Perviously on The Otherworlders: Inez, Fiona, Ava, and Sr. Hidalgo arrive at the Enchanted Chancellor's Ball in a fancy stretch limo. Even though the girls are elegantly dressed, Fiona is nervous about the Enchanted paparazzi, but Inez reassures and guides her through the throng.
Inside, the extravagant hall impresses the girls as they greet Chancellor Reneau warmly. But the lecherous Vice-Chancellor makes inappropriate comments, embarrassing Inez's father. Gabriel, the Chancellor's son, takes a liking to Fiona; and later, the Vice-Chancellor privately pressures Inez's father to financially support his controversial border wall plan, but Sr. Hidalgo refuses, offended by the scheme and inappropriate request.
Patrick is back from visiting with Stephen's mother and is processing that and the uncomfortable and somewhat violent run-in with his father, back at the tribal compund.
**********
Out on the Academy training field, Patrick has been running the red clay track for hours.
Aidan, who's been sitting on the hill above studying, alternates between practicing spells from Dickinson's Book of Minor Magic and discreetly watching Patrick the entire time.
After reaching his breaking point, Patrick — exhausted — bends over and, hands on his knees, struggles to catch his breath. After a moment, he plops down and laying a hand on his chest, collapses back onto the grass on the side of the track.
Seeing this, Aidan jumps to his feet. He squints to see if Patrick is still breathing, but it doesn't look like it.
Aidan rushes down to the field, "Patrick! Patrick! You okay?" No response, "Patrick! You all right?!"
When Aidan reaches Patrick, he slides onto his knees, bends over and checks to see if Patrick has a pulse. Panicking, he leans over and is about to give Patrick CPR — or maybe mouth-to-mouth, he's not sure quite which — when Patrick's eyes fly open.
Seeing the face of this crazy-ass Enchanted kid hovering above him, Patrick startles. He pushes Aidan back as he springs up, like a jackknife, into a seated position. "What the hell, man?!" he roars.
In response to the strength of Patrick's response, Aidan teeters backwards and lands flat on his ass. His heart racing, he rests his hand on his chest and breathes in a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank the gods," Aidan gasps, "you're alive!"
"Of course I'm alive, you goofball!" Patrick says as he wipes the sweat off his face with the sleeve of his shirt. "Seriously, what the hell, dude?!"
"I was watchin' you run the track and suddenly you collapsed. After a while, it looked like you weren't movin'! I thought maybe you were dead!" Aidan screeches in defense.
"Watching me?" Patrick's eyes narrow. "What do you mean 'watching me'? Have you been spying on me this entire time?"
"Of course not!" Aidan scoffs, offended at the accusation. "I was just sittin' up there on the hill, studyin'. And then I looked up and noticed you'd been running the obstacle course like a madman for hours. So, when you ultimately dropped to the ground like that, I thought maybe you'd had a heart attack or somethin'!"
Patrick brushes the grass from his shirt and then from the back of his shorts. "I didn't have a heart attack, Aidan," he says. "I was just exhausted. I was blowing off steam, and I guess I over did it."
"Well, I'd say you did." Aidan retorts as he shifts and crosses his legs, then leans forward and starts to pick at the grass. "It's not unheard of, you know," he adds as a defense for his earlier assumption. "I've read of cases where very young, very healthy Otherworlders suddenly drop dead..." He snaps his fingers for emphasis. "...just like that. Right out of the blue!" He shrugs. "It's some weird cardiac event or somethin'. I'm not quite sure." He sneaks a peek at Patrick's heaving chest and mutters, "Although with your ginormous grizzly bear heart, you'd probably be okay."
Patrick laughs softly and props a hand behind him. He leans back and tilts his face up to the last rays of the dusky sun. "I'm fine, Aidan," he says softly. "I'm just... I don't know... I'm just frustrated, that's all."
Aidan nods. "I see. I see." He mutters. Then after a beat he asks, "What're ya frustrated about? Your friend, Stephen?" He slants a glance at Patrick, gauging his reaction. "I mean it makes sense after your run in with him, given that you two were—"
"I don't want to talk about it!" Patrick replies with a low growl.
"Okay, okay." Aidan holds up his hands defensively. "I get it. I understand." He picks absently at the blades of grass again. But after an awkward pause, he blurts out, "So, does it work?"
"Does what work?" Patrick kicks his leg out before him, bends over, and begins to stretch.
