Before the Dawn (5 page)

"We're going to the ball!" She heard someone
yell, and she laughed harder. Her head was practically spinning
from all the excitement firing up her senses. The limo rocked and
swayed as it drove towards the Ballroom with a speed that should
have concerned them, but no one minded in the least. In fact, Meran
even started urging the driver to hurry.

"The ball's starting soon!" she exclaimed.
"We need to be there fast!" By Aline's side, Gracelyn and Sam
giggled over something they were whispering about and, across from
the two cousins, Cassie was looking outside the window with a
dreamy expression on her face while she hummed a tune under her
breath. Aline looked outside too and saw the bright full moon
shining down and making everything appear like it was covered by a
dusting of silver. It seemed to be racing right beside them as the
limousine wound through the empty streets of the quiet town.

Soon, they arrived at the Ballroom, and she
stood still for a moment to admire how gorgeous the place looked
with all the Halloween lanterns illuminating its exteriors. The
building appeared bigger and grander somehow with all the lights
around it. Her guests had arrived too, and they climbed out of
their cars and they all made their way as one large group towards
the club's doors.

"We're expected," Meran announced gaily to
the costumed men outside who bowed and swept the doors open before
them like the footmen in period films. A young man came up to greet
them, a very handsome one with black hair and a thin face, and he
beckoned for them to follow him. So they did and, as they trailed
behind him, Aline thought that she had no idea the Ballroom was so
big because it seemed like he kept leading them through room after
room, all of them dimly lit with only a few candles here and there
that illuminated brief snatches of opulent-looking surroundings.
But they kept walking without questioning him, and she found
herself unconsciously moving in time to the sound of a sweet tune
that gradually became clearer and louder with every step they took.
Feeling slightly dazed, she glanced back once and saw that her
friends were swaying along to the music as well. Then she got a bit
of a start when she thought she saw the shadows of glittering trees
behind and all around them, which was just silly, but then she felt
truly surprised when she noticed that there were strangers mingling
with their group. But, as she looked more carefully, she realized
they weren't really strangers. She had seen them around school and
around town, though she had certainly never spoken to them or
invited them to her party. But they were dancing too, and that was
all that really mattered. Except, wait—there was something else,
something she had almost forgotten.

She reached out and grabbed the sleeve of
their black-haired escort. "I know someone named Trevor who works
here," she told the young man. She thought her voice sounded a bit
odd, like she was hearing herself speak from somewhere a great
distance away. "Can you tell him I'm here? I want to see him."

He smiled at her, and there was something
incredibly familiar about his smile. It was sharp like a knife.
"Forget about him," he said in probably the smoothest, most
beautiful voice Aline had ever heard. "Just dance." Then she was
suddenly struck by the odd certainty that his face was only a
beautiful mask, which then slipped for a fraction of a second, and
she knew that she had seen him before. However, she just could not
manage to remember exactly where.

"Where have we met before tonight?" she
wondered as she stared into his eyes. The candlelight made them
look like they gleamed with an amber cast. "I'm sorry, but what's
your name again?"

He gave a low laugh. "It has always been
Raven, Your Highness," he replied, which just made her more
confused. "Come." He held out a pale, slender hand. "He has been
waiting for you."

"What? What do you mean—?" But she never got
to finish the question. The man who called himself Raven had taken
hold of her hand and, with a gentle pressure, he pulled her through
a pair of tall doors that opened to reveal a grand ballroom.

It was the most astonishing place she had
ever seen. The walls, floors, and ceiling were made of what looked
like black stone, but they shone softly with an eerie light. There
were also white candles everywhere with flames that burned a pale
blue. On the farthest end was a low balcony where black-clad
musicians with faces painted to resemble crying dolls played
something slow and sad on their spindly instruments while
elaborately attired men and women danced a languid waltz. On tables
nestled in the cozy nooks of the room were rich-looking dishes on
golden platters and bottles of wine encrusted with jewels that the
dancers simply ignored, but which the kids who had come with her
fell upon and consumed with gusto. Meanwhile, in other dark
corners, there were large cushions thrown carelessly on the floor
where people lounged together and, as she looked curiously at one
couple in particular, the woman laughed when the man made a
graceful gesture with his hand over his dark head, then a sheer
curtain slowly fell in hazy folds around them, blurring them from
sight.

