Shades of Starlight (Hiatus)

Book Two: Chapter Seventeen

"This is so fun!" I exclaimed, pushing through my racks of fancy dresses. Sophie groaned behind me. We were going to Eternalia to meet Councillor Terik, and we'd have to dress noble to fit in. After Sophie and I had both showered a few times to get rid of the curdleroot stench, I had her come to Candleshade to play dress-up, literally.

"What do you think of this?" I asked, holding up a relatively simple, pleated knee-length teal sundress. Sophie brightened.

"I like that one."

"Nope. Wear this one," I said, tossing her a deep red maxi dress with gold accents. She rolled her eyes and went into my bathroom to get changed. I'd forced Sandor to wait outside so as not to disturb the sacred art of getting dressed.

"Okay, which one should I wear?" I asked Adelow, holding my three finalists up to the spectral mirror. The choices were a thigh-length three-quarter-sleeved beige dress, an evening sleeveless violet tulle, or a ruffled sparkly sky-blue off-the-shoulder ball gown.

"The blue one," Adelow advised. "It'll look best with your eyes and highlights."

"Exactly what I was thinking," I agreed, taking it off the hook.

Sophie came out of the bathroom in the red and gold dress, looking supremely uncomfortable but absolutely beautiful. I squealed, rushing over to her. 

"You look so great! Put these on," I ordered, handing her two-inch gold heels. She examined them distastefully but obeyed.

"Jewelry, hair, and makeup!" I sang, opening the door of my jewelry closet. Sophie looked slightly terrified as Adelow and I picked out thin bracelets, a pretty gold necklace, and ruby earrings, fixing her hair into a neat braid as I dragged her over to the bathroom again for makeup.

"It's only a quick trip," Sophie complained.

"Maybe, but this is our bonding time, remember? I never get to help you pick out clothes," I reminded her. 

"That's because I hate clothes." I mean, I knew wasn't lying. But still! This was fun!

"Hold still. The gold eyeliner and red eye shadow or the red eyeliner and the gold eye shadow, Adelow?" I'd taken my spectral mirror into the bathroom, too.

"Gold eyeliner and red eye shadow."

"Cool." A few minutes later, my masterpiece was finished, and I started on myself. I had so many amazing pieces of jewelry that it was almost impossible to choose, but Sophie finally picked several for me randomly. Drinking a Lovely Locks elixir to make my hair shinier and wavier, I discussed the pros and cons of different hairstyles extensively with Adelow, eventually deciding to just leave my hair down.

Sophie refused to let me spend any more than five minutes on makeup, saying that I'd wasted enough time already. That caused me to panic and only finish putting on mascara and lip gloss. I was ready to go by Sophie's standards. 

But first... Sophie was here. Keefe was here. Sophie looked amazing, and I could guilt her into seeing Keefe. Matchmaking time! This was going to be fun.

"Let's say goodbye to Keefe before we go. He's upset that he can't go with us because Father is making him study," I told Sophie. She shrugged and nodded. Everything that I said was true, so she didn't argue. I knocked on my brother's door.

"Keefe! I have something to show you!" I called, smirking at Sophie.

"Wha-" she started, but fell silent when Keefe opened the door. I pushed Sandor out of Keefe's sightline, grinning evilly.

"Doesn't she look amazing, Keefe?"

"Uh...um, I, uh," Keefe stuttered, his eyes locked on Sophie. She was staring at the floor, blushing furiously.

"Sophie has something to tell you, don't you, Sophie?" I continued, looking at her pointedly. The awkwardness in the air was almost tangible, but I was confident that I'd get results.

"Um, just, uh, just that... um, I'm sorry you-you have to, um, stay here and... study," she mumbled, not looking at any of us. I elbowed her. She chickened out! Come on, that should've been easy. 

Keefe was frozen, looking slightly confused and maybe a little disappointed. Now it was his turn.

"And you have something to tell Sophie, right, Keefe?" I rebounded, glaring at him like: 'if you mess this up, I'm going to kill you'.

"I-I-I don't, I, um," he spluttered. "I, uh, you look... nice." I raised my eyebrows at him, giving him the dirtiest look in the history of the universe.

He stared at me, petrified, staying in place as he swung the door closed in my face.

"Ugggghhhhhhh, you two are the WORST," I moaned, stalking off to the Vortinator. "I give you a great opportunity to tell Keefe you like him, and you both totally blew it!" I paused.

"Do you want me to just tell him you like him? I could do it right now."

"No! No, no, no, I'll do it, I can do it. We can go back again."

"Nope. Moment's ruined. Let's go to Eternalia," I said, pulling her into the Vortinator. She nodded, looking relieved.

Sandor looked extremely confused and more than a bit uncomfortable. I made a mental note to explain Sophie and Keefe's dynamic to him as soon as possible.

The Leapmaster took us there instantly. Sophie inhaled a blast of Fade Fuel and we started on our way to the Councillor's offices.

"These shoes hurt my feet," Sophie complained.

"That means they're working."

"What? Why would it-"

"This one's Councillor Terik's," I announced, leading Sophie to the farthest castle on the end.

"You haven't explained what we're doing here," Sandor said, his hand poised over his weapon as we approached the castle.

"Technically, you never said I had to tell you everything. Just that I would let you come," Sophie reminded him. The goblin scowled but didn't argue.

The front door of the shimmering crystal palace opened before we even reached the top step. Councillor Terik stepped onto the landing with a smile. I curtsied. Sophie didn't seem to remember that that was how you're supposed to greet the Councillors.

"Always a pleasure to see you. I forgot about the bodyguard," Councillor Terik remarked.

"Is Sandor going to be a problem?" I asked.

"More than he already is," Sophie muttered under her breath. I resisted the urge to giggle.

"Not at all. Though I must admit, it's been a long time since I've done an assignment with so little information up front."

"Sorry about that, sir. But it's not crucial that you know everything," I said with a smile.

"It's all right. I understand that you don't know me well enough to open up to me like you did Alden, yet. I'm happy to earn that trust, for now. You ready to go?" He asked, holding a pathfinder up to the light and offering me his hand. I accepted it, glad that it was me and not Sophie that would be holding a Councillor's hand. I was sure that Sophie's would be extraordinarily clammy.

"Where are we going?" Sophie asked Councillor Terik.

"Mysterium," I told her. A smile twitched at the corner of Councillor Terik's mouth.

"Why?"

"What better place to keep our storage?" Councillor Terik nodded. Sophie cringed. What was that about? Was I-oh, I got it. I was being insensitive to the fact that Sophie'd only lived in the Lost Cities for about a year. She knew far less about the world than I did.

"You're right, of course. Shall we?" I nodded, and we stepped into the light, letting it whisk us away to the answers we needed.