Page 16

The Dinner

Elite: Evangeline

––––––––

E vangeline grinds her teeth while Rachel stretches on the floor. They’ve been practicing their dance choreography in the gym whenever they have time, but Evangeline doesn’t have much of that lately.

The recent events with Billie scaring Ultima and Alice encountering a disguised member isn’t coincidental. They’re after Alice, just like Billie predicted, and they were close to getting Billie.

“So, I meant to ask you this before, but... what’s it like in Ultima? You were in there for a few minutes, right?” Rachel asks. She stretches forward as far as she can, touching her toes and then switches legs.

“Strangely like being in Elite, but with different colors. I was a little nervous,” Evangeline laughs, but the anxiety settles in the pit of her stomach again, just like it did that day.

Rachel rises gracefully and twirls on one foot. She looks down at her feet and then at Evangeline. “I feel bad about Natasha. If I hadn’t told Rebecca about the gem, she would’ve never assigned it to anyone, and we’d all be okay.”

And she’d still be here with us.

As much as Evangeline doesn’t want to agree, Rachel is right. It’s unfortunate, but sadly not surprising. Ultima wants to eradicate Elite and have the resources to do so, but they don’t have the aggression to achieve it. More prospects for Elite will be recruited to replace the hole the former members leave behind, and the cycle repeats.

“It’s not your fault, though.” Evangeline touches Rachel’s arm.

“I heard about the run-in Alice had, too. Was it a trap?”

“Seems that way.”

Rachel shifts her weight, still pondering when Evangeline’s arcade ringtone blares in her gym bag by the bleachers. She rushes to check, wondering who it is but her heart sinks when she realizes it’s Billie calling.

“Hey.”

Billie’s voice is static. “Oi. Can you come to my room? We have a mission.”

“I’m in the middle of practice right now.” Evangeline puts Billie on speaker so she can browse through the E-Force app and finds a mission in her queue with a star next to it indicating another teammate is joining. She touches the mission for the dropdown of details to emerge, but nothing happens. Evangeline keeps pressing the screen with no luck.

“I can hear you touching your screen, it doesn’t work,” Billie says.

Evangeline groans. “Okay, I’ll see you in five.”

She hangs up and tosses the phone back in her bag and adjusts a stray strand of her scarlet hair.

“It’s okay. We can pick it back up later,” Rachel says. She tightens her ponytail of microbraids she got done recently.

As much as Evangeline wants to confide in her dance partner on everything else going on, she decides not to while they’re still in the gym. No one else is here, but the large space creates an echo that Evangeline would rather not risk it.

B illie is tidying up the room and playing music from her phone when Evangeline arrives.

“Hey—omg, are you actually cleaning?” Evangeline asks.

Billie whirls around in her green oversized hoodie and eagerly nods. She pauses the song and plops on Alice’s bed, ruining the neat covers and pillows she just fixed. Evangeline further ruins the bed by tossing herself next to her. Billie lies on her back, hair sprawled out with the lower half of her body hanging off the edge. She holds the phone over her face and pulls up her text messages.

Evangeline shakes her head with a soft smile. “Where’s Alice? Have you seen her around since that . . . outburst?”

Billie keeps looking at her phone, her eyes shifty. “She’s distant. Trapped in her thoughts but spends most of her days in Master Azul’s office.”

“Right,” Evangeline bites her lip. She recalls the wailing cries from the lobby when she walked down the hall to see what was going on. Seeing Alice lying on the floor in a puddle of her despair shook Evangeline.

It was like she cracked.

Billie sits up and shows Evangeline her phone to read the massive text paragraph from Rebecca. Scanning through it, Evangeline’s heart gallops at an incomprehensible rate. She rereads it to make sure the request is really there on the screen. The more she stares at it the more it feels like someone is ripping off each strand of her arm hair.

“She set us up to have dinner with the King?!” Evangeline nearly shrieks. “Is Rebecca out of her mind?”

“I know, I was surprised too! This’ll be fun!” Billie laughs. “But this mentions none of the stuff Alice told us already, so are we like, pretending we don’t know anything and just feeling him out?”

Panic swirls up Evangeline’s throat and it tastes bitter. “This dinner is tonight ! What’re we gonna say? We can’t NOT act like we don’t know when we clearly do!”

Billie stares at her blankly. “ What do we not know?”

“Billie!!” Evangeline sputters.

She winks with a wide smile. “Relax, we’re just doing some ass kissing and having free food. Omigosh, this is totally an innocent way to do some casual snooping on Mildred, too!”

