Page 16 of The Last De Loughrey Dynasty (The Legacy of Aquila Hall #1)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

DOROTHEE

It looked like Aquila Hall was aiming to win a contest to see who could decorate the most in their school. Candles hung from the ceilings, making them seem like they were floating above us, and whoever decorated this room must be a big fan of spider webs because they were everywhere.

I caught sight of Maisie and Jesse approaching a table near the side of the ballroom, next to the windows, where cupcakes and scary-looking food were placed.

“Mister Kingstone, you know our policy.” Headmaster Shaw approached us with a laugh that made it obvious that none of us would face any consequences tonight. Maybe it was the fact that the school was so engaged in holidays because the headmaster loved them.

“I’m almost certain that no one will be scared of obvious fake blood, Sir, besides, this party is sixteen and over,” Archer replied, filling himself a cup of whatever drink was in the red bowl.

Our headmaster was costumed as a vampire. It was obvious from the cape and teeth, even though I had to guess before he spoke and flashed his fangs at us.

“Very well, I'll turn a blind eye then. Have a spooky night,” the older man chuckled softly and made his way back to his colleagues. Chadwick stood beside them, his eyes met mine, he nodded with a smile, and I was sure this gesture meant that I should have fun tonight.

Smiling back, I looked around the room while Nathaniel spoke with Archer about how bad the music that was playing was.

Rich people enjoyed dressing up in fancy costumes on Halloween. Everyone looked straight out of a fantasy novel, and it was fantastic. Honestly, Halloween might as well turn into my favourite holiday too if I got to throw such a party each year. But the nobles don’t tend to call tonight a party. Party sounded too casual. Tonight was declared a ball.

Across from me on the other side of the giant room stood a girl in a white dress. Her blond hair looked similar to the style Archer had accomplished tonight—sweaty and wet. She was too far away to admire the details of her costume closely, but it looked like she had white contact lenses in and had made her skin look deadly pale with make-up. There were fake blood stains on her white, dirty dress, and she wasn’t the only one breaking the rules, as I looked around and saw at least six or seven other people covered in the red mess.

“Going against policy isn’t a big thing tonight, is it?” I asked Archer with a chuckle from the side as I poured myself some of that red liquid in the bowl, which I quickly realised was nothing more than strawberry lemonade laced with a tonne of sugar.

“What do you mean?” he wondered, gazing over at me.

I swallowed the sugary drink before I answered, “The fake blood. So many students are covered in it. Why do they even make this policy in the first place if no one complies with it?”

The boy by my side looked away when our eyes met, and his gaze travelled over the room. “Last year, a few kids started crying because the blood apparently disturbed them,” he explained with a frown.

“How many exactly have you seen so far?” Nathaniel asked me, slightly unbothered, looking around the room himself.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Around ten...? I didn’t count.”

Jesse took hold of Naomi's shoulders and dragged her, despite her protests, onto the dance floor. Yet, when he let go of her, moving to stand across from the mesmerising girl, he held out his hand for her, and she accepted her fate and took it.

The two of them were fascinating to me. Naomi and Jesse made it clear for everyone watching that they were polar opposites. It was also clear, however, that this fact didn’t drive their friendship apart in the slightest. I was confident that they would risk their lives for each other. There was just something about them that convinced me their friendship was so deeply rooted in their hearts that no argument, nor anything else, could change things for them. It was the subtle gestures I noticed. For example, Jesse tended to always steal some sort of Naomi’s food during lunch. She pretended that it bothered her, slapping his hands away, but when no one was looking, she subtly pushed it with the back of her hand a little further in his direction.

Maisie appeared next to Nathaniel, handing him a cup of the strawberry lemonade. He laid his arm around her shoulders, carefully not to destroy her wings.

“Do any of you know the tale of the Fox and the Doe?” After Gwyneth had told me the story at the lake, I had looked into it, but without any success. At least the internet didn’t provide any information or a proper story, so I figured it was just a tale spread in Aquila Hall.

“Oh—” Maisie started, but Archer interrupted her.

“Yes, it’s an old tale told by professors to keep the students away from the lake.”

Confusion hit me. “But why? It’s beautiful.”

Nathaniel answered, “No one knows how old the tale is, but everyone figured that no such thing happened after some curious student looked into it and, surprise, no one drowned in that lake. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that the tale is a creative way of keeping students away from a possible case of drowning.”

It looked like the lake wasn’t even that deep, but it made sense, like scary stories you told children to keep them safe in some way, so I let it go.

The music changed from a slower song to a faster one, carrying a beat, and in a matter of seconds, my roommate had grabbed my hand, pulling me onto the dance floor with her. Nearby, Jesse and Naomi's dancing started to adapt to the faster rhythm. Naomi allowed Jesse to take the lead, and it looked almost funny how he swung her around like a puppet.

Maisie twirled me with a laugh, catching my other hand in hers when I was facing her again.

“I don’t want to see that thoughtful face tonight. It’s Halloween, Doe, and I’m determined to see you laugh, smile, and enjoy yourself. I wish you could see how pretty you are when you smile,” she giggled and twirled around herself.

