Cy and Max jumped out of their skins when the library doors slammed open. “Wherever you got Lady Pompadour’s dress from, never go there again,” Ellie scolded sternly. Behind her, BB was showing off her repaired dress and refitted hair with sparkling jewellery. Although the shawl was a different colour to everything else, it had been pinned in place with a butterfly broach causing the different fabrics to seem unified. “The stitching was atrocious.”

  “I tried my best,” Max muttered before receiving a cold look from Ellie.

  “You made it?”

  “I tried-”

  “You need a lot more practice before you can do something like that,” Ellie replied in a cold voice while she pulled out her fan, drew it across her eyes and started fanning herself in a swift motion. To BB and Cy, it was a cold comment on his work. For Max, it was a clear message through the fan: ‘Forgive me.’ Keeping up her own vision of herself was always essential for her. “Have you two found your other friend yet?”

  “We looked around, but we couldn’t find her in the ballroom. Maybe she’s in another part of the mansion?” Cy noted, not sure if they could go into the other rooms without the dream breaking.

  Max considered Cy’s words carefully. All the rooms he didn’t go into during his time were meant to be locked. It only left a few options for them. “Perhaps she went into the servant’s quarters-”

  “You!” Standing at the door to the library, Jacquotte looked angry and confused as she pointed a finger at BB.

  Jumping at the chance, BB replied, “Yes, it’s me! There you are! We were looking for you.”

  Jacquotte gave a disturbed look before continuing her original train of thought. “Where am I? I don’t know this place.”

  “What do you mean you don’t know? We were invited here by your cousin,” BB pointed at Max, who only looked confused by what the fuck was going on. “What happened to your clothes?”

  Finally realising she was still in her nightgown, Jacquotte’s face flushed red. She tried to protect her own modesty by covering certain areas with her hands. Without prompt, Ellie offered the shawl she was wearing to BB. “Use this to cover her.”

  Seeing the opportunity, Cy also leaned into whisper. “Make it dramatic. I’ll manipulate the dream for you.”

  “What are they saying?” Jacquotte was reasonably suspicious at the sudden whispering and passing of fabric.

  “Let me help you cover up,” BB’s voice was calm and gentle. A huge difference to the confident and erratic spew of justifications for shooting at strange shadows. “Come on, now.” Hearing the crowds of people down either side of the corridor, for once, Jacquotte didn’t resist. “There, see, you’re the belle of the ball.” With a huge chunk of magic to cheat, the shawl wrapped itself around Jacquotte until it settled into a pink, Empire line dress. Apart from the colour, it was identical to BB’s before it was broken. Bamboozled, Jacquotte didn’t say anything. Had she accepted this was a dream already? “Let’s get your hair done too. Lady Piggott, do you have any spare accessories?”

  It hurt Max to see Ellie’s appearance glitch out before returning to normal. It was just another reminder that she was nothing more than a dream. The newest iteration of her continued as if the last thirty seconds didn’t occur. He couldn’t think about how she would respond to seeing magic. There was nothing like it in her world.

  “You can have one of mine.” She took out one of the three-part headbands adorned with gems out of her hair. “Sit down,” Ellie instructed Jacquotte. “We need to get your hair up so you’re presentable.”

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  While the women tended to her hair, the guys kept a reasonable distance. “If you want this to keep going, calm yourself and just use your imagination.” Cy warned in a low voice to Max. “If we have another glitch out like that, this will all fall apart.”

  “I know.”

  With her head on her arm and against the wall, Ellie took a few deep breaths. They could all hear the sounds of high society from around the corner, where the music was still permeating the space. Max couldn’t help but feel pity for her while she built up the confidence to resume her place as the designated outlier amongst her peers. This habit faded with time, but it was strongest when they first met. Usually, she would only need a few seconds. Dream Ellie was taking a little longer.

