Accidents Will Happen

Chapter Two

If she was perfectly honest, Galinda was not at all motivated to leave her apartment for a second time that Friday, especially not for a night at the most notorious establishment in town. It was a pain that there weren't too many good alternatives as far as clubs were concerned; the Ozdust had recently been taken over by a group of impertinent high schoolers, and the other places really did not have the best music. Nor the best drinks. But there was still a number of bars they could have chosen from instead. Ideally, there would have been some house party or another to go to. Those were always a tad unpredictable, but also great fun. As long as Galinda was not involved in hosting them that was.

But the Philosophy Club... Well, she'd been there a couple of times last semester and had always returned unscathed. Regardless, the stories she'd heard after her first visit there were still haunting her to this day. If even half of them were true, it was not exactly a safe place to pass the evening.

That being said, she knew that she could trust her group of friends. Shenshen and Pfannee were a bit ditsy at times, yet they were surprisingly reliable when it actually mattered. Even in the friendliest of places all three girls would stick together and look out for each other. If one of them managed to secure an unknown dance partner, the rest would hover nearby, watching her, eyes sharp as hawks.

With a nervous flutter in her stomach, Galinda remembered how their dependability had been put to the test last time they'd been out together. She'd left her drink behind at the bar and when she'd returned to quench her thirst after an exhausting bout of dancing, Shenshen had firmly gripped the wrist of her hand reaching for her cocktail and shaken her head. She'd handed Galinda her own glass instead, quietly telling her that she'd noticed some guy slipping a sachet of powder into her drink. Galinda had never been more grateful to any of her friends.

This particular escapade had turned out well enough in the end, but perhaps it was some kind of hubris for them to think that their well-practiced team play was sophisticated enough to ward off any type of danger there was. Perhaps, if they kept tempting fate, one day they wouldn't be so lucky. Perhaps, they should learn to play it safer from the get-go, rather than to continuously try and up their game. Perhaps, next time, Galinda would tell them point-blank that a place like the Philosophy Club was no longer acceptable to her, even if it would cost her a few brownie points.

For tonight, however, they relied on her to keep up her end of the bargain, to play the role she'd been assigned. She could not let them down. It was already too late for her to cop out.

She went for a hot shower, then picked a sparkly, dusty pink lace dress with long sleeves from her walk-in wardrobe. She checked her phone. There was no time left for an elaborate up do, so a few crystal encrusted pins would have to suffice. At least it wasn't too late for a decent face of makeup. Proficient as she was, none of the steps took very long for her to finish, and the end result was remarkably stunning for such a hurried job.

A cab delivered her to the inconspicuous front of the club. Her friends were already gathered. Avaric had brought along a motley group of boys, some familiar and some unknown to Galinda. She knew not to trust any of them, other than Avaric. Luckily, given that he himself had long cast a covetous eye on her, this was rarely an issue. He tended to do his best to keep his associates under control, especially when it came to Galinda. She would have resented his attentions, along with his territorial behaviour if they weren't so damn convenient in this sort of environment.

He counted the party carefully—twice for good measure. It appeared to Galinda that at least the boys had already had a bit of a head start when it came to their intoxication. Pfannee and Shenshen still smelt fresh and flowery with not a trace of alcohol wafting from their breaths, which reassured her.