As a commander charged with ruling a densely populated realm, it came as no surprise to any of the Halloweentown citizens to see the Nightmare King strapped with arsenal rushing across the square. Now, the fact that he followed the original Boogeyman of the night was not as peculiar as the Winter Prince hot on the king’s heels, a large claymore sword across his back and running with a strange limp—as if his waist was injured. Seeing the short but fiery Doctor blowing a stream of curses in their wake, also armed, was an even more bizarre sight. They filed toward the cemetery, and the citizens stopped their evening activities to watch them pass.

Mal, a weaver with hands that could create a silky wonder but a mouth for gossip, motioned to her club friends and nodded after the bunch. “Where do you think they’re going?”

“No idea,” one of them rasped, untangling a pet recluse from her hair. “Maybe that infernal Boogeyman has finally been caught red-handed, and King Jack—I mean, King Yunho has no choice but to banish him, much like his father threatened to do.”

“Really, Ursula. How do you continue to use the late king’s name? It’s been centuries!”

“If my ear cleanser were still here, Essie, my hearing would be better, but your godforsaken trumpet simply—”

“Oh, look!” Mal pointed across the street; a girl with stitched blue skin stood watching the foursome disappear behind the cemetery gates with a clanking sound. “Sally’s come down from on high. I wonder if the good doctor keeps her locked away like that wretched old man used to! Poor lamb…”

Ursula sniffed. “Perhaps it was for good reason. Take a gander at her clothes, lasses. Have ye ever seen such rags?”

Essie gawked at her. “We haven’t seen the girl in ages, and all you can comment on is her clothing? But I do wonder what she’s doing here. She looks so worried, wringing her hands like that. She’ll pull them clean off at this rate. Wish we could help. Hmm, I think maybe the king and those others are up to something. If Oogie Boogie’s involved, there’s no telling what all happened.”

“I heard he did something in London…yes, Ghoulihad wouldn’t shut up about it…and speaking of that awful man, you’ll never believe…” And the trio continued to jabber on, forgetting about why exactly they were even discussing the knight to begin with.

Boa scowled at Yunho as her obsidian bangles became a dark and sturdy whip in her hands. The king and prince conversed in low voices as Yi Xiang searched for the passage that led onto Moonlight Hill—as it moved every three hours to keep unwanted visitors away, even the Boogeyman had some trouble finding it. She watched as her king asked something of Changmin, and he just smiled in an exhausted way, shaking his head and replying. Though it looked like they were disagreeing on something, the atmosphere could not have been more relaxed. I told him to let the prince rest.

Within an hour of being away from His Majesty, much had transpired. Anyone who gazed upon the two for longer than a minute would see that. What was harder to decipher was Yi Xiang’s brooding expression. He did not shoot the couple covetous looks, and when she caught his eye, it was not filled with burning jealousy. Was he truly worried for the three miscreants? Or was it something else? He had faced his shadow—an odd thing to consider in itself—and come out in bad shape. Boa could not say that she had ever come across something like it in her studies, at least nothing out of a children’s book; she was sure she’d remember reading about someone losing their shadow. But was this expression on the Boogeyman…fear?

How curious.

“Sire,” she called out, effectively ending the two rulers’ conversation and causing Yi Xiang to look up from tapping an old headstone. “There is a chance we will not be able to defeat this creature, or…how should I say…sew him back onto our Boogeyman here like some twisted version of Peter ing Pan. What, then, do you propose we do?”

“I can’t say I like the idea of a retreat,” Yunho muttered after some thought, “but if it is our only option, then we’ll fall back and figure out something else.”

“That’s a decision you can and will not make for me, your Majesty,” Yi Xiang cut in. “I will not rest until that imposter is gone or behind me once again. He has invaded my manor house, taken my workers hostage, and assumed my identity in a possible attempt at framing me. I must confess that I am not at all pleased with it. He dared to lay a hand on my possessions and the children. If you ask me, this is a challenge to us all.”

To everyone’s surprise, Changmin agreed with him. “I have a theory about all this, mostly revolving around the fact that the shadow is sentient.” He glanced at Yi Xiang. “Yunho received a report about you mucking around in London regarding the Doomsday clock. I think that’s when your shadow separated from you, and had that fixation in his mind, or his…whatever. Take this however you want, but you’ve been almost nice to us this entire time.”

“Oh!” Boa caught on quickly, and spoke up as Yi Xiang opened his mouth to make a comment. “His shadow took most, if not…okay, well no…he’s still a …”

“I beg your pardon, Doctor.”

