Remembrance (The Transcend Time Saga) (10 page)

CHAPTER 16

The following week passed faster than expected, and it was finally the night of the dance.

“How does it look?” Chelsea spun around in the center of my room, puffing her knee-length red dress to reveal black lace underneath. She caught sight of herself in the mirror and stopped to admire her reflection, smiling and switching from one pose to another like she was a model on a photo shoot. “Do you think people will know what I am?”

“Anyone who’s seen
Moulin Rouge
will know,” I replied. “If they don’t, they’ll just think you look hot.”

“Well, I can’t complain about that.” She laughed, leaning closer to the mirror and smudging her purple eyeliner, which made her green eyes pop more than they did naturally.

I sat down at my vanity in preparation to fasten the gold headpiece into the up-do hairstyle that took an hour and a half to get right. Doing my own hair was difficult, and my hand now displayed three small burns caused by run-in’s with the extra hot iron while trying to define my curls—something Chelsea insisted I do to even them out. She took over with the iron after the third burn, helping me pin up the back pieces and wind the front ones to form a makeshift crown out of the twists of hair so the headpiece could wrap around them.

I picked up the headpiece and looked at it, amazed by how similar it was to the one in my drawing. It was thin and had sparkly gems along the top, and the pale yellow color blended with my hair. It would look like interwoven jewels when worn, but while I could draw it effortlessly, putting it on was harder than acing an exam in trigonometry.

“I’ll put it in,” Chelsea offered. A few bobby pins later and it was set in place, the gems sparkling with the slightest of movements.

My breath caught in my chest when I looked into the mirror, surprised at the reflection staring back at me. Cinderella must have felt the same way when seeing what she looked like when she wasn’t covered in soot and ash. For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel outshined by Chelsea’s inarguable beauty.

The final step was the mask, which Alistair made exactly how I’d imagined. It looked like a piece of artwork, and I lifted it out of the box, feeling every detail of the twisted metal with the tips of my thumbs. I unraveled the strings on each side and Chelsea helped me tie it around the back of my head. She made sure not to mess up my hair, which I feared would fall flat by the end of the night.

The Venetian mask wasn’t effective in hiding my identity, but when I looked into the mirror, it was like I was seeing a completely different person.

Tonight was going to be different. I could feel it.

* * *

Looking around the gym, it was hard to imagine that it was the place where I’d been tortured in my first two years of high school by gym teachers trying to show me how to accurately throw a ball into a hoop. The floor was covered with black tarp so the non-rubber soled shoes wouldn’t scratch the wood, and black curtains draped across the walls, creating a dark, mysterious atmosphere. A DJ booth lined up against the side of the longer wall with two large speakers on each side, thumping so hard that the bass resonated throughout the room. Atop each speaker were revolving lights sending flashes of colors in every direction, obscuring people’s faces from view.

“Can you tell who anyone is?” Jeremy whispered in my ear, his arm intertwined with mine like he was escorting me to a real ball held by nobility hundreds of years ago. The metallic edge of the sword from his Zorro costume brushed against my bare knee and I flinched away, surprised by the flash of cold.

“There’s definitely a lot of people I don’t recognize,” I said, checking out the crowd. I stopped at someone who didn’t bother concealing her identity. “But Shannon’s not hard to miss.” Instead of a mask, she smeared the area around her eyes with dark silver shadow, drawing attention to herself as she strutted onto the dance floor dressed as a black angel, wearing barely-there undergarments, fluffy wings, and a halo.

I took a minute to look around at all of the other outfits. A group of vampires stood in the corner—such a typical Halloween costume—and opposite of them were the witches; yet another cliché. There were comic book characters, lots of girls dressed as various animals, and I even smiled at the irony of a white-masked Phantom holding onto a Christine. Unable to spot a Raoul, I concluded that those two had a different opinion as to how the famous Broadway musical should have ended. I wondered if Drew would show up, but even in the rare chance that he did, the dim lighting would make it difficult to spot him in the large crowd. Also, much like Mr. Darcy, he didn’t strike me as someone who enjoyed large parties and dancing. 

Someone tapped my shoulder, and I turned around, coming face-to-face with a modern day masked Cleopatra. “You guys look amazing!” Keelie revealed her identity. “I know Jeremy’s Zorro, but who are you?”

“A current day Elizabeth Bennet from
Pride and Prejudice
,” I said the first thing that came into my mind.

“It’s so hard to tell who anyone is around here,” she said, glancing around the gym. “I know we’re not supposed to recognize each other, but do they have to keep it so dark?”

“It adds to the mystery of it all,” Jeremy said with a grin, swinging his arm around my shoulders.

“Whatever you say, Zorro.” She laughed. 

“I loved the outfit you helped Chelsea pick out,” I told her, knowing she would appreciate the compliment.

“Thanks!” Keelie said, her eyes widening in enthusiasm. “
Moulin Rouge
is one of my favorite movies. But it’s so sad how Satine dies in Christian’s arms at the end … it makes me cry every time. I like to pretend they somehow got another chance. Or else I just stop watching before she dies and pretend it ended differently.” She looked around the dance floor, squinting as she tried to make people out in the flashing lights. “There’s Chelsea,” she said, pointing into the crowd.

I turned to look in the general direction, catching sight of the bright red costume amidst a sea of darkly clothed boys dancing to the pop music blaring throughout the room.

“Come on, Liz.” Jeremy leaned closer towards me and squeezed my shoulder. “Let’s go out there.”

