Giving Way to the Light

Chapter Twenty-Three

After being slammed into a building, a tree, and almost having been dropped in the the Atlantic ocean twice, I was ready to say that wind was not my favorite form of travel. Jack had apologized profusely after every occurrence of course, but that did not change the fact that I would not be traveling via wind hovering ever again if I could help it.

The sun was already high in the sky when we arrived in Halloween Town, and most of the nocturnal creatures were asleep, but there were still a fair bit of Forsaken meandering about in the town square. The surplus of witches meant Jack had refused to land until we had reached my tower.

"Skeleton Jack and I have very different definitions of clean," I mused, looking around at all the dust and cobwebs hanging about in the corners. I hadn't stopped to take stock when I'd been here just days earlier, but it was plain as day right then. "I'll admit though, it is better than it would be if he hadn't come in here every once in awhile."

"Well, it fits in with the rest of the town," Jack pointed out. "I guess he wanted to keep the theme of Halloween going."

"I left before Halloween really became what it is today," I said, leading the way up the stairs to my library. "So Halloween Town is still pretty new to me. When I was here, it was still referred to as 'The Hallow.' "

He hummed, and observed the sparse decorations which included torches, some old souvenirs from my travels, and the occasional tapestry.

"It's nice, but you could've use a better color for the walls," Jack said offhandedly. "It's a bit drab."

I raised an eyebrow. "It's cobblestone."

"At least add some pictures or something. How about those cool knight armors that Dracula had?"

"Too much work to keep clean, and I don't have a house-keeper."

Jack shrugged. "Well then, pictures."

"Photos didn't exist yet when I left, and I didn't have money to buy anything, nor the patience to make anything."

I stopped climbing the stairs at the third level, and opened the door to the library.

"Well if you did have the time to redecorate, what would you want it to look like?"

I paused at that, because it was a very difficult question to answer, and not one I had ever pondered before.

"I'm not really sure," I admitted. "Not anything too fancy, like in a 1500's palace, but maybe something more simplistic?"

"How about some more tapestries?" I rolled my eyes.

"I'll take that into consideration." We shared a look, and I noticed not for the first time how purely blue his eyes were. They seemed to actually sparkle and smile all the time and—

—And suddenly I was reminded of the whole "zing" conversation back in Transylvania, and felt I could no longer look at him without coming off as some flighty (or in my case, flightless) school girl.

I coughed awkwardly, and gestured up the spiral stairwell. "This way to the library."

He didn't seem to notice my sudden nervousness, or if he did he just played it off. "After you, princess."

"Please don't call me that."

"No promises."

"I'll turn you into a toad if you do."

"No you won't."

"Plants, Herbs, and Their Uses?"

"No."