  “Maybe we should stagnate our entrance to the party?” BB suggested. “I will attract less attention if I join separately.” Max couldn’t help feeling perplexed until he re-evaluated the situation. BB didn’t know Ellie. She didn’t know her trends or fears. BB must’ve assumed she was the source of her anxiety.

  “Why would she attract attention?” Jacquotte whispered to the nearest ear, which was Cy. “Is it because she’s got a screw loose?”

  “I don’t know. It’s something about being under the sun,” he murmured back. The lesson on racism earlier this afternoon clearly didn’t land properly.

  “Does she go under the sun a lot or something?”

  “I guess. She’s a pirate, so she would probably be in the sun a lot.”

  “She’s a pirate?” She whispered back suspiciously.

  “Aye,” BB said, with a wide grin on her face. “I’m a pirate in this life, and in the next life too if I can reach the sea.” Smelling the lie a mile away, Max saw the manipulation tactic BB was creating right in front of them. Girl of your dreams? Lover from the past? Why can’t BB be both? “Next time, why don’t you join my crew?”

  “You got a big bounty then?” There was a glimmer of greed in Jacquotte’s eyes.

  “And an even bigger stash.”

  “I thought you were a musician?” Ellie finally chimed in. Did she get her confidence back? Her head was still resting on her arm. “And, didn’t you already know she was a pirate? That’s what you told me in the garden.”

  BB looked a bit flustered while she searched for excuses before Max interjected with a lie. “How do you think she learned to be a great musician? She had to travel from place to place to pick up the skill.” He didn’t have a lie ready for why Jacquotte didn’t know. Luckily, she didn’t seem interested in answering.

  Ellie continued her interrogation. “She needed to become a pirate to learn how to be a musician?”

  “What instruments can you play?” Jacquotte whispered to BB, trying to drag the conversation away from the question of morality.

  “Anything,” BB answered. “So, should I enter separately?”

  “No,” Ellie was decisive in her answer. Peeling her head back, she stood up tall. “They’re going to be staring at us anyway. May as well give them something fabulous to look at. Let’s go.” Without waiting to see if the others were ready, Ellie ploughed on ahead and entered the ballroom.

  Ellie’s behaviour may have been puzzling to the others until the moment she was in view of the others within the dream. The music never stopped. The instruments kept playing. Yet, there was an eerie silence spreading as the gossiping mouths slowed to a stop. Ellie paid no mind to all the eyes suddenly on her. Almost as if she were diseased, the people kept their distance as she made her way through the crowd. She never made eye contact with any of them.

  “They’re not looking at me,” BB whispered into Max’s ear. Jacquotte was nervously walking behind her, but the sudden change of atmosphere was getting to her. “Why are they looking at her?”

  “Long story,” Max quickly dismissed her concerns. “Why don’t you take Jacquotte and join the dance?” BB gave a worried glance over to Ellie, who was making her way to a central spot in front of the dancers. “Go on. Take the chance while everyone is distracted. The atmosphere will go back to normal in a couple of minutes.”

  Reassured, BB took Jacquotte and led her to a quieter part of the room. It was in the opposite direction from Ellie. She merely seemed to be taking an eye-catching spot to the unfamiliar, but Max already knew she was making her way to stand opposite of where her family and intended fiancé were watching. Hiding from them meant trouble. Showing her true colours wasn’t much better. Defiant, Ellie glared at people opposite her while the dancers moved in and out of her vision.

  “What’s her ‘long story’?” Cy whispered to Max. His eyes were bouncing back and forth between the dream being and the two new dancers. “What the hell was that?”

  This wasn’t the time nor the place to go into details. The watchful eyes of society were already starting to drift to the dancing women. It wasn’t too uncommon for two women to dance together if there was a gender imbalance. However, it was uncommon for two completely unknown people of different races to join the dance. Max glanced at Ellie, who had already broken her glare and was clearly noting the same thing.

  “Ellie… She’s a bit of a freak, and you’re going to see why.”