The Haven High Book Series (Wattys2017)

Chapter 52 - The Yule Ball

It was the night of the Yule Ball and Lauren was more nervous than ever. She was officially going with Quinn this time. Zach had backed off for good during their training, but at least things were no longer awkward between them. She could see she was wrong he never did have feelings for her other than a deep friendship and she was okay with that.

Tonight she wore a deep red silk dress which bunched at the bodice and had spaghetti straps. It was a full length gown but it was cut in a way that the full length of it was in the back and it was shorter in the front. That way it would be more functional in a fight. Everyone was encouraged to wear the Yule colors of red, green, and white.

The ladies of the crew had picked blood red as their color: One) because blood doesn't stain red as much, and two) because they wanted to be able to find each other in a crowd and the similar color would help.

When the guys showed up in all the same tuxes with blood red ties no one batted an eye. They weren't here for a fashion show; they had a job to do.

Lauren had portalled Zach and Quinn in as her closest neighbors and Xan, had his ever helpful yet resentful Domovoi, pick up the rest of the gang in his stretch hummer.

Xander had hit them with another 'Rumor has it' the day he'd texted to meet up at her place. He informed them that the event was happening in the gym this time and it would be locked up tighter than Fort Knox. There was going to be a magical metal detector at the door.

The kids were crestfallen; all that preparation for nothing. If they had to face Liam's crew unarmed they couldn't even hope to get the upper hand.

Lauren had taken off for the Magic Library and had spent every moment she could searching the shelves for the solution; until she found it: an ancient spell that was used to hide one of Zeus' offspring from his jealous wife Hera.

It would require all of her and Brenna and Cameron's skills to pull it off, but in the end they produced a spell, cloaking potion, and several charms that the kids could wear to elude detection . . . she hoped.

Hell it was all they had, so they may as well hope for the best.

When they had trained with the invisible weapons it had been rather comical when someone managed to disarm another person, since the weapons were spelled to only appear when being held in the hands of their owner, if they were disarmed they would look ridiculous as they fished around blindly trying to feel them out with their hands.

It took her having to come up with a magical lasso that attached to the weapons that the guys could pull on to bring them back to fix that problem.

It had made the guys laugh when Quinn succinctly pointed out that given the number of times Sam and Dean Winchester are disarmed they could use something just like this themselves.

The plan was to meet in the parking lot and to time their entrance to the party sporadically so that if one of the weapons set off the alarm they might be able to work on a solution for getting the others through.

Zach insisted on going first and they had all held their breath as he went through the archway. It looked just like any old back garden archway with flowers of red, blue and white growing on it, but the kids weren't fooled that was the devise that Xander had referred to days ago.

Everyone held their breath and some even crossed their fingers.

They had all whooped quietly when Zach made it through without detection.

They then went through in pairs, feeling much more confident now. Lauren and Quinn were to be last in case she needed to try and whip up another spell at the last minute.

She cringed when she went under the arch, but it remained silent.

When she crested the door way her mouth dropped open in wonder and awe. The room was mostly dark the only illumination was the light from the stars that shone through the non-existent roof and the glow of the super moon that accompanied it. Just then the chimes of a clock started to strike and she counted twelve before the center of the room lit up with the glow from the fire of a twenty foot Yule log that sat on a pyre in the center. It was at that time that the fireworks in the night sky exploded in a riot of reds, greens and blues.

The Dökkálfr Royals took to the make shift dais that had been erected and sat down unhappily next to each other.

Principal Tuma stepped forward and gave a Yule blessing before the festivities were officially underway. Lauren took a moment then to take in the rest of the room. The gym was adorned with holly, ivy, pine boughs and evergreen. Ribbons of red, green and white dangled from the ceiling, and seemed to dance in a-none existent breeze.

Lauren knew they were on a mission, but she couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of the Ball. All around her stood ice sculptures depicting various historical moments in Fae history, while in the front of the room stood an enormous evergreen adorned with specks of iridescent white lights that sparkled and dance unlike any lights she had ever seen before.

It was snowing big fat flakes of snow. The kind that sticks to your lashes and look like some giant God had turned over a snow globe with you in it, but the snow wasn't cold and the revelers didn't get wet. At her feet the snow built up, but the floor never became slippery. And it never seemed to accumulate more than a light dusting on the red, green, and blue, checkered floor.

An Orchestra made up of the Dark Elves mortal enemies, the Ljósálfar, which are Nordic Light elves, played from the far side. They were kind of kissing cousins to each other but Ljósálfr were as light and as beautiful as the Dökkálfr were dark and disturbing.

To look on the beauty of the light elves was to look into the sun.

The forced treaty had been signed and the Nordic Light elves were here to show their supposed solidarity. All about the crowd mingled foreign dignitaries of both the Seelie and Unseelie court. They had come to witness the spectacle of a disgraced tribe, or as everyone politely referred to it – the nuptials. No doubt they felt more than secure given the amount of security measures that were in effect, but Lauren wasn't so sure.

Okay so there were more guards than guests, and they had the spelled entrance, but her crew had gotten through, and she bemoaned the idea that their enemies could possibly have done the same? Their appearance could be easily altered by a common glamour. They could be standing right next to her at this very moment and she wouldn't even know it.

Lauren refused to relax, but Quinn asked her to dance a slow waltz, and she could not resist just one dance of the night.

For the rest of the evening the kids stayed in close proximity to each other just in case. They had watched the ancient handfasting ceremony in awe and wonder. When the priestess incanted the ancient blessing the ribbons adorned to the ceiling had floated down and formed the knot that fastened the two hands of the bride and groom. When they melded into their flesh yet the couple still could not separate it was no surprise to Lauren. When reading about the ceremony she had learned that they would remain attached until dawn. And as an added bonus they would be powerless until the sun came up.

When she'd asked Ms Long about the reason, she had only said that it shows a level of trust in the magical world to tie yourself to another while you remain at the mercy of the bride or groom's family.

Lauren just thought that was fucked up. Her people were f'd up.

The festivities seemed to go on forever, but finally the event was nearly over and the kids were beginning to wonder if they had been wrong when the Yule fire started to spark inexplicably like someone one had thrown wet wood on the flames.

Then it happened. 

But no one had been prepared for what happened next.

********************THANKS FOR READING***************

If you liked this chapter Vote, Comment, add this book to your reading list, or suggest it to a friend. Hey guys I would really appreciate it if you could share this book with your followers. My readership has dropped off since changing the POV from Zach to Lauren, but that doesn't stop me from believing that Lauren deserve as many people who love her just as much as the voice of Haven High and the gang. Please help me find more readers that would like to hear her story. *HUGS*