Then again, the night is still young. Plenty of time for Anaximander—and the Fates—to remind me just how unlucky I am today.
23.The Goof on the Roof
MY STOMACH IS STILL AROUNDmy toes when Fifi and I walk out onto the rooftop five minutes later. Of course, she stops dead at our first glimpse of it, eyes wide as she spins around and around in an effort to take it all in.
“Isn’t it beautiful, Ellie?”
Normally open rooftops—especially ones this high up—aren’t really my thing. But she’s right. It is beautiful and also really, really cool. I can see why they told us at check-in that it’s everyone’s favorite place to hang out.
From the hundreds and hundreds of fairy lights crisscrossing the roof to the flower- and greenery-filled trellises that line the entire back side of the roof, everything about this place is a fairy tale. Daybeds covered in brightly colored pillows linger beneath the trellises, while dozens of ornatetable-and-chair sets are scattered in haphazard groupings around the entire area. Giant tile pots filled with pomegranate trees draped in even more fairy lights dot the corners of the roof, and directly in the center is a huge dance floor made of the same abstract mosaics I saw in the hallway earlier.
The front side of the roof—which my practical little Athena heart is thrilled to see protects roof goers with lengths of decorative iron railing several feet high—is where the food and drink tables have been set up. One table nearly buckles under the weight of the most beautiful Greek feast I’ve ever seen.
There are piles of souvlaki and grilled vegetables, baskets upon baskets of fresh-off-the-fire pitas, and pretty glass bowls filled with hummus, tabouli, and several other dips and salads. The other table is very obviously the dessert table. It’s loaded with gallons of ice cream in every flavor, kept cold by bowls of dry ice. In the center of the table are two huge boards loaded with every candy topping imaginable, as well as bowls filled with hot fudge, caramel, whipped cream, and fresh cherries.
I’ve never seen anything like it. Athenas aren’t big on dessert except for really special occasions, and while I’ve never missed it, my mouth is watering right now as I imagine diving into a giant bowl of ice cream.
“Where do you want to start?” Fifi yells to be heard over the blaring dance music.
Part of me wants to say the dessert table, but Athena girlsaren’t impractical. And dessert before dinner is the definition of impractical, at least in my house.
Since Levi is in the middle of handing out glow sticks and crowns, I nod toward his station. As far as I’m concerned, the sooner I get the answers I need, the sooner I can head back downstairs. No matter how cool this party is, I’ve got work to do.
But by the time we make it through the throngs of students, Levi is swamped. “We’ll get him later!” Fifi shouts as she grabs flower crowns for both of us.
“Oh!” I flinch a little when she tries to put one on me. “I don’t think I need that—”
“Of course you need it! Hard to be a queen without a crown.” She plops it on my head, then screams as a song she likes comes on. “Oh my gods! Wehaveto dance to this.”
“I don’t really dance—” I start, but she’s already dragging me toward the dance floor. And honestly, I’m tired of fighting forces beyond my control—which Fifi definitely is—so in the end, I just go along with her. Maybe by the time we dance for a song or two, Levi will manage to get the glow-stick crowd under control.
Even though the party just started, the dance floor’s already packed, and somehow I find myself dancing with Fifi in the middle of a circle of upperclassers. Part of me is totally traumatized—Athena girls do not make spectacles of themselves—but another part of me is kind of having fun, especially when several of the older girls join us in the circle.
Before I know it several songs have passed, and I’m drenched in sweat, not to mention dying of thirst.
I shout to Fifi that I’m going to take a break, then head for the nearest gap in people. But I’ve barely made it a few steps before the ground beneath my feet starts to move. It’s not like last time, when it literally shifted and shook. No, this time it’s just the small tiles that make up the mosaic pattern of the floor.
They’re sliding and shifting against one another, rearranging themselves into…a picture?
I bend down to get a closer look, but it’s like the image is fuzzy, just a little bit out of focus. I think there’s a girl, maybe? And a bird? No, a snake. No, that’s not right either.
I’m still not close enough, so I crouch down to get an even better look. But the tiles are still slipping and sliding like a bunch of mismatched puzzle pieces. I reach a hand out to trace a few of them, but the moment my finger touches the floor, my head grows thick and dizzy. My legs start to cramp, and I end up falling right on my butt on the edge of the dance floor.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. You okay?” Suddenly Fifi’s sister, Charlie, is right there, scooping me up and wrapping an arm around my shoulder as she and another girl usher me to the nearest seat.
“I’m okay,” I tell her. “I just got dizzy for a minute.”
“Probably the heat,” the other girl says. “When’s the last time you had anything to eat or drink?”
“The donut hole and cider at the bridge, I guess,” I answer. “Oh, and a pineapple gummy bear.”
“Yeah, you definitely need something. Watch her,” she says to Fifi’s sister as she fades into the crowd.
“I really am all right—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Charlie tells me, dropping into the chair across from me. “It’s wild in there. I guarantee you won’t be the last one tonight to get a little dizzy.”
“I just…” I trail off because I have no idea how to explain to this stranger that I just saw something impossible. Maybe the other girl’s right. I really do need some water.
