Page 29 of The Last De Loughrey Dynasty

“Are you okay?” I gaped at her in concern. She was so full of life a few minutes ago, but now her cheeks had lost all their colour, and her eyes blinked rapidly while her entire body trembled. Was she ill?

Maisie slowly shook her head. A whimper escaped her lips and she began to fully lean into the boy by her side. Nathaniel looked at Archer before he asked Maisie, “we’re going to get some air, okay?” pressing his lips gently against her temple. His girlfriend nodded and lay her head against his chest, taking a deep, shaky breath before he led her through the crowd.

My eyes followed them until they were out of sight and I exhaled, utterly overwhelmed by how quickly she’d gotten sick. “We should tell a teacher in case—”

Archer placed his hand at the centre of my back, keeping me from turning towards the table where the faculty sat. “She’ll be alright. Mai has this sometimes. She starts to feel terribly sick all of a sudden, but Nathaniel knows what to do.” Archer assured me, but he had lowered his voice as if he didn’t want anyone else to hear. Mistrust began to rise in me at that statement because I had never seen, nor had Maisie informed me about such episodes. If he had told me the truth, she would have already done so herself. I knew all of her, from the importance of things in her life down to the unimportant details. Maisie would have told me.He was definitely lying.

“Are you feeling okay?” he questioned me, and I nodded, even though I didn’t know why exactly he assumed I wasn’t. I could see that in his eyes. He had this suspicious expression that I had seen a thousand times in my life so far.

“I think so… are you?” When I looked closer, he looked terribly pale underneath all that fake blood on the side of his face.

Archer blinked a few times before he answered, “Don’t know. Look, I’ll tell Jesse and Naomi where Mai and Nathaniel went, in case they wonder. Just stay here, I’m right back.”

He moved past me as if he were rushing. He wouldn’t have to if everything was alright. Sometimes I wonder if people were so unknowing that they believed they could mask their lies flawlessly, or if they simply didn’t care at all.

Secrets were concealed within the depths of this night, and it appeared that no one wanted me to discover them.

Someone struck me in the side and ice-cold water, or rather lemonade, penetrated my skin. I shrieked at the sticky feeling washing over me.

“I am so sorry,” the boy apologised with a laugh, not bothering to offer me his help to clean this up before he ran off again. I looked around, searching for something to dry my costume that was soaked in lemonade. It was even tickling down my legs. There were a few napkins, but they wouldn’t do the job. I rushed through the crowd, deciding to go for the blow-dryer in the public bathrooms instead.

The corridors were dark except for a few old lamps gleaming lightly on the walls. It was almost a scary feeling to walk through the school at night while the lamps flickered, creating shadows dancing on the stone walls.

I burst into the girl’s bathroom as if someone was following me, which, as I hoped, wasn’t the case.

Switching the lights on, I’m greeted by a “defect” sign hanging at the blow-dryer.

This is perfect, just perfect.

The only other thing left were the paper towels, which I grabbed five at once and started drying the skin on my arm before I concentrated on getting my clothes just slightly dry.

“Of course, it must be lemonade, why not something non-sticky?” I mumbled, annoyed, uncomfortable with the stickiness on my skin. I threw the used paper towels onto the sink, about to grab another handful when from the corner of my eye, I caught a face staring at me through the mirror. I spun around with a gasp, but she was gone again. With a racing heart, I turned slowly back around, taking the paper towels to dry the rest of my dress with trembling hands.

Everything is fine.Everything is perfectly alright.

This wasn’t happening again. I was safe and alone.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a long moment.

You’re fine, Dorothee.

It’s just Halloween, a hard day every year, but you’ll manage. You do it every time.

Peeling my eyes open again, I feared that I'd see the girl who had been behind me a minute ago, but there was no one. I was alone.

“Thank God,” I exhaled shakily, taking a few slow and steady breaths to calm my nerves. Perhaps I shouldn’t have dressed as a black swan. Maybe my nerves were a wreck because of the damn costume—a character with psychological problems. Or I’m just too tired for all of this. I shouldn't have stayed up studying for so long last night.

Taking one last look in the mirror, I made sure I was alone before I left the bathroom, switching the lights off behind me.

The lamp next to the bathroom had burned out while I was trying to dry my costume, leaving a dark room between the two other lamps that were about four metres away from each other.

Why does that always happen to me?

“I hate the lights. They remind me of the flames,” a voice behind me exclaimed, causing me to flinch and turn around. My eyes widened, and my breathing became shallow. Then my limbs froze, and my head began to spin at the sight of her.

“Do you like the light, Dorothee?” She tilted her head in question.

I screamed.

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