~Alaya
"This is the best night of my life!" Sky chants, throwing herself wildly around the dance floor, knocking into people with no care in the world. Her grip doesn't loosen, even as she dodges people, her ability to correct herself is miraculous.
She's lost her mind, but for tonight, I don't mind.
The music remained slow, however, Sky found some way to really get into her dance. I followed after, unable to wipe the smile off my face as I watch her. It took me a few moments to brush off the stares we were getting from anyone else before I truly let go and let myself join her.
For a blissful moment, I forgot about the audition tomorrow, my downhill life, and even the invitation I had hidden in my bra.
The party down here may be the mainstream compared to what may be going upstairs, but compared to the daily grind I'm used to, I must say, this a lot of fun. I even let Sky pulls me close to dance with me like we are sisters from a few centuries ago. A few people mumble their irritation the deeper into the crowd we get, however, Sky's ability to brush it off is infectious.
Sky suddenly brings us to a halt, which is a relief considering my spinning head from the dance. She snatches two glasses of wine from a waiter who has been walking around. I take an extra look at him, wondering if I should ask where Carter is.
I haven't told him I got invited to this party.
"Drink," Sky prompts, nudging the stem into my hand, stealing my attention from the waiter. I stare down at the crystal clear water. Wine isn't supposed to look like this, which leads me to assume it is some kind of alcohol only the rich are used to drinking.
Bringing the edge of the glass up to my nose, I realise it smells sweet, like mixed berries.
"Drink Lay," Sky repeats, tapping the edge of the thin glass until I lift it to my lips. It tastes as sweet as it smells, the liquid satiny soft as it slides easily down my throat. I can definitely tell this would be easy to get drunk off of, since immediately I feel as I want another glass, even though the bitter edge to it
Sky takes my empty glass and places it on a waiter's tray as it breezes past. When she turns back to me, her eyes seem a little more absent and distracted as her gaze sweeps over the crowd behind me.
"I think I'm going to find some more people to dance with," Sky say distractedly. "You go explore or something. You never know what you could find around here."
At her words, a man in a dark suit whisked her away.
I stood in the middle of the crowd, feeling returning back to my fingertips as I realise my sister has completely abandoned me. In less than a second, all the lavishly dressed people seemed converge around her, stealing her from my view.
Pushing my way past a few people, I'm aware I probably won't find her again. She is doing this on purpose, I know it. This is her sick way getting me to socialise with strangers. Why is she so invested in my love life? The fact that she is married means she's bored, which leaves her to play with my fate more than the man himself.
"Excuse me," I murmur, pushing through a crowd of three men discussing something trivial in the middle of the floor. "People dance here."
I decided that I wasn't going to be exploring anything further than the first floor. Being kicked out in front of everyone out there might just be the most mortifying thing in my life, and would most likely ruin my audition tomorrow. So I decide to make my way toward the food table in hopes that maybe I will find Carter. Without Sky.
What's the point of having a sister if she leaves you lost in the middle of a party?
The food table is on the edge of the floor to the right, and surprisingly, the crowd is thin here. The tablecloth is a shimmering gold, which matches the strange tapestries strung around the entire ballroom space, lit underneath by muted lights. My mind wonders for a brief moment on how much this is party cost to fund.
I take another glass of the crystal looking drink. Indulging in just a sip, I quickly cast my gaze around, looking for the fair haired friend of mine who is supposed to be working here.
"Seen him?" I hear a girl attempt to whisper somewhere close to me.
Subtle, I turn my head so I could listen. I'm not exactly sure what I am listening to, but it makes me feel a little less abandoned. To make myself looks seemingly less awkward, I take a small pastry thing off the table and chew on it absently.
"Obviously not," the other replies. She has a thick Desire Pack accent that seems to be getting rarer here.
Slowly, I twist around so I could look at them, pretending to be inspecting the party over their shoulders. The first girl who spoke mustn't be from here. Her hair is a bright blonde and the curls are too voluptuous to fit into the specifications for this Pack being your birthplace. Despite looking lost as she keeps turning her head at the crowd, she is strikingly pretty with her emerald eyes that match her dress exactly.
The other girl is clearly from this Pack. The sleek, dark hair and round brown eyes. Her dress is tight fitting, like mine, however, hers is simple, mature and sophisticated. It leaves me feeling ridiculous.
