Black Butterfly

A/N: I wouldn’t have put the violence warning in the summary if I didn’t mean it. It’s not too bad, but I feel compelled to provide the particularly squeamish with an extra warning for this chapter. You can probably guess where this is going now, so I’ll let you get on with it…

Shock (March 16)

It took quite a bit of noise and effort to get the cage into the lair. They didn’t want to throw it, unsure of what condition the leprechaun should be in upon his presentation. Barrel went first, and when he shouted that he was ready, Lock and Shock lowered the cage on a rope. By the time all three and their captive alighted on the cavern floor, the Boogeyman was waiting.

“Bring it here. Let me see it.” His face could barely contain his grin, and his hands formed a fidgety knot at chest level.

Shock couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him so excited. Not for the first time, she wondered what exactly was about to happen. Barrel hung the package from the hook dangling over the wheel, and Lock peeled off the sack.

“Yeh know, I don’t appreciate bein referred to as it.” The small, green man focused his beady eyes on the burlap creature. “And I suppose yeh be the brains of this operation, aye?”

“I am the Boogeyman.” He leaned closer, scrutinizing from behind the deep shadows in his eye sockets.

The leprechaun scooted up against the opposite bars. “Whoever yeh are, it’s been a long day, and I’ve got a holiday to be preparin for. Yeh must know whatcha want. Let’s get this over with so I can go home.”

“Home? You think you’re goin home?” Oogie chuckled at first, but it built into a much more gleeful sound.

The teenager turned her attention from the unfolding scene long enough to see if she could catch a clue from the others. Lock watched so intently, she could almost hear his brain working. On the other side, she met Barrel’s questioning gaze. She shrugged at him with her eyebrows and sought out clues elsewhere. Nothing but her eyes and head felt like they could move. Oogie had them all in the old trance. Taunt with excitement, alert and curious, but afraid to move, lest the air break and Oogie suddenly unravel the pressure on the one careless enough to disturb it.

“I’m not in the mood tah play games,” the leprechaun said. “Tell me whatcha want, and yeh can have it. No tricks.”

The sack of bugs stopped laughing and pursed his lips. “That’s too bad.” He put an arm around the cage. “I like tricks. My henchmen like tricks. I’m disappointed that you’re burned out already.” When the leprechaun didn’t answer, Oogie turned his back on all of them and walked forward. “All right. I’ll play, then.”

Following his movement, Shock finally noticed the metal cylinder, about three feet tall and one foot wide, standing on end at the edge of a shadow. She didn’t recognize it, but something about the smooth, ambiguous surface chilled her. Reaching behind her, without giving it much thought, she found two other hands, one thick and soft, the other thin and sharp. They linked.

“I know.” Oogie whipped around, his eyes two faint slits of green in the gloom. “Why don’t you guess what I want?”

The leprechaun sighed. “Listen, it’s either the gold or the wishes, so I don’t see the point in draggin this out.”

“Uh uh uh. Not gonna steer me off that easily. Or have you been pretending to be a two-trick pony for so long, you actually don’t remember?”

There was a pause, and then the leprechaun pressed harder against the bars. “Yeh can’t mean…”

“Yep. I’m takin what’s behind door number three.” As Oogie approached the center of the wheel again, the light flashed off something in his hand. The shiv. “And I couldn’t’ve picked a juicer one myself. You did good, boys.”

Shock didn’t have time to be annoyed by the general address Oogie had used. ‘A juicer one?’ Oh, he better not have sent all of them on that wild goose chase simply because he wanted more exotic cuisine…

“Now hang on a minute. That story about drinkin leprechaun blood was nothing but a scam that got outta hand.”

“You’re lying. Not that it matters. I got nothing to lose by calling that bluff.” He grabbed the leprechaun’s arm and pulled it through the bars. “I need magic for a couple of days. This doesn’t work, I’ll try something else.”

“Let me go!” He sounded scared now, desperate, staring at the jagged blade with wide eyes.

