Carver nodded, listening along. "There are three witches, though. If any of them see you flying, they're likely to come after you. And if you 'borrow' all of them, they'll figure something's up and tell Jack before you have a chance to set it off."

She grinned. "On the other hand, if two of their brooms mysteriously end up glued to random walls in the shop, they're more likely to assume that the third one is glued to something somewhere as well, and that that was the extent of the prank. Make them a bit annoyed at you, but less suspicious that there might be other things we're up to."

She rubbed her hands gleefully. "If Barrel can 'relieve' the witches of their stock of glue dissolvent, I can get an early batch of Eternal Glory Juice into the the Doctor's brain compartment, to make sure he can't make any more."

"Point," Shock agreed, though she grinned further at Carver's suggestion. "That's probably going to be the hardest part, is sticking the brooms right under their noses. The shop's too protected with charms when it's closed."

She more than knew from experience. Shock was pretty sure some of them were specifically targeted at her and her brothers, if some of the past hexes were anything to go by.

"Barrel can keep Agatha's attention, at least," Lock said.

Barrel frowned.

"Yeah..." he said with a sigh. "I don't get it. Why is she always watching me when you two are worse?"

Lock and Shock both forcibly kept straight faces.

"Just one of those mysteries of life," Lock said with a shrug.

"Maybe Carver should do the actual gluing," Shock suggested quickly, to get Barrel off the subject, "while we cause a distraction."

"Especially if you 'accidentally' knock down a bottle of swamp smoke," Barrel said. "It's pretty noxious and thick, though, but it's not too bad if we get out quickly."

"And Carver can't breathe it," Lock said, "so she can get the last broomstick under the cover of the smoke."

"Pretty sure Agnes's broom will fit under your cargo pants," Shock said, as she looked Carver over. "It's the smallest, but I can probably handle it long enough for our purposes."

Carver shrugged to Barrel. "Maybe she suspects your nice guy bit is an act? You might just have to up the charm a bit to make it... beyond question."

She turned back to Lock and Shock. "I can do that, but they'll probably notice if you all evacuate the store and I don't... Hmm, maybe a lame duck routine? I pretend to bump into something corrosive, and Lock has to play the hero to come 'help' me walk? Act like it's taking us a while to make it out of the smoke, but really we're running about getting stuff done?"

She was not confident about this plan, but hey, that's what pre-mischief brainstorm sessions were for.

Barrel pondered on it a moment. He was a bit eager to assist in a prank. Maybe she didn't like that?

"Hmm...maybe..." he said. "If it'll keep her focused on me..."

"Yeah, definitely," Lock said with a nod and a grin. "Maybe strike up a conversation with one of her aunts too. That way, you have two witches distracted at once."

Shock took Carver's suggestion into consideration.

"...New plan," she said. "Barrel distracts Agatha, at least. Hopefully one of the others, too. I'll knock the swamp smoke over and get you two Agnes's broom. You two slip away, Barrel is a gentleman to get Agatha out, which leaves me to glue the brooms. They're probably going to suspect I was the one who masterminded this anyway. But they won't look twice at Carver."

Carver perked up. "What if we brought another broom and glued it in a place where only the bristles would be visible? That way, they'd think they knew where all three were and wouldn't even have to assume the missing one is glued somewhere."

She shook her head. "They may not expect me to be the one who thought it up, but they'll definitely know I had a part in it. Not that I care; I don't hang around with you guys for nothing."

Carver turned to Barrel. "You could probably get most or all of the witches focused on you if you tell them your interest in cooking has gotten you interested in potion brewing, as well, and you could use some 'professional guidance'. You'll have to do some background research so you know what you're talking about, though."

Lock, Shock, and Barrel all perked and nodded in agreement.

"That--"

"--Sounds--"

"--Perfect!"

All three of them grinned as they listened further. Barrel's began to fade.

"But that means homework," he whined.

Lock shoved another paincake in his mouth as Shock scoffed.

"You know how many forget-me-lots Carver and I gathered yesterday, and how many more we still need to pull this off? Plus all the prep work it's gonna take to dry, powder, and activate them? You can read a few books. It won't kill you."

"Wait, forget-me-lots?" Lock asked, after quickly swallowing the paincake. "Whose memory are we wiping?"

