Chapter 12 - Escape

"Ok do we all remember the plan?" questioned Gracie to her friends. They have just landed in the holiday trees. "Could you repeat the plan?" questioned Melissa. "Don't tell me you forgot already!! Fine I'll explain the plan again. See we will take Vince to Zack saying we caught him and would like to take him to jail. Then Zack will, somehow, take us to his pirate ship so that we can put Vince in jail. When he leaves we will unlock the cell that Ann, Kim, and Michael are in using one of Kel's credit cards. Then we will go out on deck, find Jack, and call out to Santa, who will be waiting a few miles away from the ship on his sleigh. And thats all I have so far." said Gracie in an annoyed tone. "Wait, why would Zack put them on his old ship?" questioned Deseree. "For convience and so that no one will hear them screaming for help." replyed Gracie. "Why would we need one of my credit cards?" questioned Kelsey. "Credit cards can be used to pick locks. I read that in a Nancy Drew book." replyed Gracie. "Why don't we just fly to the ship with Santa?" questioned Melissa. "Because the crew will notice if we just walk on deck we want to get on the ship in the sneekest way possible and that is through the jail cells." said Gracie in an annoyed tone. "Well then. I guess I better get going so that I'll be at the ship on time." said Santa. Then Santa called all his reindeer and they were off.
"Gracie you need to disguise your voice." said Vince in a reminding tone. Gracie then cleared her throat. "How's this?" questioned Gracie her voice was in a harsh whisper. "You sound like Golum from Lord of the Rings." said Melissa in a grossed-out tone. "Lets hope he doesn't notice." said Kelsey in a timid tone. Then they oppened the door to Halloween Town and were sucked in.
When they arrived at town there was complete scilence. No ravens squawking. No crows. Nothing. "Its..its..so..bare." said Deseree in a surprised tone. "Everyone's afraid of the shadows so they hide inside." Vince told the girls. "I have a haunch that the shadows hide out in the bacement of your house, Vince." said Gracie starting to sound like a dective. Then the girls ran (Well flew, they have the hoods over their heads) to the bacement of Jack's house.
"Zack. We have captured Vince." said Gracie in a harsh tone. "Ah excellent. You'll be joining your father and siblings very soon," said Zack in a happy tone. "By the way. What's wrong with your voice?" "Uhh...I have a bad cough see (cough) (cough)." said Gracie coughing. Then Zack gave Gracie a suspicious look. "You should get some water for that." said Zack sounding like a doctor. "I'll do that after I put Vince away." said Gracie. Then Zack pressed a button on the bowtie and Gracie, her friends, and Vince were gone.
"Zack! Zack!" yelled some shadows running to their master. "We're terribly sorry but we could not locate Vince." said the shadow in a dissapoited tone. "What do you mean? Some shadows just brought Vince to me and I just zaped them away." said Zack in a confused tone. "WAIT A MINUITE!! Those shadows weren't shadows. Those shadows were those blasted humans in disguise!!" yelled Zack at the top of his lungs "Well I'll show them! No one messes with Captain Zack Skellington! No one!!"
"Did he just?" questioned Melissa. "Zap us with..." started Deseree. "The bat bowtie?" questioned Kelsey. "It appears so. But how did he do it?" questioned Gracie in a thoughtful tone. "That doesn't matter. Can we just please save my family?" questioned Vince in an annoyed tone. "Wow. Look who's brave." said Melissa in a surprised tone. "But he has a point." said Deseree in a reminding tone. "Right. Ann, Kim, and Michael are in here somewhere and we gotta free them." said Kelsey matter of factly. The girls lowered their hoods so that they can walk. They looked inside the little barred windows of the cells hoping to find their friends.