“Sorry, big guy, but the prince has an excellent point. You’ve been civil at the very least, quite the opposite of your usual behavior. The shadow—and this is an educated guess, mind you—has taken on some of your more less charming qualities and magnified them exponentially. This with the Doomsday clock? You held an interest, but only an interest. You are an annoyingly inquisitive er, but even you have your limits, as outrageous as they may be. But your shadow doesn’t have a sense of what it should do and what should be left alone. At the moment of separation, it’s possible that it took this idea and ran with it in a bad way. Turned it into a plan versus a simple fascination.”

Yi Xiang cocked his head to the side. “You make it sound so innocent of me. As if I looked behind myself and said, ‘Whoops, forgot my shadow! I’ll pick it up on Tuesday.’”

“Aren’t you the one that drills your inability to lie into our heads?” Changmin said quietly, folding his arms. “You said you had no involvement in this, and that was true—because at the time, you didn’t think you had a hand in anything. If Yunho had asked about your plans with the Doomsday clock’s workings, you would have told him. Maybe in so many words, but you can’t lie. That’s what I’m getting at. This thing is aware that it has power, and it wants to use it to affect the world.”

“Jumping to conclusions, aren’t we?” Yunho asked, now frowning at the prince.

“A little,” he admitted sheepishly, earning a grin from two and an eye roll from the Boogeyman. “But I remember what it said: tick tock. A clock. Two minutes to midnight. Yes, we’re reaching a bit, but we have to because if we underestimate him, there’s no telling what troubles might arise. You can’t stand there and tell me he means no harm. He’s taken your minions, Yi Xiang, and made it clear that if we challenge him, we’re facing the fight of our lives.”

Yi Xiang appeared as if he were going to chime in with another quip, but then a creaking groan echoed in the area, and the headstone he had a boot on shuddered. As the Boogeyman backed away, it grew to a tall height, clearing even his head by half a foot. Rocks shifted until a large gap crumbled open; they wouldn’t have to stoop at all. Like looking out a window, the hole opened out onto the foot of the hill, the moon pregnant in the sky behind it. “Knew it was around here somewhere. The entrance has yet to move from this part of the cemetery, but I would feel like such a fool if it finally decided to relocate completely elsewhere.” Yi Xiang went through first, not a backwards glance at the other fighters behind him.

Changmin waved Boa through, but she stayed where she stood. “You first, boy. I want a word or two with my king.”

The moment the prince disappeared through the gateway, she rounded on Yunho. “I had counted on you to not listen to me, as you are prone to do.” He looked outraged and parted his lips in an attempt to defend himself—how could she know that? But she held up a hand. “Tell me I’m lying. The very second you two were alone, you jumped each other’s bones and made up for lost time.”

Yunho spluttered. “I…I cannot confirm that!”

“I will respect your privacy, sire. Just know that I was right in my prediction, and promise that I’ll receive your gratitude for it.”

He stared. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“Your Majesty, please.” Her eyes twinkled with mischief as she said, “Had you not done exactly what I knew you would, the prince would still be in considerable pain and back in your bed. Why do you think I took your blood, and not my own?” She waited patiently as he sorted through that, and laughed when his eyes grew wide and he stammered out some sort of excuse that fell on deaf ears. “I told you blood magic is powerful. It creates a bond between anyone who shares blood. If I had only taken a little of Changmin’s essence he would be tied to your very life force, and as you are a powerful and virile man, he may have become stronger.”

“Essence?” Somehow, the word sounded inappropriate and wrong, and Yunho could feel a tiny flush spread across his face.

“Blood…spit…anything that carries his DNA…though I think you solved that problem for us, didn’t you?” The stammering king reappeared, and she shook her head in amusement. “Leave it to a pair of ing fools to accidentally create a strong bond because they can’t keep their hormones in check. All right, your Majesty. Time to pay the piper. Onward march!”

When Changmin saw how Boa’s eyes narrowed at Yunho, he hurried into the gap, stepping after Yi Xiang. It felt much like walking through a cool mist, though he remained dry. Moonlight Hill—here was another place he had missed. Not much of a sight, but its stillness and quiet were what drew him. Working in the Arctic proved quiet, but cold and lonely now and then. Christmastown also held very few sanctuaries in his mind; everything worked fast and loud, and his workers constantly had more things for him to check and more toys for approval…it was neverending chaos and noise.

“Reminiscing, princeling?” Yi Xiang mumbled around a black stick. “Don’t let me stop you.”

“What is that? Doesn’t look like a cigarette.”

