Thank God.
I don’t know how I ended up being everyone’s plaything when it came to hair and makeup. She let a curl drop and then drowned me in hairspray, moving around my head making sure everything was curled.
With a smile and her hands on her hips, she declared, “Done.”
I had to admit, she’d done a pretty amazing job.
“Thanks.” I smiled up at her.
“Now it’s dress time,” she sing-songed and danced from my room.
Sometimes I wished I could be half as happy as she was. I used to be, but since Theo showed up and I was thrust face first into the dangers of this world I didn’t find I had much to be happy or excited about.
Even tonight with the dance; I should be excited and letting my guard down but instead, I was a nervous wreck and on alert.
I kept thinking about the poor innocent enchanters who’d been slaughtered in the New York safe house. We’d never gotten more information than that. I’m sure it was bad—what was done to them—and Victor was trying to protect us by not telling the details, but I would’ve rather known what I was up against.
Adelaide grabbed our dresses out of my closet and got each of them out of their garment bags. She handed mine to me and I fingered the detailing on the top. It was beautiful. Adelaide couldn’t have picked a better dress for me.
There was a knock on the door. “Are you two done yet? You’ve been in there for like five hours,” Theo griped through the door.
Considering Adelaide had done her hair and makeup before mine his prediction of five hours probably wasn’t too far off.
“Almost,” Adelaide called. “You did get ready, right?”
“Yes, I’m ready,” he growled.
“Like you’re wearing a tux and mask and everything?” she pestered, and we could hear him sigh loudly.
“Yes.”
“Good. I didn’t want to have to dress you. That would’ve been seriously awkward.”
I laughed and shook my head at her.
I took off my robe, only in my panties and a strapless bra, and began the job of putting my dress on. It wasn’t too difficult, but I did have Adelaide zip me up in the back.
Once I was dressed she started to put hers on. It slid onto her body like a silky second skin. It clung to her curves and with her fair skin and jet-black hair she was a knockout. Her hair was curled, but while mine was more like beachy waves, hers was straight out of old Hollywood. Her eyes were done in a smoky gray color and her lips were a bold red.
“All the guys are going to drop at your feet,” I told her.
She snickered. “That’s the plan.”
She appraised her reflection in the floor-length mirror on the back of the closet door. She smoothed her hands down the front of her dress and winked at her reflection.
“You’re right. I’m hot,” she cackled.
I picked up my silver strappy heels from the floor and sat down on my bed to put them on. I wasn’t the best at walking in heels so this would be super interesting. Once the heels were on I stood and made sure my dress was in place.
Adelaide finished putting on her shoes—a pair of black stilettos I would’ve most certainly died in—and looked in the mirror again.
“These shoes make my butt look amazing. Are you leaving that on?” She turned to me and pointed at the necklace I wore. It was the one Theo had given me for my birthday. The little jar with moss and the lone firefly.
“I never take it off,” I whispered, clutching it like I was afraid she might rip it off.
She shrugged. “Okay, but it doesn’t really go.”
I picked up our masks and handed her the peacock one. She fixed it on, adjusting it so it was right. “We’re going to slay the day.”
“Whatever you say.” I slipped on mine. It was far simpler than hers, almost dainty, and outlined my eyes and the top half of my face in intricate swirls.
My nerves skyrocketed tenfold once the mask was on. I’d gone to prom, sure, but this was a whole different ball game—no pun intended. I still didn’t feel as if I belonged in this world. I felt like an outsider looking in.
“What’s wrong?” Adelaide probed, noticing my sudden melancholy.
“Just nervous, I guess.” I turned to her and she fixed my hair where the tie of my mask had messed it up.
“You look beautiful.” She grabbed my shoulders and looked into my eyes like a mother scolding a small child. “You are amazing. And you have nothing to be nervous about. Besides, if anybody looks at you funny you know my brother’s going to take care of it.” She cracked a smile. “Seriously, you have nothing to worry about.”
I nodded and hugged her.
“What was that for?” she asked when I let her go.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I needed a hug. You feel more like a sister to me than a friend.”
“Oh, man.” Her eyes shimmered and she wrapped me in a hug this time, squeezing me to death. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to us,” she whispered in my ear. “Never doubt that. More importantly, you’re the best thing that happened to him.”
She let me go and before I could ask her what she meant she swung the door open.
“Theodore, we’re ready for our escort.”
“Actually, love, I thought I could escort you.”
I peered around Adelaide to see Winston offering her his elbow.
Adelaide’s cheeks turned a light pink. “Oh … um … okay.” She looped her arm through his and they headed for the stairs.
I raised a brow at Theo and closed the door behind me. “How’d that happen?”
“Churchill asked me if he could take her to the ball as friends. I made him swear that was all and, since I figured he might manage to babysit her so she doesn’t jump Finn in the middle of the dance floor, I said it was okay.”
I snorted at the image my mind conjured of Adelaide jumping on Finn like a lion on a gazelle. The guy wouldn’t stand a chance.
It was then I noticed Theo. My heart stopped for a solid five seconds before it started beating again with a vengeance.
He was dressed in a tux like promised, with a black bow tie. A solid black mask covered his eyes and his hair flopped over his forehead like usual. He hadn’t bothered to shave but the stubble added to his mystique. Everything about him oozed sex appeal and I knew he wasn’t even trying.
“Staring isn’t nice, doll face.” He smirked at me, pleased to have caught me.
I didn’t even have a retort for him. I was too enamored.
He offered me his elbow like Winston had with Adelaide.
I placed my shaking hand through the opening. He looked down at me and I up at him.
I believed there were some moments in our life that, in actuality, were merely a second, a blip, but somehow time slowed down and sharpened. It focused and you saw things more clearly than ever before. The moment stretched out and in some alternate universe maybe it even lasted forever.
This was one of those moments.
When he stared at me and I stared at him, I saw all our feelings, all the stuff we both buried and pretended didn’t exist. I saw all we were, all we wanted to be, and all we never could be.
And it hurt.