“It wasn’t that bad,” Ariana said reassuringly.
Reagan laughed. “I’m sorry, but she just accused her Big of performing wicked magic. It was bad.”
Vivi put her face in her hands.
“Come on. You need a drink,” Bailey said, hooking her arm through Vivi’s. “And I need to talk to the Drake look-alike near the Ping-Pong table.”
Vivi let Bailey steer her toward the drinks area. She’d been expecting a battered wood card table with bottles of cheap vodka, but PiKa had an actual wet bar made of gleaming oak that wrapped around a corner of the room. It was fully stocked with taps, dozens of bottles of hard liquor, and colorful spirits that Vivi had never heard of before. The only indication that they were at a frat party and not at a bar in downtown Savannah were the red Solo cups. Three pledges manned the bar and, Vivi noticed, gave more generous pours to Hazel and Etta than they gave to two pretty girls from Theta.
“What can I get you?” A cute brown-skinned boy with hazel eyes leaned over the counter and smiled at Vivi.
Vivi had no idea. She’d never actually ordered a drink before.
“Five shots of tequila,” Reagan said with a wicked grin.
“Reagan, no,” Ariana groaned.
“We have to. It’s our first mixer. It’s basically a rite of passage.”
“What, getting drunk and puking?” Sonali said.
“Good thing I’ve already mastered the art of bathroom cleaning,” Vivi said grimly.
“We’ll have five mint juleps,” Ariana said, ignoring Reagan’s eye roll as she handed each girl a red Solo cup while the bartender mixed the drinks.
When she got hers, Vivi took a tentative sip and grimaced. “Okay, I’m sorry, but this tastes like paint thinner.”
“Hold on a sec,” Ariana said, and ushered them to the corner where a series of paddles lined the wall, each etched with a year, dating back to the early 1900s. “Boys cannot be trusted with flavor profiles. I’m going to try something Etta taught me.” She placed one hand over Vivi’s cup and whispered, “I call to the Queen of Wands and Ace of Cups. Show that your powers are true by perfecting this brew.”
“There’s no way that’s a real spell,” Bailey said.
Ariana raised an eyebrow as the cup began to tremble slightly, then nodded at Vivi. “Try it.”
Vivi braced for another burning swallow, but this time, the frothy concoction tasted refreshing and sweet. “Whoa,” she said, feeling her eyes widen as she looked from the cup to Ariana, who was smiling smugly.
“Just be careful,” Ariana said airily. “I’m pretty sure it still has the same alcohol content as the paint thinner.”
“Mine next!” Reagan said, holding out her drink. Ariana went to work on everyone’s cup.
“Do all the spells rhyme?” Bailey asked Sonali. She shrugged and took a big gulp of her drink.
New and improved drinks in hand, the pledges navigated through the party, drifting between clusters of other Ravens. They were easy to find—always surrounded by a gaggle of fans or being admired from a distance.
They wound up at the edges of the party beside Jess and her girlfriend, Juliet.
“Come on.” Jess tugged on Juliet’s hand. “Dance with me.”
“Someone needs to keep an eye out,” Juliet said, looking around the room warily.
“Oh, relax. We don’t need a bodyguard tonight. But I need someone to dance with me before I’m forced to go waste my evening with a PiKa guy with wandering hands.”
Juliet reluctantly followed Jess to the middle of the room, though by the time she placed her arms around Jess and began to sway, the stiffness in her shoulders had melted away. It didn’t take long before the crowd parted and re-formed around them, creating a makeshift dance floor as other couples joined in. Despite the boost Mei’s glamours had given her, Vivi couldn’t imagine feeling confident enough to be the first person to dance at a party. Juliet’s serious expression morphed into a smile as she swayed in perfect rhythm with Jess, and Vivi’s admiration turned to envy as she felt a pang of longing she’d never felt before. What would it be like to have someone look at her like she was the only person in the world? She turned away, not wanting to intrude on what was starting to feel like a private moment, and suddenly found herself looking at Mason.
He was talking to a couple of guys who appeared to be two of his frat brothers, a handsome, confident-looking guy with warm brown skin and a lanky white kid with the telltale straw-gray hair of a competitive swimmer. Instead of the tuxes that all the other guys were wearing, Mason had on jeans and a perfectly fitted white button-down that was open at the neck, revealing a hint of summer-tanned chest.
As if feeling her gaze on him, Mason looked over. He caught her eye and smiled, sending an electric thrill through her body, not dissimilar to the sensation she’d felt when she was working magic.
Before Vivi could decide whether to smile, wave, or pretend she hadn’t seen him, Scarlett materialized at Mason’s side. Heart pounding, Vivi spun around and took a few chugs of her drink, then winced. Ariana might have improved the flavor, but the alcohol was strong enough to burn her throat. As she stood with the other pledges, half listening to Reagan tell a story about a witch she knew who’d been a finalist on The Bachelor, the crowded room began to go fuzzy around the edges, and a comforting sense of warmth settled in her chest. Suddenly, the dance floor looked far less frightening—almost inviting.
Vivi gazed around until her eyes landed on the cute bartender. She waited a moment to see if he’d look up, but he was focused on drink-mixing, and even tipsy Vivi wasn’t bold enough to cross a room and strike up a conversation with a stranger. Then she remembered a spell she’d read in the grimoire about catching the attention of someone who was otherwise engaged. It’d been one of the many non-English spells, but Vivi’s French was just good enough to get the gist. “J’en appelle à la Reine d’Épées et invoque la Force. Que ma volonté soit exaucée,” she whispered under her breath. She felt pressure building as the warmth in her chest began to spread through her whole body, pressing against her skin as if trying to escape. A second later, the boy looked up and locked eyes with her across the crowd.
Vivi inclined her head toward the dance floor and raised one eyebrow quizzically, a gesture she hadn’t even known she could perform, then felt a thrill as he grinned and nodded. They met in the middle of the room, and he wordlessly wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. It was the most physical contact she’d had with a boy since middle school, when she’d had a boyfriend for exactly one week, during which time they spoke three times and kissed once. Yet while the sensation of the boy’s touch was unfamiliar, it certainly wasn’t unwelcome.
The weight of his hands made her skin tingle as he guided her side to side in time to the music. But although he was, hands down, the hottest guy who’d ever shown any interest in her, she couldn’t help imagining he was someone else. Someone she absolutely, positively could not want.
Someone she wanted anyway.
* * *
An hour later, Ariana grabbed Vivi’s hand and pulled her off the dance floor, where she’d been dancing with a second boy—one who’d approached her without the influence of a spell. The party had thinned out a little but the couples and groups of friends on the dance floor were still going strong, singing along to the Lizzo song blaring from the speakers.