"This running yourself ragged, you know, to work off your frustrations?" Aidan clarifies.
"Usually." Patrick stops mid-stretch, and his voice softens. "Unfortunately, this time it didn't." He chuckles to himself. "This time it just made me want to throw up."
Aidan chuckles as well and nods. "Well, you know what I do when I need to work through somethin' that's botherin' me?"
Patrick laughs and rolls his eyes. "Aidan, with you, I can't even imagine!"
Aidan smiles, but continues, unphased. "I indulge in a marathon session of Red Faction — Red Faction: Guerilla — in fact."
"What is that?" Patrick inquires. "One of your video games?"
"Video game!" Aidan scoffs. "Red Faction is not just a video game, my friend. Red Faction is a video game of epic proportion and utter destruction. You see, the whole thing is that you're leading a hostile rebellion against an evil corporation on the surface of Mars. The mechanics are kinda complex, but it's great for relieving tension!"
Patrick nods. "Interesting." He slants Aidan a glance. "But a more important question is can you blow shit up?"
Aidan looks back at Patrick, incredulous. "Can you blow shit up?" He snorts out a laugh. "Can you blow shit up?! Dude! You can lay waste to an entire planet!" He lifts his arms enthusiastically.
Patrick laughs. "Okay, let's do it."
"Let's do what?" Aidan blinks, uncertain of what he's just heard.
Patrick shrugs. "It sounds like the perfect stress reliever, so let's play."
"Seriously?!" Aidan's eyes go wide. He lays a hand on his chest. "You want to play... a video game... with me?"
"Uh, yeah..." Patrick shakes his head and looks at Aidan as if he were slow. "I'm not going to play by myself, now am I?"
"Well, of course not!" Aidan says with glee. He jumps to his feet and crosses his arms over his puffed out chest as he beams back down at Patrick.
Patrick purses his lips. "I mean you are going to teach me how to play, right?" he asks as he stands up too.
"Dude," Aidan says with genuine pride. He tilts his head, raises both hands to his shoulders, and points at himself. "You're looking at the two-time, undefeated Red Faction regional champion." His smile widens. "Trust me, friend." He winks and then bows, with his arms held wide, as if he were the Ringmaster of a grand circus. "You are in very, very good hands."
***
That night in the Enchanted Grand Hall, Sr. Hidalgo approaches the girls, clustered around the hors d'oeuvres table, and asks if he can borrow his daughter for a moment.
He ushers Inez into a small reception room that sits off the main entrance hall.
"What is it, Papi?" Inez asks as she looks around the room confused..
"Mi cariño, I need to introduce you to the Andersons at some point this evening," Sr. Hidalgo tells her. "Their son, Charles, is here and I think you might really like him."
Inez tilts her head, confused. "But, Papi..." She scoffs lightly. "...I'm working."
"I know, my little one, I know," Sr. Hidalgo assures her. "And I respect this new position of yours. But we're here and it will only take a moment, I promise. Then, you can get back to your assignment, or whatever it is you call it."
Inez sets her jaw and says through clenched teeth, "But I'm not here to find a husband. I'm here to do a job."
"And I completely understand that," he assures her. "But Inez, you know that finding a match, a life partner, is what these events are all about for the children of The 50."
"Why? Because the children of the fifty richest Enchanted families aren't capable of finding a match on their own?" Inez protests. "It's an old-fashioned and ridiculous custom, papi, and you know it! I mean what if I don't want to, huh?" Her brows furrow as she pouts in frustration.
"What? Find a husband?" Sr. Hidalgo leans back, a bit startled by his little princesita's defiance.
"Yes!" Inez crosses her arms over her chest and stands her ground.
"Oh, come now," Sr. Hidalgo says. "I know this is a bit awkward, having to meet potential suitors while you're on your mission thing, but you do realize that if I don't introduce you to any of the families of The 50 tonight, they'll consider it a slight." He sighs in frustration. "I can't insult important people such as that. You know I can't!"
"But, Papi!" Inez objects.
"Inez!" For a split second, Sr. Hildalgo loses his cool, and then he inhales deeply and presses his hands down the front of his tuxedo. "Please, mija," he says in a much softer tone. "Let's not fight about this, está bien?" He huffs another breath before deciding to offer his daughter a concession. "Look," he says. "I'll make you a deal, okay? Two dances." He holds up two fingers for emphasis. "Just two dances with any of the sons of The 50 and, I promise, I won't ask you for another thing during your entire stay. What do you say, hmm?" He gives his daughter the most earnest look he can in an attempt to stave off a catastrophe of epic proportion...
