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

stopped as the trail turned into a dark stain on the ground. "We're here."

Instead of searching the area curiously as Aubrey had expected her to be doing, Sandy was looking at her with a calm, somewhat eerie smile. "I know." She walked over, past Aubrey, and knelt down next to the bloodstain, touching it with three fingers. "Do you want to know what else I know?"

"Sandy?" Aubrey asked cautiously, taking a step back as her Sandy's body shuddered. Shock and Barrel stared on behind her, unmoving.

The older girl gripped her head with both hands, her emerald eyes wide. "No… I won't let you… you can't have her!"

Aubrey ran over and knelt down next to Sandy, grabbing her wrists. "Sandy? Sandy, what's wrong? What are you talking about?"

Shock grabbed Aubrey's shoulder. "Aubrey, I think we should get out of here." Aubrey ignored her, still trying to talk to Sandy.

"Sandy, tell me what you're talking about!" Sandy's convulsing stopped and, quicker than any of the eyes watching could follow, she was on her feet, smiling that calm smile down at Aubrey and Shock again. Shock looked at Aubrey's hands and shrieked.

"Oopsie." Sandy giggled, holding up her wrists. Her hand-less wrists.

"Ah!" Aubrey let out a shriek as Sandy's hands, which she was still holding, exploded into dust, effectively blinding her and Shock.

Shock rubbed her eyes. "I can't see!" She backed up into something soft, which she presumed to be Barrel. That is, until she heard him yell out her name. She pulled her fists away from her eyes and turned around, only to see a blast of blue something-or-other get blown at her. "Sleeping powder…" She managed to gasp as she fell toward the ground.

As Aubrey stumbled blindly to her feet, coughing violently, Barrel felt a pair of arms wrap around from behind and lift him off the ground, locking him in a bear hug. He struggled uselessly for a moment before slamming the back of his head into his captor's face. A yell of pain and his release signified that he'd hit target. As soon as Barrel's feet hit the ground, he started running. 'Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!' He thought, shoving through the trees.

"Ugh!" Barrel groaned as he tripped over something and his ankle twisted painfully. He looked back to see that his foot was entangled in a tree root, which had coiled up around his ankle. Barrel blinked, and a figure suddenly loomed over him, something large in their hand. Barrel saw them raise the object and bring it down toward his head, and a burning pain laced through his skull before he fell unconscious.

Sandy walked over to the still half-blind Aubrey calmly, ignoring the enraged look on the girl's face. "Get away from me!" Aubrey hissed. Sandy didn't seem to hear her and continued toward her. Aubrey growled. "Noitanoted!" She yelled, pointing at the blur that was her friend.

The left half of Sandy's face exploded, causing stuffing much like what Sally had in her to fall all over the clearing. But still, she kept walking her straight, slow, path. Aubrey watched in horror as the impersonator disappeared in a blur and arms wrapped around her neck from behind her. "Wh-what a-are you?" She gasped.

The thing smiled with what was left of its mouth. "A messenger." She blew strongly in Aubrey's face, and blue powder came with the blow. "Now be a good girl and go to sleep." Aubrey's head fell as much as it could, the muscles limp and useless thanks to her sudden unconsciousness.

Sandy laid Aubrey down, sliding her arms under her shoulders and knees, and picking her back up again. "Cay, what's taking Jacob so long?" Sandy asked Shock's captor. Her voice sounded rough and forced now, not anywhere near how it did earlier.

"I don't know. Maybe he the brat got away." Came the curt reply. Barely taller than her captive, Cay had dark hair in a short crop a half inch from her scalp, with a black webbed fin shooting out through her short hair. Her green skin was luminescent and scaly in the little moonlight that fell, and her webbed hands were wrapped around Shock's upper arms. Black, piercing eyes looked out into the forest were Barrel had run. Her clothes consisted of little more than what looked like a black bikini, and that in itself was in shreds.

At that moment, Jacob walked back into the clearing with Barrel slung over his shoulder like a sack. Taller than even Jack, Jacob towered over the two girls and their captives. His head was free of any hair, and his skin consisted of scraps of cloth and other… 'materials' that were held together with large, crude, black stitches. One of his eyes was missing, leaving only an empty socket, but the remaining was an electric shade of blue. These rested over a hole which one could only assume was where his nose would have been had he possessed one, and a sewn shut mouth. His clothing, which was not in much better conditions than Cay's, was a ragged pair of pants and a t-shirt. And in Jacob's free hand was a makeshift club formed from a tree branch half his size.

Sandy glared at him as she walked around to inspect Barrel. "Idiot, you weren't supposed to hurt him!" She growled as she saw the blood trailing down his temple. "If I get in trouble with her for this, you're getting the blame, understood?"

"He isn't an idiot, Sandy." Cay called from behind her.

