As Jack held two scrolls of paper under his arm and a pencil in hand, he finally approached the Holiday Doors. He thought he’d known the way better, but he had to admit that he’d only traveled it a few times, and the map he had now was quite vague. Perhaps it was better if the official map was left that way, but he should learn it better himself. However, something seemed slightly out of place as Jack got closer to the Doors; he could feel it before he could see it.

And see it he did, as he entered the clearing and saw pieces of wood scattered about the ground. “What’s this?” Jack muttered to himself as he looked upon the few remnants of the Halloween Door clinging to the tree. Even more surprising was that the Door no longer led to a dark void, but to another forest. He knew it led to the human world; the trees were green with in-between spring and summer shades. At least, he was pretty sure it was the human world. Carefully stepping over the wooden shards and through the doorway, he confirmed that it was the humans’ world; he could feel it. Plus the sun was no pumpkin; just a big bright orb in the sky.

Poking his head back to Halloweentown’s side, Jack realized what a problem this was. How long had it been like this? How did it happen? Had any humans found it and reported it? A mere pumpkin on a hard-to-find tree was one thing – a clear portal was another. If the whole race was alerted to the Holidays’ existence, it could be disastrous for the Holiday worlds and their holidays!

Taking another look around the humans’ side, Jack didn’t see any evidence of recordings or surveillance or anything. He also noticed that there didn’t seem to be very many pieces of wood on the humans’ side, though the Door there too was almost entirely gone. The pieces looked like they’d been on the ground for a while, fairly undisturbed and settled. So, he could conclude that the Door, or Doors, had been like this for a while. He needed to get back to town to fix this as soon as possible-

But, wait; there was still the reason he had come out here in the first place. Jack looked at the papers, then at the scattered wood, seemingly torn about a decision. After a few moments, he let out a small sigh. The Doors had already been like this for a while, right? And things were still fine. Surely it could wait just a little longer.

So, Jack headed out towards the west, hoping to make some good time. 10 miles was a lot of ground to cover.

* * * *

A few hours later, Jack came to a medium-sized metal fence, meant to deter any unwanted visitors. A small ‘No Trespassing’ sign proved the fact. He easily climbed over the fence, which was in bad quality, and quietly moved onward. After about 15 minutes or so, he came to another metal fence. This one was higher, with spiraled barb wire and an electric wire running along the top and bottom of it. A ‘High Voltage’ sign was to his left on the fence, and another warning was posted to his right: ‘Trespassers Will Be Shot’. Thankfully, Jack didn’t really have to worry so much about the shooting part; other than the fact that it would ruin his signature suit. He didn’t have many, seeing as how he never really needed a lot, and that would put him out one suit, which he rather disliked the idea of. Anyway, this fence required a bit of skill to surmount, but Jack did it as quietly as if the wind had merely blown gently through some trees.

After around 10 more minutes, he saw a grouping of seemingly small and flat buildings, some looking more ‘advanced’ than others. He made a mark on the maps he brought, (he should at least look like he did what he set out to do) and put them in his suit jacket. He would not want to drop them in the human world.

Jack was approaching from near a back corner of the complex; he could tell by how the buildings were mostly facing away from him, and there were no roads, trails, or otherwise in his direction. A few small trees were planted, but very few were scattered in the bare ground. As he got closer, he saw that one of the buildings at the end of a row near him had a back door that led to an inset rectangular patch of ground. There were no trees in the clearing, but there was a small, thin tree about 70 feet away from it. Looking around briefly to make sure he hadn’t been spotted yet, Jack sneaked quickly behind it. His thin frame fit excellently behind the tree’s twiggy branches.

Looking again at the clearing the door led to, he noticed it was enclosed on the one open side with more metal fencing. It connected to a long metal rod at the roof level, then continued at least 15-20 feet above the building and wrapped over the clearing, peaking in a triangular-prism-type structure. He could hear the buzz of electric current running through the fence from his tree. Or perhaps what he was hearing was the whirr of machinery as a small, square of ground at one end of the clearing was descending into the ground with a sturdy crate on it. There was something in it, but Jack couldn’t tell what it was.

A person wearing a long white coat, a scientist he presumed, was writing something down on a clipboard. They looked up briefly, digging out something from a pocket, and pressed something on a remote. The fence-cage began moving, retracting into the building. They looked back down for a few moments, then turned and headed towards the building. Jack saw his chance and dashed over to the fence. He quickly slipped through an area where the fence had already split apart and came up behind the scientist, who was oblivious to Jack’s presence, and silently followed him through the doorway in a spider-like fashion. The scientist hardly even looked as he locked the door’s keypad and continued on down the hall.