“Aw, I’m not gonna use this. That wouldn’t be any fun. But fabric’s such a pain to digest, you see. And I wouldn’t want it soaking up any of that precious blood…”

By luck or by skill, the knife didn’t break skin as it struck, tearing the little shirt from shoulder to wrist. The captive hollered, cursed, and kicked, but even the blows that landed between the bars didn’t deter the Boogeyman. Considering what composed him, he managed to occasionally surprise Shock with his durability. Then again, he wasn’t above playing opossum to lull potential victims into a false sense of security. All about finding the fun, especially in the evilest of acts. It fascinated her as much as it scared her, and that alluring repulsion compelled her to watch each time.

Once he had his prey stripped bare, Oogie lifted the cage from its suspension and carried it over to the cylinder.

“If, if it does work, any spell yeh cast will wear off when the magic does. Anything yeh ask me for, yeh can have forever!”

“And give you the chance to twist it around for your own purposes?” A burlap appendage reached in to remove the leprechaun from its confinement, gripping it by the neck. “I don’t think so.”

“I won’t, I swear! Just let me go!”

“It’s like you said. I did my research, and I know what I want. Only thing left to decide is head first, or feet first.” Holding the leprechaun’s terrified gaze, he removed the lid from the cylinder. “And I’ve never heard a leprechaun scream before. I wanna savor it…” He shoved the little man in feet first and slammed the lid shut.

Loud clangs marked his victim’s attempt to escape, but there wasn’t much he could do. “What are yeh doin? Stop!”

With a chuckle that remind Shock of black silk, Oogie slid one hand down a side of the dark, iron thing that she couldn’t see from this angle. Almost caressing it.

“Oh, shit,” Lock barely breathed beside her.

She felt his hand tighten as he braced himself. Before she could ask why, a sound like Sally’s food processor ripped through the tension, shredding the air. The resulting explosion of nerves launched her heart into her throat. The scream lasted longer than she expected. Something similar to a dying chipmunk, not quite swallowed by the mechanical noise before it gurgled away. Oogie guffawed, and Shock almost tittered along with him. Perhaps six years ago, she would have.

Lock snickered, but stifled it so quickly it resembled a sneeze more than a laugh. They looked at each other. He had his knuckles pressed to his pointy teeth, startled by his own guilty amusement. “Chipmunk,” he said, muffled behind his hand. That one word encompassed an explanation, a question, and a plea for forgiveness.

Shock had to smile then, half giddy on adrenaline and half because Lock looked ridiculous. She untangled her hand and draped her arms across their shoulders. Well, just below Barrel’s shoulders. A torn ligament in her elbow made reaching any higher uncomfortable. The larger boy wore an expression of dumbfounded disbelief, but the stress seeped out of his muscles under her touch.

Oogie flipped open the lid and leaned over the container, but she couldn’t see the remains from here. Not until he braced his hands on the metal rim and sucked up the chunky, green mush like an invisible straw. “Gotta love foreign food,” he said, rubbing his stomach. The three of them laughed nervously. He shook both of the leprechaun’s shoes upside-down until a small, brown bag fell out of one. After checking its contents—it looked empty from here, but she knew enough to recognize a bag of holding—he put his arms out to either side. The surrounding shadows shuddered. “Cross your fingers.”

Before she had a chance to contemplate his words, he clapped his hands together in front of him. The darkness rushed in to engulf them at the same speed. One moment there was dull, yellow light, and the next moment there was nothing. It paralyzed her heart and she impulsively tightened her grip on Lock and Barrel, squeezing her eyes shut. Had she cried out? She couldn’t tell over the loud pop.

Next thing she knew, there was a soft seat under her, and Lock gasped next to her, “Shock, I… kind of need to breathe…”

She opened one eye, and then the other, slowly taking in the dark interior of the vehicle. Looked like it might be a limo. She’d seen a picture of one in a human magazine once. Across from her, Oogie grinned.

“Something wrong, babe?”

Her face flushed and she abruptly released the other two, clasping her hands in her lap. Hopefully, the dusky light prevented the boys from seeing the way her chest rose and fell rapidly, trying to calm herself. Oogie probably had other ways of sensing it, but hiding her fear from him would be pointless.

“Where are we?” Barrel asked, pressing his face against the heavily tinted windows. Outside, a nighttime desertscape stretched to the horizon, blurring past as they sped through it on the empty road.

