NOVEL NEXT Chapter Three Hundred Seventeen
The Mindbender's Ball was apparently being held at the ballroom of a local hotel in the city. The Ventralia was an upscale hotel catering to visiting dignitaries and high ranking Unity and WCP personnel from other cities. Since most of the E-rankers were concentrated in Rajak, they mostly saw F-rank visitors, but considering these people were all influential local powerhouses, the place was still pretty swanky.
As we gathered outside the place, I took in everyone's clothes, and I had to admit that our various politicos had a pretty good eye for fashion too. Even Cark looked upscale in a nicely tailored suit and waistcoat. Cass was wearing a ball gown that she looked thrilled to be in, while Jessie had on a floor length dress that looked like it was made from leaves. Given her power it might actually have BEEN made from leaves.
Callie had decided to go with a black evening gown that looked like solid darkness, but she had a shawl of roiling shadow over her shoulders and back. Her dark dress matched my own suit, which paired well with my dark wooden mask. Celine was dressed in an emerald green velvet dress, with Benny wearing a similarly colored suit that went shockingly well with his eyes. Zeke was in a rumpled but upscale looking suit of dark grey that went well with Stella's shimmering starlight silver dress. Melinda was there with Travis, looking regal in dark green silk, with Sloane trailing behind in black. We had more than a few nature inclined people in our group and it showed.
Alexander hadn't come. I suspect he didn't want to be here without Amelia, and I didn't expect she had any interest in being at a party where her ex-husband and presumably his new wife would be in attendance. I knew Callie would prefer to avoid Annie as well, and I didn't expect her to approach us. She'd been keeping her distance like Callie clearly wanted ever since we moved out of the Unity building.
Climbing out of the carriage outside the venue, I looked back at the thing in awe. "Ok, how the hell did you guys even find a carriage in this day and age? Especially such a nice one. Who the hell uses G-rank horses to pull a carriage." I looked apologetically at the driver. "No offense, it's a beautiful carriage, just the concept seems kind of old fashioned to me for some reason."
He just shrugged. "You paid for a ride didn't ya?" I opened my mouth to retort but came up short because...I had no response to that.
"Well played." I said with narrowed eyes, and he tipped his hat to me and gently spurred the horses to move along. "Alright." I said turning to the others. "So how do we go about making our entrance here." I shot Callie a sulky look, my voice whiny as I said. "We COULD have been escorted in by a giant bear in clothes. I still say it's not fair Melinda got to bring her companion and Jessie couldn't."
Callie looked at me incredulously. "Travis is a weasel! He's the size of my forearm. Randall is a bear the size of a small bus." With my mask on she couldn't see my smirk, but she could hear my tone and knew I was just teasing. She played along because it amused her.
"Yes dear." I said dramatically. Then I put an arm around her and pulled her close. "You look amazing by the way." I put on a faux haughty tone. "Not as amazing as me, but then, we all have our burdens to bear in life, and being drop dead gorgeous is clearly the heaviest of my responsibilities."
She giggled and poked me in the ribs. "Talk to me about your magnificence when you can dress yourself, stud. I'm pretty sure you might have shown up wearing pants on your head if I hadn't picked out your suit." She gestured at Cark. "Why can't you and Clockwork be like Tony. He can pick his own clothes."
I gasped in mortal offense. "How dare you. I am a very stylish individual. I have style...ish." That got another giggle. "Anyway, we should head in. Don't want to keep everyone waiting." I removed my arm from her shoulders and held out my elbow formally. "Shall we milady?"
She actually curtsied in response (albeit pretty sarcastically) before taking my arm and leading me inside. The others trailed behind us. Benny and Celine caught up, looking like an elegant fancy couple. "So, Cel says this place is going to be crawling with local power players. Anyone we might know?"
Callie nodded as we walked toward the entrance to the hotel. "Oh yeah. Several people we've met, a few we've heard mentioned. The Moravian is going to be here, which is huge, he rarely comes out of seclusion. The old man likes to spend his time alone from what I'm told. Duncan the Liar will be here, though I'd avoid him. He has a tendency to mess with people at functions like this, so unless you want to break your teeth biting into a diamond or something steer clear. He's the obnoxious blonde guy in the bright yellow doublet."
She had her Stealth Skill active as she filled us in, to keep us from being overheard. But as we got close to entering she stopped talking anyway. She dropped the skill and smiled at the man guarding the door. "Nightstrike, here by invitation from The Nothing." I hadn't known we needed an invite, but it made sense. Alexander being able to get us in wasn't a surprise either, even without him being here. The Nothing had a pretty sizable reputation, even up here.
