Chapter 27
Wonderland
“So what are these parties like?” I asked, as we pulled onto the winding driveway leading around to the back of my house.
“I’m not going to spoil your first time,” he said grinning.
“Oh, you’re just hilarious,” I said turning pink. I was glad that it was something we could laugh about.
Again, we were stopped at the gate leading to my front door. A man dressed in a tuxedo stepped around to the driver’s side window and knocked gently.
Darren rolled it down.
“Invitation please.”
Darren started to reach for his pocket but stopped himself. “She’s my invitation,” he said nodding in my direction.
“I—Oh, princess, right this way please. You’ll be taking the front entrance. Is this young man your date?”
I nodded. I ignored the images of Tristan that shot through my head. He’d had his chance.
“Then you may enter through the front door just this once. You can wait downstairs while the princess is prepped for her entrance.”
He groaned. “I get to wait while you get ready, some fun.”
I gave him a light punch on the shoulder and he laughed it off.
Inside, the Elder Witches verbally assaulted me. Apparently, I was pretty late. But when Darren stepped in after me, what was so thoughtless and inconsiderate before, instantly became sweet and adorable.
“Munchkin!” Darren called, and a young red-faced girl, ducked behind Mrs. McArthur.
When she reemerged, I saw that it was London’s little sister he had addressed. In the seconds, she had spent hiding behind her mother, she had composed herself and spoke with an elegance rivaling the Queen of England. “Why hello there, Darren. I hope you’re well.”
After setting off a round of giggles, she took my hand and led me through the house and up to my room where she had already laid out all of her things. She told me to sit down and started with my makeup.
“I’ve already been down to the ballroom and let…me…tell….you…awesome. They must feel like you’ve seen enough magic that you won’t like, freak out now because they pulled out all the stops for this one—I should tell you, “like” is my new favorite word.”
“Okay…Is your sister down there?”
Her face soured. “No, London and my mom got in this like, huge fight about her boyfriend or something. Anyway, they were calling each other names and throwing stuff and I was so glad daddy was leaving early cause I was like, “take me with you!”
“Did you say boyfriend?”
“Yeah, I caught them kissing once and I was going to tell mom and she’s like, I’ll give you two hundred bucks to keep your mouth shut, and I’m like, Sold!” She chuckled. “So I hung out with them for a while. When I saw his face I was like “Wow!” maybe, Darren isn’t the hottest guy in Brighton anymore. No offense, I know he’s your boyfriend now. But he was so quiet—snore— and London kept trying to say she that was leaving soon and she’d miss me and I’m just like, you don’t graduate for another nine months, that’s a long time from now. Chill out with the depression already. So I just went to sleep and dreamt about my future hubby, Nathan Mathalbane. Oh yeah.”
Hearing about London had set off alarms in my head, especially if her and her mother’s fight had to do with Aiden. I guessed that Aspen probably wasn’t aware that she was in the company of a vampire.
“Aspen?” said a woman’s voice. My back was to the door and I’d been too far into my own thoughts to catch who it was.
“Mom, can’t you see I’m in the middle of something.”
“Get your little butt out here right now!”
Aspen dropped her brushes and hurried outside. A few minutes later she came back, more than a little irritated. “I seriously don’t get why London couldn’t come. She’s being a total dictator right now.”
I almost jumped from the chair. If she had been caught, then she was going to run away with Aiden tonight. There was no doubt about it. I had to see her—but surely, she would come by, wouldn’t she? To say goodbye? She had to. I owed her so much.
“All finished!” Aspen announced.
Aspen spun me around to the mirror, and again, I could hardly believe it was me. She had done something to give my face an almost silvery sheen to it. My lashes were full, gorgeous, and combined with the grey in my eyes, I looked like something mystical—I thought so, anyway. She’d put my hair up in a fancy bun.
“Oh I almost forgot,” she said. She reached into her bag and grabbed something. She stuck whatever it was onto my forehead. I leaned closer to the mirror and discovered that it was a piece of crystal.
“I call this look, ‘The Ice Princess.’” She seemed very proud of herself and though the piece of crystal was a tad over the top, she had every right to be. That she could make me look like this, it was a testament to her talent.
“What was the look you gave me last time?” I asked her.
She giggled. “Deer in headlights.”
She gathered her things quickly and darted out of the room, explaining that she needed to get a good spot in the ballroom where she could see everyone’s faces when I arrived. Helena came in next to drop off my gown, and she gave me a big hug and asked about Tristan. I lied about us doing great and it lit up her face so completely; I didn’t even regret it.
I slipped into my long silver gown and went back to the mirror. I kept poking myself to make sure this was real. I was stunning. I was almost tempted to ask Aspen if she had simply magic’ed me beautiful. But remembering she couldn’t yet, I had no other choice but to accept it. Anastasia Adams cleaned up nicely.
“Tonight is tonight, and tomorrow is tomorrow,” I told myself. “And that’s how I’m gonna deal with having so little time left.” Still, the thought made me shiver.