Evangeline nods, shivering with a half-suppressed groan. “It would help Alice out, but how would we report back without revealing we know what Alice was investigating?”

“Beats me!” Billie shrugs. “But you know me! I’ve got a plan!”

Evangeline listens to the scheme for the evening: smile, don’t be awkward, make small talk, express appreciation for the King, crack jokes, get away to use the bathroom approximately three times, and don’t bring up other monarchs.

It’s easy enough for Evangeline to remember, but there’s just one nagging question she still needs to ask.

“Billie? Are we... the bad guys?”

She waits for some kind of a reaction, but Billie’s face is unchanged when she simply utters, “No.”

It’s not enough to quell Evangeline’s loud mind now, but she can’t bear to ask any more questions that’ll make the vibe weird.

B oth in uniforms, Billie and Evangeline exit the taxi when it parks at the valet it shouldn’t have gone to. The driver seems cluelessly excited about driving here. Evangeline leaves a generous tip with a warm smile. She tucks her overgrown strands behind her ears again and sighs heavily, looking up at the monstrous building that appears to have possibly mutated with a castle.

The evening air is chilly, even through Evangeline’s coat, but they’re greeted by the host of the King, Roon. He rushes out in a navy suit and leather slacks, jacket buttons undone and tie loose around his neck.

“Dear me, King Remington never told me what time your arrival would be!” Roon says with a slight distressed squeak. He sports a bulging vein in the middle of his forehead that becomes more apparent the more his neck strains when he speaks.

Roon escorts them through the stone walkway, adorned with rosemary shrubs and landscape lights mixed in. Two Guards wait at the double doors into the royal estate, so Evangeline shoves her intrusive thoughts aside.

Just as they’re welcomed with a salute by the Guards, she sees their hands. The back of one Guard’s hand remains bare, but the second Guard has a small A about the size of a coin on the back of hers. Evangeline meets her eyes and is welcomed with an unblinking glare from the suspicious Guard, followed by a creepy smile. She eyes the other Guard who is cheerfully smiling and nodding as everyone walks in.

“What does A stand for?” Evangeline whispers up to Billie. “Something already feels wrong.”

“I would say Alice but that’s not funny,” Billie snickers. Evangeline nudges her ribs. “Ow. Well, I dunno. Doesn’t stand for Mildred or Remington, obviously. Maybe a partner?”

Roon continues guiding them through the maze of what is the King’s labyrinth of historic paintings, picturesque long halls, squeaky gold tiles floors, crispy clear chandeliers at every turn, and ornate wall panels. He’s babbling at high speed about the menu, but Evangeline is watching all the passing Guards armed and hanging around. She rubs her arms to keep her shivers at bay.

Their final destination comes to another exhausting set of brass double doors that reveal the low, warmly lit dining room. The mahogany table seats twelve people in black sumptuously padded, high-back chairs.

“Remember,” Billie whispers beside her. “We each get three bathroom breaks. Any more looks suspicious, so six total.”

“And then what?” Heat engulfs Evangeline’s throat. This isn’t how she thought the rest of her day would go, and that Billie of all people would keep her calm. “Bust down the doors and call her out?”

“Shh. We need to figure out if she has some connection to the deaths.”

Evangeline sighs. “Right. Diving deep into the dragon’s belly.”

Roon seats them across from each other at the middle of the table. Evangeline assumes the two chairs at opposite ends will be for King Remington and maybe Mildred, so she’s surprised when they enter the room in full royal attire and sashes to sit next to them. Several more royal officials enter the room and take their seats at the table, all happily chatting amongst themselves. Remington is next to Evangeline and squeezes her shoulder.

“A bright and starry evening to you, ladies! Master Azul and Commander Rebecca usually come to dinner once a month, but both had scheduling conflicts. I thank you for coming in their places.” He gestures toward Billie too, who looks constipated from sitting beside Mildred. “So, whom do I have the pleasure of dinning with tonight?”

“Evangeline—” She chokes on her spit but recovers quickly. “Springtown, sir. Evangeline Springtown.”

Everyone turns to Billie.

She waves sheepishly with a grin. “Billie Castor!”

Remington has tiny eyes that frequently disappear when his big cheeks rise from his hearty ginger-mustached smile. Mildred sits across from him and Evangeline, poised like a buff cat ready to pounce. Her hair is thin and wild as if she tried to add volume to it, but it looks like she was electrocuted instead.

Roon hurries around the table placing a menu card in front of each plate placement. Much to Evangeline’s relief, they offer vegetarian alternatives to the five-course meal—starting with bread and salad.

