The Fairytale Curse (Magic's Return Book 1) (22 page)

Laughing, I grabbed his hand and pulled him inside, suddenly reckless. He seemed happy to let himself be tugged through the bright chattering swirl of people in the foyer. A grand staircase swept up to the first floor, and a photographer was using it as his backdrop for group photos. A giggling group of Year 12 girls were arrayed on the stairs, hugging each other and posing for the camera. Other students milled about, waiting for their turn. Through the archway at the back I could see the terrace, where others were enjoying pre-dinner drinks, presumably non-alcoholic.

Sona appeared in the archway as we wove our way through the press of people.

“Vi! Zac!” She waved madly and shoved her way through the crowd to us. “Let’s get our photo taken.”

I gave her a quick hug. “Love the dress!”

“Thanks.”

She looked gorgeous, in a gold dress with the most beautiful beaded bodice. The colour was perfect against her dark skin, and her hair was piled high in an elaborate braided style. She looked impossibly exotic.

“You scrubbed up all right, too,” she said to Zac, who laughed. “It’s not fair. Boys have it so easy—all they have to do to look great is put on a tux. We have to stuff around for hours with hair and makeup and shopping for the right dress …”

“Oh, you poor thing. I bet you hated every minute of it, didn’t you?”

She grinned. “Maybe not
every
minute.”

We worked our way toward the front of the queue, but it took a while. On the staircase now CJ posed on Josh’s lap for one shot, then all Josh’s friends piled in around them, filling the width of the grand staircase.

“I see you won the bet,” Sona said.

“What?”

“The bet with CJ. She’s not wearing that hideous thing around her neck any more.”

What?
I’d been so focused on the warmth of Zac’s hand still in mine, the nervous happiness fizzing away inside me, that I hadn’t even noticed CJ wasn’t wearing her collar. What the hell was she doing?

I started pushing my way to the front of the line.

There was lots of laughter and good-natured teasing among the group posing on the stairs. CJ was grinning, but at least she had the sense to keep quiet. Where was her collar? It must be in her handbag; I couldn’t even see it.

I hovered helplessly at the foot of the stairs, just out of the shot, and tried to get her attention. But of course she was completely focused on Josh, still perched on his lap like a queen on her throne.

Next thing Josh started tickling her. Oh, God, no. I darted forward, but it was too late. She giggled, then the giggles turned into a full-on laughing fit, and diamonds started spraying everywhere. A roar went up as if the home team had just scored the winning try at a football game, and the photo shoot devolved into chaos. People surged forward, jostling for diamonds. Girls fell to their knees, squealing, searching the carpeted steps. One boy tried snatching them out of the air as they fell. I was afraid CJ was going to be mobbed.

“Free diamonds!” Josh roared over the noise. “Come and get your free diamonds.”

Someone bumped the tripod and the photographer just caught his camera in time. I snatched at CJ’s arm, trying to drag her away, and she stumbled and nearly knocked me down the stairs.

That was when I got a good whiff of her breath and realised she’d been drinking. Already? They must have hit it hard in the limo on the way here.

“What the hell are you doing?” I yelled over the uproar. “Where’s your collar? For God’s sake, put it on. If you get your face plastered all over the internet again, Mum and Dad will go apeshit.”

“What difference does it make, Vi?” Her face was flushed with alcohol and bravado. “The secret’s out, the whole world already knows. Magic is real! Once a guy turns into an ogre in a public place, there’s no hiding it any more. Why go on pretending?”

“Because that’s what Mum and Dad want, and they know more about this shit than we do.”

I was horribly conscious of phones being raised, of the photographer still shooting behind us. Mum and Dad were going to
kill
us.

“I don’t care. It’s not as if diamonds are
ugly
.”

But frogs were. She didn’t have to say it; I knew exactly what she meant. Why shouldn’t she flaunt her diamonds? She was
special
; she always had been. The centre of attention was exactly where she was meant to be.

Maybe Mum and Dad wouldn’t get a chance. I was going to kill her myself.

“Chillax, Vi.” Josh emerged from the crowd and draped a proprietary arm around CJ’s bare shoulders. He had a fistful of diamonds and the world’s most infuriating smirk on his stupid face. “It’s no biggie. It’s not like you took
your
collar off.”

