did.’
‘Good.’ Sofia nodded, and turned back to where the ghost of Gracious Goldberry had stood moments earlier. ‘Take that, you nasty old fool.’
Morrigan grinned.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The Sunset Gala
As the event planner for Nevermoor’s most glamorous hotel, Frank was the city’s undisputed Lord of the Party, but his mood had taken a dark turn this summer. As the Hollowpox took hold of Nevermoor, event after event had been scaled back or postponed or, in most cases, altogether cancelled. Jupiter didn’t want to put any of the guests or staff at risk, nor could he bear to hurt his Wunimal friends by singling them out and asking them to stay away. It had been a very quiet summer at the Deucalion indeed … except for Frank’s constant, very loud complaining about the injustice of it all.
After weeks of wailing, Jupiter finally relented and said Frank could throw a little themed supper for guests staying at the hotel.
Then, while Jupiter was distracted by his all-consuming work on the Hollowpox task force, Frank added a few valued regulars and longtime friends of the Deucalion to the guestlist.
At some point in the week, Morrigan noticed he’d stopped referring to it as a supper – now it was a ‘little soiree’. Then a ‘dance’. By the time Jupiter left for the Bazaar on Friday evening and the guests began to arrive, Frank was welcoming people to the ‘Hotel Deucalion end-of-summer Sunset Gala’.
‘Gala?’ Kedgeree said heatedly. ‘Frank, this was supposed to be a dinner. Do you know what the difference is between a dinner and a gala? About two hundred people, that’s what.’
‘Goodness, I know. Isn’t it dreadful?’ Frank was utterly unable to hide his glee as a cavalcade of motorcars pulled up noisily in the forecourt. ‘I suppose word got out that I was throwing a little do, and people just couldn’t stay away. Bless them.’
Kedgeree rounded up Fen and the rest of the staff, and they decided the only thing to do was to keep things under control and shut it down at the first sign of trouble. It wouldn’t do to bother Jupiter now – it was the last night of the Bazaar, after all, and he had much bigger fish to fry.
Morrigan realised Jupiter would be furious, but she couldn’t help feeling a little excited about the party, even if she knew it was somewhat ill-advised. The summer had been so long, tense and boring, punctuated by disappointments and terrible news … truly, she’d been yearning for a bit of fun.
Frank had chosen his ‘Sunset Gala’ theme to celebrate the end of summer and usher in the autumn chill. The lobby had transformed from floor to ceiling into the most beautiful sunset Morrigan had ever seen. The chequerboard tiles had turned all black, and the walls looked like they’d been dip-dyed in shades of peach, pink and yellow. The black bird chandelier had given itself a temporary makeover, becoming an enormous ball of shimmering gold, high up near the ceiling. As the night wore on, it deepened to orange and then to a brilliant red, sinking lower and lower like a sun slowly setting. Guests had been asked to wear all black, and the effect was breathtaking: they were silhouettes against a fiery horizon.
Trees had grown up from the lobby floor again, reminding Morrigan of the Christmas forest – but these were the leafy, deciduous kind. They swayed in a breeze that seemed to come from nowhere. Early in the evening it smelled of jasmine, citrus and the ocean, then later as the sun set and the leaves began to curl and change colour, it smelled of rain and apples and rich, dark soil. By midnight, the leaves were a thousand shades of orange and red, the temperature in the lobby had subtly dropped, a fire was roaring in the hearth and the scent of wood smoke filled the air.
All the guests agreed that the Sunset Gala was a sensory triumph and the hottest ticket in town that night. Hundreds of hopeful gatecrashers were turned away at the door … but the later it got, the bigger the party seemed to grow.
Morrigan had invited Hawthorne and Cadence, and also managed to lure Jack from his room, where he’d spent most of the past week sulking. He even obligingly pulled his eye patch aside to play Morrigan’s favourite party game. The four of them were stationed behind the concierge desk for maximum visibility of the guests (and proximity to the door from which the party