"Ok we're at the last one. Please let them be in here." said Gracie in a begging tone. Gracie looked inside. "Ann, Kim, Michael! Are you in here?!" called Gracie. "GRACIE!!!" yelled Ann. "YOU FOUND US!!!" yelled Kim. "Thanks to Vince." said Melissa "if it wern't for him we wouldn't of ever know about Halloween Town." "Alrigh Vince. I knew you could do it." said Michael in a congradulating(SP) tone. "Are you girls ok?" questioned Jack. "Yea we're ok Jack. Wait a min. JACK YOUR IN HERE TOO?!?" yelled Deseree. "You...you...look like Zack." said Kelsey. "Don't worry. We'll have you out of here faster than you can say Beetlejuice 3 times. Kel credit card please." said Gracie in a promising tone. Kelsey then took off her shadow outfit and reached into her pocket of her jeans and gave Gracie a credit card. "Thank you." said Gracie as she grabbed the credit card from Kelsey. Gracie then tried to swipe the card in the door but she had no luck. The door was still locked.
"Ok we're boned." said Kelsey in a sorrow tone when Gracie gave her credit card back. Kelsey put the credit card back in her jean pocket and put her shadow costume back on. "Maybe not," Gracie then took off her shadow costume and took out a box from the pocket on her hoodie. "Remember a few years back when I joined the Nancy Drew fan club?" questioned Gracie hoping her friends would remember. "What about it?" questioned Deseree. "Well when you joined the club you got (1: a years supply of Nancy Drew books, (2: a note from the author, and (3: a Nancy Drew dective kit." said Gracie in a reminding tone as she showed them the box. "Your point?" questioned Melissa. "The kit contains a notebook, a portable flashlight, a codebreaker book, and an instrument used to pick locks!" said Gracie in an exicited tone. She took out the instrument and put the box back in her pocket.
"Your joking right?" questioned Kelsey in a false happy tone. "No, I'm as serious as heck." snapped Gracie. "Girl, that stuff doesn't work lets just look for the keys to the cell." Deseree said. "The keys flew away." said Jack in a sorrow tone. "See, we have to use my pick-lock thingy. Besides I tried it on all of our lockers at school and it works like a charm." said Gracie in a happy tone. "Thats where my history book went." said Melissa in an angry tone. "Uhhhhh...don't worry guys I'll get you out in a jiffy." said Gracie quickly changing the subject.
Gracie then put the instrument in the lock and moved it around, listening for a click that would tell her the door was open. "This is pointless." said Deseree in a bored tone. "Shhh I need complete concentration(SP) and quietness." said Gracie in an annoyed tone. Then they heard a click and the door was open!
"I told you this thing works like a charm." said Gracie in a I-told-you-so tone of voice. Gracie then put the pick-lock instrument away and put her shadow outfit on over her original outfit. "Thank you girls so much for getting us out of that jail." said Jack in a happy tone. "Hey Jack I like the pirate look. Any chance of you keeping it?" asked Kelsey in a joking tone. "No." said Jack in an annoyed tone.
"So how do we get out of here?" questioned Gracie. "Down the hall." said Jack in know-it-all tone. Then they ran down the hall and stopped at a dead end. "Ok it looks like the only way out is," then Gracie looked up and saw a closed door "out that door." "But its so high up. Not even daddy can reach that." said Ann in a worried tone. Ann did have a point. The door looked a good mile and a half up from where they were standing and there was no ladder anywhere in sight. "Ok now its my turn to have an idea." said Melissa in a happy tone "we're gonna fly out of here." "Fly?" questioned Jack in a confused tone. "Yea." said Deseree in a happy tone. "See, these shadow costumes make us fly." said Kelsey demonstrating by putting her hood over head, resulting in her floating upwards.
"THATS AMAZING!!!" Jack said in a surprized and shocked tone. "Their hood activated. When the hoods are..." Gracie started to explain but was interrupted. "Magic. Got it. Lets just get out of here." said Michael in a bored tone. "But we can't fly out of here like Gracie and her friends." said Kim. "Hitch a ride with us." said Kelsey in a happy tone. Then Ann, Kim, Michael, and Vince grabbed onto Melissa, Kelsey, and Deseree. Gracie grabbed Jack's hand and took flight.
Gracie and her friends busted out the door and landed, gracefully, on the deck of the ship. "Is everyone ok?" questioned Gracie in a worried tone as she let go of Jack's hand. Everyone nodded their heads, meaning they were ok. "Good. Lets get outta here!" yelled Melissa.
