Previously on "The Otheworlders": Arriving at the Enchanted Chancellor's Ball in style, Inez, Ava, and Fiona, dressed in elegant vintage gowns, navigate a hidden magical entrance in a sketchy alley that leads to the red carpet entry of the Chancellor's spelndid residence.
Overwhelmed by the paparazzi, Fiona, as a Vampyr un accustomed to this kind of attention, panics. But she's safely coaxed by Inez through the spotlight.
Inside the grand ballroom, the girls encounter the charming Chancellor Reneau, the lecherous Vice-Chancellor Longbottom, and the intriguingly handsome Gabriel Reneau, the Chancellor's son, whos shows a particular interest in Fiona.
**********
The Chancellor's guests dance beneath giant chandeliers, hanging from the vaulted ceiling of the ballroom, casting a soft, ethereal light over the expansive dance floor as Ava, Inez, and Fiona stand near the buffet table, trying to figure out how to discreetly slip away and scout out the premises.
They're brainstorming the best way to look for the tablet artifact when Gabriel Reneau, the Chancellor's son, approaches them.
He's tall and lanky, with a beautiful mop of dark, wavy brown hair and bright, glistening, hazel eyes. Gabriel bows, smiles politely at Ava, warmly at Inez, and then zeroes in on Fiona. "I was wondering if the lovely Miss Campbell might be willing to grace me with the next dance?" he says.
Fiona blinks.
She looks back over her shoulder as if trying to locate this mythical "lovely" Miss Campbell Gabriel's referring to, then turns back and points at herself. "You mean me?" she says, arching a brow.
Gabriel nods as the corners of his mouth quirk into a charming smile.
Oh, crap! "Um... okay," Fiona replies.
Well, this is gonna be one big fat disaster! She thinks to herself.
With only the most cursory instruction from Inez on how to dance at a ball, she feels ill-equipped to dance center stage. But she can't risk embarrassing the Hidalgos, so she scoops up the shimmery silver skirt of her dress and rests her hand gently into Gabriel's, letting him lead her onto the dance floor.
As he guides her through the crowd, cold stares and heated murmurs trail behind them.
Gabriel leans over and whispers, "Don't pay them any mind." Placing his hand respectfully on her back to guide her past the throng, he adds, "These people look for any reason to gossip and you're simply the newest target on the scene."
Fiona knows it's her being a Vampyr that's the real topic of conversation, but she appreciates Gabriel's attempt to ease her nerves, nonetheless.
They make their way to the center of the dance floor and the crowd of people surrounding them give them a wide berth. As the music swells, Gabriel gently pulls Fiona closer to him, twirls her around, and in one fluid motion they're off.
Fiona smiles as Gabriel easily takes the lead; but soon, she's dipping her head every few minutes to check her feet, making sure she's not about to step on Gabriel's toes.
After a moment, she looks up. "I'm so sorry about this." She shakes her head in embarrassment. "I'm not very good at slow dancing and I've never, in my life, danced the waltz before."
Gabriel smiles warmly. "You're doing great!"
Fiona nods, concentrating on following Gabriel's footsteps, then suddenly realizes she should probably try and make a little conversation. "Um, do you mind if I ask you what kind of Enchanted you are?"
There's a long pause and she grimaces. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have asked that! Is that a totally rude thing to do? Like asking a woman her age or if she's pregnant when she's not?"
Gabriel laughs, charmed by her delightfully respectful concern for his feelings. "No, not at all." He smiles. "I'm what they call an Animatronic Mage, which means that I can bring inanimate objects to life."
"Oh, wow!" Fiona exclaims. "That sounds really cool! You know we have an Elemental Mage at our school... Cameron. I don't know too much about his abilities, though."
"An Elemental?" Gabriel replies. "That's impressive." He raises a brow. "They're usually pretty powerful... top of the food chain as far as Mages go."
Fiona let's loose a hearty laugh. "Yep! That sounds about right. Top of the food chain! Right where Cameron believes he should be!"
She shakes her head, then tries to mouth the term for the kind of Mage Gabriel said he was so she wouldn't forget it. "Okay," she says, "let me make sure I've got this right. You're an Anima... um, an Animatropian...?"