"The whole town's!" Barrel said proudly, through a mouthful of his own breakfast.

He went back to scarfing down what was on his plate. Shock looked more devious.

"We're gonna make them think Halloween came early."

"Oh, that's delicious," Lock said.

"You're on picking duty," Shock said.

"What? Why?"

"Because it's going to take a lot more to do this," Shock said, "and unless you want to tutor Barrel..."

Lock sighed.

"Fine," he said.

Shock finished her breakfast as she thought for a moment.

"...The wedding broom."

"Huh?" her brothers asked.

"In Town Hall," she said. "We'll get the wedding broom and glue it to the ceiling so they think Agnes's is accounted for."

Lock and Barrel looked at each other, then nodded in agreement.

Carver stood up. "While you boys are getting your parts worked on, Shock and I can go... retrieve some of my dad's chemistry equipment. Plus, there's something in my room I'd like to show you," she gave Shock a meaningful look.

She tilted her head. "We'll probably also have to cut own the wedding broom's handle to make it pass better. I doubt I have to grab a saw though; if you don't have at least three kinds here already, I'll eat one of Jewel's boots."

Shock returned it, knowing well what Carver meant.

Lock rolled his eyes.

"Keyhole, coping, hand, buzz, miter, bow, or jigsaw?" he asked, sarcastically.

"We'll leave him the one little bottle," Shock said. "We're looking to do this mid-October, so leave that one alone for mishaps, and we'll take it when we're ready to get the brooms."

Carver curled her vines into a facsimile of a thumbs up and started heading for the ladder. "Do we need anything else while we're out? Jewel and the Doctor are gonna be distracted for a few days, so now's the best time to get stuff from my place or just generally make use of my versatility."

Shock pondered for a moment.

"We could use another one or two of those super-charged batteries," she said. "We'll switch them with the ones we took last time so those can charge over there."

They were pretty useful for keeping a lot of their instruments running without tapping into the casino's generator.

"Oh! And one of the frogs from the paddy," Barrel said. "They have the best frog's breath!"

Shock rolled her eyes.

"Of course you'd think of food," she said. "But fine. We'll catch one on the way out."

She pushed herself from the table.

"Come on, Carver," she said. "We've got work to do."

"You say as if I'm not already partway up the ladder," Carver snerked at Shock. She turned her head backward and wove a vine into her cage, up through her throat hole, and out her mouth. She had figured out lots of ways to make rude and childish gestures over the years, despite not having fingers or a tongue.

"Barrel, you are going to owe me so much. Frogs are a bitch to catch."

Barrel stuck his tongue out right back at Carver, then started to gather the dishes. Lock helped, knowing he'd get something out of it.

"And after this," he said, "we're going to work on your drum work."

Barrel groaned as he made his way to the kitchen.

Shock returned the tongue-sticking gesture as well and followed Carver out of the lair. She made a quick stop to grab a small trick-or-treat sack from the armory first, and placed the folded sack in her pocket. She also grabbed the two large batteries for Carver to hold in her cage The Finkelstein lab was one of the few places in town she couldn't hide things for easy access later. The Doctor actually had decent security without an escort.

And she certainly had an escort today.

"We'll let the boys have some bonding time," Shock said as she walked with Carver. "And don't worry, I'll behave...enough."

By which she meant she'd stay hidden and not draw attention to herself while they got what they needed, as she was most assuredly not welcome in the Finkelstein home without explicit invitation - which never happened - or in an emergency, which happened twice in her years in Halloween Town.

Carver shrugged. "So long as we don't make too much noise, I doubt they'd notice us either way. Still probably better stay in my room as much as possible, though. Never know when Jewel might get up to get them a snack."

She led the way to the Finkelstein laboratory, which also functioned as a home in a very secondary manner. The "kitchen" was mostly just a couple of cabinets and a fire stove shoved off to one side of the entryway, though the cookware had been expanded a bit since Sally's time a the Doctor's caretaker. Jewel at least didn't have to use beakers to make coffee.

Carver poked her head in to make sure no one was in the central ramp area, then waved for Shock to come in. True to her earlier comment, she didn't put in any real effort to be sneaky or silent, just watched her step to make sure she didn't bump into anything. She had been given Sally's old room in part of the lower half of the sphere. The sphere levels held the largest space for the Finkelstein's experiments and would usually hold the most risk of encountering one of her parents, but given Carver's recent machinations, she didn't expect them to leave their small bedroom in the ramp tower. That was the door she was most careful walking past.

