even though my eyes are getting heavy and I know I'm just seconds away from a reset and a morning spent at the Gas and Go, I don't care.
I know I'll never be able to try anything that drastic again.
Hot afternoon sun cascades across my closed lids, as bright and blazing as the pretend sunrise I saw when I was half-drowned and floating. Blinking my eyes, I squint against a scene I never thought I'd live to see: the aftermath of the Devils' Day party.
Crescent Prep students stumble through the woods in fantastical costumes, their magic stolen by the reaching rays of the hungry sun. Masks are pushed up or tossed aside, makeup is smeared, and a very familiar girl with blue hair searches the leaves for her pants, cursing as she snags the glittering slacks from a pile of dry leaves.
I sit up, the black and silver star blanket falling forward as a small choking noise catches in my throat. The fire in front of me is nothing like the beast of orange and yellow flames from the bonfire last night. Instead, it's just a little crackle, with Raz sitting on a stone beside it, a marshmallow on the end of a long stick. As soon as he sees me sitting up, he turns to look at me with blue eyes surrounded by black-framed glasses, his red contacts taken out some time ago.
“She's awake,” he says as I look over and find Calix with one of last night's beer bottles halfway to his lips, his crown of thorns askew, his dark eyes stripped bare.
“Good morning,” Barron says, sitting up beside me, the butterfly on his bare chest catching the light, his sketchbook lying open beside him. The image he's drawn is one of me, floating beneath the water, my hair tangled, my dress a cloud of lace. My eyes lift to find his dual-colored ones.
“Morning …” I start as Luke stumbles over, once again wearing her slacks. She sits down heavily on the log next to Raz, giving him a sideways look as he stares at me. When she notices that Barron and Calix are staring, too, she raises a brow in confusion.
“Something happen last night that I should know about?” she asks as April makes her way over to us, clutching a blanket and a pillow against her side.
“No,” Calix says, still watching me. “Nothing you should know about.”
A small sob tears from me, but on the end of that sound … there's a bit of laughter. It’s the exact opposite of the sound I made last night, from melancholy to joyous instead of the other way around.
And it’s fucking fantastic.
It escapes me like a swarm of butterflies, twirling up through the smoke from the campfire, and disappearing into the too-blue sky above the trees.
“What time is it?” I whisper, and Luke pauses to glance down at her phone. Now that it's morning, the net that held all our phones last night is lying on the ground not far from the parking area.
“It's almost one, holy shit. You should probably call your moms?” Luke says, and I smile as she hands over her phone. I dial up my parents and close my eyes, waiting for Jane's voice to greet me.
“Luke?” she asks, a slight tension in her voice as she waits to hear what's going on. I could die from happiness at the sound, my heart swelling inside my chest, my mind bursting with brilliant color. That’s the only way I can think to describe my emotions in that moment, like a rainbow arching across the darkness of last night and overshadowing it.
“It's just me,” I say, loving the feel of the sun on my face. My hand shakes as I clutch Luke’s phone, happy tears pricking the edges of my eyes. “I just wanted to let you know that … I'm okay.”
“Good. I know how those Devils' Day parties can be,” she says, hesitating briefly. “Don't rush home today, okay? Enjoy your time with your friends.”
“I will, and I love you,” I whisper, hanging up and opening my eyes again.
“There's a video of you two online,” a girl in a witch's mask says, pausing near us and gesturing with her phone toward me and Calix. “Just thought you'd want to know.”
Calix and I exchange a look, and he grits his teeth. But you know what? The universe demands balance. Guess Erina was full of shit, after all, huh? Then again, if that’s the price I have to