The Dream Before Halloween

<snip>
They heard a cackling behind them, and a ghostly witch appeared through the wall.
“I thought they were robots - how come that came through a wall?” Bruno asked.
“Most of them are. I’ve no idea what that is though.” Said Hilly.

The witch riding a hoover instead of a broomstick floated at the opposite end of the corridor, holding a flaming pumpkin which she was about to throw.

Problem is, they were trapped in a corridor and had to get past her to escape.
</snip>

The witch curled back her arm, flaming pumpkin held steady, and launched it through the air. It flew in a high arc, making use of the high ceiling of the Promenade. Right now, it looked like a cloudy winter's sky at the moment, blocking out all but a full moon that peeked through gaps in the clouds every now and then, but it was still high above them.

"Scatter!" Jay called, and everyone ran in different directions away from their original location. Bruno stood there for a moment deciding which way to run, then looked down at his watch, until the second hand was pointing straight up, then ran as fast as he could. He'd waited a bit too long, and as he ran, the pumpkin landed and exploded.

The shockwave blew him off his feet, and he landed, sprawled out on the floor. As soon as the explosion had cleared, Jade ran out to check on him, and the others joined her.

"Are you ok?" She asked him, as he rolled himself over and looked up at the sky.

"He'll be fine. Those things can't hurt living people!" said a happy, almost cheerful voice from the side of the path. As everyone looked up, a long, thin leg stepped out of the treeline, followed by its owner. He was dressed in a black & white striped suit, with a white spherical head, stylised to look like a skull, complete with dark holes for eyes.

"My name is Jack Skellington, and I really need some help to make this year's halloween the best ever!" He said, getting excited as he started to think of the celebrations.

True to Jack's words, Bruno sat up, unharmed but for the bruises he'd sustained in the fall.

"Why do you need our help?" Cass asked, as Jay pulled Bruno up.

"Between you and me," he said, then turned to a whisper, a hand up to the side of his mouth to emphasise his trying to be quiet, "Don't tell the kids, but I'm not real. I'm a robot!"

No one reacted or commented on that for a good while, and for the whole time, Jack stared at everyone, waiting for them to be shocked. No one was, so instead he shouted "Boo!" at everyone. Bruno was the only one to jump and scream, and that was enough to make Jack happy.

"Follow me!" he said, and started marching off, his long gangly legs gave him a very long stride, so everyone had to hustle to keep up. "There's a computer in the asteroid, and I can't get to it. The generator is broken and makes a field that none of us can get to! not even Doctor Finklestein!"

"Sounds like an electro-magnetic field to me." Jamie said.

"That would explain why none of the robots could get close." Cass agreed, nodding.

"Electron-magnets! That's what the doctor called it." Jack said, trying to sound intelligent, but getting it wrong.

"What happened to the people on the asteroid?" Jade asked, curious about the support staff that should have been looking after it.

"Oh, there aren't any. I think they stopped working a long time ago." Jack replied, still cheerful. Everyone exchanged a look.

"If we fix it, what will you do?" Jay asked.

"Oh, with Doctor Finklestein's help, we can take control of it and make this Halloween amazing! Better than Christmas, even!"

<Tag. Where's he going to take us, and what might we find on the way?>