If the manticore, Kasia, the Dark Prince, and face stealer had all arrived at the ball and demanded I fight them at once, I would have gladly accepted. I’d have done just about anything instead of dressing up in finery and strutting around like an idiot in front of the entire Academy and the Fae.
“Don’t mess with it!” Mia said as I kicked at the hem of my sapphire-blue dress. The stupid thing was getting in the way of walking, but as a small plus, it hid my feet at almost all times so I was still able to wear my normal shoes rather than the heeled monstrosities Mia had insisted I wear. It was the small victories that counted.
The hallway leading to Remembrance Hall was stuffed with Academy students, from the first years to those just about to graduate, the buzz of voices a mixture of confusion and excitement. As unexpected as the announcement of this ball was, it seemed it wasn’t completely unwanted.
While Mia was busy waving to some of her friends from Astrology I pulled at the v-length neckline of my dress. I’d never worn something so exposed, and I was pretty sure it was against every school dress code ever. Then again, when I looked around, it seemed standard to what most of the other girls were wearing, those who had been able to get a formal dress in time. Mia herself wore a gown of deep puce that matched the slight tint of her hair, and just barely brushed the floor. We’d spent the better part of an hour trying to figure out a spell that did our hair for us. Mia had finally gotten it to weave into a braided up do, while I’d settled on an extremely fashionable ponytail. I promised Mia if she made me do much more than that I’d probably murder someone.
I still might.
“Are you nervous?” Mia said. When I looked confused she nodded to the fringes of my long sleeves I’d been picking at. I immediately stopped.
“I’m fine. This is just a stupid party. No big deal.”
“I meant to ask, why are you wearing long sleeves anyway?”
She’d gone with a sleeveless dress that showed off the couple scars her mother had inflicted on her as a child. Seeing them brought back the same anger I’d felt when I’d seen them the first time. But Mia didn’t seem concerned in the least. In fact, she seemed proud.
“I’m trying out a new style,” I said, tugging the long sleeves down, even though I knew they completely covered all the dark marks. I may have to look as nice as possible for the Fae, but no way was I using the ball as a time to introduce the Dark Prince’s spreading influence to my friends.
The throng of students began funneling together as we neared Remembrance Hall. Up ahead, I could pick out Colson’s towering form beside Asher. More than one student was staring at them. It could have been because of Colson’s size, the fact that Asher’s father was the headmaster, that we were kind of the talk of the Academy thanks to our last few escapades, or that the pair of them looked really good.
Maybe I was the only one thinking that last one.
When Asher’s gaze hit me I swore I could feel a jolt travel through my body. He gave a devilish smirk, his eyes taking me in. The way he looked at me, as though I were the only person in the universe, made all the pain of dressing up so, so worth it.
“There they are,” he said when we reached them. He leaned down and gave me a lingering kiss that lifted me to the tips of my toes. When he pulled back his eyes were dancing. “You look spectacular. Though I’ll admit, I never thought I’d see you in anything except butt-kicking attire.”
“Take a good long look. This won’t last,” I promised.
He and Colson both wore matching three-piece suits. Asher’s fit tight around the shoulders and tapered to his slender waist. I ran my hands over the top of the fabric. Something about it felt off. “How’d you manage to get this on such short notice?”
“I’ll let you in on a little secret.” Asher held my hand above the breast pocket. I felt the charge of magic, and for a moment, the suit vanished, replaced with a simple tight black t-shirt and jeans, before reverting back. “A little illusion trick I learned from Colson.”
I laughed.
“And where’d you get that gown? The color looks good on you.”
I thumbed over my shoulder at Mia, who was twirling in front of Colson to show off her dress. “She dragged me to a sale at To Die For Dress Emporium last year.”
“Isn’t that the one run by—”
“A Vamp? Yeah. Fitting, isn’t it?”
Mia and Colson were both smiling when they came over to us. Colson nudged his head toward the line of students entering through the hall’s double doors. “We should go in.”