Maisie and I danced through the entirety of three songs before we both ran out of breath and decided, between laughter, that we needed a break. Making our way back to Archer and Nathaniel, who hadn’t yet moved away from the wall they'd leaned on.

My friend began to sway slightly.

I looked at the clock, which hit nine-thirty the second my eyes gazed over the numbers. Tonight, the curfew wasn’t stated. The ball was supposed to go on until midnight. We had plenty of time left, so a break wouldn’t hurt.

When I turned my attention back to Maisie, she suddenly stumbled into Archer, who caught her on her elbow, steadying her. Nathaniel set his drink on the table instantly and placed his arm gently around her waist, taking hold of her hand with his free one.

“Are you okay?” I gaped at her in concern. She was so full of life a few minutes ago, but now her cheeks had lost all their colour, and her eyes blinked rapidly while her entire body trembled. Was she ill?

Maisie slowly shook her head. A whimper escaped her lips and she began to fully lean into the boy by her side. Nathaniel looked at Archer before he asked Maisie, “we’re going to get some air, okay?” pressing his lips gently against her temple. His girlfriend nodded and lay her head against his chest, taking a deep, shaky breath before he led her through the crowd.

My eyes followed them until they were out of sight and I exhaled, utterly overwhelmed by how quickly she’d gotten sick. “We should tell a teacher in case—”

Archer placed his hand at the centre of my back, keeping me from turning towards the table where the faculty sat. “She’ll be alright. Mai has this sometimes. She starts to feel terribly sick all of a sudden, but Nathaniel knows what to do.” Archer assured me, but he had lowered his voice as if he didn’t want anyone else to hear. Mistrust began to rise in me at that statement because I had never seen, nor had Maisie informed me about such episodes. If he had told me the truth, she would have already done so herself. I knew all of her, from the importance of things in her life down to the unimportant details. Maisie would have told me. He was definitely lying.

“Are you feeling okay?” he questioned me, and I nodded, even though I didn’t know why exactly he assumed I wasn’t. I could see that in his eyes. He had this suspicious expression that I had seen a thousand times in my life so far.

“I think so… are you?” When I looked closer, he looked terribly pale underneath all that fake blood on the side of his face.

Archer blinked a few times before he answered, “Don’t know. Look, I’ll tell Jesse and Naomi where Mai and Nathaniel went, in case they wonder. Just stay here, I’m right back.”

He moved past me as if he were rushing. He wouldn’t have to if everything was alright. Sometimes I wonder if people were so unknowing that they believed they could mask their lies flawlessly, or if they simply didn’t care at all.

Secrets were concealed within the depths of this night, and it appeared that no one wanted me to discover them.

Someone struck me in the side and ice-cold water, or rather lemonade, penetrated my skin. I shrieked at the sticky feeling washing over me.

“I am so sorry,” the boy apologised with a laugh, not bothering to offer me his help to clean this up before he ran off again. I looked around, searching for something to dry my costume that was soaked in lemonade. It was even tickling down my legs. There were a few napkins, but they wouldn’t do the job. I rushed through the crowd, deciding to go for the blow-dryer in the public bathrooms instead.

The corridors were dark except for a few old lamps gleaming lightly on the walls. It was almost a scary feeling to walk through the school at night while the lamps flickered, creating shadows dancing on the stone walls.

I burst into the girl’s bathroom as if someone was following me, which, as I hoped, wasn’t the case.

Switching the lights on, I’m greeted by a “defect” sign hanging at the blow-dryer.

This is perfect, just perfect.

The only other thing left were the paper towels, which I grabbed five at once and started drying the skin on my arm before I concentrated on getting my clothes just slightly dry.

“Of course, it must be lemonade, why not something non-sticky?” I mumbled, annoyed, uncomfortable with the stickiness on my skin. I threw the used paper towels onto the sink, about to grab another handful when from the corner of my eye, I caught a face staring at me through the mirror. I spun around with a gasp, but she was gone again. With a racing heart, I turned slowly back around, taking the paper towels to dry the rest of my dress with trembling hands.

Everything is fine. Everything is perfectly alright.

This wasn’t happening again. I was safe and alone.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a long moment.

You’re fine, Dorothee.

It’s just Halloween, a hard day every year, but you’ll manage. You do it every time.

Peeling my eyes open again, I feared that I'd see the girl who had been behind me a minute ago, but there was no one. I was alone.

“Thank God,” I exhaled shakily, taking a few slow and steady breaths to calm my nerves. Perhaps I shouldn’t have dressed as a black swan. Maybe my nerves were a wreck because of the damn costume—a character with psychological problems. Or I’m just too tired for all of this. I shouldn't have stayed up studying for so long last night.

Taking one last look in the mirror, I made sure I was alone before I left the bathroom, switching the lights off behind me.

The lamp next to the bathroom had burned out while I was trying to dry my costume, leaving a dark room between the two other lamps that were about four metres away from each other.

Why does that always happen to me?

“I hate the lights. They remind me of the flames,” a voice behind me exclaimed, causing me to flinch and turn around. My eyes widened, and my breathing became shallow. Then my limbs froze, and my head began to spin at the sight of her.

“Do you like the light, Dorothee?” She tilted her head in question.

I screamed.