“Do you want to dance?” Brody asked.
“I’m not sure you should risk it,” Mina said, flushing bright red.
“It’ll be fine, if you let me lead.” Brody took Mina’s hands and led her onto the floor. He was right; as long as Mina let Brody lead, she didn’t have any problems finding the rhythm or staying away from his feet. It was perhaps the most graceful she’d felt all her life. Of course, the dress didn’t hurt.
“See, you’re doing great,” Brody said, encouraging Mina and holding her closer. “You know, I should have thought twice about bringing you here.”
Mina was startled by his words. Was he now realizing that he was ashamed of her? Had she stepped on his toes? She’d thought that she was doing just fine. “What do you mean?”
“I thought that I could handle bringing you to the dance, but I’m finding that’s not true.” His hands tightened around her waist, and he leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Every Steve, Frank, and Larry can’t take their eyes off you.” Brody nodded with his chin toward a crowd of boys, and Mina sneaked a quick peek over her shoulder before turning bright pink with embarrassment. He was right—everyone was staring at them.
“Maybe it’s you. You do usually have a lot of people staring at you,” she tried.
“That’s kind, but I doubt that many boys at our school find me so attractive.” As they circled the room, Brody glared at the boys, and a few actually turned away in embarrassment. Some began texting on their phones, while the gazes of others wouldn’t budge.
“I’m sorry. I hope I did nothing to embarrass you.”
“Don’t apologize. This is not your fault. You can’t help looking so gorgeous.”
Mina’s cheeks turned pink. When the song began to die down, Brody had finally had enough. “Will you be safe next to Nan? I really want to go talk to those guys.” Brody walked Mina over to Nan, who was talking animatedly to a short boy with glasses.
Once Brody walked away, Nan leaned over and whispered to her, “Can you believe the attention you’re getting? I’ve never seen anything like it.” She nudged Mina and pointed to another group of guys wearing various animal masks.
“Nan, I don’t think they attend our school,” Mina whispered. She was right; there was a completely different group of students who couldn’t or wouldn’t take their eyes off her. To test a theory, Mina looped her arm through Nan’s and walked over to a food table. They followed at a distance, trying to not draw attention.
“They are following you!” Nan mouthed.
“Where’s Brody?” Mina walked back to where she had last seen him, but he was gone. “I have to find Jared!” Mina called out, feeling herself panic. If she couldn’t have Brody by her side, at least she wanted to know where Jared was.
“I don’t know. He danced with me for a few songs, but then he disappeared. Mina, those guys are coming over her.” Nan nodded with her chin to the group of guys again. They had stopped trying to blend in with the crowd and now moved menacingly toward Mina and Nan.
The tingling sensation began in Mina’s body, and she knew it was time. But instead of rising to the occasion, she lost her nerve. “Nan, I have to get out of here.” She began to pull on Nan’s arm, and together they turned and headed for an exit.
The first door was blocked by Rapunzel’s tower, and the second was right between the group of unknown guys. No way was she heading there.
“The stage. There’s another exit behind the deejay on the stage,” Nan yelled over the music. They ducked under a column of streamers and balloons, and headed up the steps to the stage. Once onstage, Mina looked out over the dance floor and saw two groups of people making their way toward the stage. Who were they? What did they want? When they passed through the foggy dance floor and the lasers hit them, Mina noticed a slight blurring of their human forms. What she saw for that split second chilled her to the bone. One of them looked up to the stage and saw Mina’s terrified face. He ditched the mask and practically drooled with pleasure at seeing her so scared.
“Here!” Nan shouted, having pulled a curtain aside and found the exit door that led backstage. They ran toward the stairs that led down to the side doors, but were blocked by a large man.
“Eeep!” Nan squealed as someone grabbed her from behind and clamped a fist over her mouth.
Another figure loomed out of the dark. Mina screamed in fright, but it couldn’t be heard over the thumping of the bass.
“Ah, Little Red, Little Red, you strayed from the path.” The one Jared had called Grey Tail moved in quickly. Mina tried to run, but he lunged for her and slammed her against the wall, spinning her so that her head crashed into the brick. Spots flecked across Mina’s vision.