I slipped my arm through Asher’s when he offered it, and together we followed Colson and Mia inside. I couldn’t help gasping, the sight of the hall’s transformation taking my breath away.
The gnarled oak in the center hung with pulsing lanterns of light. Pixies, I realized, all of them dazzling colors of emerald, rose pink, and coral blue. The floor-to-ceiling windows had been charmed to show a deep forest of sparkling green, most likely to make the Fae feel more at home.
Someone—probably Master Frigfray, the charms teacher—had spelled the ceiling so that it snowed droplets of light like embers. They felt pleasantly warm, like a tender kiss, when they landed on my skin.
“Yo!”
I spotted Demarcus waving to us from a small group near the center of the hall. Unlike most of the other guys, he wore jeans and an untucked button down with his usual scarf wrapped around his neck. We threaded through the rest of the Academy students toward them. I was all too aware of the line between this half of the hall and the other, where all of the Fae in attendance stood only amongst one another. I spotted another friend, Jen the water spirit, standing with some of her other friends. She gave me a wave and a shrug that said, “What the heck is going on?” I returned it with a “no clue” frown of my own.
“Isn’t this crazy?” Demarcus said when we joined them. He pounded Asher on the back, tried to do the same to Colson, couldn’t reach, and settled for a light punch on his arm. “A party with the Fae. Crazy!”
“Yes, and some of us are treating the event with the reverence it deserves,” his Academy partner Sylvia said. Unlike Demarcus, she looked like she’d put some time into how she looked, wearing a bubble-gum pink dress that matched her hair.
“I was hoping,” she muttered to me while Demarcus continued joking with Asher and Colson, “he’d take this chance to look a little more…More.”
“I thought that was your goal when you were first partnered up,” I said.
“Heaven knows I’ve tried.” She rolled her eyes, but there was no disguising the fondness in her voice.
“Everything’s so bright. It’s most disconcerting.”
I jumped at the morose voice beside my left elbow. “Logan!”
The Vamp hung just outside our group, alongside Penny the succubus. Both of them were wearing enough black to put on their own death metal concert. Since it was almost full dark, Logan looked about as awake as he usually did, his eyes hanging with heavy bags.
“You’re looking lively,” Logan said to me. “I see your adventures haven’t killed you yet.”
“Logan!” Sylvia chastised.
“It’s not for lack of trying,” I said, not put off at all by his usual bluntness.
“Shame,” Logan said. “Well, if you’re ever turned, or raised from the dead, or trapped between the world of the living and the beyond, you always have a place among those of the Midnight Club.”
“I’ll, ah, remember that,” I said.
“The club members are very nice,” Penny said in her thick accent. “I have joined them. They are most…interesting.”
That was rich, coming from Penny, a centuries-old succubus who, until a few months ago, only wore Victorian-style dresses and had a penchant for gazing ceaselessly at everyone in the group without saying a word.
Man, I’d missed these guys.
“They’re a bit unnerving, aren’t they?” Sylvia said. She was looking at the Fae side, a mixture of curiosity and wariness on her face. “I mean, they’re too…too…”
“Unreal?” I offered.
“Yeah. Exactly that. They pop out of nowhere and suddenly we’re in some sort of lockdown.”
“It’s sucked,” Demarcus said, literally sliding into our conversation, tossing back the tail-end of his scarf. “Nothing to do but sleep and eat.”
“How unfortunate for you,” Colson rumbled.
Demarcus grinned. “I know, pure torture.”
“What is it they want?” Penny said.
“That’s a good question,” I said. I scanned the Fae side for the prince, but his pointy-eared highness didn’t stick out to me. I spotted General Zell, though. He was impossible to miss, his figure cutting an imposing shape even amongst the rest of the Fae. He appeared to be talking to some Fae nobility. Seemed every Fae who was any Fae had shown up for this shindig.
The guard Zell had brought was numerous enough to ring the entirety of the hall. They’d tried to disguise their usual armor by covering it in bits of finery, but I didn’t miss the flash of blades and spear points. I was surprised Lucien had allowed them to stand there. I wondered if he’d had much choice.