"Animatronic," Gabriel gently corrects her. "I'm an Animatronic Mage. Here..."
He deftly twirls Fiona towards the buffet table. "Let me show you," he says.
As they pass by, Gabriel lifts a hand and artfully waves it over the utensils. A single knife and fork suddenly stand at attention. He makes tiny circles with his index finger and the utensils dip and swirl around each other in perfect time to the music, mimicking Gabriel and Fiona's dance.
Fiona throws her head back and laughs. "That is so cool."
Gabriel shrugs. "If you say so," he says humbly. "I mean it was fun when I was eleven and used to pitch toy armies against each other in epic battles across the living room floor, but nowadays?" He shrugs again. "It's pretty 'meh' as far as magical powers go."
The waltz suddenly ends, and Gabriel and Fiona stare at each other not quite sure what to do now. While they both enjoyed each other's company, mothers are not so subtly ushering their daughters in Gabriel's direction in the hopes that he'll dance with one of them next.
Gabriel, sensing that he's about to be cornered by a gaggle of young women, takes a step back and makes a low, exaggerated bow. "Well, mi' lady, it was an absolute pleasure sharing this dance with you."
Fiona smiles, and plays along, curtsying deeply. "That it was, mi' lord. That it was."
Gabriel laughs as he guides Fiona off the dance floor. Leaning in, he whispers, "Thanks for rescuing me from the eager clutches of the anxious mothers desperate to get their daughters wed — at least for a little while."
Fiona laughs.
Gabriel rolls his eyes as he straightens. "Seriously, though. With all of the husband-hunting that goes on at these events, it can quickly become a living nightmare!"
Fiona looks up at Garbiel and smiles, happy to have been helpful. "Anytime you need a little rescuing, Gabriel, you just give me a call," she says with a playful wink.
***
Reconvening with Ava and Inez near the buffet table, Fiona is still blushing when Ava immediately interrogates her. "So, how was your dance with the Chancellor's son?!"
Fiona casually plucks a strawberry from a fruit platter sitting on the edge of the table and pops it into her mouth. She chews, swallows, then says, "He was, in a word, lovely." She breaks out into an unabashed smile.
"And he's so cute!" Inez adds.
Fiona laughs. "Yeah, and cute," she admits. "But more than that, he was so polite and thoughtful. I wasn't quite expecting that. And who knew..." She shrugs. "That I'd enjoy a waltz of all things!" She chuckles softly. "He was a doll. Now, what about you two?"
Disappointed, Ava crinkles her nose. "I was asked to dance too, but my partner was kinda old, and I swear! He stepped on my toes at least five times!"
Inez reaches out and rubs Ava's shoulder in sympathy. "I'm so sorry about that, Ava. Lewis is from the second wealthiest family in our region, and so he's pretty hard to say no to. I tried to sway his attentions towards me, but he was intent on taking you for a twirl around the dance floor."
"That's okay," Ava says with a shrug. "It's all in the line of duty, right?"
Fiona turns to Inez. "And what about you?"
"Ugh!" Inez rolls her eyes. "My father asked me to dance with the son of a real estate mogul, and he was so dull!" Her shoulders droop as she rolls her eyes again. "I swear, I was about to fall asleep on my feet in the middle of the dance floor, I only managed to wake up when he tried to dip me!" She laughs. "But listen..." She leans in and lowers her voice. "When we twirled past the hallway back there..." She points to the back of the ballroom. "I picked up a very strong sense of ancient magic. I think the artifact might be down that way."
"Alrighty then!" Fiona claps. "Let's go take a look!"
The girls discretely move away from the buffet table and inch around the outskirts of the dance floor, slipping into the hallway unnoticed. And just as Headmaster Pierce had predicted, there were only a few guards patrolling that part of the building.
Silently, they make their way down the darkened hall when Inez suddenly stops before a juncture between their hallway and another one.
She looks to her right and spots an ornately carved door with a single guard sitting in a chair next to it, his head leaned back against the wall and his mouth hanging open on the verge of a snore.