“We can’t just appear in the middle of the city. That’s asking for trouble, and we’re not ready for trouble yet.” Oogie retrieved four vials of milky, indigo liquid from a panel under the cupholder. They lit up in his hand.

Shock recognized it as the transmutation potion, and took it hesitantly when he offered one to her. “What’s this for?”

“You know what it’s for, honey, you took it yourself.”

“I mean,” she said, not bothering to sugarcoat her frustration, “what will it turn us into?”

“You didn’t think we were gonna run around the human world looking like this, did you?” As he spoke, he uncapped his vial. “Bottoms up, kids.”

Human world? Whatever the Boogeyman wanted with the human world, it didn’t bode well for the humans that lived in it…

Lock shrugged and followed Oogie’s lead. “Kind of like drinking a glow stick.”

Barrel seemed rather absorbed in tipping the tube side to side, watching the shiny liquid ooze back and forth. She elbowed Barrel to snap him out of it. “I hope not,” she said to Lock. “Barrel threw up for three hours when he tried that.” About a year after they’d all met, Lock convinced Barrel that drinking glow sticks would make his eyes glow. All it did was make the smaller boy sick as a dog.

“And it didn’t even work,” Barrel pouted at the memory.

The devil-boy laughed so hard, he almost spilled the vial. “Your eyes didn’t glow, but your puke sure did.”

“It’s not funny!” Barrel protested.

“Sure it was. Quit being a baby.” Lock downed the potion like a shot. His nose wrinkled. “Tangy.”

It was hard to tell in this light, but the bluish tint seemed to fade from his skin right before her eyes. His long fingernails shrank somewhat and rounded off, too. Not too bad. But then why shouldn’t she trust Oogie? If he wanted to hurt them, why bring them out here? Just as she’d swallowed her dose, Lock yelped and tumbled out of the seat, holding his lower back in agony. Shock dropped the empty vial and clapped a hand over mouth.

“Mother fucker,” he mumbled, getting to his knees.

Then she realized was rubbing the place where his tail used to be and relaxed. She experienced no such pain during her transition, but she didn’t possess any inhuman limbs, either. Hers consisted largely of a change in skin pigmentation, and anything else was only a slight tweak. Thinking of Barrel’s feet, she felt pity for him, but was too absorbed in her own transformation to pay much attention. Besides, imagining Lock or Barrel as human was an easy stretch, and something—someone—much more interesting sat across from her.

His… His mass remained basically the same. He still stood slightly taller than Barrel, and he was still fat. Black hair slicked back from his face, reaching to the nape of his neck. Rather thick eyebrows lent him a brooding, dangerous look. His eyes arrested her attention. He’d already been watching her, but for how long, she didn’t know. Without blinking, he produced a cigar from somewhere under his green sports coat and lit it with a gold lighter. The flame reflected in piercing, emerald irises. He gave her a thin, smoky smile, and she felt the icy lump in her chest, sending out cold tendrils that froze her gaze to his. Any doubt that she would’ve recognized him on the street evaporated. This was clearly the Boogeyman. And she couldn’t look away…

Oogie didn’t flinch at the sound of rushing wind overhead, or when Barrel said, “Sweet.”

It wasn’t until Lock stood up between them and shouted, “Hey, check this out,” that Oogie broke eye contact.

Shock felt oddly relieved to be free. To avoid being captured once more, she hastily averted her eyes toward the devil-boy instead. He stood with his upper torso poking out of the moonroof. She joined him, looking around. “What?!” She yelled over the wind.

“What do you mean ‘what?’ This is awesome! Much cooler than riding on top of the Mayor’s car.” Lock threw his arms out to the sides. “Woo!”

The wind felt good whipping through her hair, but a different thought took greater precedence up here. The car—a long, obsidian limousine—didn’t have a sunroof, and she couldn’t see the front windows very well from here.

“Lemme see!” Barrel said from below.

Ducking out of the hole to make room, Shock stumbled and landed in Oogie’s lap. Her mouth opened, ready to stammer out an apology as she skittered away, but his arm encircled her waist and jerked her back. She shot a self-conscious glance at the boys, but they were still sticking out the window. Like a pair of dogs, she thought with cynical affection. Beyond Lock and Barrel, the divider between the driver and the passengers was closed. “Who’s driving?”

