Werewolf stalked out of his alley to see what Clown was making so much noise about. Upon seeing the countdown had jumped forward another... What was it, eighty days? Two hundred? Had it gone [i]backwards[/i]?! He howled and began scratching at the fur on his head frantically. The Mayor came running out of the Town Hall, carrying an armful of scrolls, papers, and framed placards.

Werewolf howled again. "The countdown! Something's wrong! What day is it?!"

Mayor dropped several scrolls as he saw the numbers and began shaking. His head spun to the frowning side. He bent over to pick up the scrolls, only to drop one of the placards from the motion. The more he scrambled to pick everything up, the more fell from his arms. "All our careful planning! How are we supposed to keep a schedule if the countdown is broken?" he wailed.

Corpse Kid clutched his mother's hand. Mummy Boy climbed up onto the shoulders of his big brother, Sobki. Various adults chattered amongst themselves to varying degrees of discomfort and panic. Sally and Agnes came running from the shop to investigate; Aggie stayed behind to watch the shop in case the ruckus was a diversion of some kind.

Carmilla passed overhead with a paper calendar hanging from her claws, two of the older vampires trailing behind. When the bats saw the ruckus beneath them, they changed course and shifted form just in time to land with the utmost grace in front of Sally.

"What is going on?" Vlad asked. "Where is Jack?"

---

"The water supply?" Jewel asked. "We had intended to check that as well, but it was lower on our list because several of the monsters in town prefer to keep dry and have minimal contact with it. What does Sally believe is wrong with it, exactly?"

She kept walking up the ramp. "As for the countdown, we already examined that. We couldn't find anything wrong with the timing mechanism or the rotational controls. But if you say it's changed again... Hmmm..." She mumbled thoughtfully to herself as she went, though she maintained enough awareness of her surroundings to wave at Carver as they passed in the the lower part of the main laboratory. The pumpkin creature was cleaning a large number of beakers and test tubes with a mild scowl. Her creator had also apparently decided to attach a chain to one of her metal leg frames to make sure she stayed put until she finished.

Up in the topmost of the lab, the Doctor was examining a table full of strange devices and muttering his frustrations as he recorded his findings.