Jack waited for a few moments, then quietly dropped down to the floor. The papers he still had rustled slightly, but not enough for any notice. Nobody had seen him enter, and he’d just disconnected the security camera by the door after coming in. It might have glimpsed him as he’d crawled through the frame, but he’d probably just register as a dark shadow of movement. There shouldn’t be too many more cameras deeper inside, Jack thought, but the way this facility looked to be set up, he couldn’t be sure. Usually, Jack didn’t really worry about getting caught on camera, as it just gave the humans a good fright and probably caused some paranoia. However, he wasn’t even sure how seriously these people took security, so it would be best to stay anonymous. Besides, it gave him good practice sneaking around. Looking ahead and seeing no recording gear, he set out to see where he was; or at least, what happened here.

Trying to stay more towards the shadows (which was fairly difficult to do, since the walls were so white and the lights quite bright), Jack looked in doors and windows as he passed, not really seeing anything he thought worth investigating. File cabinets here, bookshelves there, lab supplies and materials in various places. Perhaps he should look in some of the files? He wasn’t entirely sure what he was looking for, anyway…

Then, without realizing it, he passed a room with larger-looking testing materials. However, he saw the room out of the corner of his eye socket, paused briefly, and walked back a few steps. The room was on the other side of the hall, with a small window inset in the door. He thought he even recognized a few things he glimpsed as something from Halloweentown.

He was about to go to the door when he heard footsteps coming down an adjacent hall; Jack saw a door right behind him and clanked back to the other door briefly. It had a numerical lock; he wouldn’t have time to open it with the steps so close. He looked back to the door behind him, which had just a simple mechanical key lock, and immediately set to work on it. He had it done in less than 3 seconds, and slipped in. He did so not a moment too soon, for the owner of the footsteps turned the corner as the door was just finishing closing. They passed without even noticing, though; doors were always opening and closing randomly, why should they make note of every one?

Jack stood on the door’s other side, in a small room, maybe 10 x 6 feet, staying out of the range of the two oppositely-arranged cameras as best he could. He was still a bit in view, but he wasn’t in much danger; the security guard for the area was watching his monitors, but currently a game of solitaire was more interesting.

Jack looked across the barren room to another door, which had a more complex lock. He was just contemplating about how to best go at the lock undetectably when he heard a click from the other side. Scrambling elegantly up above the frame of the door, Jack easily held himself across the ceiling. A woman opened the door and put her head out, searching momentarily. She then stepped into the little room, still holding the door open. She could’ve sworn she’d heard that other door close… Jack slipped quickly over her head as she conveniently held the door, and slid quietly down on the other side, sidestepping out of the doorway and her view. She dismissed the thought then and, closing the door behind her, left.

Jack scanned this new room. It was a little bit longer by a few feet or more. It was filled with computers and file cabinets (which was somewhat redundant, Jack thought), though there were far more cabinets. There was a possibility he could find something quicker from the computers, but they were so specific when he wasn’t even sure what to look for, and they would most certainly keep an accurate record of his activity for the humans to find. So, perhaps he was lucky there were so many file cabinets instead of computers. Surprisingly, there was only one camera in the here, easily avoidable. Jack, unsure of how much time he could steal, picked a random cabinet and began riffling through the papers.

At first, he only glanced at the tops, scanning for titles of interest. When all he kept finding were numbers, he started looking a little deeper; still scanning, but farther down a page. He found many repeating words; the words he seemed to pass most often were ones like ‘unsuccessful’, ‘failure’, and ‘not conclusive’ – negatives in the scientific world.

Mid-shuffle through the third cabinet, jack remembered something Lenora had said, back when she first arrived. Something to do with numbers… He went back to looking through numbers, skipping over areas that didn’t seem right. He knew he’d know it if he saw it, but… it had 3 in it, didn’t it? He moved to the next cabinet. Or maybe it was a 4… Then, a paper flashed by that grabbed his attention. Quickly pausing and going back through, he saw 6235 at the top. Yes, that was it!

He took hold of the file and briefly looked at it; it wasn’t exceedingly thick, so it would fit in his jacket with the maps. He glanced at some words, and saw ‘failure’. Odd; Lenora didn’t look like she’d been a failure… Of course, he didn’t know what criteria they’d been looking for. Regardless, he’d have more time to look later, and put it in his jacket.

Jack then realized that, though he could sneak and hide quite efficiently, even he could (or shouldn’t, at least) stay hidden here forever. He closed up the cabinets as before, and as he mulled over how to leave unnoticed, for there were even locks on this side of the door, he heard footsteps again on the other side. In an instant he was up by the door’s top; the ceilings here had been narrow enough so far that he’d had no trouble holding up his tall, light frame.