"He's probably upstairs, covered in pretty girls," the blonde girl says in irritation, leaning her elbow against the table.
"You know this isn't the first party he has hosted as Alpha," the other girls murmurs, flicking her hair back. "Nobody really ever sees him, unless of course they are lying. I believe he goes off to another Pack and lets everyone trash his home."
I frown. They are talking about Asher.
"We can't just come here and never see him!"
"He doesn't want to be bothered by commoners like us, Morgan."
The blonde girl, Morgan, looks bothered by this. She swipes up a glass like the one in my hand and drowns the liquid, following it with another. She lazily wipes a bit off her pink lipstick, leaning fully back against the table as if it's really something to rest on.
"It's been my dream to actually see him. You know they say his eyes look ornamented because they are that golden," Morgan commented.
"That's a stretch..."
"It's not, I swear!" Morgan protests, turning to her friend, who has a questionable smile on her face. "I'll prove it to you if you help me find him."
Morgan reminds me a lot of Sky. Where is that backstabbing sister of mine anyway? I really hope she isn't breaching her vows of marriage with some handsome Desire Pack member from main street.
"Will you shut up if I do this?"
"Yes..."
The girl stands and takes Morgan's hand, leading her into the crowd of dancing people, and I lose sight of them.
I let out a deep breath, before my eyes catch sight of where the bathrooms are. I make my way toward them.
The bathrooms are probably worth more than my house. The mirrors are lined on the outside with large crystals that set a soft reflexing of colour onto the stalls. My heels click musically against the marble floor, which seems almost reflective. Perhaps I might just stay in here where it is quiet and cool with none of that addictive drink.
Standing in the mirror, I pulling the invitation out of my bra, turning it over.
See you tonight.
~A
I run my finger over it. What does this mean? My mind wonders to one particularly ridiculous reason that I try dismiss immediately. What if Asher wrote this? Why would he want to meet with me anyway? Surely he doesn't even know I exist.
The door to the bathroom suddenly opens and I shove the invitation back into my bra.
A girl wearing a pretty violet dress wanders in, her lipstick slightly smeared. Clearly she has been making out with someone in the party. When she looks at me, I quickly look down, pretending to wash my hands. When she disappeared into one of the stalls, I quickly walked toward the door, pushing it open.
However, I wasn't back into the ballroom.
Exhaling slowly, I step out into a narrow hallway. The carpet is a sultry red colour, my shoes sinking into it. Nothing about the eerily cold corridor breathes familiarity. I surely didn't leave through the wrong door, did I?
Twisting around, I reopen the door I came through. Instead of the lavious bathroom I had previously been in, it was a small broom closet floating with dust.
I close it slowly, shaking my head. Something must have been in that drink.
Moving down the hallway, I keep my eyes trained on the door at the left wall near the end. The picture frames on the wall glare at me, the cold eyes belonging to the faceless people causing my skin to shiver. I don't waste anytime opening the door, falling into the room as an escape from the creepy hallway.
The room is bland. Quite literally nothing is to be seen aside from windowless walls painted in an off white colour.
No thank you.
Turning around, I open the door. Again, another broom closet.
"What's going on?" I question into the air. Clearly those drinks are laced with some kind of hallucinatory drug.
Then I hear the sound of someone clearing their throat from behind me. "Lost?"
I gasp, turning around. All of the sudden, the silk like invitation is in my hand, the little hand written note facing up.
"I see you got my note."
~AlayaI'm not sure why my mind decided the man in front of me should have been Alpha Asher. It works in a strange way like that. So when it saw that the man is not in fact Asher, I was oddly disappointed.Instead, the man doesn't have the magnificent golden eyes I had expected. They are the same hazel to dark brown colour that most Desire Pack members sport. He has rather bland features too, however, he is still attractive. He can be as attractive as he wants, it doesn't make me any less creeped out."You left this?" I question, holding the invitation.He must have just come from the party considering he is wearing a flashy suit and his hair is styled aptly. As he glances down at the invitation, I notice the way his eyes cloud with confusion, a slight frown crossing his forehead before he nodded, almost warily.
