The Beginning

Chapter 10: The Ball

It was around 2 hours later when Karena came back into my room, a dress hanging over one arm.

"Mae, it is time to get ready for the ball this evening." She said, placing the dress gingerly on my bed. I was perched on an armchair reading Harry Potter.

"Alrighty." I said, placing my book on the floor.

"I made this dress for you. It has a Velcro tear up by the skirt so you can pull it off."

"And why would I need to tear off the skirt Karena?"

"Just in case something happens while you are at the ball. There will be many enemies of the guild and who knows what they could be planning. As you can see the dress is black and I can do your hair and makeup, it'll be fun I swear." Karena said, sounding excited. I laughed and yanked my hair out of its ponytail. It's grown since last year, all of the purple was gone from the ends and now it reached my lower back.

"Make me look badass." I said to Karena, whipping myself around so that she could do my hair.

The hair do took around 30 minutes to be finished. The whole time I felt as if my scalp was being torn apart. The room reeked of hairspray.

"Done! Look!" Karena squealed, rolling my chair around so I could look at myself in the mirror. My eyes widened, half of my hair was pulled up into tight French braids on the left side of my head. The other half was cascading down the right side of my head in long wavy curls.

"Wow Karena, that's amazing." I said in awe. Karena handed me the dress and I slipped it on. The bodice was made of a slick black material. It had gold thread intertwined through the long skirt that reached the floor. I could feel the velcro strap on the side of the skirt as I ran my palm across it. I put gold hoops in my ears and finished the look with black high heels.

"You look beautiful." Karena gasped as I turned around to look at her. Before I could say anything there came a knock on the door. "Go knock em dead." Karena smiled and opened the door. In stepped Loki, he was wearing a white suit that should wash out his eyes but just made them brighter. His black hair was down, with the front up in a bun at the back.

"Wow Loki. Not wearing black." I joked, motioning to his outfit.

"You're the one who looks like an assassin. Try not to scare anyone tonight." Loki smiled. We walked out into the hallway and when my bedroom door closed I sighed. "What's up?"

"Nothing." I replied. "I have a lot of weapons under this dress."

"Ms.Romulie?"

"Yeah, apparently she thinks that there will be people there who will try to kill me. So I need to be prepared." I said, I reached down to my skirt and pulled it past my thighs. Loki inhaled and turned away.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm showing you jeez. Calm down." I said, wondering why he was acting so strangely.

"The duchess won't like it if you just strip in the middle of the ball. Although I know Nico would enjoy that." Loki raised his eyebrows, back to normal.

"Well she can eat a rotten egg." I said, walking down the hall. "Where is the ballroom anyways?"

"It's just down here. Everyone has already arrived. We are going to be late."

"Fashionably late."

The ballroom was huge. There was a large table in the corner holding wine and finger sandwiches. The floor was filled with a sea of people. All of them were dancing, except for a handful sitting over by the tables. I frantically looked around for Nico, I noticed him in the corner and waved him over. His face lit up, he was wearing a generic black suit and his hair was gelled.

"Mae you look amazing! Very badass." Nico said, whispering the last part in my ear.

"I could say the same thing about you. " I said. I could see Ms.Romulie and the duchess surrounded by a bunch of people I don't know.

"I'll go get you some wine." Nico said before disappearing. I stood there awkwardly amongst all of the people swirling and dancing around.

"Princess, will you dance with me?" I turned around suddenly and was face to face with Loki, his hand was out as an invitation.

"I don't dance." I chuckled.

"Surely an assassin like you can survive one little dance." Loki smirked, his green eyes meeting mine. My face grew hot and I took his hand, pulling him into the middle. He slid his arm around my waist and my skin prickled. His other hand clasped mine. I tentatively placed my hand on his shoulder, he started swaying us back and forth. I felt so awkward because I knew I couldn't dance.

"See. I told you, I'm making a fool out of myself." I whispered. Loki didn't say anything but pulled to his chest, I rested my head on his chest as we swayed. I closed my eyes and listened to his heartbeat mixing with the soft classical music playing. That was when a hand touched my shoulder and I whipped around, prepared to fight.

"Mahogany, it's me." I heard the voice of Andrew speak from behind the large mask. I then began to visually recognize the figure in front of me. It was just Andrew in a suit with a mask on.

"Andrew?! What are you doing here?" I asked, pulling him into a tight hug.

"May I have this dance?" Andrew avoided my question. He did a little bow and turned towards Loki, who gave me a nod and left. I smiled at Andrew and kissed him on the cheek.

"Of course."

Dancing with Andrew was easier; it felt like dancing with Connie. This is weird considering he is technically my boyfriend.

"You look wonderful tonight." Andrew whispered into my hair. I laughed and pressed my head into his shoulder.

"Mahogany." Andrew said. I didn't answer, I just wanted to dance in silence.

"Mahogany! Look at me." I looked up in shock. Andrew grabbed my face with both hands and stared intently into my eyes. "I'm sorry."

"What? Andrew?" But before I could say anything else he sweeped my legs out from under me and I crashed to the floor. I smashed my head and couldn't see. I heard screams and black lumps leaping from the ceiling.

"Mahogany! Get up! They are attacking!" I heard Loki screech from beside me. I glanced over and placed my hand on his face. Then he slapped me.

"God Loki! What the hell!" I screamed, leaping to my feet.

"You need to go." Loki said, pushing me into the direction people were running too, which I was guessing was the doors.

"No Loki. I need to fight. I won't run." I firmly said, standing my ground and lifting my hand to the Velcro tab. It took 5 seconds for Loki to realize that I wasn't going anywhere, but when he did he gave me a curt nod and pulled a knife from his pocket. My hand swiftly ripped the Velcro skirt off. Underneath was a gold glittering skirt that went down to my mid thighs. You could see the black leather belt wrapped around my thigh with all my weapons in it. I quickly discarded the skirt and pulled out my fans. There were only about 30 people who stayed behind to fight, probably because they were the only assassins. The black blobs coming from the ceiling were actually people, they wore black leather jackets and they looked like ninjas. There were around 60 people and they all wore the same masks as Andrew. That was when my heart broke, Andrew was at the front of the group... Leading them. I could tell it was him because he was taller than the rest of them. I noticed a weird symbol on the back of their jackets. It was written in red and it was a bird, with a heart in its mouth. I gasped and wrapped my hand around the necklace wresting on my chest, the necklace that Andrew gave me for my birthday.