“In all the years I’ve been with Syndra,” Pepa says as we watch my mother lounge by the pool while getting her nails painted blood red, “I’ve never seen her this manic. That’s saying a lot, Eve.”
“We just need to keep her calm until tonight.”
Pepa gives me a furtive glance. I can tell by the way she’s biting the inside corner of her mouth that she wants to tell me something but isn’t sure how I will react to what she has to say.
“Spill it, Pepa. What’s on your mind?”
Pepa leans toward me in her seat at the patio table and whispers, “We can’t let her go to The Ball. If we do, she may come back to us even more damaged than she already is. I love her too much to stand by and let that happen.”
My first thought is that Pepa is testing me. I've never known her to go against my mother’s wishes, and to suggest a coup is odd, to say the least.
“Why do you think going to The Ball would do that to her?” I ask to better judge what Pepa’s true motives are in this situation.
“Your mother wasn’t always like this,” she tells me. Her gaze becomes unfocused as if she’s thinking back to better times. “It was only after she was with your father that she began to lose her mind.”
This is the first time I’ve been told this bit of important information. I sit up straighter in my chair.
“Do you think my father caused her bipolar disorder in some way?”
“It’s the only explanation I’ve been able to come up with. Your mother never had the drastic mood swings she does now until after that night. He must have done something to her.”
“Who is my father, Pepa? Do you know what he is?” They’re questions I’ve asked her and my mother countless times before, but neither of them would ever give me an answer. Now that Pepa wants to prevent my mom from going to The Ball, I have an unexpected ally in my scheme to steal her ticket and go to this mysterious event myself. With our new alliance, she might finally be willing to divulge information about a man she clearly despises.
“I honestly don’t know who he is. Your mother would never tell me,” she says, looking irritated by the fact. “If she had, I would have hunted that bastard down years ago and drained him dry for what he did to Syndra.”
The fire in Pepa’s eyes catches me off guard. I’ve never seen her so upset and hungry for vengeance.
“Pepa,” I say, placing my hand over the one she has resting on the arm of her chair, “I need your help. I have to go to that ball tonight. If my mother thinks my father will be there, I want to meet him and find out why he’s never tried to contact me. If nothing else, I need some type of closure where he’s concerned.” I look over at my mother. “Maybe he doesn’t know what he did to Mom. Or maybe,” I say, returning my attention to Pepa as a new idea comes to mind, “he knows what we can do to fix her.”
Pepa straightens, turning in her chair to face me. “I hadn’t thought about that possibility,” she admits. “Do you really think he might be able to help her?”
“If he’s the one who caused her to become unbalanced, then yes. I believe he might hold the key to finally curing her.”
My mother’s laughter draws our attention. She’s twirling around the pool with the girl who just did her nails like she’s already at The Ball.
“I’ll help you,” Pepa says. Her voice cracks as she watches my mother descend even deeper into madness. “It might be the only way to get her the help she needs.”
“Thank you.” I squeeze Pepa’s hand and turn my head to keep an eye on my mother. The look of insanity in her eyes worries me, and I know she could never handle going to The Monster Ball in her current state. If my father isn’t there, she’ll dive headfirst into a depression so great she may never recover from it. If my father is there, she might end up losing what’s left of her mind, and I would never be able to forgive myself if that happened.
For the rest of the day and night, Pepa and I go through the motions of helping my mother prepare for her big event. Syndra seems convinced that she has to be standing outside, ready to go with the invitation in her hands at exactly midnight. When I ask her how she’s supposed to get to The Ball by doing something so odd, she tells me she’ll be magically transported to wherever The Ball is being held this year. My first thought is that she’s too far gone to remember how to get there, but then Pepa backs up her outrageous claim.
The closer it gets to midnight, the more I start to worry that our plan will fail. I’ve never been very good at keeping secrets from my mother, and I fear my nervousness is starting to show.
“Are you all right, my love?” she asks as all three of us walk out the patio doors. Her tulle gown with red silk embellishments placed in strategic places to give the illusion of modesty flows behind her as she walks. “You seem rather fidgety all of a sudden.”
“Eve just needs a little of the ole bubbly,” Pepa says, raising the bottle of champagne she has in her hand.
I set the three champagne glasses I’m carrying down on the patio table while Pepa proceeds to pop the cork from the bottle.
“I’m not sure I should drink anything before I go,” my mother tells us, holding the invitation to her breasts while warily eyeing the champagne as Pepa pours it.
“Mom,” I say to draw her attention away while Pepa drops a tablet into my mother’s glass, “have a drink with us to celebrate Halloween before you go. I don’t think one glass of champagne will hurt, do you?”
My mother’s face softens as she looks at me, and I feel a pang of guilt for deceiving her in this way. “I’ve always had a hard time saying no to you, my love. One drink, but that’s it! I don’t want to go to your father completely drunk.”
“Oh good grief,” Pepa says, practically slamming my mother’s glass into her hand. “Just drink it, Syndra. Even if you drank the entire bottle in one go, it wouldn’t be enough to get you drunk and you know it.”
“True,” my mother admits with a giggle as Pepa and I take our glasses in hand.
“Let’s make a toast,” I say, raising my glass and waiting for them to do the same before I finish. “To old friends and new experiences.” We clink our glasses together and proceed to drink their contents.
When my mother places her glass back on the table, I see her stagger to the right slightly.
“That’s weird,” my mother says as her eyelids become droopy. “I feel so tired all of a sudden.”
Pepa places her glass on the table before wrapping her arms around my mother’s waist while Syndra’s head rests on her best friend’s right shoulder. The invitation to The Monster Ball slips from her hand onto the slate tiles of the patio. I reach down and pick it up as an onslaught of guilt fills my heart over what Pepa and I have done to my mother.
“Did you drug me, Pepa?” my mother slurs, barely able to keep her eyes open.
“Yes,” Pepa says with no remorse. “If you go see that man, I’m not sure we’ll get you back in one piece this time. I won’t let you risk yourself for him, Syndra. He’s not worth it.”
“Worth it…to me…” Syndra passes out in Pepa’s arms. Even though she’s petite, Pepa is one of the strongest people I know. Not only do her vampire powers provide her with superhuman agility, but they also give her the strength of ten humans. She easily cradles my mother in her arms and lays her down on the lounge chair Syndra was using earlier in the day.