4

~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."