“Does it matter?” Oogie purred.

The scent of cigar smoke wafted over her. She could feel him watching her like heat on the side of her face. It was always somewhat unnerving to be the center of the Boogeyman’s focus. “I was just wondering.”

“A mindless illusion, then.”

‘Then,’ he’d said. Almost like it would be different if it did matter. Something about his words struck an odd chord in her, but she didn’t see the point in pursuing it.

Besides, Barrel yelled, “Lock’s gonna climb out on the roof!” Whether he meant to point out a cool stunt or tattle on a mischievous deed went unspecified.

“Well, stop him, dipstick!” Shock called back. When Lock’s feet left the floor of the car, she grabbed his leg and pulled him inside.

“You know, you’re being a buzz kill again,” he said.

“I agree, Lock,” Oogie said. An ashtray materialized in the closest cup holder and he tapped the cigar into it. “Wouldn’t want to lose any of you.”

When Lock noticed the pair in the seat, a dim flicker threatened his enthusiasm, but he quickly masked it. Once he turned his back to continue poking around the cabin, Shock squirmed pointedly, but Oogie held firm, acting as though he didn’t notice. Excessive struggling would probably make things worse. Slumping her shoulders, she tried an irritated huffing noise, which he also ignored.

“Don’t be so sullen,” he said to Lock. “It’ll be plenty of fun when we get there.”

“And when’s that?”

“About an hour, little less.”

Lock cocked an eyebrow. “That’s a long time…”

“Is it? Well…” He took a contemplative drag on the cigar and Shock turned her face away from the stinging vapors as they curled from his lips. “I think I know how we can pass the time. You three are gonna need less conspicuous clothes.”

They’d never been to the human world outside of late October, but they still got funny looks walking around in their ‘costumes.’ It had been easier to pretend they were in costumes than it had been to look convincingly human, especially with Lock’s teeth and tail.

“Like what?” Barrel asked, probably most conspicuous of all, barefoot and still wearing skeleton print.

“What do you want?” Oogie asked.

The half-ghoul thought hard. “Oh, I know! A black suit with a white tie, and one of those hats, like in that gangster movie. You remember that?” He addressed the question to Lock. “That was…” He trailed off when he noticed the black mist creeping out of the carpet and sweeping up his legs. It happened quickly, up to his chest by the time he noticed and over his head before he could react. When it cleared, he stared down at himself, and then took the fedora off his head, turning it over in his hands. Only then did he finish the sentence he’d started, “…awesome…” He replaced the hat, pulled low over one eye. “Say hello to my little friend.”

Shock turned to Oogie. “I thought you said less conspicuous.”

“It’s not that bad. Let him have his fun. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.” He inhaled more of the acrid smoke. “You know, you could have whatever you want.”

She smiled wanly, hoping the cigar wouldn’t be a regular habit. “Jeans and a shirt are fine. A long-sleeve, regular shirt,” she added when she caught the mischievous spark in his expression.

“A prude in public, a minx behind closed doors…” Oogie goosed her.

“You- Don’t- Neither of those statements are true!”

“Doesn’t matter,” he said as the mist engulfed her, too. In a much lower voice, he added, “Gonna be on the floor in two hours, anyway…”

“What did you say?”

“You want me to repeat it louder?” He grinned.

“No…” She giggled and covered her face with her hands. It wasn’t that she minded talking about this stuff so much as it was the way Lock got so weird when they were all in the same room. The lewd jokes and flirting couldn’t possibly help. Plus, the boys teased her enough without Oogie’s exaggerations. Either Lock would clam up and be a buzz kill all night, or he’d pick on her mercilessly for the rest of the trip. If not the former followed by the latter… Oh, man…

The Boogeyman continued on to Lock’s wardrobe: black pants and black, button up t-shirt with a red undershirt. After that, he continued to entertain them with small tricks for the rest of the drive. Well, entertain Barrel, at least, who ate it up like a little kid watching a magician. It was more like he was trying to bribe Lock, but for what exactly she couldn’t tell. His cooperation, maybe? This trip could either turn out to be an adventurous escape, or a stressful thing to endure until the stolen magic wore off. Great.