Oh, my God. Killing was too good for her. “You
told
him?”

She shrugged, then pulled her collar out of her bag and clipped it back on. “Whatever. I just wanted a nice photo. Is that such a crime?”

I turned my back on her. It was either that or punch her in the face. Zac and Sona stood at the bottom of the stairs, staring at us in shock. Oh, damn. How was I going to explain this?

Mr Ormond came in from the terrace to see what the noise was.

“Ladies and gentlemen! A little quiet please!”

Gradually he managed to restore order. I walked the last few steps down to my friends. Damn CJ. I’d been having such a nice time, and now she’d gone and turned us into a freak show again. The photographer set his tripod up again, and I noticed his lens was pointing our way. I bet some of his photos weren’t going to be in the official snaps. He was probably already planning how to spend the money some gossip column would pay him for shots of the mad scramble for diamonds.

Mr Ormond shooed CJ and her group toward the terrace. “Please remember this is a formal, not a wrestling match.”

“You’d better keep quiet, Frogface,” Ashleigh said as she went past. “We don’t want any of those nasty things jumping around here.”

“Ribbit,” said the boy with her, and they both cracked up.

Sona glared at them. “Idiots.”

“You want to tell us what that was all about?” Zac asked, his dark eyes wide.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Sona turned back to us with a brave attempt at her usual grin back in place. “I was right, wasn’t I? Magic is real.”

“Sona …” All at once I felt exhausted. I was sick of lying and pretending. Why was I even bothering, with CJ putting on displays like that? It wasn’t as if I could singlehandedly convince the world magic didn’t exist when all around me the evidence was piling up.

“What? Oh, come on, you’re not going to give me that line about it being a prank again, are you? I was standing right here! I saw those diamonds come out of her mouth.”

“Are you okay, Vi?” Zac asked.

Well, at least he wasn’t running in the other direction yet.

“I don’t think I want to have my photo taken now.”

“Sure.” He stooped and picked up a diamond that had been missed in the frenzy. “Want this?”

I shook my head. I was sick of the sight of the things. “It’s worthless anyway. In a few days it’ll disappear.” I took a deep breath. “You can’t trust a fairy gift—they’re never what they seem.”

He shrugged and flicked it to Sona.

She caught it and held it up to the light. “Shame. I’ve never seen such a big one. Maybe I’ll take it home and give Mum a thrill.”

“Suit yourself.”

Zac put an arm around my shoulders and drew me gently against him. I leaned into him gratefully. “Let’s go out onto the terrace.”

Sona trailed along behind us. “So let me guess … those hideous collars of yours have something to do with it, right? As soon as CJ put hers on she stopped spraying diamonds everywhere.”

She was sharp. How many other people had noticed that?

“And I bet if you took yours off we might see some frogs. Am I getting warm?”

“Red hot.”

“I knew it!” She punched the air in triumph. “But how do you do it?”

I sighed. “It’s not something I
do
. We just woke up one day like this.”

A few people noticed us the minute we stepped out onto the terrace. Others turned to stare as word spread. Great.
And tonight the part of resident freak will be played by Violet Reilly.
I shrank a little closer to Zac’s side.

“So tell me all about it! When did it start? How does it feel? Is it gross? Why do you think it happened to you two and not somebody else?”

“Sona—”

“Oh, and where did you get the collars?”

“Sona!” Zac interrupted more forcefully. “I don’t think Vi really wants to talk about it.”

Oh, my God, I could have kissed him.

“Oh, come on! This is the biggest story this century. Maybe ever! Don’t leave me hanging.”

Tears pricked at my eyes, and I blinked furiously. “I don’t
know
anything to tell you. I don’t know how it works, or what caused it, or why it happened to me. I just wish it hadn’t. I just want to be normal again.”

Zac and Sona exchanged a quick look.

“I’m sorry.” Her tone changed to something more sympathetic. “It must be awful for you. We can talk about something else if you’d like.”

I almost burst into tears on the spot. Coming from Sona, that was a big deal. She was obviously still bursting with curiosity, but she was prepared to put that aside for my sake.

“But, you know, if you ever do want to talk about it,” said Zac, “I love frogs.”