The same woman from before entered; she must have forgotten something. He didn’t bother to wait to find out, however, and slipped to the other side, reaching the other door just as it nearly closed. He quickly jabbed a finger bone in the way, barely saving his exit. It didn’t crush his joints, neither made a sound, but he still flinched a bit; it was worse than when Sally had accidentally jabbed him with her sewing needle. He pushed the door open in a way to keep it silent, while staying obscured from security. He heard the woman shuffling closer to the door behind him now, and hurried through. She came out and saw the other door still closing. She paused; didn’t the door usually close faster than that?

Jack didn’t waste any time once he was out; she would probably be suspicious by now, and the cameras had already glimpsed enough of him in such a concentrated area. By the time she looked out the second door, he was long gone.

Jack strode quickly down the halls, going any direction to get farther from the room. He could’ve gone back towards his entrance, but it was highly unlikely that someone else would be conveniently opening the door again right as he arrived, though he had been lucky about that so far; besides, it was a dead end otherwise. He was sure he could find his way out a different way.

He passed more rooms, the doors somewhat less frequent now, and there were more windows to rooms. Jack wouldn’t show up as more than a blur on the cameras; unless they had high-speed anywhere, which wasn’t impossible. But, he wasn’t worrying of that at the moment.

After Jack believed himself far enough, he slowed and paid more attention to what was in the windows. Rooms now had large tables and containers, reaction chambers that were bigger than usual, drawers that held something other than papers hidden inside. He came across some devices that were familiar experiment tools, such as he’d seen similar too in Dr. Finklestein’s lab. He raised a nonexistent eyebrow; were humans taking more from Halloween than just scares, or were they beginning to follow a darker type of thinking on their own?

Jack then became aware of a high-pitch emanating from down the hall. It’d grown so imperceptibly that he hadn’t noticed at first. Before he could figure out what it was, however, a sharp, splitting crack came from another hall, immediately followed by a screech of pain. Jack winced slightly at the unexpected break from the near silence; not from the scream but the bone cracking – it always reminded him that that was one thing he still had to be careful of.

The sound continued, at varying pitches, along with banging sounds. Jack followed the sounds, and came to a window looking in at one or two scientists looking through their own window on a different wall. Jack positioned himself at the window to see a little through their window, the screaming dying a little bit. Then some mechanical devices moved, which he couldn’t quite make out, and more bone-snaps sounded, ensued by a fresh bought of piercing cries. They’d set the bone back into alignment, it seemed.

Jack moved again, getting a better view. He still couldn’t see everything, but he saw a girl strapped down to an elevated and tilted platform. She had short, dark hair, and was fairly dark herself. The one arm he could see was slightly swollen and different colors, obviously the one with the broken bone. A tawny-colored wing was bound behind her, and by the flurries and bands that accompanied her unseen side, Jack could gather her other wing had broken free. He also saw some medical dressings to one side, out of harms’ way. So, they would dress her wound later, he thought? An interesting method…

Jack averted his attention momentarily, as he heard people coming. He sneaked down the corridor and found a simply-locked door, which he soon entered. The room was empty of people, and he saw a few human skeleton racks. He situated himself on one, should they come in, and waited for them to pass.

* * * *

Bryan walked with some colleagues down a hallway. They didn’t say anything, for the screams would’ve drowned out any words. He wished they would wait to do the noisy experiments until after the sun had set. That would be soon enough, anyway, but it still bothered him.

As they passed a small room that was sort of like a utility closet, he separated from the group. They knew as well as he did what he was doing, so continued on without him.

Bryan got out a key and unlocked the door. However, he must’ve turned it one too many times, because it was locked when he tried to open it. He tried a few more times. Stupid… the thought; one of the few mechanical-only locks and even it disliked him. He finally turned the knob successfully and went in, closing the door behind him. It muffled the screams a bit, to his relief, and he relaxed more.

He walked by the usual supplies, looking up just in time to see a tall skeleton dressed in a pinstripe suit beside him. He jumped, startled. After staring a few moments and getting his heart rate back to normal, he sighed and shook his head to himself. Someone had too much time on their hands. Bryan continued over to a cabinet not too far away, and took out a few clipboards and laptops, setting them on a table. He looked back to the dressed-up skeleton; hat it shifted? No, couldn’t have. He walked back over to it, staring for a bit. Whoever the suit belonged to must be very thin. He couldn’t think of just who, but they’d probably want the suit back. Maybe he should hide it, simply for the spirit of it.

Bryan tried to figure out how to remove the unique bowtie, but decided to just go for the jacket first. He had only undone a few of the buttons when suddenly one of the bony hands clutched his wrist. Surprised and scared, he quickly looked up and saw the skeleton’s face glaring at him.

“Do you mind?” It asked.

Bryan froze, wide-eyed, and couldn’t really remember anything after that.

He never fully trusted skeletons again.

* * * *

Jack watched the man’s eyes grow wide with shock and horror, then roll back as he fainted and fell to the floor. The resulting ‘thwump’ would have been fairly audible had the screams outside not been so loud.

