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

one of the shelves.

"Don't worry your pretty little head, dollface. I'll find it." And with that, he began to scuttle along the first of the many shelves occupying the room. Mercy sighed and sat down against the open door, watching as the little green bug made its way around the room.

Ten minutes later, Mercy looked up as a loud, "Aha!" came from the green speck on the opposite wall. She pulled herself to her feet. "What, did you find it?" She questioned, walking over to the opposite shelf and examining the book that Oogie stood in front of. Reaching up, she tugged it off of the shelf, sending a cloud of dust into the air. "It's… kinda heavy…" She said, trying to adjust it in her arms to make it easier to carry.

Oogie jumped off the shelf and back onto her shoulder. "Let's go, dollface. Can't let that doctor find us here."

"Aubrey!"

The white-haired girl looked up just in time to see a black haired figure tackle her with a hug. "Vida?" She questioned.

The cat-vampire mix stepped back and grinned at her. "In the flesh." Her emerald eyes flickered down to Aubrey's hand. "So it is true. Congrats."

"Oh my god, even at the University?"

Vida put a hand on her shoulder. "Aubrey, you're the freaking Pumpkin Princess- it's kinda big news that you're engaged."

Aubrey rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I guess. How've you been, we haven't seen much of you or C.K. since you guys got accepted to Underworld University."

She shrugged. "Alright. College is killer, no pun intended. We've barely got any free time."

"But you're still dating."

"Hell yes. You know me, I'm stubborn as a brick wall."

Aubrey laughed. "Except when it came to Lock."

Vida smirked. "I said I'm stubborn, but even I know a lost cause when I see one. Case in point, you have a ring on your finger."

"Yes, as everyone should now know."

Aubrey turned around and smacked Lock on the shoulder. "Don't do that!"

He grinned at her, rubbing the spot she had hit. "I am ninja, hear me roar."

"Grr." She finished, turning back to Vida. "He's gotten a bad habit of sneaking up on everybody around town and scaring them out of their skin. Now it's just annoying, though."

"Hey!"

Vida laughed. "Yeah. Didn't he do that to the chem teacher in high school?"

Lock paused. "Oh yeah. He was carrying the frog's breath-"

"Which was actually a bottle of dragon's breath we'd switched the label on." Aubrey interrupted. "So when he dropped it, he almost blew up the lab."

"Fourth time." Vida sighed. "I'm still wondering how you managed to escape getting expelled."

Lock grinned. "My witty charm and good looks?"

"Actually, I was thinking your girlfriend." Vida corrected. Aubrey laughed as Lock let go of her to cross him arms and pout.

"Oh, stop pouting and act your age for once." She mock-scolded.

Vida laughed, then stopped as she peered around Aubrey. "Hey, isn't that Mercy over there?" Aubrey and Lock turned around to see the red-headed Skellington running toward the manor.

"Yeah, that is." Lock muttered. "She must've been coming from Dr. Finklestein's."

"Grandpa's?" Aubrey asked. "What would she be doing there? She knows he's busy handling the preparations for Halloween."

Lock shrugged. "Maybe she forgot."

"Yeah... right." She muttered.

Vida waved it off. "Ah, don't worry- she's eight."

"That isn't exactly reassuring. When I was eight, the key's power started working."

Lock kssed her temple. "Don't worry. I'm sure it was nothing."

Aubrey sighed, and finally smiled up at him. "Yeah, I'm sure you're right. I'm just a little stressed out with dad not here."

"Hey, Vida!" All three turned toward the Witches' Shop to see Shock and Barrel running over. Shock had a bag in her hands. Barrel grinned. "See, told ya."

"Oh shut up." Shock snapped. "What are you doing back here?"

Vida shrugged. "No classes today. Ironically enough, the science lab blew up. Too much toad wart in someone's potion is what I heard."

Shock scoffed. "Amateurs."

Barrel put an arm around her shoulders. "Now, Shock, not everyone gets offers to join the Witches' Council at twenty-one."

Aubrey rose an eyebrow. "Excuse moi?"

"You know what I mean." Barrel said as Shock threw a spell at Aubrey's head.

"Urgh! Where is it?" Lock stopped outside the door to Shock's room. "I just bought some yesterday..."

"Shock?" Lock asked, pushing the door open slightly. "You lose something?"

The witch put her hands on her hips with a frustrated huff. "Yeah, a bottle of basilisk tongues. I just bought it yesterday at the Witches' Shop."

Lock crossed his arms. If there was one thing he knew for sure about Shock and her potion making, it was that she never lost ingredients. One look at the uberly neat shelves covering the entire left wall of her room confirmed it. "Weird. Where'd you set it?"

Shock pointed to the table next to her cauldron. "Right there. The potion had to set, so I went down to grab something to eat. When I came back, it was gone."