"I—I had no idea this kind of place was in
the Ballroom," she said, suddenly blushing when she saw the
couple's outlines join together in what was unmistakably a very
intimate kiss.

Raven only looked amused. He bowed to her
and, quick as a wink, he turned and he was gone. Aline spun around
slowly, trying to take in all the strange and beautiful sights she
was seeing. She noted that her friends seemed to be dealing with
all the weirdness better than she was because they had started to
wander around the ballroom, laughing and joking with one another.
The dancers welcomed them quite warmly and, soon, they were all
moving energetically to a lively song that made her think of golden
sunlight shining down on tiny flowers swaying in a playful wind.
She got several invitations to dance while she wandered around the
place, but she only shook her head at each one and explored as much
of the room as she could, thinking that there was something
incredibly familiar about what was happening around her. If she
could only try harder, then she would remember, but the answer only
teased at her mind and refused to be understood.

There were a pair of glass doors on each
corner of the room, and when she opened and stepped through one,
she saw she was in a balcony that offered an excellent night-time
view of a dark lake. The water glistened under the light of the
moon and, for a moment, she thought she could see a man’s sad face
reflected on the small waves that rippled across the lake’s
surface.

"Aline?"

She heard someone speak behind her and she
quickly turned to look at him, her heart suddenly beating much
faster. She had immediately recognized the voice as Trevor's, and
now here he was standing before her. His hair looked messy, like he
had just run a hand through it, and he was dressed a lot like Raven
had been in black, old-fashioned clothes. But there was a frown on
his face and an uncertain sheen in his eyes as he looked at
her.

"Something's not right," he muttered, almost
as if he was talking to himself. Then his expression sharpened and
his gaze focused on her. "Aline, are you okay?" he asked worriedly.
"I have this really weird feeling about tonight, like, I feel like
I’m sleeping—"

Whatever he was about to say next, she could
only wonder because he was interrupted by the deep toll of a bell.
She felt her heart seize up for no reason, then the glass doors
flew open once more and Raven appeared to grab her by the arm.
"There you are!" he exclaimed. "Come. Come! The dance is
beginning."

She could only stare helplessly at Trevor as
she was led away rather forcefully. Raven pulled her to the very
center of the now-silent ballroom where everyone had gathered in a
large circle with every person partnered by another. She expected
that Raven would then lead her in a dance, but she was surprised
when he abruptly dropped her hand and took his place by Meran's
side. The music started and everyone began to move in graceful
revolutions around the room while she just stood there. She tried
to search for Trevor, but her eyes couldn't manage to pick him out
from the thick crowd of dancers. Then another bell rang out,
silvery and clear where the previous one had been somber and dark,
and she felt a hand slip into hers.

Startled, she looked up to meet the palest
blue eyes she could ever imagine. They were as brilliant and clear
as diamonds. The young man who now took both her hands in his and
led her through the steps of a slow dance had a face that was
dreamlike in its perfection. She had thought Raven was handsome,
but this man—he was beautiful. He was dressed all in black, which
made his fine blond hair look almost white and his skin appear
luminous. But his incredible beauty wasn't what made her feel like
he had laid a possessive hand on her heart.

As they gazed at each other, she felt like
something vastly important and mysterious had finally been revealed
to her. All thoughts that used to mean so much to her—her dad, her
friends, grades, what college she wanted to go to, Trevor—all of it
suddenly stopped to matter. She was here now, with
him
. She
had found him, or he had found her, but the important thing was
that they were together and they were dancing. The way they should
have stayed all those years ago if fate hadn't intervened. But they
had found a way to cheat fate now, hadn't they?

