The Spellbound State of the Universe

Chapter 10

As the elegant and strange evening at Le Mettrice pressed on, all of the Shadowers except for Damien and Gabriel were by now at least mildly drunk. This could only mean that the acts of magical posturing were soon to begin.

It started with one of the vivacious women raising her arm and causing a server's tray of champagne to collide with his face. Everyone laughed as Luke and Sheera pretended to seem confused right on cue, asking each other what had happened as they went over to help the baffled server. As the tricks progressed, Clément found himself wondering why he was wrapped up in one of the drapes, and the third champagne server seemed disoriented when he found himself standing alone in the courtyard as he looked into the ballroom window.

Sheera and Luke had played the perfect part of showing no reaction, despite observing these strange occurrences step by step. What they realized now was that with all the other servers sufficiently harassed, their turn was coming up next.

Sheera did her best to appease the guests and ignore the sound of her pounding heart, as anticipation built for whatever sort of 'accident' would befall her any second. She hadn't considered what would happen if Luke was hit first, and so she didn't have time to fully prepare herself when she saw the chandelier unhinge itself and fall towards his head. She felt her eyes widen, but at the last second Gabriel used his powers to pushed Luke out of the way with a flick of the hand.

"Not yet," he said in a sinister fashion. "Not yet time for that."

As the dust settled and Luke pretended to seem confused while Clément dealt with the mess, Sheera could hear her heartbeat thumping in her ears. Her face had changed. She had reacted to the magic. Had anyone seen it? She had no way of knowing as she'd already spun around so many times, trying to keep up with the hors d'oeuvres requests.

"Excuse me, miss."

That voice was all it took for Sheera to feel a shiver down her neck. When she turned Gabriel Asher was just a few feet away, an inquisitive expression on his face.

She smiled politely. "Yes sir?"

"Come here," he said, and in that moment she knew it was over.

She inched forward.

"Come here," he said more sharply, gesturing to the marble tile just in front of him and his son.

She carried the tray with the best faux confidence she could muster and made her way over.

"Did you have a chance to try the salmon tartare? The lemon zest really gives it an extra zing."

"That's not why I asked you over here," he said, his voice laced with a merciless tone that brought the whole ballroom to a hush. The sound of the aggressive classical symphony punctuated the tension in the air.

"Then what can I help you with sir?" she said softly, trying not to betray any meekness in her voice. She could see Luke at the other end of the ballroom exchanging emergency glances with Clément.

"I want to know something," he said flatly. "And I want you to be honest."

She gulped. "Yes of course sir."

"I want to know..." He grabbed a strand of her hair. "What you put in your hair to make it so thick and shiny."

It took Sheera about five seconds to process what he had said, but when she noticed him staring expectantly, and the rest of the Shadowers waiting for a response, she knew she hadn't imagined it.

"I uhh..."

"What's your secret?" he hissed.

She was frightened by the possibility that this was a trick question, and confused by the reality that it might actually be as simple as it seemed.