After Duke and Penny stomped off to continue their fight in private, the mood at our table lightened considerably.
About ten minutes later, I noticed that Penny was alone in a corner. I scanned the room, but there was no sign of Duke.
"I'll be right back," I said to Ryan.
The worst that could happen was that Penny would laugh in my face. "Would you like to join us at our table?" I asked.
From the expression on her face, I expected her to say something snotty, but instead she offered a small smile. "If you're sure?"
"Of course!" I said. "Besides, I want to find out where you got that right hook of yours."
Penny giggled with me. "Thanks, Daisy," she said. Back at the table, she immediately started ignoring me again, but I was fine with that. Penny and I would never be best friends, but I'd gained new respect for her.
A slow song started, and Ryan grabbed my hand and led me to the center of the dance floor. As I nuzzled closer to him, I thought that the way he smelled was way better than my two favorite scents in the world.
"You smell better than chocolate," I said to him.
"You do, too," he said. He put his lips to the soft skin of my neck, and I shivered. "You taste better, too."
Our lips met in a long, sweet kiss. A little while later, I emerged from my Ryan-induced fog and looked over at Poppy.
She and Gage danced cheek to cheek. Her eyes were shut, and she was so close to him that it was hard to tell where he stopped and she began.
It had been a minor miracle, an act of incredible will on Gage's part, that had allowed him to take corporeal form. I wondered what the consequences would be, besides the obvious, which was that eventually, Poppy and Gage would have to go their separate ways. But they were clearly falling in love, and the world couldn't be so cruel as to tear them apart now.
The disco ball put sparkles in their hair as they revolved slowly under its glow.
"Does Gage look a bit ... shaky to you?" I asked Ryan.
Ryan glanced over quickly. "Maybe." He pulled me a fraction closer to him. "But I'm not interested in Gage right now." He nibbled on my ear.
I was having a hard time concentrating, but I persisted. "No, really. Look."
Gage was almost transparent, going in and out of focus, but nobody else seemed to notice.
Ryan waltzed me over to where they were dancing.
"Gage, you're fading." I said in a quiet voice.
Poppy didn't lift her head from his shoulder. "Quit joking."
"I'm serious," I said.
Poppy stared into Gage's eyes for a long moment. "He's just going back to being incorporeal," she finally said.
"No, it's different. We don't have much time," Gage said. "It's for good this time."
"No," she said, loudly. A few heads turned, but when she pretended to smile brightly, they went back to whatever they were doing.
The sheen of tears in Gage's eyes convinced her. "I love you, Poppy," he said.
Ryan and I looked away to give them some privacy, but I heard her say, "I love..."
When I looked over, my sister was alone on the dance floor, surrounded by pain, loss, and death. Fake psychic or not, Duke had been right.
I grabbed her hand and led her off the dance floor as tears gushed from her eyes. She kept her head down, so that no one could see.
"I'm going to call Rose to pick me up," she said.
"I'll go with you," I said. "Just let me tell Ryan."
"No, Daisy," Poppy said. "You stay. It's your prom, too. And Gage and I had a great prom before he ... had to go."
I watched her leave, and then Ryan took my hand. "She'll be okay," he said gently.
"I know," I said. "But it's just not fair. She finally finds someone..."
"It makes you think, doesn't it?" Ryan said. "About making the most of the time we have together."
He sounded as if he knew something I didn't. "Ryan?" I said, but he didn't answer. He just drew me close and held me tight.
After a few more dances, I headed for the restroom to freshen my makeup and to make sure that I hadn't sweated through my gorgeous dress.
That's when I saw Duke head for the stairs. He was going into the part of the mansion that was off-limits to prom guests. There was something furtive about the way he slunk away. I decided to follow him.