Eleven
Song: Everybody Gets High (Explicit) - MISSIO
[A/N]: That moment when you find the best song ever and write a chapter around it so you can actually use it. 3
Naida was humming as she went through the closet already dressed in her own Saddaim celebration outfit.
Black and silver were the colors of the evening.
It covered her from head to toe, from the shoes she wore to the silver pieces pinched in her hair. She wore a figure-hugging dress, strapless and short showing her glowing legs. Even her makeup was black and silver accenting her golden brown eyes.
I heard her excited cry from the closet. "I found something!"
The dress was instantly on me, hugging every curve of my body leaving nothing to the imagination. "Too short, Naida!" I tugged at the dress, willing it to cover five more inches of my legs.
She tsked. "Fine. How about this one?"
The dress was longer and went to about my knees. The back was exposed with a plunging neckline showing a bit more cleavage than I was used to. "Um..."
She appeared next to me. "Great! Um is not a no!"
"Not exactly."
She sat me down in front of her vanity, taking off the pillowcase I'd put on the mirror. "What is this for?"
I didn't even look at the mirror as it reflected back. "I can't stand to look at myself."
She looked at me, puzzled.
"Do you know what its like to look a certain way your entire life and then all of a sudden change?
And even then - change the way Robyn forced me to.
Change to something that can be used as a weapon.
I see myself and I don't. I see my eyes - they're the same ...
but my skin, my hair - everything else." I looked at her. "I'm not me."
She smiled kindly. "Maybe one day you will accept yourself.
" A small silver mask appeared in her hand and she placed it on my face.
"Tonight, we'll glamour." I watched her smile as her eyes followed her fingers as she tied the mask behind my head with the black silk strings.
"The beauty of Saddaim is that we get to pretend to be someone else, we lose ourselves in magic, we share it with one another.
" She smiled and her eyes shifted to the mirror I was avoiding. "Take a look."
I looked at my reflection and held back a gasp.
My hair was still that obnoxious silver but pin straight with black streaks.
Somehow it matched the simple cat eye makeup around my brown eyes.
Red lipstick finished my make up off. The silver mask was small, similar to a Venetian mask that covered the nose, cheeks and eyes.
The silver patterns were intricate and extended far out on either side with a small stone in the middle on the top.
It was beautiful.
But it wasn't just the makeup and the dress and the mask that held my attention. I never truly cared about those things -it was me. I looked a little more myself.
While I could do nothing about the perfect complexion, I could see my cheeks had slightly filled out, no longer hollow. My collarbone was no longer as pronounced as before it didn't jut out of my neck and chest.
I was gaining weight in the small time that I was in Julian's estate.
Gods, I didn't even recognize myself before. How far had I strayed?
Naida didn't seem to notice my pause. "It's a sacred holiday, we celebrate what we are - what we can be.
" She squeezed my shoulders as she watched me in the mirror.
"More than anything, we have fun. Get yourself lost in the music, in the rituals.
The magic of the Underworld is heightened.
It's quite breathtaking." I watched a crease form on her eyebrows.
"You may feel a bit different - just be sure to stay with me. "
I nodded as she grabbed my hand and pulled me from the vanity. I watched as we stood in front of the tall mirror in the room. Naida wore a simple black short dress with her own silver mask, similar to mine in its intricacies and craftsmanship.
She smiled at me. "Ready?" She grabbed my wrist and pulled me. Instantly, we spectered. Everything changed, we were no longer in the room I'd been staying in getting ready, we were in a large room in a sea of people. It went from complete silence to loud laughter in an instant.
Loud music pulsed through the air, lights danced over our heads and people laughed around us. The energy was electric, intense, joyful and I couldn't help the smile that crept.
It was a large space in what seemed like a warehouse - it thrummed with magic.
Naida smiled too as she led me through the throng of people then handed me a glass. "Happy Saddaim!"
I drank as she did and laughed. The liquid was bubbly and tasted like pure joy. As if the emotion had been bottled and made into liquid form. "What is it?"
"Faerie wine!" She danced her hands up high above her head.
I looked around me and noticed that everyone had a mask on. Some had angels wings, other devil horns, others had ever-changing colored hair.
Naida's words from the night before clicked. I grabbed her arm. "Is it Halloween?"
She nodded. "Yes! Not the only thing that humans have borrowed from us!" She places her hands on my hips and moved them. "Come on, just dance!"
I let the music carry me let it fill me and when Naida came around again with another drink, I took it too and I let myself enjoy the night.
It was the music that carried me.
The music that filled me.
I recognized the music that blared through the speakers - the artists that sailed through the night. The base of the electronic music as it carried through the air.
There had been too much destruction, too much death, too much worry.
I felt the sweat as it fell down my forehead and my neck and laughed in giddy delight every time Naida handed me a glass.
We danced with each other then with others until the colors of the night all blurred together.
I spun around until I couldn't take it until I was gasping for breath and laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.
Naida caught my eye and laughed. "You look like you're having fun!"
I nodded, whipping my hair back and forth to the music, letting it lift me, take the burden I'd had on my shoulders for so long.
I could stay in the moment forever.
None of the masked faces around me looked at me closely, spared me a second glance as they danced. It was perfect. I was normal again, no one fighting over me, no one looking, no one staring. There were no curtsies, no more ridiculous titles.
I was me.
The music was in me.
The magic was in me. I could feel it dance and bubble and spark inside me.
I let it.
I laughed in euphoria, the alcohol had done its job well. I continued to dance, to sing, to laugh as Naida watched in unfiltered elation.
I watched her stop and turn. I watched in the direction she looked in and in the distance, a tall scaffolding collapsed.
I gasped, my hands covering my open mouth.
The music stopped.
Then there were screams.
Someone in the crowd cried out. "Hellhounds!"
Chaos erupted.
A man that was next to me disappeared. Then two, then five and soon the entire crowd thinned out.
Someone rushed by us and suddenly Naida and I were separated just as the crowd erupted into full-on sprints around us.
"Emmy!"
I turned towards Naida as she called me and froze.
Fear. Pure fear was in her eyes. I wasted no time and ran towards her just as she ran to me. Someone knocked into me pushing me to the ground. When I looked up, I couldn't see her anymore.
I heard the panic in her voice as she called out to me again somewhere in the crowd, the desperation in it sending me into a panic. "Specter home, Emmy!"
No. I couldn't specter back. I'd barely been able to specter three feet before.
I placed my arms over my head as I felt people running towards me, someone jumped over another stepped on my hand.
I screamed out in pain as Naida screamed again. "Emmy, where are you?!" She was struggling with something. "No, let me go! Don't take me-" She was suddenly cut off.
Somehow, I was able to stand and I cradled my bruised hand against my chest.
In the distance, I could see why everyone was running.
Three large dogs the size of bears charged through the crowd, sniffing, drooling, barking. Their skin was as dark as night, like silk, glinting in the moonlight. Their eyes glowed red and their teeth...they could easily snap someone in half.
Panic, utter complete panic set over me and I was frozen.
I couldn't move.
They were terrifying.
And all six eyes were focused on me.