Realistically. Melinda was with us and could have just walked us through the front door herself, but since we were trying to make connections Callie decided to use Alexander's name. She figured since he wasn't here we could actually talk to some people rather than spend the whole night listening to them suck up to Melinda. It felt dangerous to come here without our full E-rank coterie, but Callie was fine with it so I figured I was just being paranoid.
The door guard, a hulking beefy man with thinning hair and a neck as thick as my thigh, nodded and waved us through without a second thought. Walking into the building, we followed a trail of floating candles in elegant crystal sconces that bobbed in the air over a red carpet. Taking the path we arrived at a pair of open double doors where the party was being held, and when reached the entrance, we all stopped and gaped.
A cosmos of rioting phenomena blazed dizzyingly over the room. More than just stars. Waves of fire, storms of lightning, swirling cascades of luminous water, mist, clouds, shimmering blobs of light and gel and a million other things wove an inexplicable tapestry through the darkness of space, transforming and combining and breaking apart into components again and again.
The array of lights and colors that played across the dark marble of the floor seemed to be just on the edge of overwhelming without actually becoming too much to deal with, and as I watched I noticed the cascade of colors was passing through a cloud of nearly invisible white light that kept it from overpowering the crowd with the sheer spectacle without disturbing our ability to withstand it. Even with that softening though, it was easy for me to tell that this could be used as a mental attack if the caster was so inclined. Mindbender indeed.
"Holy shit." Said Benny quietly. "You guys weren't kidding about this being a crazy party." Focusing past the light show (which was only possible because of the filter I suspected) we glanced down at the party itself. Among the guests floated cloaks full of nebulas, with dark hoods covered only by masks. They each had a pair of floating white gloves holding up trays of food and drinks as they circulated.
The decorations and the help were only part of what made the place so amazing though. The guests were almost as impressive. Suits of living flame, dandelion dresses, doublets made of stormclouds with real lightning striking out. I'd though we'd gone all out getting ready, but we'd dressed pretty conservatively compared to some of the wild fashion statements.
Far from being upset, Callie clicked her tongue in amazement. "See." She said to Jessie, Celine, and Cark. "I told you it would have been a mistake to go big. No way we could have kept up. Better to let our reputation do the talking." As we stepped in, one of the cloaked nebulas floated over, extending a pair of trays in a way that told me those gloves were not attached to any arms.
Mine had some mini quiches, and I snagged a few before tapping into Callie's ability via our bond for a second and condensing a plate from shadows. Damn, that was really convenient. It wasn't very sturdy, and it wouldn't last, but since it was so flimsy I barely had to strain my soul at all to make it, plus I could just disperse the thing when I finished eating. I made a second one for Callie, because I knew my girl well enough to know she'd want some of the quiches, and slid a few bacon and scallop mini quiches onto a plate for her.
When I passed it over she smirked at me. "They do have plates you know? But this works better for me anyway. Thanks babe." She hopped up gracefully to give me a peck on the mask, just before my wooden face covering receded so I could actually eat, allowing me to return her grin.
I popped a quiche into my mouth with a groan. Smoked gouda and pepperoni. Odd combo but very delicious. "This is great." I said as we headed out to mingle. "Wonder who did their catering." Popping another in my mouth I saw Callie had already eaten all of hers and dispersed the plate. I just chuckled. "Clearly you liked them too. So, who do we talk to first, this is your show. I don't know whats what here." The others had mostly broken off when we came in, with Jessie following Cark and Cass, and Sloane trailing Melinda, leaving just the two of us as Zeke and Stella were lost in the dance floor crowd.
Callie looked around uncertainly. "I'm not sure honestly. Usually I had a reason to talk to people at those parties when I was younger." She bit her lip as she paused for thought. "Let's try someone our age we actually know. Maybe Cold Snap is around. His mom is E-rank, and he could make an introduction." I wasn't sure he would actually want to do that, but he hadn't seemed too hostile in the end so it couldn't hurt to ask, especially with the security here.
As I turned to follow her into the crowd, I felt a twinge from my bond, meaning Callie had picked up something coming at my back. I sidestepped easily, and was shocked to see a pulled pork sandwich fly through the air where my head had been. "Hah!" Bellowed a voice from nearby. "As expected of my nemesis."
I knew that voice, I closed my eyes silently and breathed out an exhalation of annoyance as I turned to see the crowd retreating as a familiar form strolled out, a blazer over his usually shirtless form. I should have figured this was coming. His dad WAS an E-ranker now. He shot me a challenging grin. "Bet you didn't expect to see me again so soon! Did you Solomon!" Callie stepped up next to me, and I felt her own annoyance through the bond as Punchin' Carl cornered me right next to the dance floor. Well, this should be fun.