“These are my loyal subjects and apprentices.” Remington gestures across the table at the other eight random people who are still paying them no mind. “I figured they could take the night off and relax at this cozy dinner.”

Be cool. Be cool. Be cool. You got this. Evangeline reminds herself.

Jazz music oozes from the walls causing Evangeline to whip her head around in fascination.

“Built in speakers! If you look close enough, you’ll see tiny holes in the walls where the music is coming from.” Remington looks proud. He tries to scoot closer to the table, but his belly is interfering. “I’m attempting to keep up with the technology. This castle needed an upgrade.”

“Humph.” Mildred gives a slight smile.

“That’s pretty dope, sir!” Billie says, her face lighting up.

Roon paces and pours wine into each glass around the table. Remington reaches for his, and takes a big whiff before setting it down.

“Ah. This wine is from one of the best vineyards on Emerald Island. Jonah is such a great man; he delivers a bottle to all the monarchs every other month.”

Evangeline and Billie share a look, their subtle reminder to not engage in talk about monarchs. They need to keep the focus on him. Billie gives such a stank, fake smile but it goes undetected to everyone but Evangeline. She stifles a giggle and reaches for the water glass to hide her creeping smile. Maybe this evening won’t be so bad.

Everyone passes around salad and bread, but Evangeline skips herself while Remington rips through his. Mildred also skips herself.

“Tell us about yourselves and your service to Elite,” she says. Her eyebrows are pointed and sleek. She takes a slow sip of wine, never taking her deep-set eyes off Evangeline.

“Well, uh... I’m from Amethyst Island. My parents both work at a corporate company that oversees banking all over Zeala.”

“Ah, a wealthy family, yes?” Mildred raises her glass with a sly smile.

Sure, if you’re like ninety percent of the Amethyst companies that own businesses on Sapphire and control money flow.

“Mhm. It’s quite a glamorous lifestyle.” Evangeline touches the nape of her neck, missing the feeling of her long, scarlet locks before she chopped it all off after she was Traced.

“And why did you join Elite?” Mildred presses. Evangeline’s eyes dart to Billie for help, but her cheeks are stuffed with all the bread she’s crammed in her mouth.

“Honestly, I was encouraged to join.” Evangeline’s voice is quieter as her face flushes. “My parents couldn’t find a decent job that would be suitable for me since I had become a Spirit User.”

“A Spirit User looking to belong. Hmm.” Mildred purses her lips. “But you didn’t join Ultima?”

“No.” The words are bitter on Evangeline’s tongue. She swallows hard to maintain composure. “My parents considered Elite the least dangerous profession, since Ultima is more on the frontlines interacting with dragons.”

“How tragic,” Mildred muses with a hint of a smile. She raises the rim of her glass to her nose to take a large sniff before another sip. Billie looks like a sad chipmunk slowly trying to eat all the bread she overstuffed herself with.

“It is.” Evangeline stabs her fork into the salad. It’s tragic, she can’t tell her parents she’s interested in someone from Ultima, and she can’t dare question the good and evil of both organizations. She can only do what she loves and hope to stay sane.

“And you, Billie?” Remington asks, crouton crumbs litter throughout his beard and mustache. He flags down Roon and requests a margarita pitcher but continues sipping his wine before tearing into his salad next.

Evangeline takes this moment to excuse herself while Billie drawls on about her life. She asks a waiter for the nearest bathroom which is down the hall. This is one of three chances she’ll get, so she can’t mess this up.

There are many Guards hanging around, so Evangeline’s first attempt at snooping doesn’t go well. She wanders endlessly down the halls until a Guard abruptly stops her from proceeding further to what he states is Remington’s resting chambers.

Duly noted. Evangeline makes the mental note.

The Guard escorts her to the bathroom, so Evangeline pulls out her phone to text Billie the areas to avoid wasting her time in. She notices a bunch of unanswered texts from Drake, almost pushing her over the edge. Most of Drake’s messages are urging her to call him ASAP, but she can’t bring herself to do it. She still has so many questions about Ultima, about Natasha, about targeting Alice that it’ll open a floodgate if she calls now.

Evangeline splashes water on her face before stepping back outside. The Guard from before is long gone, so she walks down a hall she hasn’t been down yet. She spots someone not dressed as a Guard and waves at him.

“Excuse me, can you show me where—” Evangeline halts when she catches sight of the back of the guy’s hand. The A is branded right under his middle finger knuckle. “Um, sorry, where the uh... the dining room is.”

He stretches a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. He walks with Evangeline but doesn’t say a word for the two minutes he spends guiding her back. Before Evangeline walks back in, he grabs her shoulder with an iron steel hand, looks her deep in the eyes and says, “May Naven be with you, Evangeline. Always.”

