Page 52 of An Arcane Education
“Wait!” I yell after her, desperate to fix this somehow. “Just tell me what happened. I’ll walk back with you.”
“Can’t you take a hint?” she hisses. When she sees my hurt expression, she softens her voice to something almost desperate. Her eyes are brimming with tears. “Please. I just need some time by myself right now.”
I sigh. “Okay. I’ll give you some space then, and I’ll see you later, okay?”
She nods once then walks away, and I’m left reeling. What the hell happened in there? It seemed to be going so well.
Ignoring the patterned wallpaper in the hallway that only makes me dizzier, I head back into the suite, where the party is continuing as if nothing transpired. When I catch sight of Callista in the far corner, I make a beeline to her, though as soon as she sees me, she does the same. We meet in the middle, and she clutches my hands in hers.
“Vivian, I am so sorry about what happened with Max. Those assholes won’t be at another party ever again if I can help it.” Her tone is harsher than I’ve ever heard it, and that only makes the pit in my stomach grow. If whatever happened was enough to getherangry, then it must be bad.
“What happened? I wasn’t in the room, so all I know is that Max got upset, was yelling at Victor, then stormed out.”
Callista’s expression is filled with remorse. “From what I’ve gathered, Victor and his two friends, Blaine and Marie, were being extra friendly to Max, and when she let her guard down, one of them spiked her drink with truth serum. Apparently, they asked her multiple inappropriate personal questions before she realized what was happening and understandably freaked out.”
My stomach rolls at the revelation. Drugging someone’s drink with truth serum? That’s fucked up on so many different levels, and I can only imagine how embarrassing it must feel to divulge your secrets to someone who’s actively taking advantage of you.
“Where the hell are they?” I ask through clenched teeth, looking around the room for any sign of his distinctive blonde hair. I’ll kick his ass myself.
“They’re gone already. They just got kicked out as we’ve been talking, actually, and they only lasted this long because I told the guys who live here that they needed to let Max get a head start so they don’t run into each other.”
“Good.”
A server walks by, and I snag another glass of wine against my better judgment. Callista raises her eyebrow at me but says nothing.
“Max wants some alone time, so I may as well make the most of my night here, right?” I joke, but it falls flat.
She stares at me for a second before she shrugs and downs her own glass of wine, then chases down the retreating server for another.
“Here, follow me,” she murmurs, grasping my forearm and gently pulling me to the room I’d been in earlier. Butinstead of ushering me to one of the chairs, she guides me to the bookshelf.
“Oh, I’m not in much of a reading mood right now,” I protest, vaguely aware that my words are slow and heavy.
“Shush,” she says just before pulling back the spine of an old encyclopedia. There’s a soft click before the entire shelf moves, swinging inward a few inches. Callista flashes me a wicked grin. “Welcome to therealfun.”
I follow her through, into a small room that serves as a middle point between the bookshelf and a massive balcony.
Close to a dozen people congregate on the smooth stone, leaning on the railing or lounging on plush pillows scattered across the ground.
“How is it so warm up here?” I ask in amazement.
“It’s enchanted. It lets through a little of the fresh air from out there—” she gestures to the black expanse of the sea “—but only enough for it to be cool and breezy up here.”
We find an empty spot on the railing and both lean against it, looking out over the inky blackness and listening to the sound of waves crashing against the jagged cliffs of the coast. I inhale the fresh air of the sea breeze as the wind sweeps through my hair and close my eyes for a brief moment. The impossibility of this moment, of this entire place, hits me once again, and I’m overwhelmed with a strange sort of bittersweetness. I’ve always had big dreams for myself, but I stuffed them away into the corners of my mind more and more as time went on, until I’d given up almost completely on building a future for myself. My desires became far-offdreams while I took care of what really mattered—my family.
It always felt selfish to want something grand for myself when I knew it would mean inconveniencing everyone else. But is it really so selfish to put yourself first when your other option is to be anchored down, always wondering what your potential could have been and never finding out?
I glance over at Callista, who seems just as deep in thought. I wonder what kind of life she comes from. On the other side of her, two men are speaking in low tones and smoking pipes of something that smells like a mixture of tobacco and herbs.
“This is my favorite place in this building,” Callista says softly. “I love being up so high, able to see everything from such a different perspective. I like feeling on top of the world.”
“It’s beautiful up here,” I agree.
We stand in silence for another few seconds before she turns and seems to shake herself out of the thoughtfulness she’d slipped into.
“Anyway,” she says, switching into her typical playful demeanor in an instant, “there’s another reason this is my favorite place at these parties. Only a handful of people know this is out here, so it’s a lot more… exclusive.”
She turns away from the view to look at the people around us with a mischievous smile, and I follow her lead. Apparently, I hadn’t been paying much attention when I’d walked out here with her, because through my dancing vision I now see activity atop the floor pillows that Idefinitelyhadn’t noticed before.
