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Author's Chapter Notes:
I didn't get much love, but I'm in a Halloween mood since I just returned from Salem, MA so I'll post the next chapter early anyway :). Hope you all enjoy this one and thanks to those who reviewed and to Jess, my beta.
Chapter Seven

“I’m bored. Why can’t we go into the attic? Grandmother said we just couldn’t go up tonight.” Connor complained close to three o’clock.

“And what’s Will doing up there? He’s been going up and down all day and he’s making all kinds of noise. It sounds like he’s hammering something. “ Dawn interjected.

“Don’t worry about what Will’s doing. He’s just doing some rearranging up there. And since he’s doing that, we’re staying out of his way. Why don’t we play a card game? Crazy eights or slap jack?” I asked trying to keep them distracted for a few more hours. Will had been making some weird noises up there and I was actually surprised the twins lasted this long without saying anything. Only a few more hours, I could handle that. Right?

“I say crazy eights. Connor slaps too hard.”

“Wimp,” Connor mumbled under his breath, but loud enough for his sister to hear.

“Hey! I’m not a wimp.” Dawn cried. “Elizabeth, Connor is being mean.”

“Stop it, both of you! I know you’re both cranky from being cooped up in this room all day, but just give it a rest ok. Once Will is done, we’ll find something more exciting to do.” I pleaded.

“Some Halloween this is. This stinks! We should be getting ready to go trick or treating soon.” Connor pouted.

“Maybe mom will come to take us to the ball, Connor. If it’s a costume ball, no one will know it’s us.” My heart broke for Dawn. I didn’t know what was worse; her thinking mother would show up tonight or the fact that she was resigned to being kept a secret.

Just then, the attic door opened and William poked his head out. “Elizabeth, can I talk to you for a minute?”

I passed the shuffled cards to Dawn to deal and walked over to the door. He grabbed my wrist to bring me into the stairway and closed the door behind me. “How am I supposed to get the water for the apples? I need to fill the bin.”

“Just go into the bathroom and fill it from the tub. They think you’re rearranging furniture, just tell them you’re cleaning the floor where you moved something. They’re getting cranky though, fighting and talking about mom coming to take them to the ball. Maybe we should just tell them now before they get more depressed.”

“No, it’s not much longer. Once I get this tub filled, I need to set up the food from the fridge and do some last minute changes on my story. Just keep them occupied for a couple more hours. If you need to, you can give them the costumes a little earlier but don’t let them come up until after dinner. “

“Ok, fine. I just hope I can do it. “

“I know you can.” Will placed a kiss on my forehead and opened the door. The twins were in the middle of a game of crazy eights so I took the opportunity to set the food from the fridge on the steps hoping they wouldn’t notice. Since they were preoccupied with the game and what Will was doing, I think I got away with it.

“Will, what are you doing?” Dawn piped up.

“I’m cleaning up a little.”

“Why? I liked it the way it was.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m making it better.”

“Aren’t you going to spend any time with us today? It is Halloween.”

“Yes, I am. I’m almost done up there. I’ll see you later. Just don’t worry about it and mind your sister.” With that, he walked back through the doorway leading to the attic, careful not to spill any water from the tub, mouthing a thank you to me when he saw the food on the stairs as I closed the door behind him.

*************************************************

After several games of crazy eights and slapjack, with the back of my hand red from Connor’s enthusiasm, 5:00pm finally rolled around. Mid-way through Dawn’s deal for another round of cards, I stopped her. “Guys, Will and I have a surprise for you under the beds.”

“What is it?” Dawn asked. “Is it something for Halloween? Is that why Will’s been gone all day?”

“Just go look under your beds. I’m not giving anything away.” Even as I said this, Connor was already pulling out the box from under his bed and ripping off the cover.

“Oh cool,” he said as he pulled out the sword and the eye-patch. It didn’t take long for Dawn to scramble over to pull out her box once Connor made his discovery. “Oh, Bethy it’s beautiful. Put it on my head please,” she begged as she pulled out the tiara. “I can’t believe you did this, it’s wonderful.”

“Did you really think Will and I would let you down on Halloween? Now, come on, let’s get ready. We have to get you both into your costumes and then we’ll need to make up your face. I think a brave pirate needs a scar and a fairy godmother needs some glitter. Plus, I need to get dressed too.” I said while I helped take out the rest of the clothes from the boxes and laid them out on the bed.

“You’re getting dressed too? What about Will? Is he dressing up?” Connor asked as he pulled off his jeans to get into the pirate pants.

“Of course he is, but it’s a surprise. Now stop asking questions and let’s get dressed. We need to be finished by the time dinner comes. We’ll eat and then we’re heading into the attic.”

I heard Dawn gasp and Connor stopped pulling on his pants. “We’re going into the attic? But grandmother said not to go up there tonight. I don’t want to get punished.” Dawn said with a scared look on her face.

“Oh, Dawnie. “ I said sympathetically looking at her with sad eyes. I hated that she was so scared. The fear in her eyes just brought to the forefront the horrible position we were in. “I promise you won’t get punished. Will covered up the windows so no one will be able to see. Besides, Grandmother will be busy with the ball tonight. She won’t give us a second thought. We shouldn’t let her ruin our Halloween.” Seemingly satisfied with my answer, the twins turned their attention back to their costumes.