Sandy whirled around, being careful not to drop Aubrey. "No one asked you, Cay. I was put in charge, so you two do what I say, got it?" Cay nodded, her eyes narrowing into a glare as soon as the "girl" looked off somewhere else. "Now, we should get going. We don't want to be late." All three grimaced at the thought and walked off deeper into the woods.

As soon as they disappeared from view, Lock began breathing again. That giant had passed right by him, SAW him! Lock swallowed his fear and slipped out of the bushes where he had concealed himself, following after the three as quietly and quickly as his trembling muscles would allow.

He had been right about Sandy all along! His brief moment of triumphant feelings had been squashed when that… thing had taken Aubrey hostage. And God only knows what those three wanted with Shock, Barrel, and Aubrey. Or who that 'she' Sandy had referred to was.

'Focus Lock.' He ordered himself. 'You can't lose them.' Unfortunately, Lock's mind would not focus, so he barely saw that the group in front of him had stopped in time. He scrambled back soundlessly into the bushes. The only thing there was a giant tree that was even taller than Jacob.

They just stood there for a moment until 'Sandy' turned to Jacob. "Jacob!"

He grunted, which Lock took to meant he was apologizing, and reached up toward the tree in front of them. Grabbing a thick branch, he pulled it down. Lock winced, expecting it to snap. Instead, the ground began to rumble and a hole opened in between the large roots. The two girls climbed down inside, but Jacob paused at the opening. He turned toward where Lock was hiding, and the devil froze.

Something that resembled a grin formed on Jacob's stitched shut lips and held up his hand. He opened and closed it twice and turned and went through the hole as well.

'Ten seconds?' Lock thought. 'Why is he helping me?' Slowly, he counted to ten, and then he sprinted toward the hole and slid through.

Behind him, the ground pulled itself back together with another loud rumble.

Lock looked up as what little light he'd had disappeared. 'Damn it, now what am I supposed to do?' He reached both arms out next to him and felt hard, cool stone. Feeling along the walls, he started forward slowly. Ahead of him, he heard voices.

"-So important about her anyway?" Cay asked.

"Idiot!" Sandy hissed. "This little brat has the other half of the key!" Lock paused. Other half? "And you know we're not supposed to talk about that so shut up!"

"Alright, alright. Calm down before you bust another seam or something."

"Not funny, Cay."

"Jacob thought it was, didn't you Jake?" There was a grunt. "See? Ah, hold on, I'm about to drop her again." There was a pause. "Geez, why'd we have to grab these brats again? We only needed that one."

"Well we couldn't very well have them running off to tell Jack! Now hush up; we're almost there." Lock ran into something hard face first. He cursed and clutched his nose, feeling something warm and wet on his fingers as he did. "What was that?" Lock's eyes widened. "Cay, go check it out."

"Fine. Jacob, take the witch." Lock cursed again in his head as he heard soft footsteps coming toward him.

"Ekam em elbisivni." He muttered, still holding his nose. His body shimmered out of sight as Cay turned the corner, torch in hand. Her black eyes surveyed the space with an unsurpassed scrutiny before she turned and walked back. Lock sighed. "Ekam em elbisiv." He whispered, bringing his body back to the visible plane. Then, concentrating on his nose, he softly said, "Laeh." Lock winced as the bone straightened itself back out and mended together, though he was grateful that the blood flow had stopped. He wiped his hands on his shirt, thankfully he was wearing his costume so it wouldn't be too noticeable.

Then, being sure NOT to hit the wall this time, he followed after the now small torchlight. He stopped when the three ahead of him did (not counting those unconscious), watching as Sandy shoved over a rock and pressed down part of the earth below. Jacob glanced over his shoulder and smiled a little when he saw Lock standing there. Lock saw the giant's gaze and held up both hands, fingers out. Jacob nodded and followed after Cay as she climbed the stairs that had appeared.

Lock counted to ten, a little quicker this time, and then ran after them. He peered around the first corner to see that the trio had stopped once more.

Sandy turned to Cay. "You two take Shock and Barrel down to the dungeons. I'll take Aubrey to Raphael." Cay nodded and turned off to her left, going through the large doors there. Sandy continued going forward.

Lock froze up. Who was he supposed to go after? Was he really still mad enough at Aubrey to abandon her? But going after her meant losing Shock and Barrel… He watched as Sandy kicked open the doors at the end of the hall in front of her. Well, it wouldn't be too hard to remember where that was.

After a long glance at the doors that Sandy had gone through, he turned and ran down the stairs after Jacob and Cay.

"Raphael." Sandy said coolly, kneeling down before the stiff, formal throne in the middle of the room. On it sat a man, perhaps in his late thirties, dressed in all black; loose, silken pants, a tight long-sleeved shirt, leather boots, and cloak. He was thin, though not to the extremes Sandy was, but you could see his high cheekbones, and his eyes appeared to be a bit sunken in his head, but you could see the wiry muscle underneath his tight shirt. His hair was dark black, though there were a few streaks of silver in it, contrasting with his abnormally pale skin, even for a resident of Halloween Town.