"My Princess," he whispered as he held her
tighter in his arms.

She closed her eyes and laid her head against
his chest. The gentle throbbing of his heart lulled her and made
her feel comforted and safe.

"My Prince," she said.

***

Chapter 6

Her feet felt incredibly sore in the morning
when the alarm woke her up. Aline found herself stretched out on
her bed still dressed in the clothes she had worn the night before.
The alarm was ringing insistently, and it took her four tries
before she could get it to stop. Her head was fuzzy about what had
happened at the party and how she had gotten home, but she had the
vague recollection of getting worried about staying out too late
and insisting on going home in the very early hours of the morning.
But she remembered it was still Sunday and she didn't have class,
so she drifted off to sleep again easily enough. She thought she
must have dreamed then because, as soon as she closed her eyes, her
mind filled with images of gowns, candles, musicians, and dancers
all spinning round and round until she became dizzy. From time to
time, she was awakened by sounds—the shrill tones of her cellphone,
voices talking—but she ignored them all and went back to sleep. She
was so tired. She just wanted to rest.

When she fully woke up, refreshed and
invigorated, it was dark outside her window. Glancing quickly at
the luminous digits displayed on the bedside clock, she discovered
it was 7:43 in the evening. She had slept the day away. Aline then
got out of bed and winced in pain once her feet hit the floor. She
hobbled over to the light switch and flicked it on so she could see
what had happened to her feet.

While she sat on the bed, she inspected them.
They did not look pretty. The bandages she had placed on the cut
she got the previous day had been soaked through with blood. The
stuff had dried fast to her skin and a little moan of anguish
escaped her lips when she peeled it free as carefully as she could.
The wound looked really ugly. It had gotten worse due to all the
dancing she did last night. The soles were red and terribly sore,
and she knew that blisters would appear on them in no time. It was
a good thing she had left the antiseptic and bandages on her
nightstand, so she cleaned up the soles of her feet as well as she
could with some wet tissues then applied the antiseptic and
bandaged them up.

After getting into her usual clothes, washing
her face, and brushing her teeth, she went downstairs to find
something to eat, with each step she took sending stabs of pain
through her legs. Her dad was in the kitchen tapping away on his
laptop with a half-eaten plate of pasta beside a pile of papers. He
looked up as she came in, his face settling into lines of worry as
he studied her. "You look like you have the worst hangover in
history," he observed, sounding concerned. "I checked in on you
from time to time, but you looked so exhausted I left you sleeping.
How are you feeling now?"

"Like I wish I only had the worst hangover in
history," Aline replied. "No, actually, I'm all rested. But my feet
are murdering me. They hurt really bad."

"Then stay in your seat while I get you your
dinner," he ordered and fussed around for several minutes, heating
up the pasta he had left in the refrigerator, serving it up to her,
and then handing her a glass of soda. "Happy birthday!" he said
brightly, and she had to laugh a little at the goofy face he
made.

"I wish you had been at the party last
night," she told him.

"Yeah, right," he snorted. "I’m sure I would
have had the time of my life. Besides, I know that I would have
just ruined the fun everyone was having if I had been there with my
old man vibes." He watched her chew and swallow a few bites first
before he asked, "So, how was the party? My credit limit is still
okay, which I am eternally grateful for by the way, so I’m assuming
you didn’t go overboard and order trucks of champagne for your
friends."

Aline frowned, trying to remember the events
of last night. "It was fun enough, I guess. The Ballroom really
went all out for us." She tried to rack her brain for more details
she could share with him, but her mind refused to provide her with
more than blurry impressions of a beautiful ballroom, beautiful
people, sad music, and—someone familiar, someone precious. "I
danced the whole night," she said, "with this guy I met." But she
couldn't tell him more than that because she couldn't remember much
of anything clearly. It was worrisome. What had happened to her in
that place last night? Had she gotten incredibly drunk? It was the
only explanation why she was missing large chunks of memory.