Shock carefully walked up the ramp with Carver to mitigate her footsteps echoing. As they got closer to the upstairs lab, a pleasant odor tickled her nose.

"What is that rotting stench?" she asked. "It's nice, but I didn't take the doc for the potpourri type."

Shock took Carver's lead when she noticed her friend slow down and move with extra care to bypass a specific door. All of her years of sneaking around wouldn't be for nothing.

Carver waited til they were well past the door to speak, not bothering to whisper. "Corpse flowers. I thought it might be useful to have them out of my hair for a few days."

She shrugged. "Also gave me an easy excuse to borrow Sally's basket. She used to just drug Dad into unconsciousness whenever she wanted to leave the lab, so I figured I wouldn't have to explain further."

One they got to her bedroom, she closed the door behind them and opened the window. It wouldn't clear out the smell from the rest of the building, but the air in the would be slightly fresher. Once that was done, she reached to pull something out from behind the bookshelf Sally had left behind. The shelves didn't have books anymore, and instead held wooden, fist-sized models of the various heads Carver had worn over the years.

What she pulled out was a round, bulky television monitor and a small device used for making recordings of incoming broadcasts. Specific broadcasts, that is: Carver had bugged a number of buildings and public areas in Halloween Town, and the feeds all led back to here.

Shock just nodded and followed Carver into her room. She smirked at the thought of Sally sneaking out. Just proof the two of them were related.

"I almost forgot she did that," she said. "Seems like the good doctor can't keep anyone around if they're not sharing his brain. Could he be more self-centered?"

Shock took a seat on the bed. The old springs creaked under her weight. She knew the pumpkin creature didn't really need it, but it made for a great place to sit. She smirked when she saw what Carver pulled from behind the shelf. This was going to be good.

Carver got to work plugging everything in. "It's not that he thinks no one without his brain is his equal. He keeps Igor around and is pretty good friends with Jack, remember? The problem is that, since he created us, he sees Sally and me as his property, not so much as people. Jewel gets a pass because that shared brain basically makes her an extension of himself. As far as he's concerned, anyway."

She got everything ready and walked over to sit next to Shock. "On to other topics, you remember how Barrel helped me bug the Witches' Shop a while back, so we could monitor what they had in stock that they wouldn't tell us about?"

"Jack's also the Pumpkin King," Shock pointed out. "You might want to be on good terms with him around here."

Her own relationship with Jack - and by extension, her brothers' as well - was complicated. They didn't hate him, and Jack understood their need to cause trouble as trick-or-treaters. But it also caused friction when their love for trouble countered whatever plans Jack had in store. The best way to put it was they didn't always see eye-to-eyesocket, and even that was putting it nicely.

Shock grinned as Carver took a seat next to her.

"They got something really good in stock?" she asked.

Or there was blackmail available. Please let it be blackmail.

Carver grinned right back. "Barrel forgot about the bug. And I've been giving a few people advice that may or may not make things a little bit more entertaining."

She used a remote to turn on the television. It was already on the correct channel; she set it to rewind at 30x speed. The witches ran backward around the back room of the store in a blur, periodically joined by customers who were gone again in a flash. It took almost twenty minutes before Barrel showed up on-screen, and a few more seconds before he disappeared again. Carver quickly pushed play.

From off screen, Agatha could be heard saying, "Barrel! HI!" It didn't take long before she led him in view of the camera.

The pumpkin creature leaned forward to watch the fruits of her labor.

Shock teetered on the edge of the bed, knowing she was in for a good show. What was that idiot about to get himself into...?

It took a few minutes of casual banter between Agatha and Barrel to get to the payoff. And when it did, Shock quickly pressed both of her hands over her mouth so her wicked laughter wouldn't attract attention. She collapsed back into the bed and took a minute to compose herself.

"He really doesn't get it!" she exclaimed, once she had a hold of herself again. "Oh my Death, she couldn't have been more obvious, either! Who else in town has siblings who can't get in the back room?"

She lost it again at Barrel's confused, "You're welcome."