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Ophelia

I left my fake smile right where it was. What else could I do? I barely knew Cal. We had never been introduced, I’d only heard of her secondhand, though Athena, who had been less than flattering in her description.

I would just give her the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps she hadn’t meant to hurt me.

I just wanted to leave. Cal was picking a fight with Lorcan, and though he was keeping his temper admirably, I could tell he was becoming more and more annoyed. I couldn’t blame him.

I needed to say something, I couldn’t just stand here.

As soon as there was a lull in the insults, I said, brightly,

“I like your hair, it’s a really pretty color.”

Cal looked like she’d been formulating another insult, but she froze, then scowled at me. I smiled awkwardly. It was. It suited her.

“Thank you?” she said, uncertainly, as though she was trying to discover my ulterior motive. My smile cleared up again.

My gaze drifted off toward the center of the room. A man stood there, trying to shake shards of glass out of his hands. I still had splinters stuck in mine, but his looked worse.

I hurried over, leaving Cal and Lorcan to their fight.

The man’s clothes were fancy, but he mostly just looked confused. I could relate to that.

“Hi, I’m Ophelia! That looks like it hurts,” I said, gesturing to his hands.

He looked up, confusion completely taking over his expression. He stared at me as though he didn’t quite know what to make of me, then seemed to reach a conclusion and bowed.

I giggled, I liked him already. I dipped into a reverence like I would after a performance or to my teacher.

“And I’m Alaric. It’ll be fine,” he said, hiding his hands by his back. He looked awkward in the whole situation. I had to find some way to put him at ease.

“It’s awfully unfortunate isn’t it, it’s a nasty place to land,” I said, desperately forcing the niceties.

A girl in a long lab coat hurried up to us and gave us a smile that appeared friendly, but distracted.

A tall blonde stood behind her, arms crossed, expression judgemental.

“Hello. I heard you shouting, but I didn’t catch your name. What is it? And you, too?”

The man hesitated, unsure whether it was safe to give his name. I’d already given mine, so why not do it again?

“I’m Ophelia!” I said, right as Alaric said,

“Prince Alaric of Reantare, lady —?”

“Rosemary,” the girl replied.

I cocked my head. He was a prince? I’d never heard of him, nor of Reantare. I supposed that meant he wasn’t really a prince, but I didn’t care. If he liked the idea, I was more than happy to play along, it made no difference to me.

The other girl’s eyebrows quirked, with the slightest smile. She was amused at something.

As soon as I was sure neither of them were looking at me, I glanced over them. Rosemary was definitely wearing a lab coat. Another odd detail caught my attention. Jade stood with her feet turned out, but didn’t seem aware of the fact. I tilted my head. Was she a dancer as well? She must have been doing it for a while to start doing it naturally.

I did the same thing, Athena had once pointed out that she always recognized my classmates because so many dancers developed that habit.

“And you too, Ophelia!” Rosemary said.

I instantly tried to look as though I’d been listening. How were you supposed to do that anyway? What did people look like when they’d been listening? I settled on a compromise and nodded.

She took Alaric’s hand and picked out the glass splinters, giving him an admonition about how infection was a problem. I grinned, he looked so sheepish listening to the lecture.

I only had a few splinters stuck, but Rosemary managed it quickly and without much trouble.

“Thanks,” I said, cheerily.

Two people hurried in from one of the darker corners of the room. Both were tall, a brunette woman who resembled Athena and a man who seemed to have pink hair. Was that just a trick of the light?

“Whoa there,” the man said, stopping short. The woman almost ran into him and shot him a withering look, then glanced back at us, half assessing, half worried.

I understood their worry, and it was awful to feel worried. I had to find some way to reassure them. I waved, which appeared to baffle both of them.

“Get back!” Someone called, the sound echoing across the room. “Everyone get back! Out! Get out of the room!”

Where to?

I didn’t want to risk it, I stepped back, not quite running but definitely backing away from the call.