Quintessence by Hugs.And.Kisses (book recommendations website TXT) 📕

Chapter 1

Halloween

My name is Edward Jason Skellington, but everyone just calls me Ed. Or Eddy, but that's only my grandma. I'm eight years old, my birthday is May thirteenth, I'm a middle triplet, and the second youngest child in my family. Who are completely insane. But, you know, that's a good thing where we live.

My dad is Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, the Master of fright, etc., etc. He's abnormally tall, likes to wear his pinstripe suits- a lot-, and has no skin. Or muscles. He's a skeleton, what do you expect? My mom, Sally, is a rag doll. Grandpa made her, but then she fell in love with dad, so he let her go and made Grandma Jewel.

My older brother Johnny is the oldest of us triplets. He looks a lot more like dad than me or Mercy do. He's all bones, except for the left half of his chest and his arm. Johnny's kinda crazy sometimes, and he likes to be in charge ALL the time. He also has the ability to see what happened in the past if he focuses hard enough while he's touching a person, like how they died, or something like that. For some reason, dad won't let him do it to anyone in the family. Don't see why, but…

Then there's me. Most of the time, I think that I'm the only sane person in the family. I still think I was born oldest, because Johnny certainly doesn't act like it. I look more like mom does, though I do have a quite skeletal right arm. I have dark red hair that I really need to cut; it's getting to the point where even Lock is calling it shaggy, which is ridiculous when you look at his hair. When I was about five, I found out that I could do something that Grandpa called 'scrying.' If I look into a mirror, or anything that has a reflective surface (I know; I've practiced), I can see what's going on somewhere else in Halloween Town. But it's pretty random, and I can't really focus it. Together, me and Johnny can have these "group" premonitions like mom has, but it doesn't work when we're on our own.

Mercy is our little sister. She used to be a pretty normal kid- you know, other than being dead- but lately, she's gotten really quiet and withdrawn. Like me, she's got mom's red hair, but she doesn't have any bone parts like my and Johnny do; Mercy's all rag doll. She really likes to paint, and she's really good for someone who's only eight, but she hasn't even been doing that lately. I don't think she's been too happy about not having and clairvoyant abilities like me and Johnny, and to tell the truth, I think she's a little jealous of our big sister Aubrey.

Speaking of Aubrey, I haven't heard anything from her yet tod-

Ed winced, dropping his pen, as there was a sound like a crash from downstairs, almost covered by a yell of 'BIRTHDAY TACKLE!' He sighed and picked his pen back up.

-today, which is- sorry, WAS- odd because it's Halloween, which means that it's Aubrey's twenty-seventh birthday… and deathday, for that matter. That also means that the crash I just heard from downstairs was Lock, Shock, and Barrel tackling her. It's some weird tradition they have.

I've learned not to question them. But anyway, back to Aubrey.

Aubrey's not really my sister, not by blood anyway. If I had blood, I mean. Apparently, she knew dad back when she was alive somehow, and after she died, mom and dad adopted her. Something about a key… I never really got it. Anyway, she's the next heir to the throne, but that's going to take a while. Halloween Town usually has the same ruler for centuries, and dad isn't that old compared to some of the other kings. But she's a really cool big sister anyway. Lately, she's been letting her white hair grow out so now it's down to her waist. She's got two sets of these creepy 'fallen angel' wings that she can make disappear when she needs to; which means that she has to be difficult and hardly ever does. She's got really bright red eyes, and white skin- like everyone else in Halloween Town. I mean, come on, we're dead. That means no pulse, and no blood circulation-.

Lock is Aubrey's boyfriend. He's pretty cool, if not a little extreme with the pranks he pulls sometimes. He's got BRIGHT red hair, like inhumanly so, that he keeps pretty short and spikes up. He's also got this little rattail ponytail, hence my earlier comment about him judging my hair. Aubrey says that Lock keeps his hair short to show off the horns that grew in back when they were teenagers. She also likes the ponytail, 'cause she uses it to yank him around like it's a leash or something. Lock's also a pyromancer. Which means that he likes to set things on fire, or that's what Shock says.

Shock is Aubrey's best friend. She's also like the best witch in town, except for Hazel and Zoë, but that's just because they're the head of the witches council and still have, like, a millennium on her. She's got pale skin like everyone else, but it's a pale green instead of just white or white-blue, and the wildest black hair I've ever seen. She's also dating Barrel.

Barrel is the only white mage Halloween Town's ever had since the seventeenth century, when all the witches- good and bad- were being hunted down and killed. He's also one of the best at hand to hand combat, as has been proven when he and Lock fight. He's got the weirdest hair color too; it's like someone mixed a yellow and green highlighter. Barrel keeps his hair slicked back most of the time, but it's shaggier than mine is when he doesn't. Longer too; it goes down to his shoulders.

Ed looked up as there was a quiet knock on his door. "Who is it?"

