Midnight's Song (26 page)

“I was actually thinking something
more along the lines of a fairy queen,” I mutedly expressed in her
direction.

There was no way to hide what
uncertainty I was feeling over all of this. It’s not like dressing
up as anything would have been my first choice – but it seemed that
a fairy queen would be easy enough. Plus, every little girl wants
to be a fairy. I was sure that since all of the people attending
tonight could clearly afford it; there would be a fair amount of
rich girls dressed more-or-less in the same costume. It would mean
that I wasn’t out of place.

I didn’t care if it was my night or
not; I didn’t want to be out of place.

“Well, considering that the Magistrate
has many friends among the crowd tonight I would advise we just
call you a butterfly instead.” Wren winked at me, but I could tell
that her response was all but whimsically true.

Oh well, it was still a common costume
all the same! I wanted to be pretty at best, bland and unnoticed at
worst. However, Wren insisted that I make an impression. My aunt
had forcibly ensured that tonight I would “shine” whether I wanted
to or not. Soon enough, I found glitter embezzling my body and a
light-blue dress hugging my body that’s long, trailing sleeves made
me look like a woman living 1,000 years before my time. I slipped
my arms through the armholes as Wren laced it up from the
back.

“You look wonderful,” she beamed
before my reflection in the mirror. Though, I still wasn’t
sure.

It wasn’t that I
didn’t feel wonderful. It’s just that…well, when I looked at my
reflection I saw someone different. The reflection was of a
different person, someone belonging in a different time and place.
The dress was long and elegant, though it could only be purely
costume on a person like me. The thing that struck me about it was
that I
did
look
like a princess. But, I wasn’t one. That kind of title
didn’t
belong
to
such a confused, lowly, average girl like me. Though, this was a
masquerade. Tonight I could at least pretend that it
did.

“Where are the wings?” I piped up,
attempting to not loose myself by spluttering into an internal
oblivion.

“Oh, they’re right
here,” Wren told me, sounding as if she’d almost forgotten. She
picked up the glittering pair of wings and slipped the two thin
strings connecting them to each other over my shoulders. It seemed
as if it was finished now, but Wren decided that I wasn’t done. No,
I wasn’t done until she added one more detail. “There you
go.
Now you really are a fairy queen! Your
mother would be so proud.”

She had placed a beautiful, silver
tiara on the top of my head that was lined with breathtaking
pearls. In light of the moment, I closed my eyes and twisted a
pearl between my fingers from the strand around my neck just to be
sure that it was still there. It was. I opened my eyes again and
cracked into a slight grin.

“I thought you said I couldn’t be a
fairy queen!” I lightheartedly told her.

“Oh – right! Well, I
never said you couldn’t be a
butterfly
queen
.” Wren gave me a playful tap on the
nose before handing me a flowing, satin cape as the finishing
touch. “And I almost forgot to give you this. Don’t put it on
unless you go outside. I want people to see your beautiful wings!
Now come on, it’s time.”

She took me toward the
door, the band downstairs playing as loud as ever. Stella was
standing on the edge of the hallway on the other side. There was
something about it that made me uneasy. Even though everything
seemed to be fine, the look on her face was as sour as ever. It
made me want to stay as far away from her as humanly
possible.

“Aunt Wren,” Stella quickly told her.
“Grandmamma says she wants you at her bedside tonight instead of at
the ball. She’s in great pain.”

“Oh no…are you sure? I need to stay
with Elissa!”

“Don’t worry Auntie. I will stay and
make sure that she gets all of the treatment that she deserves.”
She flashed a half grin. “Before you go, please be sure to get her
medicines together and bring them up with her favorite meal.
Grandmamma is quite ornery tonight. She insists that you be the
only one who does it. My mother is already there.”

Wren flashed a look of distress, and
then guilty looked downward. I could tell that she felt just as
uneasy about leaving me in Stella’s care as I felt being left
alone. But, Grandmamma apparently needed her. Wren couldn’t abandon
her mother in her pain – especially not for a party.

“Well, I suppose if she truly needs
me…” she trailed off for a moment. “I’ll leave you to
it.”

“Thank you, Aunt Wren,” Stella grinned
in reply. “Grandmamma won’t be disappointed.”

Wren turned her back to us, and Stella
forcibly took my hand. Before she had exited the hallway, Stella
suddenly acted as if she’d just remembered something dire. She
chimed up loudly, saying her words with a nonchalant
flare.

“Oh – I almost forgot! Once you’re
done with Grandmamma, don’t bother with coming back to the dance
hall. She thinks it best for you to remain close to her
tonight.”

When she gave the seemingly carefree
instructions, I could sense a grim undertone come forth in it.
Something just wasn’t right about this, and almost as if Stella
could hear my thoughts telepathically, she clenched my hand more
firmly to tell me that there was no going back. She brimmed with a
fake smile and turned tell me all that she had planned for tonight.
Though, I couldn’t quite shake this feeling. I couldn’t put my
finger on it, but something was apparently different about her that
just wasn’t right.

“Dearest cousin, I
am so excited for you! You look like an angel!” She beamed. “The
guests are arriving right as we speak. Once they’ve all arrived,
I’ll present you as the honored birthday guest! But, you must go
last. The last one introduced is
always
the most
important.”

“Alright…” I uncomfortably nodded in
agreement along with her. “What must I do until then?”

“Ah, I’m glad that you asked!” She
smirked. “Since you’re going to be such a fabulous surprise, you
must wait where they cannot see you.”

Stella then proceeded to yank me by
the arm. She pulled me down the hallway, then down another, and
then another one after that…soon taking me through a seemingly
endless maze. The confusion of the maze was only absolved when we
Stella stopped at a tiny, windowless room by the main stairs. It
was almost the size of a closet and was lit by only a single gas
lamp. With a puny wooden chair sitting in the center of the room,
Stella motioned for me to pick up my skirt and plot myself down on
the wimpy seat.

