When The Stars Align

chapter forty two | party crashers

"EVENING, SLEEPY head."

I shift in my bed, pulling the blanket over myself and burying my face further into the pillow. "Five more minutes, Tori," I mumbled, trying to get back to sleep.

"Honestly, if you want to continue sleeping, go for it," I heard my sister say. "A record five hours without waking up to an episode. Lorcan was right when he said it would be easiest for you to fall into a deep sleep when your heart rate was already low."

I rolled over, knocking a second pillow off the bed. "Then why'd you wake me?" I rubbed my eyes, allowing them to focus on my sister. She was fully dressed, compared to when she was in her sweats earlier today. But it wasn't a... should I say, queen-appropriate outfit. She was in a red dress with a black leather jacket over her shoulders. Her lips were a fiery red and... was she wearing eyeliner?

"Your vitals showed that you were about to wake up anyway, I decided to check on you."

"Are you going somewhere?" I asked her. "You look too fancy for a hospital visit."

I looked around the room, my eyes falling on a sleeping Lysander. His right arm was hanging off the bed, and I could see that his right hand was bandaged after his argument with Lorcan. He lost it for a second, and I couldn't blame him.

"Um, yeah. Mer and a couple other of my friends are going to do some shopping," Tori explained. "They're waiting for me outside, we'll be out for an hour, maybe."

"Isn't it..." I searched the room for a clock but couldn't find one. "Isn't it a little too late to go shopping? What time is it? Like, nine?"

"Eight... thirty," she corrected. "And there's quite a few things you can do when you're queen, Vera." A small laugh left my lips. "I actually wanted to ask if you felt like going out, too."

I raised an eyebrow. "You want your little sister to go on a shopping trip with you and your friends?"

"Oh, no!" It was almost fear that entered her eyes. I bit back another laugh. "Absolutely not, not in a million years." I pouted. "Okay, I'm overreacting. But actually, um, Atticus texted me about an hour ago, asking how you were doing." Now that has my attention. "I know you probably aren't in the right state and it's probably a risk to let you out of here, but I know how much you mean to him and I know it's his first birthday in a long time that you're here."

My eyes widened. "You'll let me go to his party?"

"Only for an hour, maybe an hour and a half," Tori said. I think this goes against what a million parenting books say. "I know it would mean a lot to him if you could be there for just a little bit. If you feel sick, just get Att to call me and I'll pick you up... if you want to go, that is."

I bit my lip, unsure. It would probably be a bit awkward, being there with so many people. I've never been to a party, or been around so many people. I wasn't close to too many of them. People would probably question why I was there, and I wouldn't be surprised if people had the same mentality as Mikayla.

"Look, Vera, if fate-" she puts quotations around the word fate - "decides that it will find a way to make you queen in two days, then I can assure you, tonight might be your last opportunity to be a normal seventeen year old."

"And that doesn't have to go with the fact that today is my second-last day as a seventeen year old, does it?"

She laughed. "I guess that's part of the reason, yes." Tori squeezes my hand. "I want you to able to experience life. That's what I want as your older sister. I'm going to tell you, if either of was able to live anything close to a normal life, I'd be forcing you to high school and university parties, whether you like it or not."