"Okay, this is good," she whispers. "You see that door there." She points to the oak door at the end of the hallway. "The markings that adorn it suggest it's a chapel door," Inez explains. She looks at the other girls. "Remember what Master Achebe told us?"
"Begin your search with the sacred," Ava and Fiona say in unison.
"Yep!" Inez replies.
"Okay, great." Ava says. "So what do we do now? Do we try to sneak past the guard?"
Inez shakes her head. "I don't think that's the best approach. We don't know what kind of Enchanted he is. If he's an Empath or a Seer, he'll sense us coming."
"Well, if we can't sneak our way in," Ava asks, "how should we approach this?"
They all consider this for a moment, when Fiona offers, "Since we can't sneak in, and we certainly can't barge our way in, I suggest we con our way in instead." And with that, she straightens the top of her dress, fluffs out her skirt, and gently pats her coiffed hair.
Pulling her shoulders back, Fiona confidently approaches the guard.
Ava and Inez peek around the corner to watch as Fiona sidles up to the man and begins to make small talk. By the wide grin on the guard's face, they know Fiona's turning on the charm and working her magic.
"Well, we should be able to get in there easy-peasy," Inez whispers.
Ava is about to agree when they hear footsteps sound behind them.
They whip around to see another guard headed their way.
"Crap!" Ava looks at Inez in a panic. "What do we do?!"
"Fudge buckets!" Inez mutters as she presses the palm of her hand to her forehead, racking her brain for a tactic they can use to head off the guard who's now less than twenty feet away.
"We can... I guess we can... Oh, shoot!" Inez mumbles to herself. Then it hits her. "A JMT! I'll try a JMT! I haven't been able to pull it off before, but it's worth a try!"
"What's a JMT?" Ava whispers.
"Jedi Mind Trick," Inez says calmly as she dips her chin and prepares herself for the toughest spell she's ever attempted.
The guard barrels towards them. "You!" he calls out menacingly as Inez plants herself in his path.
She props her fists on her hips and stares him down.
The guard stops and looms over her. "What the hell are you two doing here. You should know this is a restricted area!"
Inez looks up at him and quietly utters a charm underneath her breath. Then with laser-like focus, she says slowly and calmly, "You need to turn around now. You do not want to go down this hallway."
The guard stands up straight and stares at Inez, then he blinks and mumbles robotically, "I need to turn around now. I do not want to go down this hallway."
"That's right," Inez says, sneaking a smile, pleased that her mind-whisper spell actually worked! She leans in and narrows her eyes. "If you go down there, very, very bad things will happen to you."
The Guard repeats, "Very, very bad things will happen to me."
"Exactly!" Inez says. "So now just turn around and go back to the ballroom or whatever." Inez commands, flicking her hand in a shooing motion away from Fiona and the other guard.
"I'm going to go back to the ballroom now," the guard says as he turns and slowly begins to walk back down the hall.
"Oh. My. Gosh!" Inez exclaims as she watches the guard retreat. She's so excited by her success, she bounces on her toes and claps her hands in glee.
Unfortunately...
That's just enough of a change in her enchantment's energy level to break the spell.
The guard suddenly stops, turns on his heels, and marches back towards them.
"Oh, shoot!" Inez mutters, freezing mid-clap. She starts to back up. "Oh, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot!"
The guard scowls. "How dare you mind-whisper me!" he snarls.
Standing right before her, his arm shoots out as he reaches for her neck. "You little bitch! I oughta—"
Pop!
The guard drops like a sack of potatoes as Ava's fist shoots out over Inez's shoulder and connects squarely with his face.
Shocked, Inez whirls around. "Ava! You cold-cocked him!"
Ava slides Inez a cool glance as she shakes out her sore fist. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. I mean your magic's great and all, Inez, but sometimes you just gotta use brute force."
Inez laughs. "Well, that's good to know." She shakes her head slowly. "And a very good reminder to stay on your good side!"
**********
A/N - As far as the girls go, all I can say is... 😁
Hope you enjoyed the chapter and please let me know if you run into any technical issues. The site is really glicthcy these days.
See you next week!
~ Paula ❤️