The group walked further out on deck when all of a sudden they saw some skellington pirates coming their way! "I see Zack has a welcoming comittee(SP)." said Kelsey in a worried tone. Then the pirates drew their swords. "A very sharp welcoming comittee(SP)." said Deseree in a worried tone. "Hey Jack you wouldn't happen to have some swords for us. Would ya?" questioned Gracie in a worried-hopeful tone. "No I only have one sword. But I know where some other swords are!" said Jack in an exicited tone. "Well go get 'em!" yelled Melissa. "I'm taking Ann, Kim, Michael, and Vince with me. This fight may prove to be a bit too violent for them." said Jack. "You do that." said Gracie.
Then Jack took his kids into the captain's quarters. He remembered seeing some swords in that room before he was locked up. He quickly grabbed 4 swords. "But dad we wanna see the fight." the kids cried in unison. "Oh no. Its too violent. Now stay in here and don't touch anything sharp, pointy, or shiny." said Jack as he walked out of the room.
Back outside Gracie and her friends were doing a great job of dodging sword moves. "I hope Jack hurries up!" yelled Melissa. "Just give him a min maybe 2 and he'll be here." said Gracie as she ducked under a sword.
Then Jack appeared and tossed the swords to his friends. The girls caught the swords without getting hurt. "Now it looks like we have a chance." said Deseree in a hopeful tone. The sounds of sword clashing rang in the air. After what felt like hours the pirate crew layed on the deck of the ship, defeated and dead. "Glad thats over." said Kelsey in a relieved tone dropping her sword on the ground.
Then Ann, Kim, Michael, and Vince came out on deck, stepping over the skellingtons as they got closer to their father. "We saw the whole fight from a window inside the captain's room. You all were awesome!!" said Ann in an exicited tone. "Yea it was very exciting." said Kim in an exicited tone. "Where did you learn all those sword movements?" questioned Michael. "You wern't supposed to watch that fight." said Jack in an angry tone. "Well I didn't watch the fight." said Vince in a I'm-so-perfect tone of voice. "You were too busy looking at the swords." said Kim looking angerly at her brother. "STOP FIGHTING!" yelled Jack. "Now lets just get outta here before Zack decides to burn down Halloween Town!" said Gracie in an angry tone. "Good point." said Gracie's friends in unison.
Then the group walked to the edge of the ship and called Santa's name. "Just give him a min maybe 2 and he'll be here." said Gracie in a hopeful tone. "Wait until Zack finds out what happened to his crew." said Melissa laughing. Everyone was laughing except for Jack. Gracie looked at her skeletal friend who was staring out into the ocean. "Don't worry, Jack. We'll get Sally back to normal and we will get you your rightful position as pumpkin king," said Gracie in a promising tone as she put a hand on Jack's shoulder "I bet my so-called-life on it." They both laughed. Gracie's laughter was cut short when she thought she heard footsteps. But how? All her friends were next to her. Gracie turned around and saw the first mate coming at them with a sword in his hands and it was aimed for Jack!
Gracie jumped on Jack to get him out of the way of the pirate and landed on the floor next to Jack. "Are you ok?!" Gracie questioned in a very worried tone. "Yes I'm fine. Thanks for saving me." Jack replyed. Then Gracie got up and helped Jack to his feet. She turned around and saw the first mate trying to get his sword out of the edge of the ship she also saw her other friends hiding behind some barrels. Gracie sighed a breath of relief and walked over to the first mate. "Well, that was a great trick. Trying to kill one of my best friends. But tell me, after killing Jack what were you planin to do?" questioned Gracie in a humorful tone. The first mate muttered something having to do with the name Hally but Gracie didn't hear him. "I mean you have no weapon so what are you gonna do?" she said. The first mate walked up to Jack and pushed him overboard!!!
Gracie ran to where the first mate pushed Jack and tried to catch him but she was too late. Jack was too far down for Gracie's arms to reach. Gracie looked at the first mate, who had a triumphant smile on his face, she had fire burning in her eyes.
Gracie's mind was in a blur, the next thing she saw was the severed body of the first mate falling overboard on the other side of the ship and dissapearing under the ocean.
