Nightmare Before Christmas Fan Fiction ❯ Black and Red ❯ Vial ( Chapter 3 )

Sally crept up the stairs nervously. Nobody was looking, so she felt safe. She shyly tried the door and found it open. She slipped inside and began to look around. When she got upstairs, she paused. There, lying on the bed, was a glass vial. It was diamond shaped, with spider like legs on the bottom to hold it upright. She picked it up and studied it. Had Jack taken a potion? He must have. She turned to the closet and saw a row of potions. She saw two vials that looked exactly the same as the one in her hand. They had black-and-red-swirled potion in it.

She picked one up, uncorked it, and sniffed. It was a terribly strong smell, like soured clothes. It smelled quite good. She smelled the empty vial and could detect the same odor, though it was faint. So Jack had taken this potion. Why? What did it do? Well, the potion was two different colors, indicating that it was a very difficult one to make, so that meant that Dr. Finkelstein had made it. It was time the doctor gave up his secrets. She placed the vials in her pockets and hurried home, walking in on the doctor experimenting on Igor.

"Doctor? What's this?" she asked, pulling out the empty vial.

He glanced over. "It's a potion vial, my dear. You've seen many lying around my lab."

"But never this particular shape. You put everything in different vials. What potion does this belong to?"

"Sally, I'm very busy."

"It'll only take a few seconds."

Dr. Finkelstein grumbled and held out his hand. She gave him the vial. He took one good look at it and swore.

"Where in the hell did you get this?!"

"I…I found it," Sally said, a little scared; it was never good when he cursed.

"Where?"

"Lying around."

The doctor slammed his fist onto the arm of his chair. "You went into Jack's house!"

"I-I'm worried about him!" Sally exclaimed. "He's been missing for eight months!"

"Jack will come back when he wants to! You are not his wife yet, or even his fiancée! Keep your nose in your own business! Now leave. I'm busy. And stay out of his house!"

Sally slunk away and ran to the Holiday Doors. She leaped through the Christmas one. After calling a meeting of the leaders, she stood there with her head up. They stared at her, never having seen a burst of confidence like this.

"Sally? What's your news?"

"Jack took a potion," she said then reached into her pocket and pulled out the full vial. "This potion."

"What does it do?" Eros asked.

"I don't know. Dr. Finkelstein wasn't pleased that I found the empty one of these. He definitely wasn't going to tell me what the potion does."

"So what are we going to do now?"

"I'm going to take the potion and we'll see what it does."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"Yes. But I can always be sewn back together if something happens to me."

They talked it over and agreed that nothing else could be done. Jack had to be found. Sally uncorked the potion again and drank it down. Nothing happened for about five seconds then she was driven to her hands and knees as the strangest sensation hit her. The whole process took less than a minute, and she had let out a single cry by the end of it. She was helped up and when she had her feet under her, she looked up to see all the leaders staring at her.

"W-what?" she asked shakily.

Sandy held out his hand and she took it. She froze when she saw her skin, because it wasn't cloth anymore. It was actually skin. She screamed and stumbled back, nearly tripping and falling into the fireplace. It was luck that let Patrick snatch her away from the blaze.

"Wh-what happened?!" she asked in a panicked voice.

"You're human, as far as I can tell," Bunny said with a nod. "You even smell human now. You're a bit too pale for comfort though."

"So Jack turned himself human?" Sally asked as she calmed down a little.

"It would seem so."

"But that means he could be anywhere."

"What's the nearest human town to Halloween Town?"

"There's one through a big mausoleum. It takes about an hour to get there."

"Well then by all means, let's go!" Sam said. "My Holiday is coming up and I have to get back soon!"

They hurried to Halloween Town and into the graveyard. The Holiday leaders didn't have the time to be scared as they entered the mausoleum. They had to find their missing comrade.