Irene groaned internally.Dammit.She’d been hoping to go alone. Use the solitude to mentally prepare herself for what she might find at the party. But given the fact that the last thing she wanted to do was raise Samira’s suspicions…
“You know what?” Irene sighed, feigning a tight-lipped smile. “Screw it.”
Samira squealed, clapping in delight. She hooked her arm over the crook of Irene’s elbow, tugging her close.
“You aresogoing to thank me later.”
Irene didn’t even have time to register the relocation spell. One moment they had been standing in the middle of one of the Ascended Quarters’ swirling corridors, and the next they were outside, enveloped by the darkness of night.
Irene blinked, adjusting her vision, and tried to make sense of where the other girl had taken her. They appeared to be standing in front of the rusted metal gazebo that sat a few yards from Elysium Hall, the first few steps shrouded in ribbons of mist. A web of slithering vines and tree roots shrouded the ground, crawling their way around the metal structure.
“Here we are.” Samira motioned toward the gazebo. “Go on.”
With a sigh, Irene walked up the steps. Samira trailed right behind her, whistling softly beneath her breath. Once the two of them were standing on the gazebo’s main platform, Samira snapped her fingers and a small crimson flame sprouted from her fingertips.
“This is always my favorite part.”
Irene cocked her head in confusion. “What is—”
A low, hissing sound cut her off. The noise seemed to echo all around them, consuming every particle of air. And then something shifted beneath her, a figure moving within the shadows…and that was when Irene saw it.
A snake.
She yelped, staggering away from it in horror. The snake was a deep umber color, about five feet long and covered in intricate symbols. Its eyes glowed, a golden sheen breaking through the darkness.
Samira giggled. “Oh, relax. It’s not real. It’s just an enchantment.”
The snake slithered between their feet, gold eyes flicking between them.
“The passssssword…”
“It spoke,” Irene whispered, swallowing hard. “The magical snake spoke.”
Samira rolled her eyes, bending down toward the snake.
“Heavenly heretical.”
As soon as she spoke the password, the snake curled into itself, disappearing in a puff of golden sparks. Moments later, one of the stone slabs beneath them shifted, sinking into the ground, revealing what appeared to be the top of a steep, narrow staircase. Irene could only see the first couple of steps.
The rest were completely swallowed by darkness.
Irene placed the bottom heel of her boot upon the first step and ventured forward. Samira followed after her, extinguishing her flame with a snap of her fingers.
As they began to walk down the stairs, a muffled noise echoed in the distance, a rhythmic pounding reverberating in the air. After a few more seconds, Irene realized that it wasn’t just noise…butmusic.
The deeper they descended, the louder the music became, a deep resounding bass thumping in her chest. Seconds dragged into minutes, and just as Irene was beginning to lose the last shred of patience she had left, her foot hit something solid.
Behind her, Samira snapped her fingers, illuminating the narrow space with a soft flame and revealing the arched door in front of them. She stepped ahead of Irene and glanced over her shoulder, pearlescent teeth gleaming in the darkness as she opened the door.
“Welcome to the world of the Ascended.”
Irene stepped through the doorway…and entered a debaucherous hellscape.
The entire party was engulfed in a greenish hue, strobe lights flickering in time with the pounding music, the air redolent with the nauseating scent of illusionary magic. Sweat-slicked bodies congregating at the center of the room danced along to the music, swaying together, arms draped over shoulders and lips grazing hungrily from one person to the next. Dozens of enchanted trays floated around the room, a crooked mountain of glass flutes overflowing with various liquors and elixirs. Emerald-velvet couches lined a seating area to the left of Irene, in which she spotted a trio of Ascended dipping their fingers into a fine black powder before sprinkling it into each other’s mouths, licking the remnants from each other’s lips.
“Come on,” Samira said, signaling Irene forward. “Keep up.”
Irene reluctantly followed after Samira, pushing through the sea of drunken bodies filling the room. Irene’s vision warped under the flickering strobe lights dangling from the rafters, her senses overwhelmed by the noxious fumes filling the air.
