“Glinda!” Ashton exclaims. “That came out so amazing. Come in. Arden will get … you a drink,” she corrects quickly when I flash her a panicked look.
Kaely doesn’t know about the body cams. Not that Lily knows the entire truth either. She was told a fabrication of what’s going on tonight, but Kaely knows nothing.
Lance told Lily that he and Parker are working on a facial recognition software for Parker’s club that he’s opening in New York and they want to test it out tonight. He swore her to secrecy, and he claims she’s trustworthy. I laughed out loud when he uttered those words. But I really don’t have a choice since everyone insists she needs protecting.
Kaely is probably the only one among us who truly needs sheltering. The rest of us have been ripped out of our childhoods earlier than we should have been. Some violently, like Ashton and me, and others more dramatically, like Lily. And then there’s Parker, who chose to grow up before he had to, coercing his brothers down his path. And I suppose Brendan’s a combination of all of it. We left our childhoods behind. We should be basking in our formative experiences. Instead, we have crash-landed between learning from our mistakes and having to live with them.
So if we can protect Kaely, like we needed protecting from the adults in our lives, to keep her innocent of the ugliness that is about to take place tonight, then I will do everything I can to hide her within her PG-bubble of bliss and first kisses.
“Come with me, Kaely. We’ll get them,” Ashton says, holding out her hand, so Arden can stay in the room to wire Lily.
“Do you finally get it?” Lily asks, standing still while Arden tapes the wire to the inside of her dress. “Why this is such a magical night?”
“I do,” I say quietly. “I was wrong. It’s more than just a stupid dance.”
She smiles warmly. I have to look away before I smile back, reminding myself she’s not to be trusted.
“I hope you forgive me eventually,” she says softly. “I understand if you don’t. But … I wasn’t lying when I said I wanted us to be friends.”
“I guess that’s the problem,” I say, regret heavy in my voice. “I don’t know when you’re lying.”
Shock flashes across Lily’s sparkle-dusted face like I just slapped her. “I … uh … Lana …”
“Are you ready to go?” Ashton asks from the hall.
“Lana and I will meet you in the foyer,” Arden tells her.
Lily rushes out of the room, her cheeks flushed.
“Your honesty can be brutal,” Arden notes, looking after Lily. “But you are honest.”
I remain quiet, aware of how damaging Honesty can be.
“Come. I have something for you,” Arden says, leading me back to her room where her team is still packing up the body-spray equipment and cases of makeup. She holds back the crystal curtain for me to enter, providing us an illusion of privacy.
Arden removes a box from some hidden compartment. “I know that Blackwood had to preapprove of all costume weaponry, so hide this inside your boot,” she instructs, removing a leather sheath, the hilt of a small dagger sticking out of it. She squats and unzips my boot, strapping it around my calf so the dagger is on the inside of my leg. “Can you reach it easily enough?”
I bend and tuck my fingers into the boot, hooking them around the hilt. I don’t take it out but nod. I don’t question if she thinks this is necessary, especially with our plan in place. I’ve learned that every plan can fall apart with one unpredictable shove. “Thank you … for everything. I’m so glad you’re my suitemate … and guru.”
Arden smiles fondly. “I’m honored to be a part of your journey, Lana.
“Oh, one more thing.” Arden hands me a small tube the size of mascara. “It will incapacitate anyone you spray it on. Make them dizzy and potentially knock them out for a short time, depending on their size and if they inhale it directly. Spray it right in their face. But be careful you don’t get caught in the mist.”
My hand is shaking when I reach for it.
Arden clasps my hand. “You are a warrior. Remember that. Tonight, you will come face-to-face with your monster. And you will slay him.”
I know what I’ve done.
We’re chauffeured to the Great Hall on golf carts, so no one has to walk around the perimeter of the buildings in their glass slippers.
Guests are lined outside the entrance, awaiting their Blackwood escorts. I’m jittery with nervous anticipation. This dance has taken on an unexpected life. It’s become an … experience. I’m swept up in the grandeur of it. There are costumes from the whimsical, to the formal, to the literal. But the ones I love the most are the abstract, like Arden’s Looking-Glass.
And when I see Lincoln in a purple tuxedo with a black top hat, accented with a white cravat that has Drink Me printed on it in silver foil lettering, I want to die. It’s so perfect.
“Mr. Knight, you look delicious,” Arden coos, slipping her arm through his.
Lincoln gives me a knowing tip of his head. “That’s bold, Lana.”
“Thanks,” I return. “You two are the perfect illusion.”
He grins.
Sawyer greets Glinda, the betraying witch, in a green tuxedo with a matching bowler hat. The curling mustache is the same shade as his hair, and it looks so authentic, I want to tug it to see if it’ll hurt.
I appraise him with approval. “Oz, I presume.”
“The great and powerful,” he declares with a wink, tapping the poppy flower tucked into his pocket. I notice the tip of a wire poking out of its center. “Stay safe, Huntress Peri. Don’t cut too many hearts out.”
I press my lips into a hint of a smile before he escorts Lily inside after Lincoln and Arden. They decided to go in ahead of us to save us a table.
Lance sweeps up the Empress, spinning her around as she squeals and giggles. His leather vest and baggy pants make the perfect Atreyu to their Neverending Story—I looked it up on Arden’s tablet—which is ironic since tonight is the end of their story, according to Kaely anyway. They linger a while, waiting for Brendan and Grant to appear, but when they haven’t arrived five minutes later, we send them inside with instructions to find Arden and Lincoln.
“Do you think something happened?” I ask, my stomach flipping between anxiety and excitement.
“Already?” Ashton fans herself with white feathers. “Don’t give me a heart attack. This dress is hotter than sex in a sauna. I’m already so freaked about tonight, I’m about to pass out.”
“Sex in a sauna? Really?” I jest, trying to get her to smile. And she does.
“You should try it.” She winks. “Oh, wait! Have you and—”
“There you are!” I exclaim, cutting her off. I smile wide when Grant comes into view and begin laughing when I realize what he’s done to complement my costume. “I want to hug you so bad, but you might get your gore all over me.”
Grant stares at me for a minute, his eyes skating over every inch. “You look dangerous, but it’s doing it for me. Is that bad?”
I shake my head, grinning.
“This”—he presents me with a wooden box—“is for you.”