Page 31 of The Dazzling Heights
She wondered if Avery would bring anyone as a date. Probably not. After all, what was she going to do, come to the party with her brother? The last person Avery had brought to anything was Watt, and look how that had turned out.
Leda was struck by a sudden idea. What ifshebrought Watt to the gala? He might prove useful, with that computer of his—maybe he even had a way to communicate with it remotely, dig up intel for her in real time, on Avery and Rylin and anyone else dumb enough to get in Leda’s way.
And as an added bonus, it would look like she’d stolen Watt from Avery. Everyone remembered meeting him at the University Club party with Avery, and now they would see him on Leda’s arm, paying attention toher. For once, it would seem like a boy had chosen Leda Cole over the flawless and untouchable Avery Fuller.
She smiled, pleased with the notion, even as a dark, hateful part of her whispered to herself that it wouldn’t be real. After all, Watt wasn’t actually choosing her. Leda would have to force him into coming, blackmail him the way she blackmailed everyone in her life lately.
But then, who had ever truly chosen Leda?
AVERY
AVERY HAD ALWAYSloved her bedroom, which she’d decorated herself: with its enormous four-poster princess bed, its scrollwork wallpaper deftly hiding all the touch screens, its two-dimensional paintings in their antique gilt mirrors. But now it felt like nothing so much as an ornate, blue-and-cream prison.
Atlas was still in the study with their dad, discussing the Dubai news that Pierson had dropped on them like a bomb. Avery knew that Atlas would flicker her as soon as he could. She just hoped he’d be able to convince their dad to abandon the whole plan.
She paced back and forth, still wearing her shimmering party dress, her hair twisted up in an elaborate knot and decorated with little gold beads that had apparently been the party planner’s idea. She’d sat still for almost an hour while the hairdresser painstakingly wove them into her hair, because while the styler did have a few settings for updos, everyone recognized those a mile away. Avery and her mom always had their hair done by a human professional before big events.
It all felt impossibly, dangerously heavy, as if every pin and bead—every stone around her neck, the diamonds in her ears—was dragging Avery inexorably down.
She hurried to her vanity in a sudden panic, her breath coming quick and shallow. Her hands fumbled as she tore at the pins, yanking them out violently, not caring that it hurt.
Eventually the pins and beads were scattered over the counter, her hair a tangled mess around her shoulders. Avery’s heart was still racing. She fell back on her bed to stare up at the ceiling, which was modeled after one she’d admired in Florence, though hers was rendered in a moving hologram—complete with live-action brushstrokes. She thought back over every little gesture that she and Atlas might have made in front of their parents, to give them away. No matter which path her thoughts led her down, she kept arriving at the same terrible sense of foreboding.
A flicker finally came through.Aves. I talked to him.
She started upright.And?!
There was a pause, and then,He’s pretty set on the move. But we’re going to talk more later. Don’t worry.
That didn’t sound good.Avery slid off the bed. She’d waited long enough—she needed to see Atlas, hold him in her arms; actually talk to him, not through flickers or stolen whispers but for real.
“Do Not Disturb mode,” she whispered as she stepped into the hallway. The words filtered through her contacts, alerting the various room comps that they shouldn’t automatically turn on the lights or heated floors as she moved through the apartment. It was a function that Avery and her friends used to employ all the time for sneaking out late at night.
She tried to walk carefully, but her feet were betraying her, tripping over each other in her eagerness. Avery practically had to remind herself to breathe.
“Avery? Is that you?”
Her dad was sitting in a leather armchair in the living room—which wasn’t his usual spot at all; usually he sat at the ponderous wooden desk in his study—in near total darkness. He held a tumbler of scotch casually in his left hand. It felt somehow like he’d been lying in wait, trying tocatchAvery, like he’d been expecting her to sneak this way.
Avery stopped in her tracks, calling up what she hoped was a smile, but it was coming out all funny and distorted. Her chest tightened in panic. “What are you still doing up?” she asked, using Atlas’s technique. Answer a question with another question.
“Just thinking things over.”
“I was getting a drink of water.” She sidestepped toward the kitchen as if it had been her destination all along. She knew it was suspicious that she’d been creeping around in Do Not Disturb mode, barefoot and still in her party dress, but it couldn’t be helped.
“You do know that your room comp can get that for you,” her dad said, almost challenging. His gaze was glittering and watchful in the darkness, as if he could see through the layers of her many lies to the harsh truth underneath.
“I couldn’t fall asleep, and I thought walking around might help. It’s been a long night, you know.”
Even though her heart was pounding, Avery moved breezily into the kitchen and reached into the cupboard for a temp-controlled cup. She knew that even a hint of hesitation would give her away. Her dad’s silhouette was just barely visible, a shadow starkly drawn against the darker shadows of the room beyond.
Avery filled the cup from the tap, then pushed the temp setting on the cup’s handle to chill the water within. The silence stretched out so painfully, she imagined she could hear tiny screams inside it. She took a small sip, fighting a growing sense of nausea. Why did it feel like her dad was weighing her every move?
“Avery. I know you’re upset about Atlas moving to Dubai,” he surprised her by saying.
Avery wandered toward him and took the opposite armchair. Her dad gestured impatiently with his wrist, and the lights in the room flickered on to dim.
“I was caught off guard by the announcement,” she said truthfully. “But it sounds like a cool job. Atlas will be good at it.”