She shrugs away with a trembling apologetic smile. “Th-thanks.”

She rushes back in the dining room where the second course has already been served to everyone, lamb with mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn. Billie has entertained not only a guffawing Remington, but the once occupied apprentices are laughing at her self-deprecating jokes, too.

Billie meets Evangeline’s stern gaze and gives a wink. Before she can sit and rejoin everyone, Roon intercepts her and requests she gives feedback on the second course she hasn’t touched yet.

“Sorry, but can we switch the lamb out? I’m a vegetarian.”

“Absolutely,” Roon says. He snatches her plate and the bulging vein on his forehead makes a return as he inhales and very sweetly (and intensely) tells a server to accommodate Evangeline. She smiles and sits down and catches Mildred’s brown eyes on her, but she doesn’t look away. Billie makes another joke, causing Remington to bellow and punch the table with a big happy smile.

“My dear, you’re a riot! We need you at dinner more often!” he cheers.

“Be careful with that one. She’ll shed everywhere if you continue inviting her,” Evangeline jokes. Billie cheeses super hard while Remington laughs more and slaps his knee. Evangeline meets Mildred’s penetrating stare again but looks down.

“Ah, this has been so fun,” Remington sighs. “You know, this whole world possibly coming to an end really upsets me. I don’t know what to—”

“Sir,” Mildred interjects with a pleasant smile. “I highly advise that you don’t speak of world matters. It’s not good for the heart.”

Remington is perspiring with a shiny gloss over his face when he nods and slings back a cotton-candy margarita he poured.

“You’re right. But the Guards are useless, Milly. What good are they?” Remington asks with a subtle slur. “It should be all hands on deck, including the Spirit Users. They have cool marks on their arms and weird powers.”

“My King, please cease this,” Mildred says. “Guests are in our undivided presence.”

Roon comes around with a new plate for Evangeline, chickpea salad with artichoke stuffed shells. She keeps her eyes on Billie who excuses herself. Once she leaves, Evangeline gets a full view of the creepy Guard from outside hanging around in the shadows of the dining room. Mildred and Remington unleash a full-fledged argument in front of everyone, to which Mildred can’t successfully calm Remington’s drunken rage.

“The world is dying! The Superiors won’t save us from this!”

“And our souls with mourn and be reborn!” Mildred still confidently holds her wine glass.

Roon comes around to refill everyone’s water glasses and mutters something about surviving the last three courses of the evening.

Evangeline eats sparingly and peeks at a text from Billie questioning the lurking Guards’ behaviors. It’s hard for her to snoop when they’re posted everywhere. She returns shortly with a sour face. Zero luck.

Remington is dazed, staring at the torn remnants of his plate. His apprentices quietly leave, having not finished the rest of the meal. Roon storms by, cursing under his breath and hastily asking for help from the kitchen staff with cleaning the table.

“My rose bush,” Remington slurs, mouth ajar. “It’s dying. It never dies in the summer. Something is wrong.”

Evangeline reaches to touch his arm to which he flinches and looks at her with wide eyes. Billie covers her mouth and quietly snickers while looking away. Remington’s shoulders quickly drop but he brings up a soft smile.

“King Remington, why not deploy Ultima or Elite?” Evangeline asks.

Remington sighs. “It wasn’t me, dear. I wanted you all to—”

“Roon, the King desires his chambers. He’s had enough dinner for tonight,” Mildred announces. Roon summons a few Guards to help Remington out of his chair and leave the room.

Now with just three of them, Evangeline’s anxiety picks up.

Surprisingly, Billie isn’t trying to fill the silent void but instead remains quiet, too.

“I think it is time for departure,” Mildred declares. “Forgive the King. When he has company over, he tends to go overboard with his consumption and rambles nonsense.”

“Well, the rose bush may be of concern, though,” Billie says. “With the dying dragons, it’s only a matter of time it’d start affecting the world since the life force is directly tied to them.”

Mildred cocks her head. Her muscular jaw flexes such a weird smirk that Billie clears her throat and shifts in her seat.

“Such fragility, right? Dragons die and then the world wilts. Tragic,” Mildred murmurs.

“That’s why reckless people don’t go around killing them,” Evangeline mutters. “It’s against the law.”

The advisor pauses. “That is correct.”

Roon returns and offers the third course, but everyone declines. He sighs dramatically and offers more refreshments, but everyone declines that, too, so he rips off his tie and storms out of the room, cursing again.