Jack left the man where he lay once he was off the rack, and set another skeleton in his place. Might as well have a bit of fun while he was here. He turned to reach for the door, but found a cloak instead.

“Oh; Kismet.” Jack said, as if speaking to an unexpected guest arriving at his house, “What are you doing here?”

Kismet looked at him steadily. “Making my rounds.”

“Ah! Yes, you do do that around here, don’t you? I’d forgotten.”

Kismet watched him. “Though, I can’t say you have the same reason.”

Jack shifted a little, but not for uneasiness. “Yes, I was updating Halloweentown’s map records when I stumbled upon this place.” He gestured.

Kismet raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you just ask me how to get here a few days ago?”

Jack lightly drummed his fingers together. “Yes; not in so many words but yes. What I meant to say before, I suppose, is that I found this place. Following your directions, of course.” Kismet made no motions to move. “I know you warned me, Kismet, but I see nothing worse here than in Hallweentown, at any rate. There could even be inspiration here, just waiting to be found.”

Kismet looked at Jack with an unreadable stare. “You do not even know the half of goings on here, Jack, and I wouldn’t suggest going to the effort of finding out. The world isn’t ready to handle something like this.”

Jack thought for a moment. “Then, we can help prepare them! Think of it, Halloween is all about frights and the unthinkable, you know that.”

Kismet stared at Jack for a few seconds, almost with a kind of disbelief or pity in his eyes. Then he gently shook his head and turned around. “Come; you should be going now.”

“Now, wait-”

“Jack, you know they won’t ignore the consistent blur forever.”

Knowing he was referring to the security, and that it was true, Jack quietly nodded. Kismet phased through before Jack opened and then closed the door. Kismet knew his way around, and could be invisible to the cameras, so Jack easily followed him. They eventually came to a dead end, and Jack looked at Kismet questioningly.

“It’ll be easier to phase through than get through a doorway.” He explained simply. Jack looked back once and saw that no security cameras were pointed at the wall (which made sense; what would happen at a plain, solid wall?) before Kismet put his hands on Jack’s back, just as bony as his own, and essentially pushed him through the wall. Once they were both on the other side, Kismet stopped moving briefly, unused to the larger amount of concentration that multiple phasing required, though it wasn’t all that much thanks to Jack’s bony structure. Jack then tapped his shoulder blade.

“Sorry, but I’m afraid you forgot part of me.” Jack’s left hand wasn’t there. Kismet quickly reached back and retrieved it.

“My apologies. I do not usually phase anyone other than myself.”

Jack waved after he reattached his hand. “Like you said, I should probably be going. Well, so long.” Jack said as he headed off. Kismet followed him at a distance, to make sure he at least passed the first fence, then returned.

Jack looked back a few times, betraying his unsatisfied curiosity. However, he knew he had some papers that would be interesting to read; besides, now probably wouldn’t be the best time to return.

* * * * * * * *

An older man, who wasn’t quite elderly, looked at some screens. He was focused, reading or scanning something. Then, a beep on his phone interrupted him. It took a few moments, but he eventually answered it.

“What is it?” He said gruffly.

“Sir?” The other end said nervously, “I think there may be… something in the facility.-”

The man was immediately alert. “Then signal the guards!”

“No, sir – it’s not exactly…. there…”

“What do you mean? Don’t be playing around with me.”

There was silence for a few moments.

“Well… it’s a shadow, almost nothing – but it keeps popping up in different places. I thought you should know.”

The man relaxed a little bit, but his mind also became more alert.

“Why didn’t you say so in the first place?” He said, more evenly.

The voice was unsure how to answer.

“Alright; don’t worry any more about it – I’ll take care of it.” He could sense relief on the other end of the line. “Thank you for calling.” Before the voice could answer, her hung up.

Heathcliff rested his chin on his hands, pondering. Who could this be, sneaking around as a shadow? Usually the type he expected wouldn’t allow themselves to even be shadows.

“Xellos.”

After a few moments, a hooded figure melted from the shadows.

“Check the area again. We may have a naïve visitor wandering around.”

The figure slightly lowered his head, in a half-nod. “Of course.” He said evenly, yet had a slight undertone that might have been described as pleased. He smiled eerily as he faded away.

Heathcliff would think no more of the matter; Xellos would take care of whatever-it-was, if anything. He could ask about it later, if he remembered.

* * * * * * * *

Yaaay! Update! 8D

Yeah, I suck as a writer, I know... Especially with updates.... TwT

But it's a few pages more!

Want to thank michaellover again for getting on my case when I needed it! (when I was around, anyway...) And supporting me, of course. Plus lots of others who have stuck with this story! I am seriously sorry I don't update more.

If you have any comments or opinions, feel free to leave me a message! Please! It might help me update...