By morning, most of the town's spirits - literal and figurative - were still down. The streets were still nearly empty by noon. The witches' shop remained closed. Agnes and Aggie slowly took stock and noted anything they needed to replace. Agatha was free to roam for today.

Wolfman had passed out on the steps of Town Hall. The Mayor frantically scrambled for plans for the next Halloween and tried to comfort himself in that the biggest surprises would be even bigger next year to make up for the loss. The Wind rattled around town in a huff, just as dejected as the rest of the town. Jack, however, was keen on getting to the bottom of this.

Things were going do well yesterday...well...what [i]was[/i] he doing yesterday? He placed around and his tower as he tried to retrace his steps. Sally had at some point sat down on the one window ledge with a seat and fallen asleep. Zero curled up in her lap and snoozed himself. Jack shot a glance to both of them with a smile, but then went back to his pacing. He bit back a yawn as he once more tried to focus on yesterday's events.

That for some reason, didn't come to mind.

Surely he spoke to the Mayor at some point? Jack glanced out some his tower windows to the square. Even from here, the fountain water shone with slime in the dull pumpkin sunlight. That sparked something.

Fountain...Mayor...it felt like it was starting to come together, but what else was there? Jack glanced at the plans on his desk. No, those were probably more important. Surely he was finalizing...something the day before Halloween. Rehearsals? A last-minute change?

Jack took a seat at his desk and looked over the plans again. All of the graphs, diagrams, charts, and notes made his skull hurt. He placed his skull in one hand and yawned again as he tried to look them over. He'd been up all night. Maybe some sleep would...

As soon as he closed his eye sockets, he started to drift off.

~~~

Lock was the first to wake up in the morning dogpile. Something soft, yet lumpy was under him, and as he shifted, he realized he'd at some point climbed on Barrel to use as a mattress. Barrel was sprawled on his back and snoring. Shock was curled up under him, her hat askew, and her crossed arms serving as a makeshift pillow. Carver was nearby, sprawled on her back with her legs over Barrel's chest, her cage completely open, and her vines spread out over the floor. Aside from pulling off their shoes, none of them had bothered to undress for bed. Lock stretched and climbed down from the pile - then screamed out a curse as he stepped on something.

Looking down, he noticed the black cat from Conquerer under his foot. Lock picked it up and threw it back in the box. Several more cards and game pieces were just as haphazardly thrown back in to clear a path to the slide. Hunger gripped him, and he didn't feel like waiting for Barrel to get up - or whine about the spices again.

Shock stirred a bit at the scream.

"Keepitdown," she said in a tired slur.

Lock used his tail to flick a game piece in her direction. It smacked against her hand. Shock brushed it away as it hit, then tried to roll over - a difficult task with Barrel collapsed on top of her. She groaned and tried to shift, and only when she failed two more times did she better wake.

"H-hey!" she cried as she tried to squirm out from under her little brother. "Move it, deadweight!"

Barrel only loudly snored in response, which got Lock to laugh at her misfortune. Shock grabbed a nearby game piece and threw it at Lock. He grinned and threw another one back.