Gracie turned around and started to put her hood over her head "Cover me I'm going after Jack." said Gracie in a very serious tone. Her friends got up from their hiding place and looked at her through their tears. "Girl are you insane?!" yelled Deseree. "YES! Jack is probably still alive and I'm gonna save him from a watery grave!" Gracie yelled back in a very serious tone. "He had too much of a head start. By the time you actually catch up to him he'd be dead." said Melissa trying to calm Gracie. Gracie took off her hood and looked at Ann, Kim, Michael, and Vince. They were crying bucketfulls. "Just face it. He's dead." said Kelsey trying to hold back tears. They all were trying to hold back tears but they were unsuccessful. "Get off of me!!" yelled a voice that sounded like Jack.
"I must be going insane. I swear I just heard Jack's voice!" said Gracie in a surprized tone. "If your going insane then your takin us with ya because we just heard Jack too." everyone else said in unison. "Your not going insane!" said a low, cheery voice in a joking tone. Everyone turned around and they saw Santa's sleigh. "Santa!" yelled everyone except Gracie. Gracie walked up to the sleigh and looked inside. Then Jack stood up and looked at Gracie.
"JACK!" yelled Gracie in a overjoyed tone. She jumped onto the sleigh and gave Jack a bone-crushing hug, "YOUR ALIVE!!!" "Nice to see you too, Gracie, but could you please let go before my bones break?" questioned Jack trying to breathe. Then Gracie felt something furry brush up by her leg. She let go of Jack and looked down and saw Abby. Then Ann, Kim, Michael, and Vince jumped onto the sleigh and hugged their father. "Don't ever scare us like that again Daddy!" they said in unison.
"Abby? How'd you get here?" questioned Gracie. "Abby's here!" yelled her friends in unison, shock in their voice. "She must of been in the family room when I got you to the roof." said Santa. "I guess I owe my life to Abby." said Jack sitting down, his kids at his side. "Why? What happened?" questioned Melissa. "Well, I was on my way to pick you all up when I saw Jack fall. I tried to catch him in the sleigh, but I missed. Then Abby came out of nowhere and grabbed Jack by the collar of his shirt and pulled him into the sleigh." said Santa. "I guess Abby really missed me because she couldn't stop licking my face." said Jack jokingly. Gracie and her friends laughed at the joke. "I'm so glad your alive Jack." said Gracie when the laughter died down. "Dad, you should of seen Gracie! She killed the first mate." said the kids in unison. "I did?" questioned Gracie. "You don't remember?" questioned Deseree. "My mind was a big blur during the whole thing." said Gracie. "Well I don't blame ya. We all were devisated by what happened to Jack but you took your rage out on the first mate." said Kelsey in a sad tone. "Can someone tell me what happened?" questioned Gracie.
"Sure. See Jack had just fell and you tried to catch him. But you didn't. Then you looked at the first mate and I swear that you had fire in your eyes. Then you started to punch the first mate making him fall to the ground. Then you started to kick him in the stomach. Then you took off his head and threw it overboard. Then you threw the body in after it. I swear, Gracie you scared us to, like, bits." said Deseree in a oh-my-god tone of voice. "I had fire in my eyes?" questioned Gracie in a confused tone, "And I threw him overboard? I...I I don't know what to say." "And all that just because he pushed me off the ship. Gracie I can't believe you would do such a thing." said Jack in a shocked tone. "We didn't know either." said the kids in unison. "If Gracie fights Zack like she just did now then we'd actually have a chance." said Kelsey. "Oh believe me Kel. Zack has it coming, big time. When I see that no good excuse for a skellington I will show no mercy whatsoever!" said Gracie in an angry tone, "How could he do this to us? Banishing myself and my friends, putting Jack in jail, brainwashing Sally, and taking Jack's place as Pumpkin King. Whatever happenes to him after all this is too good for him!" "Amen to that!" said Melissa in a happy tone. Then they flew away from the ship. Gracie took one look back. "The Bloody Skull," she read to herself, "Good riddence!" then she left to catch up with her friends
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