Lock frowned, tapping his claws on his forearm. "Strange. Here, I'll help you look."

Just around the corner of the hallway, Mercy let out a relieved sigh. She peeked around the corner to make sure that Lock and Shock were still occupied in her room before running down to her own. If either of them saw her, then they made no comment toward the girl.

"Did you get it?" Oogie asked from the windowsill. Mercy pulled a clear glass bottle from her pocket. Sitting inside were several blood red, forked tongues as thick as her fingers.

"I didn't have time to get just one- Shock came back too fast." She explained.

Oogie gave what Mercy interpreted as a shrug- or as close to one as an insect could get. "Just as well. Dragon tongues go rotten fast. But we may have to find a different source for the ingredients- I forgot what a neat freak that little brat was."

Mercy raised an eyebrow. "You knew Shock?"

Oogie grinned at her. "I knew all three of those little monsters- where do ya' think they got the name Boogie's Boys, darlin?"

"You- you're the one who raised Lock, Shock, and Barrel?" She asked.

A quick nod. "I was- until your sister turned 'em on me! After everything I'd done for them, ungrateful little wretches."

Now Mercy could remember where she'd heard the name Oogie Boogie- she'd overheard Aubrey and Lock talking about him on Halloween last year.

"Lock, I can't help it. What if Oogie does come back?"

"Aubs, listen to me. Oogie Boogie is NOT coming back. Not this time."

"I'd feel better if we checked."

"It's been twelve years, Aubrey. He's not coming back."

Mercy had never paid attention to the conversation, because it ended right then when Shock and Barrel had walked in. But she did remember that Aubrey had sounded worried- really worried.

'Of course she was worried.' Mercy thought. 'She did something to Oogie and was scared he was going to come back and get revenge. Lock must've been in on it too.'

"Well… I could try and get the ingredients from the Witches' Shop." Mercy said. "Hazel and Zoë should be busy cleaning up their stuff from Halloween still." She said slowly. "They probably wouldn't notice if a few things went missing."

"Then let's get goin'."

It took three days to get all the ingredients from the Witches' Shop- it would've only taken one, but Oogie insisted that we not take it all at once, otherwise we might get caught. I don't know why he was so worried- no one's going to suspect a bug of stealing potion ingredients.

I let out a sigh and looked down at the book again. "Okay, let's see…" I muttered, running my finger over the oh-so-helpful diagram on the page. "Basilisk tongue there, chimera scale, frog's breath, spider fangs, bat wings…" I looked up. "I think that's everything, Oogie."

Oogie was sitting on the pile of ashes in the center of the clearing I'd found him in. "Good. Then finish the circle and let's get started."

I grabbed the bottle of insects next to me and the burnt scrap of cloth and walked over to Oogie. He scuttled onto the cloth as I set it down, and I quickly dumped out the jar, retreating behind the nearby trees. The bugs, of course immediately tried to scatter, only to be stopped by an invisible barrier that had come out of nowhere. My eyes flew back to the green bug on top of the pile. Oogie was glowing, and floating into the air. The ashes, bugs, and spell ingredients all flew around him in a tornado. I looked away as a brilliant light flared up in a pillar shooting up to the sky.

A loud rumble cracked through the air, and I looked up to see storm clouds circling around us, drifting over the town. Lightning blazed through the sky, and rain began to pour down. I muttered a spell to repel the water and turned back to the clearing. The pillar had faded, and all that was left was smoke- lots of it. "Oogie?" I called, stepping out from behind the tree.

Cackling rose from within the smoke cloud and I could make out a large figure. "I'm back, baby! Time to have some fun."


Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Nightmare

There had always been a room in the dream, an enormous room glowing darkly with shining lights. And there had been people, many strangers with blurred faces, and some who were vaguely familiar, except that they seemed to be wearing masks carved from ice, which had frozen their faces into exaggerated expressions of fear. Then it would vanish, leaving only an echo of violent noises and a feeling of heart-stopping terror.

But this time, Aubrey didn't wake up.

She was eight years old again, standing on Oogie's roulette wheel. Screams of pain echoed around her, even though the room was empty except for her. She pressed her hands over her ears, forcing her eyes shut. "Stop… somebody, make it stop!"

And then it did. "Aubrey…" Her eyes snapped open, shining with fear. "Auuuuubreeey…" The voice drew her name out into a malicious laugh.

Aubrey found herself unable to breathe as a large shadow covered her body. A rough, burlap covered hand grabbed her throat and turned her around so she was staring into soulless black eyes. "Guess who's back, baby?"

Aubrey Skellington shot up in bed screaming. It petered off into a short, panicked whimper as she looked around her room. Covering her face with her hands, she gulped