“All we know is that the prince of the Fae is taking the throne,” Asher said, breaking into my thoughts. “Although Skylar might have more information,” he added with a playful smirk. “She gave the prince a personal tour.”
That idiot. “It was nothing,” I said quickly as the others’ eyes locked on me.
“Really,” Sylvia said.
“Was he as stuck up as the rest of them?” Demarcus said.
“He undoubtedly dressed better than you,” Logan said to Demarcus.
“He definitely dressed better than you,” Sylvia agreed over Demarcus’ protests.
“He was fine,” I said over their chatter. “He was normal. And annoying,” I added, fixing Asher with a firm gaze. “I think he is actually here to establish a new relationship with the Paranormal Coalition and the rest of the Supes.”
“Hard to do that when they haven’t been to speak with the Coalition,” Colson said.
He had a point. Unless they’d slipped out between the meeting with Lucien and the Masters and after my tour with the prince, the Fae had made no indication they were doing any sort of reaching out to the Coalition.
I looked over at General Zell again. He was making his way from one group of partygoers to the other, still staying very much on their side of the invisible line. He didn’t seem too keen on establishing any sort of relationship with us.
And yet, if getting the prince to help us wasn’t going to work, then maybe talking to someone who understood the value of strategy would.
I felt Asher’s arm slide through mine.
“I know one of your crazy ideas when I see it,” he said, voice low. “Shall I escort you?”
I bit my lip, debating, then nodded. “We’ll be right back,” I told the others before Asher and I wound through the rest of the students, paused for only a moment at the invisible line, then stepped over to intercept General Zell right as he was leaving the next group of Fae.
“Are you enjoying the party?” Asher said, giving him one of his megawatt grins.
General Zell stiffened, then glanced around as though we couldn’t possibly be addressing him. “It appears you are lost.”
“It appears as though the entire hall is open,” I said. “And for the right hand of a prince who wants to foster peace and unity, there isn’t a whole lot of unity happening here.”
General Zell’s lip sneered so high I almost expected it to tickle his earlobe. “And what would the Fae and mortals such as yourself possibly have in common to discuss?”
“I’m not sure. I guess that’s what talking’s for.”
I continued riding my high of bravado, wearing it like a shield that was battered again and again by his condescending smiles and tone. “Is the prince here?”
“He will arrive shortly.”
“You seem close to the prince,” Asher said. “I mean, closer than even his protector.”
I expected General Zell to return with another snide remark, but he seemed genuinely interested by the question. Points to Asher.
“I have known the prince since he let out his first cry,” Zell said, pride filling his voice. “I have been by his side since that moment, and my family protected his mother before even that. Do you understand? We have protected the royal family for ages. Long before you were anything more than the dust we trampled beneath our feet.”
He leaned in so close I was forced to take a step back. “I am putting up with these pleasantries because the prince deems it so. But there is no benefit. There is no point. And you would do well to remember your place, mortal—”
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything!”
Lucien swept in like a technicolor whirlwind, casually edging himself between Zell and me, and really seeming as though he was trying his hardest to interrupt everything.
“We were speaking of nothing important,” General Zell said, straightening up. He glowered at Lucien. “I suggest you learn to keep your students on a leash.”
“You—” I started, but Lucien cut me off with a boisterous laugh.
“I’ll take that under advisement! Now why don’t you go enjoy the rest of the party, General. I believe the kitchens have just brought up some punch that shoots fireworks from your mouth.”
General Zell gave us one final glower before stalking off deeper into the Fae side.
“I lied,” Lucien said. “I think the fruit tarts were the ones with the fireworks.”
“Why’d you do that?” I said, annoyed. “I was convincing him to help us!”
“If by ‘convincing’ you mean taking his verbal abuse like a champ, then yes,” Asher said. He cocked an eyebrow when I whirled on him. “You know I’m right. You’re not getting through to him.”