~AlayaI was jostled awake by someone pulling at my feet.Pulling my legs up to my chest, I groan in protest at Sky's use of her key way of waking me up back when we were kids. She grabs the edge of my duvet before I could pull it straight over my head. My head aches too much for sunlight today."Wake up, would you?" Sky prompts, yanking the sheets right to the edge of the bed so I was exposed.I raised my head to glower at her before I shoved it back into the pillow."We need to talk about last night," Sky insists. This actually sinks in, causing me to finally raise myself up enough to give her my full attention. Last night was the party, full of dancing and clear liquid and...I can't really remember. I don't even remember how I got home, which means I must have gotten blackout drunk.
~Alaya"You've made a mistake."The woman behind the desk sighed, dragging her eyes away from her computer to finally look up at me. I've been insistently tapping her service bell for attention, which she didn't seem bothered to supply."We don't make mistakes," she replies fanatically, clearly trying to get me to turn and leave her office.This is what I get for coming to an information centre for help. My invitation is a mistake, and I've come to clear I up here, with people who directly work for Alpha Asher. At least they say they are. If Asher can handle this woman, then he must be extremely patient."Look," my eyes draw down to her name tag pinned to her neatly ironed teal shirt, "Miss Bell, but I never applied for invitation, which makes this invali
~AlayaThis time, I may have a clear idea of what I want, but I'm still completely drowned in the atmosphere.Being alone isn't really an option, as I stumble into the crowd, shrouded by so many people I could consider them all my dance partner. The musky scent of expensive perfume around me is as intoxicating as the alcohol someone has shoved into my hand again. It's the same clear liquid from last time, which I blamed my lost memory on.I weave my way between everyone's limbs, while trying not to draw attention to me. My plan is to find out who is behind my invitation, or at least why I'm here.The table lined with food and beverages is similar to last year, except it's missing the two girls from last year. They were one of my last memories before everything went blank.
~AlayaI whirled around at the sound of the voice.No one was there, that I could see. Instead, there was a small cut into the building, bathed in shadows. Someone was hidden in there, in one of the most unnerving places possible. If I had been tempted by the drinks on offer in the party, I might have thought I imagined the voice."Come out for some fresh air?"At the man's words, I suddenly became aware of the air around me. This dress may be beautiful, but it does little to protect me from the extremities of a Desire Pack nightfall. Frigid air from the Independence Pack often blows down the mountains, plaguing the air where the buildings and crowds are thinner. Just like atop the hill, where this estate has been built."Who are you?" I question, the heels of my shoes sinking into the grass.I hear a faint chuckle. "Such an empty question considering I dwell
~AlayaI keep glancing behind me; each time confirming that the safe with all the money is actually real.My mind spins with options. I could take the money to Sky, but she would send me straight to the police, who would ask where it came from. The answer is, I don't know. After the party last night - which obviously did not have a memorable enough ending for me to remember it - I feel dazed and delirious.There is no way I intentionally took this money. I even lock my doors and windows at night, so I can't imagine someone breaking in. Who would leave me millions of dollars anyway? Nothing makes sense...So, I'm going to do something terrible. I'm going to get rid of the money.I pulled the car to the side of the road, glad no one else is down here. I would be worried if they were. T
~Alaya"You're lying.""Does it look like I'm lying?"Sky's eyes drag down my dress deliberately, her hand covering her mouth as if I can't see the shock. The dress arrived the day after my invitation did, ready to the party tonight. I decided to open up to Sky for advice. There is no way I would be able make the decision on whether to go or not by myself.I hand the invitation to Sky, and her mouth fell open further. "How? You said you never applied...Did you go to the information centre?""Of course," I say flatly. "This is the third year Sky. The problem is, I can't remember what happened at any of the parties past a certain point. I'm not even sure how I got back to my bed, if I was even in control of that.""Well you have to go to at least find out why-""As far as my memory serves, th
~AlayaFrom what I remember, the party is significantly different from last year.My gaze first found the feature in the centre. A giant tower of champagne glasses drenched in a constant flow of glistening golden alcohol. People stood around it, admiring the extravagance of it all. Then I drank in the sight of the people, each adorned in obsidian suits and glistening silver dresses.I felt like an opposing force against an army of wealth. I'm dressed in gold.People stare. Some bitter, some envious, some acquisitive. The focus of the room is suddenly on me, and I'm suddenly unsure of what to do with myself.I look around at the rest of the