Before I could respond, Keelie grabbed my hand and dragged me out towards Chelsea. Jeremy followed behind, and Chelsea smiled when she saw us, widening the circle to make room for the three of us to join. It felt strange dancing to the synthesized voice of the pop star of the month while in an outfit resembling one worn in the early nineteenth century, and I chuckled at the image of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy getting down to current day music; it was like a scene out a spoof movie. 

Chelsea nudged me with her elbow. “Are you okay?” she asked, loud enough to be heard above the music.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” I asked, feigning surprise at the question.

She shrugged. “You look bored.”

“It’s just the heat,” I said, taking a small step out of the circle. “I think I’ll take a break and get some water. Do you want some?”

“I’m fine. Just don’t be gone for too long!”

Jeremy opted to stay on the dance floor, and I pushed through the crowd to get to the back of the room, where a few people sat in the chairs lining the wall. They were scowling like they were in prison instead of at a school dance, but the majority of my classmates were on the dance floor, moving to the music like they didn’t have a care in the world.

The pop song ended, and a slow rap song started to pound through the speakers, the thumping music sounding like a steady heartbeat. The lights dimmed, making the gym as dark as a deep cave with a few slits of sunlight shining through. I looked through the crowd, trying to see who Chelsea was dancing with, but even her red dress blended into the darkness.

Then I felt a movement from behind.

“What’s the beautiful Elizabeth Davenport doing standing by herself in the back of the room?” a husky voice interrupted my thoughts before I could turn around. My heart raced in my chest; even though Drew said he wasn’t coming, I knew his voice anywhere. A few tendrils of hair fell in front of my eyes as I turned to face him, and I forget that the whole reason I walked over there in the first place was to get a drink.

It was impossible to make out his features in the low lighting, especially given the black bandanna wrapped around his hair and the matching cloth mask taking up the top half of his face. Only a small skull pendent hanging from a leather cord around his neck clued me in that he was dressed as a pirate, if he was dressed as anything in particular. I’d never seen the necklace before, but just like anything he wore, he pulled it off flawlessly.

“I thought you went to New York for the weekend?” I asked, taking a step closer to see if it was really him.

He leaned forward, his cheek radiating heat upon mine. “Why would I be in New York?” he asked, his breath warm against my ear. “You must have me mistaken for someone else.”

I bit my lower lip in confusion, trying to lean back to look in his eyes that were visible only through the small slits in his mask. The golden flecks would give away his identity, but he wrapped his hand around my arm, pulling me closer and not allowing me to look up and see. But even though I couldn’t say for sure, I knew it was Drew. His touch felt like electricity running over my skin, reminding me of the first time we met, the time when our hands touched during the movie, and the car ride after the soccer game. 

“Your boyfriend won’t mind if you spend one dance with someone else?” he whispered in my ear, his voice barely audible over the loud, trancelike music.

His arms wrapped around my waist before I could respond to the question, and I rested my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes as I inhaled the sweet scent of pine coming off his skin. Jeremy
would
mind, but pulling away from Drew would be like trying to yank two magnets apart. We were in the back of the room, far enough from the main crowd in the center for anyone to notice. One dance couldn’t hurt.

It was so easy to get lost in the music. He must have figured that I wasn’t going to try pulling away again, because he loosened his grip around my arm and trailed his thumb down to my wrist, intertwining his fingers with mine. The world spun to the beat of the song and I let myself sink into it, clearing my mind of everything but soaking in those few precious minutes.

That was when the first flash came.

The gym swirled in my mind, distorting and transforming into a room far more spectacular that could have only existed centuries ago. My head spun with dizziness and it felt like I was floating, watching the haze twist into the shapes of people who looked like they were dancing. After a few seconds the images grew sharper, revealing a ballroom that was much more extravagant than the setup at the gym. Gilded carvings climbed the two-story walls towards the ceiling, and marble tiles lined the floor. Instead of a DJ, a full orchestra played a classical song. The music was so familiar, yet I couldn’t wrap my mind around the name.

Couples danced in a line, and one of them in particular stood out, the two focused only on each other. The girl looked like me—the one from my drawings. She was even wearing the same dress. Golden curls flowed down her back, and her partner had hair as dark as Drew’s, but slightly longer. It seemed like the love between them filled the entire room.

The orchestra stopped playing, and when my eyes snapped open I was back in the school gym, listening to the quick beats of a pop song. The flashing lights grew brighter as they picked up speed, and I blinked a few times to reorient myself. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought I’d been transported out of the gym and into the ballroom. But people didn’t just flash back into a different time. That was impossible.

“Your boyfriend’s looking for you.” Drew’s voice brought me out of the trance. “I better leave before he sees us together.”

“Wait…” I said, my head still spinning from whatever had just happened.

His lips brushed against my cheek, soft and warm upon my skin. “Have a good night, Elizabeth.”

“Liz!” Jeremy called my name over the music. I spun around to look for him, catching sight of him emerging from the crowd. “Why are you back here by yourself?”

I glanced over my shoulder to look for Drew, discovering an empty space where he’d stood moments before. He disappeared as quickly as he’d arrived. I wondered if I’d imagined everything that had happened, but the sparks of electricity flickering on my skin proved otherwise, and the images of the ballroom haunted my mind.

“I was just getting a drink,” I said, remembering my earlier excuse. “I think the heat’s giving me a headache.”

“Are you getting sick?” he asked, his eyes flashing with concern. “You’re all flushed.”

Guilt rushed through my body, and I took a step back. Despite Jeremy’s recently raised ego, he was still my boyfriend, and one of my best friends. None of this was fair to him.

“I don’t think so,” I answered. “It’s just the heat.”