“And while I appreciate your efforts, Skylar,” Lucien said, joining the double-team. “I think your convincing should stay isolated to the prince.”
Asher let out a low grunt, his hand tightening on mine. Lucien didn’t miss it, his eyes sparkling. “And I’m reconsidering even that. Have you spoken to him about helping yet?”
“A little,” I said. “He wasn’t interested in anything except Columbus Avenue and our toilets.”
“Eclectic taste for sure. Ah, well, time will tell. In the meantime, we shall do everything we can to ensure we won’t need to rely on them. But for now…”
He swept his hand across the dance floor, stirring some of the falling embers so that they swirled in a miniature typhon. “Have some fun! Talk with your friends! Dance!”
“I don’t dance,” I said immediately. “Asher doesn’t dance either—”
“It’s easy!” Lucien said. He took my hands and yanked me to a small open space in the No Man’s Land between the two sides. For a moment all I saw were blurs of colorfully dressed people as we spun, moving so fast I wasn’t even sure my feet touched the floor. I was starting to feel sick.
“Lucien!”
He released me. I almost screamed before one of Asher’s hands found mine, his other wrapping around my waist and pulling me close. “I got you.”
It took me a moment to catch my breath, and after I had I looked up at him, skeptical. “Wait, you can dance?”
“’Dancing’ is also a strong word. However, I did inherit a little of my dad’s skill.”
“’Skill’ is a strong word.”
I tried to ignore the growing stares as the open space widened around us. Eventually a few more couples joined. I kept my head down, focused on my feet (which were definitely not floating now) and trying not to step on Asher’s. Despite what he said, he could actually dance. Only, there was something familiar about it.
“Are you…using the Rivalti sequence of defensive maneuvers?” I said. “From Coach Newman’s class?”
I looked up to find Asher grinning at me. “Uncovered my little secret, huh?”
“What, using fighting techniques?”
“What is fighting, if not a delicate dance of death? And what is dancing, if not a display of fighting prowess?”
I groaned, letting my head fall against his chest. “Oh no, you’re turning into your father.”
“You wound me.”
I laughed, letting him sweep me away again, following his steps exactly now that I knew what we were doing. Even more couples joined, but I didn’t pay attention to any of them. I only had eyes for Asher. The way the falling embers illuminated the different planes of his face, the way they danced in his eyes like spiraling galaxies, the way the heat from his hands spread through my entire body until I could no longer tell where he ended and I began. For all I could knew, we were one.
I was so entranced, I didn’t hear the whispers at first. They were nothing more than a nuisance battering against the bubble of perfection we’d built around us. But slowly, so slowly, they broke down the walls and I was left hearing the hum of excited talk building through the hall.
“I hope they’re not staring at us,” I murmured.
“They aren’t.” Asher stopped, turning to the Fae side while still keeping my hand in his. The group of Fae had split straight down the middle to create an aisle. At the far end was a lone door I knew led to one of the wings full of classrooms. General Zell stepped forward, facing us.
“Introducing Prince Zephyr, first High King of all Faerie!”
Necks craned. Students shuffled as close as they dared.
The door at the far end of the hall opened to reveal…nobody.
I snorted. “Did he get stage fright?”
“Prince Zephyr, first High King of Faerie!” General Zell said again.
Zephyr still didn’t show. Now people were starting to shuffle nervously. Some of the Fae brought their delicate hands up to their perfect mouths in shock. The whispers started again, louder than ever. My joke didn’t seem so funny anymore. Zephyr had better show his stupid, beautiful face soon and calm everyone down.
General Zell looked back at the door, face growing steadily more purple with each passing second. “Prince Ze—”
One of the Fae guard rushed through the door. He scurried to General Zell and whispered into his ear. My stomach dropped with horrible knowing, even before General Zell’s face rapidly shifted from purple to a fierce red. He stormed over to the door and disappeared, but I already knew. I already knew before General Zell came back, his expression now truly murderous. I knew before he directed the Fae Guard to point their weapons at all of us.
I knew the prince was gone.