Barrel let her position her vines, and felt her cage against the back of his neck. He put the drumsticks down and stood up. Lock smirked as he headed for the rope ladder.

"Then let's--" Lock started.

"--Go up--" Barrel continued, as he followed his older brother.

"--And wait for him," Shock finished.

The three of them grinned and started up the rope ladder. Lock scurried up, and then up the tree itself to climb on top of the overhanging roof that served as the elevator shelter when they were kids. He sat with his legs on either side of the slant and dug his feet into the shingles. Barrel came up next and took a seat on the edge of the ravine. Shock came up last and remained on the rope ladder leading up into the tree house, perfectly in Jack's sight.

The three of them then patiently waited for Jack to arrive.

~~~

Once he got the crowd under control, Jack headed for the outskirts of town, with Zero trailing behind him. Briefly, he recalled a similar urgency on that first Christmas Eve, when he needed to get to Sandy Claws. As he approached the tree house, he saw each of the tricksters' forms near the front, clearly waiting for him, which meant they knew he was coming. Maybe Carver gave them a heads up; maybe one of them was spying and came back to alert the other two. That didn't matter as he reached the top of the hill and slowed his pace so he wouldn't skid when he reached the bottom.

He saw Shock first, sitting on one rung of the rope ladder like a swing, her arms carefully entwined in main ropes as it swayed with her weight.

"Hi, Jack!" she said cheerfully. "What brings you to our humble little tree house?"

Jack sternly crossed his arms. Zero didn't notice his master's sudden disproving pose and flew up to Shock at her friendly tone. He playfully barked as Shock reached to pet him. Jack ignored it for a moment.

"I think you three--" Jack noticed Carver on Barrel's shoulders, then quickly corrected, "--[i]four[/i] know [i]perfectly well[/i] why I'm here."

Lock flicked his tail as he glanced down at Jack, then beckoned for Zero to come to him. Zero happily obliged as the middle trickster gave him a thorough scratch behind the ears.

"Why would [i]we[/i] know that?" Lock asked, despite the obvious tell to their guilt that they were waiting for him. "We can't read your mind."

"Though it seems a lot of monsters lost theirs," Barrel said with a shrug and a grin.

Shock smirked.

"Seems to be going around."

The three of them cackled as though in on a private joke. Having gotten proper attention from Lock, Zero flew down to Carver and Barrel.

"Drop the act," Jack said. "I know about the forget-me-lots and the countdown clock."

At Jack's decidedly serious tone, Zero perked and glanced to him. Barrel ignored it and just ran his hand through the ghost dog's sheet. Shock pumped her legs to make the rope ladder sway even more.

"[I]We[/i] wouldn't--"

"--Know anything--" Lock said with a grin.

"--About that," Barrel said.

"I think the near-empty forget-me-lot patch in the graveyard and the fact that Barrel bought the other needed ingredients is all the proof I need," Jack told them.

Barrel mockingly snapped his fingers.

"Darn," he said. "Looks like he caught us."

"Looks like," Shock said.

She never lost her sharp smile as she swung again.

"Great trick, wasn't it?" she asked, then leaned through the rungs to better face Jack. "Did you bring us a treat?"

"No."

Jack uncrossed his arms and placed his hands on his hips as he glanced from Shock, to Barrel and Carver, to Lock.

"I need you four to stop playing games for a moment," he said, "and tell me if the countdown clock is accurate."