Silver Lining

Chapter Twenty Seven

 As I wash the ash and blood off my body, I can't stop thinking about one thing. Niles never showed up at the castle. Did he expect us to show up? Oh my God. Maybe me and my friends are the enemy agency!

It all makes sense now.

A knock on the door snaps me out of my unsettling thoughts. I rinse my body and turn the water off. I dry off with a light blue towel. Someone knocks on the door again.

"Ella, do you want to wear my pajamas?" Luna asks.

I wrap the towel around my body. "Yeah. Just leave them on my bed. Thanks."

"You're welcome."

I open the door and walk down the hall to my bedroom. A pair of pajamas covered with yellow stars and panties are laid out on my light purple bed. I rub some ambrosia scented lotion from my purse on myself before getting dressed. When I'm done, someone knocks on the door.

"Come in!" I yell, putting my towel on the black dresser.

Luna comes in, with Amber right behind her. Both of them have big smiles on their faces. Luna whispers in Amber's ear. Amber approaches me, holding a hot pink blindfold. It matches her hot pink silk night gown. I look at her with a furrowed brow.

"What are you going to do with that?"

"We have a surprise for you. But you have to close your eyes first," Amber says.

Right after I close my eyes, she puts the blindfold on them. She grabs my shoulder and leads me out of the room. Then, we stop in a warm room. I end up sitting on a sleeping bag. When Amber takes the blindfold off my eyes, I realize what the surprise is.

Alicia, Cleo and Orion are sitting on black sleeping bags in front of me. Alicia's light purple night gown sparkles under the light in here. Orion and Cleo have on sky blue pajamas with clouds on them. I smile. Amber sits next to me, clapping her hands in excitement.

"We thought it'd be fun to celebrate with a slumber party."

"Cool. What should we do first?" I respond, relaxing my shoulders.

"We're about to talk about what we want to do while we're in Paratopia. I'll go first. I want to get out more."

Since the battle from this morning, I had no idea what I wanted to do here. I'm just glad I don't have to look over my shoulder anymore. My butterfly tattoo just looks like a regular tattoo. For once, the coast is clear.

Alicia runs out of the room, when her phone chimes on her lap. Silence lingers in the room. Cleo and Orion stare at me. Oh right. It's my turn to talk.

"I want to stay single for a while. You know, so I can get to know myself."

"Same. I can't even look at men without thinking they'll manipulate me," Orion admits, twirling her hair.

 It's supposed to be Alicia's turn, but she's not here. So things get quiet again. Orion's answer sticks with me. I don't know if I can trust another man either. My entire relationship with Owen felt like a lie.

I shift uncomfortably on my sleeping bag, as last night crosses my mind. Shit. Owen is the last person I want to think about, but my mind is trying to fuck with me. Amber turns to me and opens her mouth.

"Do you want to watch a movie or something?"

"Yeah. I want to focus on something else," I answer, pulling my knees up to my chest.

"Alright. We're all watching a movie, then."

"Thank you."

"No problem."

Amber grabs a black remote and turns the tv on. A movie called 'Spell It Out' comes on. It begin with a light skinned mixed girl taking a basket of cookies and an apology from her brown skinned classmate. Five minutes later, all thoughts of Owen fade from my mind.

I'm invested in the mixed girl's trip to that hotel. During the kissing scene, Luna and Alicia come back with light blue cups. They give us the cups, and sit down on the sleeping bags with us. I sip from my cup, and get more relaxed as I drink the strawberry smoothie. This is exactly what I need.

 "Do you like your smoothie?" Alicia whispers.

 I smile at her. "Hell yeah." 

 "I put in a special ingredient."

 "Oh really? What is it?" 

 "Rum. I thought we all deserved a little something to soothe us out after everything that happened."

 "I love you, Alicia." 

 "Aww. I love you too, Nyx." 

 She leans on me. I take another sip of my smoothie, while the white dude in the movie gets out of the shower. Orion laughs for no reason. I glance at her in confusion. What's so funny? 

 Just when the mixed girl is about have lunch with her friends, a commercial comes on. We all groan. That Folgers commercial annoys me. I don't even drink coffee, so I check my phone. 

 I don't remember bringing my phone in here, but that doesn't matter. A photo of Helen and Niles raising shot glasses shows up on my feed. It's been posted by lunephotography. At least, Luna knows what 'mission' Niles went on. Only one thing bothers me this time.

 How the hell does Niles know Helen?