“Don’t mind him. Entertainment is a delicate art for him,” Mildred says. “Shall I escort you two out? I’ll call for a cab.”

Evangeline takes a sip of her remaining water. “Yes, please. I’m just gonna go to the restroom one more time if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. I’ll take Billie up front to meet there. Do be careful, Evangeline; it’s very easy to get lost around here.”

The parting stare they share sends tingling goosebumps up Evangeline’s arms. She rushes out of the dining room but forgets where the first bathroom is. The halls appear dimmer than before, so it’s harder to see if there are real shadows or Guards prowling.

Marching down a new hall, Evangeline pulls out her vibrating phone to finally answer a call from Drake.

“Hey, can we talk later? I’m kinda in the middle of somethin’,” she whispers.

“Oh. Are you at the base right now?” he asks.

Evangeline smiles and waves at a Guard watching her with rimmed eyes. “No, I’m actually at King Remington’s estate.”

“Nice!” he says, but his voice shakes. Car honking blares in the background. “So, uh, Natasha is on her way to Elite.”

Evangeline stops in her tracks. “What? You really DO have Natasha?! Are you outside right now? What is going on?”

“Y-Yes, I can’t talk to you inside the base, no one but Rio knows about us.”

“Rio Shackler knows?!” Evangeline gasps. “This wasn’t supposed to get out to anyone, especially to him!”

Drake ignores the question. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re a treeling? Is it true?”

Evangeline’s throat squeezes. Too much information is flooding through the gates of her private life. Her parents would be appalled. “How do you know about that? Tell me about Natasha; her parents deserve to know she’s okay!”

Drake sighs. “I’m so sorry, I’m a mess right now. Natasha told us, but it’s not my call to announce her official switch to Ultima! She’s heading to Elite with two of my coworkers watching from afar. I feel so... ill even telling you this. Do you have any info on your friend that could help? Maybe I can convince Natasha to turn around.”

“Yup but I’m not telling you!” Evangeline hangs up and tosses out her plan to search for Mildred’s room. The audacity Drake even has to play both sides blatantly over the phone to her.

She turns around and almost runs into a Guard towering over her small frame with a wide smile.

“Lost?”

“No—well, kinda, I was trying to find the restroom, but I think I’m just gonna go instead.”

The Guard nods and points back down the hall. “Go to the end and make a right. You’ll see the foyer to your left when you continue down.”

Evangeline catches sight of his hand as he’s still pointing and sees the A again.

“What does A stand for?” she boldly asks.

He drops his arm and tilts his head. Evangeline holds her breath.

“Anguine. Mildred Anguine.”

“Seems like a lot of you respect her judging by the shared tattoos you all have,” Evangeline mumbles.

“Ah yes. Mildred is actively engaged with the community and volunteers.” The Guard outstretches his hand toward her. “She helped me through rehab and Guard academy. She gives great advice to anyone in need.”

Evangeline backs away. “No thanks.”

She breaks into a sprint down the corridor, looking up the main Elite number on the phone and calls until Stacy, the secretary, answers.

“What?” There’s metal music playing in the background.

“Is that how you greet people, Stace?”

“No, I have caller ID. Whaddaya want, Eva?”

“Did Natasha stop by?” Evangeline asks.

“Yeah, she just left. She looked so distraught,” Stacy says. “I offered to escort her to the infirmary to get checked out, but she refused and kept asking about Alice. Security paged Rebecca to intervene, but Natasha left before she could come down.”

Wow, she really is alive and maybe... okay.

Evangeline tries calling Alice next, but it rings until it reaches her voicemail, so she hangs up and sends her an urgent text. By now, she makes a right at the end of the hall and shortly comes up to the foyer with Billie waiting at the door.

“Ready to go?” Billie asks.

“Yes, we need to hurry. Natasha was just at Elite looking for Alice. She may still be lurking around. Oh, and something weird is going on with Mi—” Evangeline stops herself and rushes out the door to find the cab waiting. They make another attempt at calling Alice and she answers this time.

“Where to, ladies? Elite base?” the driver asks.

“Yes, please,” Evangeline says politely. “Alice? Where are you right now?”

“Training in the gym with Skylar.”

“They’re here on Garnet looking for you!” Billie shouts.

Silence for a second over the phone. “Oh.”

There’s a thick layer of despondency in her voice.

“Alice, they’re growing more persistent, but Natasha is okay! She was taken by Ultima.” Evangeline bites her lip and tries to calm her jittery foot. “We just had dinner with Remington but we’re on our way back now!

“Report everything to Rebecca. If Natasha was taken by Ultima, she most certainly is not okay.”