“Ever the observant little snowpuff. No, this is something of my own creation.” Changmin watched as he lifted a finger and tapped the end; it smoldered to life, and he inhaled deeply before taking it out of his mouth and exhaling. Instead of the normal nicotine smoke and smell, the smoke smelled sweet and changed from grey to green. A reptilian shape took form and Yi Xiang whispered something to it. Its smoky snout emitted sparks as it spoke back, in that same sort of hissing language. With one nod to its creator, the smoke dragon soared towards the manor in the distance. “That would be my war horn. I want him to know we’re coming.” His eyes slid over to the prince and found an incredulous expression staring back at him. “You know, I do grow tired of the surprise looks you and the king send my way. For holiday leaders, you know very little of tactical warfare. There’s no use in organizing a sneak attack. He’ll know when we arrive anyway.”

“I can see why Yunho was attracted to you. Your theatrics nearly rival his own.”

That dry remark elicited a snicker from Yi Xiang. “Stunning that I didn’t detect a single note of sarcasm in that, sweet prince.”

In another time, that may have struck a nerve. True, just being in the presence of the Boogeyman made Changmin irritated, but since he’d reunited with Yunho, knowing that the two Halloweentown powers had been together didn’t hurt. “Sarcasm comes easily to me, so I try to challenge myself, you know?”

“And now you’re joking. Hell hath frozen over.” Yi Xiang cackled. “Perhaps our winter prince has invaded it.” He took another drag on the thin pipe, and this time blew out a terrifying, ghoulish face—one that covered many aspects of his manor, Changmin knew. “Think what you will about my time with the king, but you were never far from his thoughts. I must say it aggravated me to no ends, but I was not surprised. You have this annoying tendency to worm your way into other people’s affairs and stay in their heads.”

“That’s an…affair I won’t ask details for, but…” Changmin squared his shoulders and held out his hand to Yi Xiang; the other man looked down on it like he stared at a foreign object. “Thanks for looking out for him while I was being an .”

Yi Xiang continued to regard the outstretch hand with bemusement. “You’re thanking me.”

“Yes.”

“For ing the king because you weren’t there to do so.”

“You twist a perfectly civil thing into something it isn’t. Wording it that way is awful, but you’re an awful person, so I’ll overlook it. I’m thanking you for keeping him sane when I had my head up my . I know a lot of people, especially the other holiday rulers, look down on you. They think Yunho should just banish you and be rid of it. But he doesn’t. Whether I like it or not, he sees you as an ally, maybe even a frie—”

“Utter that word and I will sic every hellhound in the area on you,” Yi Xiang threatened darkly. He did not stretch out his own hand, but his face was devoid of the laughter from before. “Using this brief reprieve before we head to our dooms…to wave a white flag? I hate to admit it, but you are indeed a good ruler. Watch out, prince. One day you may have my respect, and on that day I would be worried if I were you.”

The conversation ended there, abruptly but not quite over. Yi Xiang continued to stare at the horizon, waiting for…something. Maybe that dragon thing does more than just announces us. Changmin took the opportunity to check on his bandages; when he ran a cautious finger over the area, he felt no pain, not even a little ripple. I guess the salve worked pretty well. Need to thank the doctor for that.

Yunho and Boa appeared after only a couple of minutes—for some reason, she looked strangely smug and Yunho could not meet Changmin’s eyes. “Got things settled,” she chirped happily. “Now let’s go beat that ing shadow to a bloody pulp!” She snapped her whip in the air, and even Yi Xiang took a step back. “Dear Boogeyman, if you have no objections…should the Bandersnatch try to interfere, might I have its remains to study? Assuming it is intact once we dispose of it, of course. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am to have such a specimen in my lab.”

He was at a loss for words, so a tentative “Certainly,” came out.

Changmin drew his sword, and tested its weight in his hand. He decided that holding it in one hand was okay, as long as he remembered to favor the bitten part of his waist. This earned a small concerned look from Yunho, and he hoped his own expression put the king at ease. Stop worrying about me, or you’re the next to get hurt. “I’m ready.”

Yi Xiang only crossed his arms and nodded; he had no need for weapons, as his powers lay in his magical knowledge. “Seconded.”

One finger touched the hilt of the dagger strapped to his thigh, and Yunho also inclined his head, choosing to remain silent.

“Glad you boys came prepared. Hate to have to claim all the glory for myself,” Boa said, dimples appearing in her lovely face as she grinned. The last of her sentence had barely left her lips when the dragon returned, now glowing a deep red. It hissed at its master in that same ancient language before curling up and dissipating into thin air. Boa’s mouth became a grim line. “Ah, so…”

“He sends salutations and hopes we will not be late to the party,” is all that Yi Xiang said before he strolled to the peak of Moonlight Hill, snapped his fingers, and allowed the curling landmass to deposit him at the edge of the ravine, the others not far behind him.