What a sweetheart. I gave him a shaky smile. “Thanks.”

Sona looked over my shoulder and let out a little squeak. “Hey, there’s Miss Moore.”

Miss Moore looked stunning tonight, in a floor-length gown that wouldn’t have looked out of place at the Oscars. A deep blood-red, it sat perfectly against her creamy skin. Her hair was swept back in a classical chignon.

“Wow,” Zac said, gazing after her. “Looking that good should be illegal.”

I followed his gaze, trying not to feel jealous. I could never look as good as her, not in a million years. Her height, her elegance, her sleek dark hair—my wild curls were up in a messy bun tonight, with a couple of ringlets trailing down past my ears. It didn’t look too bad, and that was about as good as it ever got with my hair. Plus of course she didn’t have the added bonus of occasionally spitting frogs when she spoke.

Was Zac’s favourite colour still green, or was red making a comeback? But he
had
said he liked frogs.

His warm hand closed around mine and he gave me that cute dimpled smile. “Ready? Let’s get this party started.”

Dinner was nothing exciting—prawn cocktails to start, then a choice of chicken or lamb. They probably figured there was no point wasting cordon bleu cooking on a bunch of schoolkids. It didn’t matter; the night wasn’t about the food, but about the dancing to come, the tears and vows of eternal friendship and, most of all—the after party.

Ashleigh was hosting one for most of Year 11, which she’d half-heartedly invited me to just because I was CJ’s sister. As it turned out, CJ wasn’t going to it anyway, because now she was invited to the Year 12 one at Josh’s place. But Ashleigh didn’t need to worry; I wouldn’t have gone to her stupid party if she’d begged me, after her earlier crack. I was going to tag along with CJ. With a bit of luck I could persuade Zac to come too. I felt a growing certainty that that might just make my night.

He was sitting next to me at dinner. Our table was pretty quiet, as we had a few of the robotics club guys with us. They were clustered together down one end with Mr Dunkley, my physics teacher. At the other end were me and Zac, Sona and Julie Lee, and the fabulous Miss Moore.

Between the two of them, Sona and Miss Moore kept the conversation flowing through the first two courses. Just as well, since I didn’t feel like chatting now. I was too conscious of people looking, people whispering about me.

Miss Moore seemed to have travelled over half the world, and had a lot of stories to tell. None of them were bloodthirsty, but there was still something about her that made me uneasy. Once or twice I caught her looking at me, a thoughtful, almost amused look, as if she knew a secret about me that I wasn’t going to like. Maybe it was just all the publicity about the stupid frogs and diamonds, or the fuss in the foyer before dinner, but it made me uncomfortable. I was sick of people staring at me.

Another time it would have bothered me a lot more, but Zac’s leg was pressed against mine under the table and I was devoting a lot of brainpower to the vital question of whether this was merely accidental or more accidental-on-purpose. That whole side of my body felt warm and tingly, and as a result I was having a little trouble following the conversation. Zac wasn’t saying much either. I couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Or just, you know, a thing. He was often quiet.

Julie Lee, of course, was even quieter, and barely spoke, though she followed the conversation with all the appearance of enjoyment. She was wearing a black halterneck dress and looked very nice, if a little sedate. Seeing her next to the flamboyant Sona made me wonder how these two had ever been best friends.

I ran my finger nervously under my collar, pulling it out from my throat. Was it my imagination, or did it feel hotter than usual? I must be more flustered by Zac than I’d thought.
Get a grip, girl. It’s not like you’ve never had a boyfriend before
.

I’d gone steady with Matthew for six months in Year 9, and in Year 9, six months was practically a lifetime. We’d been the old married couple of our group—until suddenly we weren’t. But never in that six months had I felt such nervous excitement over Matt as I felt now sitting next to Zac. And I’d only known him a week! What was wrong with me?

I sneaked a sideways glance at him. He looked so cute tonight I could hardly believe I’d thought he wasn’t anything special that first day on the bus. Though in my defence, I
had
noticed the dimple straight away. But it was more than looks that had my heart going skippety-skip. He’d driven us home from that dreadful party; he’d come around to see how I was. And tonight he’d said he liked frogs. He was someone I could count on, and in this messed-up magic-infested world, that meant something.