“Want to go find Jase and Mase?” I asked Layla, mostly because I wanted to move away from these girls to make sure she was okay.
“Yeah,” she said to me, and then, “I’ll b-b-b-be back,” to Sloane and everyone else.
“You okay?” I asked as soon as there was enough distance between us and them.
She nodded. “I t-t-t-told them I didn’t want to do dress up like that b-b-because someone’s religious practices aren’t a c-costume,” she said. “I mean, I’d be pissed if someone threw on a hijab and w-w-was like, ‘I’m g-gonna be Muslim for Halloween!’ Plus, I wasn’t going to dress up like them when I knew I was c-c-coming with you.”
“Oh,” I said. “Yeah, that makes sense.” I looked away from her for a second, down at my bloodstained gloves as I said what I said next, because it wasn’t true, but I didn’t want Layla to know. “I wouldn’t have minded if you wanted to dress up with them, though.”
“I know, but still.” She lifted her mask, and her makeup made her eyes shine in the dark room. “I was worried they’d think ‘the Muslim girl’ was, I d-d-d-don’t know, uptight or whatever.”
“I get it,” I told her, and it was true. We’d always been outsiders, and this was her chance to be a part of something that was very much on the inside. But there were still things about her that made it easier to stand out than fit in. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t know how to change those kinds of things about myself.
“The offer to leave still stands, by the way,” I said. She shook her head, elbowed me, and laughed.
“Would y-you stop with the leaving?”
* * *
—
We bumped into Jase a few minutes later.
“Cleo Imani Baker! And Layla Zafirah Hassan!” he shouted. Layla hated her middle name, and I had no idea how Jase had found out what it was. But he was grinning as he said it, and it was hard for anyone to be mad at Jase when he was grinning.
He and Mason were both dressed in all black, and knowing them, they were probably ninjas or something. I didn’t ask. I pretended to be annoyed when Jase gave me a bear hug, but truth be told, I was so relieved to see his familiar face in this crowd I could have cried.
Mason looked at Layla like he’d been in a desert for hours and she was a tall glass of cold water.
“Hey,” he said coolly. His brown bangs hung over his eyes like the tail of a comma, and he shook them away with a quick toss of his head. His voice seemed huskier than usual, but I just pressed my lips together and didn’t say anything when he reached out and pinched a bit of the fabric on Layla’s dress, gently tugging her forward.
“You guys want a drink?” Jase asked us.
“I think I do,” I said. I normally wouldn’t have anything, but with the Chorus Girls in their matching costumes, and with tension coming off Layla in waves, I wanted just a little something to take the edge off. I figured it couldn’t hurt if I took it slow. I looked at Layla, who shook her head and moved a little closer to Mason. She tugged on one of the strings hanging from his hoodie. I expected her to say something about me having a drink, but she didn’t. Which just made me want it more.
“Come with me,” Jase said, grabbing my hand. Ever the wingman, he pulled me back toward the kitchen to give Mason and Layla some privacy.
Jase poured me something using more than one of the tall glass bottles on the counter, and the only ingredient I recognized was Coke. He watched me as I took a sip. “I…don’t hate it,” I told him, nodding my approval as he mixed something up for himself, and he grinned the widest version of his lovely, dimpled grin.
“You know about anything happening next Friday?” I asked him, because Jase had always been honest to a fault.
“I think Sloane is having another thing. Smaller, I think. You coming?” Jase asked. “I hope you’ll beeeee therrree.” He sang the words to the tune of the song that was playing, and because I didn’t want my features to betray me, I laughed a little. I shook my head and took a sip of my drink.
“Can’t,” I said without further explanation. I swallowed down more of the mixed drink and said nothing else. The truth (that I hadn’t even been invited) would have left more of a bitter taste in my mouth than the booze.
We stood together near the kitchen for a while, nodding to the music and looking around the party. Layla and Mason had started kissing. The nuns had all moved into the living room, and they were dancing in the center of everyone.
That was when I spotted him. Dom was standing across the room dressed like a badass warlock, in a hooded black robe, ripped black jeans, and thick-soled combat boots. I wondered if it was a nod to his sleight-of-hand magic. He pushed off his hood, and there was a series of stars shaved into his hair. They reminded me of the ones that topped every page of the Harry Potter novels. He was drinking out of a mug shaped like a mini-cauldron that matched his getup too well for him not to have brought it with him, and he looked really, really good. A minute later, he turned and saw me seeing him. He smiled.
I said a hasty goodbye to Jase and started in Dom’s direction without hesitation, feeling buzzed, brilliant, and brave.
“Hey,” I said. “Can you guess who I am?” I didn’t know if Dom knew my costume, but I also didn’t know if he knew I was the girl inside it, and for some reason I kind of hoped he didn’t. Hiding behind the mask made me feel fearless and powerful.
Dom smirked. “Only if you can guess who I am first.”
“Easy,” I said. I sipped my Coke-and-who-knows-what-else. I pulled on the edge of his robe, and it sort of flopped open because he didn’t have it zipped up. “And not that creative, considering you do magic all the time. Warlock.”
“Close. But not nearly specific enough,” he said, leaning closer to me so I could hear him over the music. This must have been what it looked like when Dom flirted. I liked it.
“Can I have a hint?” I asked. He nodded, and the rush of his breath against my neck gave me instant goose bumps.
“Something wicked this way comes,” he whispered, and then he leaned his head toward the side of the room, where I saw that Jase had rejoined Mason. It took me a second, mostly because they hadn’t committed nearly as much as Dom had (the robe made a huge difference), but then I realized that they too were holding cauldron-shaped cups. I was so surprised that I nearly dropped my unidentifiable drink.
Gender-bent weird sisters. “No way,” I squealed, completely losing my cool. I immediately wanted to grab and shake him for being so damn brilliant, because I knew Jase and Mason well enough to know that those knuckleheads didn’t come up with these costumes. It had to have been all Dom. Overexcited, I blurted, “I’m Lady Macbeth!”