The hallway was empty when I stepped out, and I, despite how confident I felt, could also feel my nerves flickering as I approached the staircase. Still, I kept my head held high and took the stairs without a moment’s hesitation. However, the memory of me falling on my face the last time was very much on my mind.
The gasps echoing around the room were what made me falter. I had to catch the railing to stay upright. The Elder Witches, a few of the maids, and Darren stared, some open mouthed as I descended the remainder of the stairs. My grandmother stepped forward, teary eyed, and wrapped me up in a warm hug. “Princesses are born, Ana. And you are a princess.”
I was passed to each of the other Elder Witches next and they each offered a kind word. Darren’s grandmother had gone for my cheeks again, but the others shooed her off. London’s mother, always noticeable because of the considerable age difference, came up last, and she apologized for London’s being absent tonight. I wanted so badly to tell her that she would probably never see her daughter again.
“You…look—Wow.” Darren had slipped into a tuxedo while I was getting my makeover and he wore it well. He had a white belt that held what I assumed to be a ceremonial sword. He pressed his finger against the small piece of crystal on my forehead. “Oh,” he said flashing a grin. “I thought it was your hotness button.” He laughed.
“So you don’t think I’m hot normally?”
He stopped laughing. “This is me pulling my foot out my mouth.”
I laughed.
A white horse was walked in next, with a velvet-covered saddle. “There’s our ride,” Darren said.
“You can’t be serious?”
“Hey, at least I talked them down from the carriage they originally planned on bringing us in with.”
The horse was brought over to us, and we petted it for a few minutes before a man in a tuxedo peeked out of the door and waved us forward. Small white flakes drifted toward us. Was that snow?
Darren mounted the horse and I was lifted onto it so that I was sitting
sideways. I was about to protest, remembering that in the olden times, women had to rides horses like this, but realized it probably had much more to do with preserving my gown than anything else.
The doors flung open and Darren directed us into the ballroom to booming applause. I kept my right arm wrapped tightly around him and waved with my left. This part felt like something that would never grow old.
The ballroom was breathtaking. It was literally snowing inside, but thankfully, they had done something to keep the floors from becoming slick. Huge ice sculptures of overweight penguins and grinning polar bears were scattered between tables and aerial acrobats rolled and twisted on long straps of fabric hanging from the ceiling. Plates sped across the room, dipping and swerving to avoid people who were standing up or walking around. I traced them back to the serving table and found people were using their hands to direct the plates. It truly was unbelievable.
I leaned around Darren and found my mother and Dr. Roberts seated at a long table on a newly elevated portion of the dining room. Between them stood an enormous velvet chair with gold colored trim that matched the saddle and the wall in my room. I was beginning to catch on. The velvet and gold combo probably wasn’t a coincidence. An ordinary chair had been pulled next to it and we stopped in front of it. I had started to go straight for my seat, but Darren gently yanked me back down the steps, drawing chuckles from the crowd. I wondered, if they could see my cheeks flush, beneath the silvery shine of my makeup.
The host stepped out and announced, “Her royal highness, Anastasia Adams, rightful heir to Merline the first, and princess of the Rasputin line of witches.”
The crowd of at least three hundred all bowed or curtsied and then Darren was introduced as my date. When no one bowed for him, I stuck my tongue out at him and everyone laughed. The instant the spotlight shifted, I dragged Darren up to our seats. The host shouted, “That girl’s ready to eat!” and the crowd laughed again. Once we were seated, everyone else also took their seats. I relaxed a little. Darren put his hand over mine, and I shot a glance up to my mother who looked surprised, but nonjudgmental. “Dying” had clearly changed her, I thought to myself with a smile.
We were treated to a fire-show next. Darren pointed out Chris’ dad and explained that he led this group of guardians. It became obvious, fairly quickly, that the little butterfly Nathan produced to convince me to believe him about my being a witch was literally child’s play. These men produced enormous blasts of fire and then carved them into shapes with their control over moving air. A flaming dragon that stretched out across the entire ceiling was their opening act; it bucked, twisted, and swooped down to cause many a nervous gasp. The dragon then exploded into a thousand tiny butterflies that swished around the room and made me think of the fireflies around the lake the night Tristan revealed our past to me. I pushed those thoughts away. The show concluded when Chris’ dad challenged the fiery version of himself to a dance contest. It was close, Chris’ father had some moves, but once the flamed version started doing some of Michael Jackson’s moves on the table in front of me, it had won the crowd over.
We sang Happy Birthday to my mother after that, and then Dr. Roberts was presented with a plaque honoring his achievements in medicinal magic.
Music started up and the host called Darren and I down from our table and over to the middle of the room. There was a dance floor there. My nerves flared up again when the host announced that we would be having the first dance. Darren whispered not to worry, that he would take the lead.
He led me out and did a bow. I started to curtsy but froze when I heard London’s voice in my head.
“I’m sorry, Ana. But I’m about to crash this little party of yours.” Then she showed me what she was going to do.