After dinner the princes sprawled on a persian rug in the firelit parlor. Nicholas breezed through his lessons with little difficulty. There was no school in Halloweentown, thus the education of the young princes fell to their parents. Jack and Sally took great care in making sure their sons progressed steadily. Nicky closed his tablet and pushed it away, signaling that he was finished. His twin looked up for a moment and scowled. Nicholas always finished first. It was irritating. The king and queen reclined on opposite ends of an overstuffed velvet couch, their feet meeting together in the middle. Sally smiled languidly, lost in the pages of a romance novel. Across from her, Jack sipped a glass of merlot. It was a typically peaceful evening in the mansion.
Nicholas grinned at Jack jr., still picking away at arithmetic. The parlor room was quiet but for the scratching of Jack jr.'s pencil and muffled cracks from the fire. In the midst of serenity, Nicky felt the first tickle of a headache fluttering behind his eye sockets. He rubbed his skull.
"Nicky darling, are you alright?", Sally asked softly. Her son nodded. He sat up, squinting.
"My head hurts.", he whimpered softly. His mother set aside her book.
"You two spent too much time playing in those cold, damp tunnels." She leaned down by the boy's side and pressed her palm to his forehead. "You don't feel warm to me but you may be coming down with something."
"I'm fine. I played in the tunnels all day!", piped up Jack jr. The boys' father stood from the couch.
"Hrm. Well even so…perhaps you two should get ready for bed. If you are getting sick a good night's sleep could be just the thing."
Sally nodded.
"But it's eeeeaarly!", whined Jack jr. Sally shook her head and motioned to the twisting wooden staircase.
"It isn't really. It's almost your regular bedtime. Upstairs now, lumplings." The princes looked pleadingly at their father.
"As your mother said", confirmed Jack with a warm skeleton grin.
The pumpkin princes trudged upstairs. Nicholas walked slowly as he was still coddling his aching skull. Jack jr.'s reluctance was due to his disappointment in being sent to bed.
"I don't wanna go to bed yet, I'm not even tired.", he lamented. "You and your sore skull got us cheated out of a whole half an hour Nick!" Nicholas just shrugged. The identical pair got ready for bed, wiggling into matching pajamas before climbing into their beds under orange and black quilts. It wasn't long at all before a gnashing, growling, snarl began from under Nicholas' bed.
"Errgh, stop!", the boy shouted. His voice was more peevish than frightened. "I don't feel good." The growling grew louder. Something brushed his feet under his quilt and he kicked at it impatiently. Jack jr. grinned.
"I'll take care of it, Nicky!"
Jack jr. leaned down, peering under the bed. Remembering lessons from their father, he bared his teeth and exhaled a sharp, cold, hiss. The growling ceased, trailing off to a sniveling squeak. Jack jr. laughed.
"Hah! You came here to scare us, but I scared you! I did didn't I? Did I? Did I scare you?"
"Well done Prince Jack! Well done! I shall tell your father about this!", said a rough voice. Red eyes blinked in the darkness beneath the bed.
"Oh no don't. I'm supposed to be asleep already.", Jack jr. said sheepishly. The creature realeased a chuckle before disappearing to haunt some other Halloween child's dreams. Jack jr. flopped back into bed.
"He should know better than to try and scare us, don't you think Nick?"
"Uh-huh.", Nicholas replied. His head still hurt. It really wouldn't have occurred to him to try and scare the thing under the bed. Who would have thought he could have done that? Jack jr. had apparently, and he had done it. They looked so much alike. Mama and dad were the only ones who could tell them apart with any consistency. Even so, looking alike wasn't everything it would seem. Nicholas closed his eye sockets and slipped into sleep.
Downstairs, Jack poured himself a second glass of wine and turned on the phonograph. A mournful Italian aria swirled softly through the room like smoke.
"What do you think is the matter with Nicholas? Do you think he is sick?", Jack asked. Sally ran her fingers through her long hair.
"I hope not. I think he may have just caught a chill today, that's all." She smiled reassuringly at her mate. Jack returned the smile, but he was concerned for his son. Nicholas was a bit of a puzzle. Jack jr. had been game for anything from the time the boys were still creeping along the floor and snoozing side by side in their crib. It wasn't even a year after their birth before the king's namesake began imitating his father's fearsome grimaces and growls. His instincts were very strong, all he needed was guidance. Nicholas on the other hand had always been the one to think first and then act…slowly. He was fiercely intense, which had some potential on its own for being frightening, or at least disturbing, but he just didn't seem to possess any drive in that area. Still, Jack knew the boy had a destiny of some sort, even if it was not as easily recognized as that of his twin. Sally recognized something else, something vague. She had an idea of what it was, but kept silent. She would speak her mind when the time was right.