For the next forty minutes, I helped the twins get dressed and applied some makeup. Dawn’s gown fit her almost perfectly. The only problem was that it was a little too short since she was tall for her age. I did up her face with some of my makeup and put some body glitter on her arms, chest and face. I even tried to get creative, making a pretty design in glitter and blue eyeliner extending from the side of her right eye. I think it came out pretty well.

For Connor, the striped tie worked out well as the belt because as we suspected the black pants were very big for him. Once I got the eye patch on and the skullcap settled, I put some heavy black eyeliner under his exposed eye much like Jack Sparrow and then drew a jagged scar coming out from under the eye patch with some eyeliner as well. He looked very menacing when I finished.

Once they were done with their costumes, I went into the bathroom to get into mine. I had a little red sundress that I put on and then the white apron over it. I put on some makeup, put my hair up in pigtails and then donned the cloak. I was done quickly and made it back out to the main room with a few minutes to spare before dinner. When I stepped out, I did a twirl for the twins to let them admire my costume. Connor laughed but Dawn told me I looked very nice.

Promptly at six, the door opened, thankfully revealing Adam. “I see you’re all set for your night. You look good in your costumes,” Adam said as he leaned over to pinch Connor’s nose. I couldn’t believe the change in the man, usually so reserved and silent, now actually being friendly. Maybe it was his resemblance to Frankenstein that made Halloween his favorite holiday or something. “I took the liberty of picking up something for you both.” From under the service cart, he withdrew a plastic scabbard that wrapped around the waist and held a plastic curved sword with an elaborate gold handle at the end, and a sequined wand leading to a star with different colored sequins and ribbons hanging from it to replace the ones I had made from tinfoil. He handed them to the twins and patted them each on the head. “Have fun tonight.”

Before he could close the door, I went up to stop him. “Thank you.” I said sincerely looking him straight in the eye. He looked at me softly, his eyes filled with something I couldn’t place, and gave a quick nod. Without saying a word, he was gone.

When I turned back, the twins had already dived into dinner. Adam had kept tonight’s meal simple and light by supplying us with sandwiches and some fruit. I wrapped up Will’s and put his in the fridge for later. The twins tried to eat fast but I told them to slow down. We couldn’t go up until 6:30 anyway and I didn’t want them getting sick from eating too fast and putting a damper on the rest of the night.

**********************************************

Six-thirty finally arrived. The twins were excited with anticipation as I opened the door to the attic and started up before them. When I got to the top of the staircase, I couldn’t believe my eyes. William had done such a good job transforming the attic that even I was amazed.

Thick black blankets covered the windows, ensuring that no light got out, but also that none got in. He set up candles and lanterns strategically around the different activity areas, which gave the whole attic an eerie glow. Artificial cobwebs were hung in the rafters along with various decorations of ghosts, witches and skeletons. “Cool.” I heard Connor whisper under his breath as he took a look around the attic.

From behind one of the hanging blankets emerged William. My jaw dropped when I saw him as his usually shaggy, wavy hair was slicked back to reveal his structured face. He was not wearing his glasses which brought out his piercing blue eyes. On top of that, I think he was wearing eyeliner. He was dressed head to toe in black and draped upon his lean body was the leather duster he had found all those weeks back in one of the attic wardrobes. He caught my eye and winked just before he grinned with his plastic vampire teeth at Dawn and Connor.

“Good evening and welcome to my castle. My name is William the Bloody. Please won’t you join me for the festivities of All Hallows Eve?” William said this in a horrible accent meant to sound like Dracula, but was made worse due to the lisp he developed because of the teeth. Dawn couldn’t hold back her giggle, which sent me into my own hysterics. “I’m trying to set a mood here people! Work with me!” he huffed with an eye roll, still with the lisp but losing the accent.

Connor saved him by getting into the Halloween spirit. He raised his sword to William’s chest and introduced himself in his best pirate voice. “Aye, me name is Jack Sparrow. Show me to yer treasures.” William looked down at the point of the sword with a raised eyebrow and then at me with a smirk.

“Right this way then.” He said as he swept his arm towards the table with the create-your-own pumpkin material on it, again with the bad accent. As Connor and Dawn skittered quickly to the table, William grabbed me around the waist and pulled me to him. “Are you making fun of my accent?”

I turned my head to look at him with a look of disdain, “Who do you think you are now, the big bad wolf?” I asked playfully.

“Careful, I have these fangs now. All the better to bite you with, Little Red.” He moved his hand from around my waist to sweep a pigtail to the side. He lowered his mouth to my neck and bit me softly.

I elbowed him in the stomach and turned around completely. “Stop fooling around. You did a great job on the attic. It looks fantastic, but your accent is horrible, and you know it.” He had that famous Summers’ pout on his face, which looked absolutely adorable with the fangs. “Stop pouting. You know that doesn’t work on me since I can do it too. Now come on, let’s go make this a night the twins won’t forget.” I grabbed his hand and tugged him towards the table.





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