Evie looked pensive for a moment, her dark eyes glittering. “Well, don’t worry, I’ll get to the bottom of this height mystery one way or another.” She winked in a way that made Romeo’s stomach somersault unexpectedly.
“Oh, I have every belief that you will, Evie Gray,” he said.
Evie smiled at him in response and then moved to lean against the wall beside him, now joining him in observing the room. There was something delicate and subtle about her movements, possibly a habit she’d picked up from years and years of ballet.
“This seems new,” she said, making her first observation. Her curious eyes danced around the library and all the strangers confined in the space with them. “I don’t remember there being a press conference ahead of the Prodigy Ball before?”
Romeo nodded. “All of it is new. The conference, the ball being on the yacht—”
“Oh, right. Thank God I’ve gotten over my seasickness.”
“Yeah, my dad wanted to go all out for the tenth anniversary. He’s even got somehuge, explosive, gravity-defying surprise—all his words—planned for the event but won’t say what. It honestly sounds like a threat, like he’s promising us all an early death or something,” he joked, but he instantly regretted it when he saw Evie’s smile falter and her eyes dim a little. He felt like the worst person on earth. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have joked about that. I didn’t think—”
She shook her head. “No need to apologize at all. I was just lost in my head for a moment there,” she said. Her smile returned but he couldn’t tell how genuine this one was.
“Still, I shouldn’t have—” Romeo began, but she didn’t let him finish.
“Truly, it’s fine. I’m fine, we’re all fine. It’s been three years now. We’ve found ways to laugh about this morbid, fucked-up world we all live in. In fact, I’d prefer to laugh about it. Adam’s probably laughing about it wherever he is now—heaven, hell, purgatory… Spain,” Evie said, shrugging as she spoke of her dead brother in the same casual tone someone might use to talk through their weekly shopping list.
It’s been three years now…It felt like Adam’s death had happened both yesterday and also so long ago.
Romeo felt the sudden urge to ask if she was okay but decided against it. How would she even begin to answer that question? How could anyone be okay after losing their sibling?
The rising voices of the journalists filled the space between them for a few brief moments. Bilal and Perdita went from looking bored and scrolling through their phones to quietly talking to each other.
“I bet it’s drones,” Evie suddenly said.
“What?” Romeo replied.
“The big, explosive,gravity-defyingthing your father is planning… I’d bet it’s a drone show. Sounds like it from your description, anyway,” she said with a shrug.
Romeo had only a vague idea of what a drone show was, and it did sound a lot like his father. He’d thought the obvious answer would have been fireworks, but then again his father had a thing for spectacles that were grand and unpredictable.
“You’re probably right,” Romeo said with a nod.
“I tend to be right about most things,” Evie replied matter-of-factly in the same confident way she always did when they were younger. He’d always loved how assured she was in her theories. When they were kids, they’d spent hours together watching old detective shows, and she’d always solve the mysteries before any of the detectives did.
Romeo smiled at her. “We’ll see.”
“That we will,” she replied.
“Does that mean you’re planning on coming to the Prodigy Ball tonight?” he asked.
She gave a small shrug. “Well, your father sent me an invite. I guess it would be rude not to go. And I haven’t seen Mr. Button in so long—I’d like to catch up with him. Maybe it’ll all be fun?”
“I don’t thinkfunand my father even exist in the same stratosphere,” Romeo said. “Most exciting thing that has probably ever happened was the year one of the fire-breathers set both the ballroom curtainsandmy father’s hair on fire.”
Evie cracked a genuine smile then. He could tell because of the way her eyes crinkled at the corners. “I remember that! What a brilliant disaster that year was. I believe that was also the year of theunderpantsincident,” Evie said with a sinister laugh.
Romeo’s face warmed at the memory of the so-called underpants incident five years ago. Aka the year Romeo had accidentally put on his underwearover his suit pantsrather thanunder—where they actually belonged. He’d just failed a series of important exams that week and had been grilled pretty ruthlessly by his tutors, so his head had been somewhere else when he’d gotten changed that morning. He would’ve stepped out of the house like that too, if Evie hadn’t alerted him about his wardrobe malfunction. She’d agreed to never mention the mishap to anyone, but still referred to him as Captain Underpants for months after that.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Evie Gray,” he replied.
Evie gave him a mischievous grin. “I can refresh your memory if you’d like—”
“That won’t be necessary,” Romeo interrupted, his face a furnace.
Evie laughed again, and despite his embarrassment at being the subject of her humor, he didn’t mind. Evie had a great laugh.
