Zorro narrowed his eyes behind his black mask, determination scorching his opponent. He tilted his hat forward slightly with one hand as the other enclosed the handle of a sword at his side. He maintained intense, crucial eye contact. His opposition gave a sly smile. Nefertiti, Queen of Egypt, stood straight, revealing her own weapon: a long polished wooden rod.

Zorro left his menacing hunch in confusion, lifting an eyebrow.

“A stick?” He blinked a few times. “You intend to defeat Zorro with a stick?”

Nefertiti spun it like a windmill between them, making Zorro feel the need to take several quick steps back. Suddenly however, the rod flew out of Nefertiti’s grasp. Zorro fell to the floor on his stomach as it soared over him, hitting hard into a golden Egyptian statue behind him. He looked back at the statue with a look of terror as if she had just committed a serious crime. Nefertiti swallowed as he quickly jumped to his feet, but then, the door opened. Zorro and Nefertiti looked up.

“What are you two doing?” Ben asked. “Riley? Well aren’t you cute... What are you supposed to be? The Masked Bandit?”

“Zorro,” Riley said flatly, taking some offense. He walked up to Ben who was holding Alex. “What about you? The Hulk’s Dad?”

Ben gave him a level stare as he let Riley take Alex from him. “Frankenstein and the Third Musketeer.”

Riley rolled his eyes, looking at the small boy in a Musketeer costume. “Of course. Where are the other two?”

“Outside,” Ben told him, looking around the cleared area of Riley’s large bedroom. “What are you two up here doing with a pool stick and… is that my machete?”

Riley hid the sword inside his cape the best he could while holding Alex.

“No…”

“We were just rehearsing,” Carolyn said, walking over to pick up the pool stick. She tickled Alex’s arm as she passed, getting a smile out of him. Laughing at his adorable expression, she moved some of the black hair from her wig out of her face, trying to hold on the gold band with a small serpent atop it at the same time.

“Rehearsing?” Ben asked skeptically as Carolyn walked over to a mirror to adjust her Egyptian attire and jewelry. “You two are performing a magic show, not a duel.”

“Well we were rehearsing,” Riley said, straightening his hat, “until she threw a stick at me and hit Betsy instead.” He looked back at the golden Egyptian statue with concern. Carolyn laughed from across the room.

“I actually think I hit Bill more than I did Betsy.”

“You what?” Riley fled over to his statues, checking for any scratches or damage. Carolyn smiled over her shoulder at Ben who shook his head.

“I will be so glad when you move out and take those things with you,” he said.

“Who said I’m moving out? Tell Dad that Uncle Riley could never leave you! I’ve still got a lot to teach your brother and sister, let alone you…”

Another comment Ben chose to ignore. “Look, there are thirty-one Spidermen, pirates, cowboys, princesses, witches, scarecrows, Supermen, Musketeers, ghosts, and a cow out in the backyard beating a giant pumpkin piñata to pieces right now waiting for their magic tricks, so I suggest you get down there before they come up here.”

Riley sighed, passing Alex to a cooing Carolyn. “What possessed you to give Abigail the go ahead to let a pack of first graders have a Halloween slumber party here? Huh?! First graders, Ben!”

“We have the biggest house,” Ben replied simply, “and we didn’t have a party for Charlie and Sally for their birthday last week.”

“So it’s more of a Halloween slumber birthday party?”

“Halloween slumber birthday costume party,” Ben corrected as the three of them left Riley’s bedroom and headed downstairs.

Riley nodded. “Right. I forgot.”

x x x

“For the LAST TIME!!” Riley shouted at the giggling first graders, “Zorro is NOT a MAGICIAN!!” From the back of the group, Carolyn herself laughed.

“Just one more!” Sally shouted from the front row, her large feathered hat falling over her eyes. “Pleeeeeeease?”

Suddenly, all of the children put on their big eyes and whined in unison, “Pleeeeeeeease?”

Riley sighed from atop his box, looking at all of them with narrow eyes. “Now that’s not fair,” he said, pointing at them. “Cut the cute or I’m hexing every single one of you.”

“You can’t do that,” a large pirate boy said.

“Oh yes I can,” Riley said back in a bout of immaturity. “It’s Halloween and I’m a magician, so try me.”