The door creaked open and he turned to see Mercy standing in his doorway. "Mom wanted me to tell you breakfast is ready." She said in a quiet, whispery voice.

He nodded. "'Kay, thanks Mercy. Be down in a sec." She nodded and walked out. Ed closed his journal and put it in his top desk drawer, locking it with the key around his neck.

"Pancakes!" Johnny cried joyously as Sally set his plate down in front of him.

"Does Aubrey ever have anything else?" Shock asked, grabbing the syrup before Lock could. He glared at her.

"May all your bacon be burnt." He muttered.

Aubrey laughed, tugging on Lock's ponytail lightly. "What can I say? I love mom's pancakes."

Ed came rushing into the room and grabbed an empty chair, plopping down between Barrel and Lock. "Aubrey, you aren't being very original." He commented, cutting a forkful of his breakfast and popping it in his mouth.

She shrugged. "I don't have to be. It is my birthday, therefore, we have pancakes. Deal."

Jack sent her a look. "Aubrey, be nice."

The white-haired girl sent him a sheepish smile. "Sorry dad. Hey, we're still heading to Paris tonight, right? Or did we change it back to London?"

"Paris." Jack confirmed with a nod. "It's going to be raining in London."

Aubrey scrunched her nose. "Eeuch. I hate rain. I can't fly with wet wings. And I was going to get really mad if all that French I've been learning was for nothing."

"Well, not for nothing." Lock said, grinning over at her. She rolled her eyes and elbowed him.

Aubrey leant forward and looked over at Shock and Barrel. "You guys are coming too, right?"

Barrel grinned over at Shock. "Mais bien sûr."

"Translation: duh. (actually, it translates to 'but of course.')" Shock said, giving her a "you're an idiot" look.

A piece of bacon was promptly tossed at the witch's head. "You don't have to be rude about it, I was just asking."

Ed rolled his eyes as they continued to talk about it. He, Johnny, Ed, and Mercy were too young to go to Living World on Halloween unaccompanied; Jack was going to be busy doing his job as Pumpkin King- a.k.a scaring the shit out of some living people- and Sally was going to be busy helping, so they were going to stay with Dr. Finklestein this year. Tuning out the conversation, he let his eyes drift over the table, where they fell on Mercy.

The young girl was glaring down at her food, her fist tight around her fork. Glancing slightly over, (a/n: yes, I know. They have no eyes. Ed can just tell, okay?) her eyes (not a word out of any of you!) fell on the glass of juice beside her plate. Her gaze traveled from the glass to Aubrey, whom she was sitting next to, several times before her hand 'accidentally' tipped the glass, spilling the juice out onto the table… and all over Aubrey's lap.

Letting out a surprised yell, Aubrey jumped up. "Sorry!" Mercy apologized immediately.

Aubrey shook her head, smiling over at her. "It's alright, Mercy. It was just an accident, right?"

For a second, Ed could've sworn he saw Mercy glare at Aubrey, but it passed as quickly as he thought it came, and she just nodded. "Besides, no harm done, it was just really cold." She scratched the back of her head. "Guess I'll go get dressed early."

"Hold on, Aubrey, I can get it." Barrel stopped her. "Naelc." The stains disappeared off of the table and Aubrey's pajama pants.

"Nice, Barrel." Aubrey admonished, sitting back down.

"So THAT'S how you keep your room so clean!" Lock accused. "I knew you didn't clean it all up yourself." Barrel just grinned at him.

-Halloween Night-

"See you later, guys!" Aubrey called over her shoulder as she, Lock, Shock, and Barrel ran off.

Sally kissed each of the triplets on the cheek. "Behave for your grandpa."

"Yes ma'am." Johnny and Ed said with a decidedly bored tone. Mercy nodded, watching as Jack and Sally walked off toward the graveyard.

Dr. Finklestein whirred past them and shut the door. "Well, what should we do tonight?"

"I'm going to go help grandma." Ed said, running off toward the kitchen.

Johnny grinned at the doctor hopefully. "Can I help in the lab?"

"Of course, my boy." Dr. Finklestein turned his head toward Mercy. "What about you, my dear? Care to join us?"

Mercy shook her head. "I'll go explore." She said quietly, turning and going outside.

Explore. Right. Ha! I know my way around grandpa's lab so well I could make it around with my eyes closed. Figuratively speaking.

I sat down on a crooked step on the porch, kicking at a frog that was trying to sneak up the stairs. It let out a startled croak and jumped back, falling down the steps. My eyes widened, thinking I'd hurt it, but then I glared when it flipped itself over and hopped back out to the acid works. "Stupid frog." I muttered, resting my cheek against a fist.

Of course, it wasn't really the frog I was mad at. It just happened to be a nearby way to take out frustration. This frustration was stemmed from the fact that my artistic muse seemed to