...a knock-down, drag out fight, at the most important event of the season, with his willful teenage daughter.
Inez scrunches her nose and grits her teeth. Then after a moment, she finally throws up her hands and concedes. "Fine! Fine! I'll do it!" She mutters gloomily, unable to disappoint her father in the end.
"¡Ah, gracias, mija!" Sr. Hidalgo throws up his hands too, but for him, in celebration. Then he leans over and kisses Inez on the forehead.
He turns her around and ushers her as quickly as he can, back out into the ballroom before she can change her mind, when she suddenly stops short and turns back to face him.
"What if I meet someone?" Inez says, looking up at her father earnestly.
Sr. Hildalgo's eyes go wide. "Lo siento. ¿Que?" he asks.
"What if I meet someone?" Inez continues. "What if I..." Her voice trails off as her courage begins to falter.
She's almost whispering when she continues. "What if I meet someone and, I don't know, maybe fall in love but he's not..." She's about to say not an Enchanted, but chickens out and says instead, "...and he's not from The 50?"
"Inez, what an odd question." Sr. Hidalgo takes a step back and tilts his head.
Then deciding that his daughter is probably just nervous, this being her first society event, he rests his hands gently on her shoulders and says, "Mija, look, you've grown up with these boys, with these families, all of your life. So, when you consider the sons, the cousins..." He laughs softly, "...even the second cousins of The 50, you have literally hundreds of choices before you. Come now..." He straightens. What is this?" he asks. "Are you worried that some of the boys won't like you? That you're not good enough for them? Because if you are, you're worrying for absolutely no reason! You're perfect!"
Inez doesn't respond.
"Oh, my love..." Sr. Hidalgo rubs Inez's shoulders tenderly. "...you have nothing to worry about," he says. "You are such a prize. You are an absolute treasure! And with our family's standing, any one of these young men would be lucky to have you! Inez, you can have any boy you want—"
"—any boy from The 50?" Inez interjects angrily.
"Well, of course, any boy from The 50. Where else would you find a life partner?" Genuinely confused, Sr. Hidalgo rests his hands low on his hips and tilts his head again. "I don't think I understand. Where is all of this coming from, Inez? What is this all about? Is this about your friend, that Cameron boy?"
"What?!" Inez asks, completely thrown by the question.
"That Cameron boy," her father says again. "Your lab partner, the one I met when I came to visit you at the Enchanted Academy in the Spring. I mean, he's a nice boy, Inez, but his family is from The 400 and you know that can't happen."
Inez's nose crinkles as her lips purse in annoyance. "No, it's not about Cameron, papi!" she complains. Then her shoulders slump as she realizes she's fighting a losing battle. "Look, it's nothing, papi," she says. "Don't worry about it."
A foreboding sense of sadness overwhelms her as it becomes increasingly clear that no matter what she does at the Academy, no matter what she manages to achieve, with her family's position in society and a culture comprised of centuries of financially and politically negotiated relationships, her future will never be her own.
She frowns. "Look, Papi," she says quietly. "We should go back now. If we can just get this introduction over with as quickly as possible so I can get back to work, that would be great."
"Of course, my love. Of course!" Sr. Hidalgo kisses Inez lightly on her forehead. "Whatever it takes to make you happy, little one," he says as he smiles lovingly down at her. And despite the tremendous amount of love and admiration that he has for her, Inez's father completely misses the fact that she never smiles back in return.
**********
A/N - Poor Inez. It's gotta suck to be in her position, for so many reasons, know what I'm sayin'? 😒
If you're familiar with Mrs. Astor's "Four Hundred" from the Gilded Age — the original families of Old New York -- then you know what this societal requirement is all about. If you don't, think of Downton Abbey, but instead of Lords and Ladies, Dukes and Duchesses who have to wed each other, it's the children of the Dutch founding families of New York City who have to marry children within other Dutch founding families (or the children of other "Old Rich, not New Rich" white families.) ugh! And can you imagine if it was just fifty?!
Look it up, it's fascinating! - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Four_Hundred_(Gilded_Age)
And Aidan, oh Aidan! Everyone should have an Aidan looking out for them, don't you think? 😆
~ Paula ❤️