“One more!” someone else called out. The rest broke out into whiny pleads and shouts. Riley heaved a sigh, looking back at Carolyn. She did a poor job of hiding her smile. He suddenly had the perfect trick to finish off the little show.

“Fine! Fine,” he said, pulling on a spooky facade. “Before I end my presentation of illusion and dark art and send you to the Tent of Terror for the night,” – he pointed at a giant tent set up on the other side of the yard they would be spending the night in with a huge movie projector – “I will do one more trick for you. But! It will be no trick, for it will really occur…”

He scanned their faces, all attentive with awe or fear. He smiled inwardly.

“For this illusion, I require a willing audience member,” he said. Hands shot in the air that he did not want, so he said further, “Preferably an Ancient Egyptian Queen around my height and age who thinks she has avoided embarrassment and is about to be sadly mistaken.”

The kids followed Riley’s cunning eyes back to a surprised Carolyn. Riley’s smile grew as he bowed deeply.

“Cleopa-“

“Nefertiti,” she corrected him for the eighth time that night.

“Nefertiti,” he announced dramatically. “If you would be so kind.”

Against her will, Carolyn walked around the first graders with a peeking smile. Riley raised his eyebrow at her somewhat suggestively as she approached, stepping right up to him on the box. Slowly, his eyes shifted from Carolyn to the kids.

“And now! You shall all witness the greatest disappearing act in the world. Ready?”

The children nodded enthusiastically.

“All right then.” Riley turned to Carolyn, raising his hands dramatically. Just as he was to bellow out a collection of unknown words, a loud roll of thunder sounded overhead. They all looked skyward slowly as rain began to pour down in buckets. The costumed kids went running for the house while Riley just stared up at the sky. Carolyn sighed.

“I told you it was going to rain.”

“Yesterday,” he mumbled. He got defensive at her look. “Well it could have changed in twenty-four hours!”

“You were only hoping it would,” she said, stepping down from the box in the sopping grass. Riley followed, miserably soaked through his costume already.

“Yeah, that’s true,” he admitted.

As the rain fell harder and ran everyone indoors, Riley and Carolyn simply walked in as if it did not affect them in the least bit. Abigail fled from the Tent of Terror in an oriental robe with Alex, Ben, and the first graders’ teacher, Miss Legion. They ran passed Riley and Carolyn before the two of them stepped onto the porch, lazily stopping in the doorway with sour faces.

“This is going to be a great night,” Carolyn said, thickly sarcastic.

Riley nodded, biting his lips. “First graders.”

“Thirty-one first graders.”

“In costumes…”

“With candy…”

“And plastic weapons…”

“And monster movies…”

“Afraid of the storm…”

Carolyn turned to him as Ben, Abigail, and Miss Legion struggled to dry off the frantic children. Her smile was sly.

“But they don’t have their own bedroom upstairs.”

Riley’s ears perked up. Carolyn smiled as he turned to her with bright eyes, bringing his arms around her waist.

“With a mini fridge…”

“And a private fireplace…”

“And bathroom…”

“With a heated spa…”

Riley groaned. “Uhh… laying in a warm hot tub right now sounds perfect.” He rested his forehead against hers in exhaustion, looking her in the eye. “I’d love to get away from all these screaming kids for the night. I’m going to get all the flack for it raining, you do know that, right?”

“Probably.” Riley cut her giggle short with a kiss that made up her mind; she was more than ready to change into a swimsuit and soak for the night after another long day of party preparation with him, and-

THUNK

The kiss ended abrubtly.

“Ow! Geez…”

Carolyn looked up in confusion as Riley rubbed the back of his head. However, her eyes went wide at the sight of what had hit him with recognition. Then, from over the heads of thirty-one soaked and restless first graders, Abigail’s voice penetrated the air.

“What happened to my doorframe?!”

. The End .

LAST NOTES:

Thanks again to all REVIEWERS and READERS!!

Any sequel ideas? Feel free to PM or email me ANYTIME.

I AM working on sequel stuff. Don't ever doubt that.

Look for my soon-to-come oneshot, 'Win A Date With Riley Poole'

THANK YOU!!

8.25.07