Chapter 36
36
I knock urgently on my friends’ door, wired from too many Scott-related emotions to count, combined with my excitement for solving the final clue. I couldn’t just sit in my room watching the clock, stuck in my head.
It’s Brit who opens the door. “Hey?” she says, half questioning.
I find—for the first time—neither she nor Laurel decked out in Elytheum garb. They’re in their PJs, getting ready for bed. Brit’s T-shirt reads Syracuse University in heavy lettering, and I make a mental note to ask her how she liked the campus and the city. Just in case.
Laurel looks up from her phone. “Hey, Jen. What’s up?”
“Can we hang out? If you’re going to bed, that’s fine, I can go,” I assure them, the words rushing from me. “It’s just—Scott left, and I solved the final clue. I’m going to collect it at midnight.”
Brit’s eyebrows rise halfway up her forehead.
“Don’t you dare leave after dropping that many bombshells! Get in here!” She ushers me in, and I step into their room, grateful. “Sit,” Brit demands. “Spill.”
I do. While the girls climb onto their beds, I sit in Laurel’s desk chair, where I proceed to explain everything. Scott. My MFA and long-distance fears. I’m grateful for how sympathetically they listen. When I’ve finished the epic saga of my not-exactly-heroic journey, they comfort me. They tell me it’ll be okay. They tell me broken hearts can always heal.
They have questions, however.
“Does…that mean you don’t have a date to the ball?” Brit ventures.
I falter. With everything else going on, I’d honestly forgotten the upcoming masquerade. “I guess not,” I say honestly.
Laurel smiles. “We’ll all go together,” she says. “It’ll be fun.”
It’s not difficult to accept her reassurance. “Yeah. It will,” I reply.
And I realize, I’m not in the same place I was when I arrived here. I have them, and Erik, and Amelia right nearby. Every story of heroism involves the enduring power of friendship, doesn’t it? I guess I’ve done one part right.
“And if you’ve solved your final clue…” Laurel goes on indicatively, “you’ll probably have a dance with Val anyway.”
“I haven’t solved it yet,” I clarify. “I just know how to.”
“Cryptic,” Laurel replies playfully.
My instinct is to remain vague, hoarding my clues close like I’ve done for the entire scavenger hunt. We all have. But…why? I don’t need to win a date with Val, or a dance. I’ve already won one prize—the friends in the room with me right now. And Val…Val isn’t really the fantasy anymore, is he?
“How about,” I say slowly, “instead of me telling you about the final clue…want to find it with me?”
I receive the response I expected. Brit jumps to her knees on her bed. “Obviously!”
“We just have to wait until midnight,” I explain, flush with happiness. Erik’s words of unexpected wisdom return to me. One big, happy alliance .
“Ooh, midnight,” Brit echoes enthusiastically. “Vibes.”
“What do you want to do until then?” Laurel asks.
I look around the room. My friends’ masks are made, their dresses finished. There’s no Experience programming. Just…us. Movies, gossip, trading music recommendations and favorite books. Just ordinary life.
No, ordinary magic .
I feel excitement rise in me.
“Anything,” I say.
—
Erik texts me an hour later, having noticed my absence and Scott’s unlocked door and empty room. I invite him to Brit and Laurel’s, and he joins our hangout, visibly eager and flattered. I message Amelia as well and receive no response, which I figure means she’s gone to sleep, probably needing an early morning tomorrow to set up for the masquerade.
With tomorrow being the last full day of the Experience, we empty out our mini fridges into one shared snack feast. I personally consider our collection of pretzels and peanut butter, yogurt and Oreos, tortilla chips and salsa no less fit for queens and heroes than night cakes, puff pancakes, or sweet-spiced stew.
We’ve just commenced dipping the Oreos into the peanut butter, like geniuses do, when Brit’s phone rings. “You know what time it is,” Brit says to Laurel.
While I watch, Brit picks up the phone. I don’t need to hear the conversation to know what it’s about. The crying piercing through the tinny speakers is clear enough. Brit puts the phone on speaker and a moment later she starts to sing softly into her phone, her voice traveling miles away to her daughter.
When she’s completed four refrains, only silence greets us on the other end. Stephanie offers profuse whispered thanks, to which Brit urges her mom to get some sleep.
“Nice to get away for a week,” I joke when she hangs up.
Brit’s expression changes. In place of the larger-than-life, fearsomely passionate clue hunter and fae fashionista I’ve gotten to know, she looks introspective. Conflicted, even, but okay with it.
“Not really,” she replies gently. “I miss her every day. I knew I would. It’s not something I ever want to escape. But…” She presses one palm to her knee, thinking. “I want to be the best person I can be. I want to come home inspired, and patient, and joyful. Which sometimes means protecting my relationship with the things I love,” she says. “I want my daughter to learn to do the same.”
Laurel smiles softly. I remember my own rereads, realizing I understand exactly what she means. Fantasy is often equated with escapism, but was I escaping ? Fleeing from my unsatisfying relationships into the comforting embrace of Elytheum’s perfection?
Or was I seeking something else? Inspiration? Strength? Hope?
Some of each, I think.
No further baby-related phone calls interrupt us, and the next hour passes quickly. We watch Erik’s past commercials on YouTube while he mouths his lines from memory. We vow to start a virtual book club.
Finally, eleven thirty comes.
I announce it’s time to head out for the clue. With my arm linked in Laurel’s, I lead the group down the stairs and into the night. The warm summer wind fortifies us, not to mention the peanut butter and Oreos.
When the walkway leads us past the main hall, I notice lights on inside.
No, one light on. Amelia’s office. I recognize my friend’s silhouette pacing in front of her window.
“Wait here,” I ask my fearless clue-hunting party.
While they do, I enter the hall. Minutes later, I emerge victorious, with a bleary-eyed but laughing Amelia. It only took one dramatic invocation of Lady Amelia, the court—nay, the entire realm!—needs your courage and resourcefulness! Obviously, it worked. The rest of the fellowship cheers when Amelia joins us, and we set off once more.
We pass the front gates of the College of Hollisboro—the gates I entered on my first night here, no idea what waited for me—where the grand wrought iron leads into the idyllic town. From the gates of the city, choose honor over power…
We don’t go through them.
Instead, we continue on the campus path, heading deeper into the college, with just enough magic in the night to transform us from ordinary people into heroes on a quest. From fans brought together only days ago into friends.