Sally quickly made her way to the front of the crowd. She heard the murmurs and chattering, and knew she had to do something. As she carefully stepped forward, she felt several eyes on her. Sally bit back her nervousness. They needed words of comfort, and as Jack's special monster, they looked to her for answers in his absence.

She walked up the steps of Town Hall, closed her eyes to gain her bearings, then turned to face the crowd. Sally waited for the panic to die down before she spoke.

"Jack is currently with Dr. Finklestein," she said.

Sally chose her words with care. She would bet her stitches that she was right, but making an accusation right now would only rile the crowd up further. She needed to assuage them first.

"We have a theory as to what's going on, but Jack's still investigating. Please be patient. We'll have some answers for you soon."

~~~

"That's what she's trying to find out," Jack replied, "but several citizens couldn't recall what they were doing before Halloween. She thinks something affected the water to affect so many monsters."

Jack gave Carver a wave and a smile as he passed as well. It wasn't unusual to see her doing chores while chained to the wall. The stunt at the witches' shop had started to come back to him, and he figured that was tied to her current punishment. Once they arrived at the lab, he approached the old scientist.

"Anything, doctor?" he asked.