I looked at her in
disbelief. Not only was this a room where the party-goers couldn’t
see me…it was a place where I wouldn’t be able to see
them.
In the midst of
this strange behavior, I looked toward Stella and cluelessly asked
her what on earth she was planning.

“Stella, why must I wait here? What’s
going on?”

I could hear the violins playing along
with their other stringed counterparts even more loudly now than
before. As Stella shoved me into the room, I could even feel their
vibrations through the floor. I realized that the ballroom must
have been located directly below.

“Relax,” Stella
snidely told me over the music. “I’m not hanging you out to dry.
Just wait here for about 20 minutes. The guests will be introduced
in alphabetical order. After that, I’ll come and get you. Don’t
worry…you’ll be absolutely
perfect.”

A sly grin crept over her face as she
turned from me and quickly shut the door. At that moment – I
realized what had been so off about her. I had been looking at it
the whole time, yet I hadn’t even noticed what it was! Of course I
as apparently decked-out for this, more than Stella would have been
in any case. I was the birthday girl and Wren had insisted on it.
But…when I looked at Stella again I saw that even though this was
supposedly a costume party, the girl wasn’t wearing a
costume!

“Stella, wait!” I called
through the door, pounding on the other side. I knew she was there.
I could still hear her! “Why must you leave me here, and why can’t
I wait someplace else? And why aren’t you wearing a costume? Tell
me what’s really going on!”

After I said it, I placed my hands on
the doorknob. Before I could turn it, Stella abruptly locked the
door from the other side. In unison with the click, I scanned the
room for another key. The door locked from both the outside and the
inside – so there had to be one in here somewhere! But, Stella soon
raised her voice.

“I’m not dressed
because I was busy tending to you, dear!” She told me, almost
shouting. “But don’t worry, I will be! And, I have the other key!
Elissa, why don’t you just trust me?” I continued rattling the wood
with angry knocks, and Stella again screamed at me through the
door. “Give it a rest; this is for your own good!
I promise I’ll come back for you when it’s
time.”

Convinced that Stella’s words were a
lie, I searched the room for another key in vain. After about 10
frantic minutes, I wearily gave up and plotted myself down in the
middle of the dark room. There was not one thing on the wall, not a
single picture, poster, or painting. My only light was the small
gas lamp beside the tiny chair. Even that burned with a flame so
weak I thought it was somehow going to go out.

I nearly started crying right then and
there, but as I heard the doorman begin to announce the party
guests downstairs I attempted to make myself stop. What if Stella
really did intend to do what she had claimed? I mean, it was my
birthday, wasn’t it? In 10 more minutes Stella was going to come
back for me, ready to show me off. If I had puffy eyes and tears
streaming down my face I would just make a fool of myself. Even if
she was going to keep me in here all night, it’s not like I really
wanted to do this anyway…

Okay, maybe I did. Perhaps underneath
it all I actually did want things to go smoothly so that I could be
somewhat presentable and greatly liked. Although, I realized that
at the moment I couldn’t continue to over think things the way that
I was. If I did, I’d surely have a heart attack.

Right now all I knew was that I just
wanted to get through this.

The doorman began calling all of the
A’s. 20 minutes passed, and I realized that the time frame Stella
had given me must have been a joke. She still wasn’t here – and now
the doorman wasn’t even half way through the B’s. This was the
longest, most painstaking list ever, it seemed. I would be here all
night long at this rate!

“
Announcing the arrival of Julia Bremson,”
I mutedly heard through the floor. “
The Honorable Countess Sabrina Burke,”
I heard after that.
“…Lady Olga
Byzantine,”
was the last name I heard
before I began to wander into my own thoughts and drift off to
sleep. It felt like this would never end, so I supposed that a good
nap wouldn’t do me any harm. At least an hour later, Stella stomped
back down the hallway and thrust the door open. The sound of the
door and her shrill voice jolted me wide awake.

“It’s time to go and –” Stella had
opened the door and poked her head through it, but she quickly
halted her sentence when she saw me lying on the floor. “My word –
were you sleeping?”

“Um…yes…I think so,” I told her,
putting a hand on my head as I stood up.

“Well…come on! Your
make-up is still perfect,” she let out a slight laugh. I felt my
chest lower as I expelled a nervous sigh in return. Stella appeared
to be wearing the same clothes that she was beforehand, but now she
wore a simple, jeweled mask. It made me feel a slight amount of
ease to see her clearly dressed for what I
thought
would be a masquerade as
well.

“You’re not dressed to fancifully,” I
softly remarked as she took my arm and led me out of the
closet-like space.

“Well…I couldn’t outshine the birthday
girl, could I?” She slyly chuckled in return.

I quickly took my
hand and made sure that my crown was positioned correctly before
heading down the stairs. I took in a deep breath, seeing the
towering door that separated me from the ballroom. The doorman
looked at me and immediately flashed me a look of concern. At first
I thought he must have been looking over my shoulder at someone
else, but I turned to see no one there but Stella and I. He was
clearly looking at…
me.
It appeared as if he saw something truly wrong. What could it
be? I flashed him a look in reply that begged an answer, but as it
was protocol to do so; he remained silent.

He opened up the
door, Stella going through first and pulling me by the arm behind
her. She began yanking me, trotting toward the front of the grand
staircase so quickly that I tripped over the hem of my dress. When
I picked myself up, I saw that I had been thrust onto the
floor
right at the foot
of the stairs. I was now in plain view of
every attendee.
At my
clumsy mishap, I heard vague outbursts of laughter coming from all
around the room.