VERY large.

"Vida!" Corpse Kid, though it was more like Corpse Teen now, yelled. This alerted the rest of the somehow oblivious square to the fact that Jacob and Cay had just appeared in the middle of Halloween Town.

Cay sighed. "Put her down, Jacob. We'll get you a pet after this is all over." Jacob nodded and set Vida, who had now passed out, on the ground. Cay pulled a bright silver amulet out of her pocket and held it high above her head. It flashed brightly, covering Halloween Town in its light. When it faded, it revealed the denizens of Halloween Town, all with the blackened eyes of someone under a puppet spell.

With a grin, Cay jumped to the ground. "Find me the Pumpkin Queen and bring her here. Now!" All of the citizens turned toward Skellington Manor and walked, floated, or oozed toward it.

In the safe house, Sally was busy with her own problems. She had paced the room twenty-six times, unstitched and re-stitched her left hand twice, and contemplated opening the door and running after Jack more times than she could count. She sighed. "All this worrying is going to drive me crazy." She stood up and walked over to the door, resting her hand on the handle. Biting her lip, she turned it and began to pull it open. She groaned from the effort. Jack had made it seem so easy!

'Well, Jack is a lot stronger than I am.' She thought, managing to make the door slide another inch. After another few tugs (and nearly losing an arm), the opening was just large enough for her to slip through. She climbed the staircase and ran into another problem. The trapdoor was shut.

At that moment, Sally said a word that she would've never dared to say around any of her family or friends. Feeling along the smooth wood, her hands pressed down an unseen switch and the door slid back, letting her out. With a smile of satisfaction, the ragdoll climbed out into the bedroom, and, after sealing the door again, went downstairs.

Straight into the arms of the hypnotized Behemoth. "Let go of me!" Sally cried, struggling in his grasp pointlessly. After all, Sally really had no muscle, and muscle was pretty much all Behemoth was made of. But she continued her fruitless struggling until she was dragged out to the fountain where Jacob and Cay were waiting.

"So, this is Sally Skellington." Cay muttered, mainly to herself, as she examined the Pumpkin Queen. "Not much to look at." She noticed the bulge in Sally's stomach, and felt a twinge of guilt pass through her mind. "But I'm not here to judge. Grab her Jacob." The giant took the Queen from Behemoth, wrapping a fist around her torso. "Be careful." Cay warned in a low whisper, too low for Sally to hear. Jacob nodded and lifted Cay back up to his shoulder. The air shimmered, and all three disappeared.

SC: Okay, let's see if I can sum this chapter up: Shock and Barrel are in chains, Aubrey's being crucified for her twisted daddy and sister's evil schemes, Lock is yet again the victim of hypnotism, Jack is off to kick some serious ass, or so he thinks, the whole of Halloween Town has been put under a mass puppet spell, and Sally has been kidnapped by Cay and Jacob. And to top it all off, I leave you all at a cliffhanger! Don't you just love me?


Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Sibling Rivalry

-Jack's POV-

It wasn't hard to get to Raphael's Palace; he'd laid out the path for me. The trees had been turned apart to let me through, and many had been torn out by their roots to block any other paths. I stopped as the dirt under my feet turned to wood. A drawbridge? "Getting a little theatrical, aren't we?" I called into the air. But really, I didn't expect a reply, at least, not until I got further inside the castle.

I walked across the drawbridge and shoved open the doors. A pair of masked guards stepped in front of me. "His Majesty is waiting for you in the throne room." The first said in a flat voice.

"Please follow us." They both turned on their heel and started to walk off. I followed after them. What choice did I have? Trap or not, either I followed or got lost.

Eventually, we stopped at another pair of large wooden doors. The guards pushed them open and I walked through. I glared at the figure sitting on the throne. "Raphael."

He, on the other hand, found my anger amusing, and grinned. "Ah, Jacky! It's been to long!"

"It's Jack." The doors slammed shut behind me. I didn't flinch.

"Oh, so you finally ditched the nickname after mommy dearest banished us!" Raphael spat. "We were your best friends, Jack! And you didn't even stick up for us!"
"I trusted you when I showed you the key!" I roared. "And then you, Cay, and Jacob stole it!" I muttered a few words under my breath,