Trey dumped the comb into Quinn’s hands. “Fine. I need to borrow your cologne.”
“Why would you want his cologne?” Greg piped up, running gelled fingers through his hair. “Is the toilet water taken?”
The boys laughed and joked as we got ready for graduation in Trey’s dorm. I could almost believe we were going to a normal school dance – at least, normal for fancy rich people. Dances at my old school were in the gymnasium with cheap fairy lights and music that was five years out of date.
This dance was in a gym, sure, but Miskatonic Prep had spared no expense. With the god’s shadows and the rats gone from the gym, the smell had all but disappeared. Just to be safe, the decoration committee had been running the extractor fans full blastanddoused the place in some chemical that neutralized the rotting flesh smell. Mostly. Unless you breathed in too deeply or stood in the same place too long.
The decoration committee (headed by Courtney, because of course) were given an unlimited budget. Well, Courtney had commanded it, and Ms. West, now not showing her face in the school after what happened in the bathroom, had no choice but to obey. Students and maintenance staff worked together to tear out the old, rotting bleachers. Ayaz led a team of artists in dismantling old stage sets and repainting them with new scenes. I hadn’t seen the finished product yet, but I was told it looked amazing.
And now, D-Day was upon us and we were going to look the part. Greg styled my hair to frame my face and dusted me with dramatic makeup. He made me close my eyes while he poked and prodded with pins and brushes. By the time he was done, I was so tenderized he could have served me with a nice pepper sauce. I had to admit, I looked damn fine.
Trey slipped his arm in mine, his eyes drinking me in. The blush pink gown Greg found in the costume closet swirled around my ankles. Ayaz and Quinn made me a corsage from roses picked from the bushes lining the field, the pink perfectly matching my dress. Laughing, I lifted the hem to show them my knee-high striped socks and comfortable old Docs.
“I’m finding it hard to believe that of all the possible choices, you wanted to wear thosefilthyshoes to the dance.” Trey looked as though he was trying hard not to laugh. He also looked fucking hot – his suit fit him to perfection, the sharp tailoring and long lapels accentuating his razor cheekbones and penetrating eyes. His green Miskatonic Prep tie matched my dress, and his dress shoes had been polished to a high shine. He’d never be caught dead in scuffed Docs.
“These shoes are awesome,” I retorted. “If they’ve been good enough to keep my feet warm and dry for three years, they’re good enough to dance in.”
“Tell that to my ruined brogues.” Quinn lifted his foot to show the scuffs where I’d trod on his feet during our dance practice. Turns out ‘ballroom dancing’ was another lesson my year of prep school education had skipped over.
“Not my fault if those things are so flimsy.I’mprepared for anything, including a small hurricane or a nuclear attack.” I whipped up my hem again to show them the knife down the side of my boot.
“I’m prepared for anything, too.” Trey grinned as he whipped off his shoe to show me how he’d pre-bandaged his toes. “I figured, why wait until after you crushed them underfoot?”
“You’re so fucking dicksome. Let’s go.” I grabbed my bag. Greg and Trey took one last look in the mirror while Ayaz twirled Tillie around the room and Quinn helped Loretta do up the laces on her dress. She’d chosen a red taffeta gown with a jeweled corset that made her look much older and more sophisticated. She beamed at me from across the room.
I beamed back. Tonight was dangerous and things were likely to go down in a bad way. We had one shot to raise the pillar while all the parents were inside the sigil. Everything rode on my shoulders. But right now, I wasn’t thinking about it. I savored these moments with my Kings and my friends – committing each crude insult and silly dance move to memory. They were the last memories we’d ever share, and I intended to indulge every teenage fantasy I never knew I had.
I was going to the dance with not one, butthreehot dates.
I held out my hands to my Kings. Trey took one arm, Quinn the other. Ayaz placed his warm fingers over my thigh. My Turk’s suit clung in all the right places, and with his dark hair and tattoos peeking out from his cuffs and collar, he looked less like a prep-school jerk and more like a brooding rockstar. His eyes bore into mine.
In a white linen suit, with his sandy hair slicked back, Quinn looked like he’d be right at home on the deck of a private yacht in the Mediterranean. Not that I’d ever get to see the Mediterranean. But tonight, Quinn could transport me to places and nights I’d never dreamed of. If only he would smile that cheeky grin of his, my heart would soar.
And Trey – my mirror, my King of Kings, resplendent in his school uniform and his arrogant sneer. Just the sight of him would bring the Eldritch Club to their knees.
But tonight wasn’t about the guys and how I felt about them. Tonight was for the students of Miskatonic Prep. I beamed up at my three Kings and at the others who had become part of our circle, and I silently vowed that whatever it took, they would be free tonight.
“You’re still bragging that you beat me.” Trey placed a kiss on my neck. Inside me, my fire danced and sparked. I was so wired for tonight, all it would take was one little flame to set me off. An electric hum sizzled in the air – the pull of a cosmic god rousing himself from slumber one final time.
Somewhere below my feet, the third pillar called to me. It wanted to be free.
That pillar is ours.
I sucked in a breath, gave Trey’s hand a final squeeze, and led the group through the door of his dorm.
Showtime.
In the hallway, we met Andre and Sadie. Greg had found Sadie a sequined gown amongst the theatre costumes that perfectly set off her dark skin and bold eyes. Andre looked like a million bucks in a pinstripe suit found in John Hyde-Jones’ closet.
“You ready?” I touched Greg’s shoulder.
Darkness passed over his eyes. I’d never seen that kind of black hole in Greg’s soul before he shot Damon. But he’d done it because he believed in what we were doing. He believed in me. Not sure anyone except my mom had ever really believed in me before.
Greg nodded.
The nine of us climbed down the staircase and stepped into the main dormitory corridor, where a few students still rushed around putting the final touches on their outfits. Heads nodded at us as we strode past in formation, our arms linked, our bodies tall and proud and strong.
Down the empty corridors, through the drafty atrium, and outside, into the warmth of the approaching summer. The decoration committee opened the two outside doors to the gymnasium and set up a makeshift platform in front of the wall, with a lectern and rows of seats on the grass for the parents. If I squinted just right at the wall behind the stage, I could just make out the shape of the giant red cock Trey had painted there back in the second quarter.
