Raven

When it's time to leave we all line up at the door. Someone generously donated ten limos rides for us to take to the ball. Garfield and Richard are ecstatic as we walk through the front door and down the path. The excitement of everyone is nauseating. It's hard to shield... Richard and Garfield each grab one of my arms and all but skip down the path, picking a white one to get in. Mrs. Huntington gets in this one too, along with Ms. Kinders and a handful of older boys from Richard's room. With Mrs. Huntington here, everyone behaves. Everyone oggles at the inside of the car, but I find a spot in the back corner and close my eyes. This is my first time in any car, let alone a limo, but if I'm going to survive tonight, I need to stay calm. I focus on shielding. Eventually they all settle down. Richard and Garfield sit on either side of me. It takes over an hour to get to the ball and then we have to wait our turn to get out of the car.

As we exit the car Mrs. Huntington pulls my jacket hoot up over my hair. Ms. Kinders tries to get Garfield, but he maneuvers himself out of her reach. When we step out, we walk down a long purple carpet. There tons are people with cameras lined up along the side. I've never seen so many people in my life.

It doesn't get any less crowded inside. There are ten people at the door taking people's coats. We all take our jackets off and hand them over. Then we walk through a short hall to a giant set of open doors. Inside is the party. There are tons of men and women dressed in even fancier clothes than ours. There are other kids here too. Some are dancing, a lot are standing around with drinks talking and others are playing on their phones or eating.

The other kids all race into the room, excited to mingle.

"Stay with your buddy!" Ms. Kinders yells after them, but if they hear her, they ignore it. We follow after everyone. It's hard not to be in awe of everything. Several chandeliers hang from the ceiling, the women are all dressed in beautiful gowns. Some look like princesses from a storybook. Even the floor sparkles. A few people stare at Garfield and whisper to each other, but no one talks to us and we can't hear them. After a few minutes, I need to move my eyes to the floor and concentrate on my breathing. Slow, controlled breaths. Then I conjure my shield again. There's a bubble around me. No one can penetrate it.

Except that they do... There are too many people here. It's hard. All their feelings mesh into a horrible, almost painful blob.

"Look!" Garfield says. "There's the stage!" We skirt around a few groups of adults talking and I see what he's pointing at. There's a big stage on the far wall. There's a curtain and everything. Right now, an orchestra is setup, playing music. On one side of the stage front people are dancing, on the other people are standing around tall tables with drinks an watching the musicians. As we get closer the music gets louder. Garfield leaves us for a second to run closer to the stage, but we catch up with him.

"This is where the talent show will be." He grins.

"That's not for a while, so why don't we see what else there is," Richard suggests, pulling on his shoulder gently.

"Okay." He stares at it for a minute longer and then turns around, leading the way a we walk through the room. We stop at the buffet table and they both snack on tiny sandwiches and conspire to steal glasses of champagne, which is impossible, because there's five attendants in front of the drinks to make sure none of us kids get anything, but sparkling cider.

After a bit, an announcer gets on the stage and says a magician named Zatanna Zatara is going to perform. Richard and Garfield run to get good spots by the stage. It's hard to keep up with them. We get separated for a minute, but they come back for me and grab my arms.

The stage is a few feet above the floor, so even though we're not close, we can still see quite a bit. The magician is a woman as pretty as any of the rich people here. She starts by pulling a bunch of books out of her hat, then asking an audience member, an old man, to pick one and open it, read one sentence and memorize it. She asks him three questions and then tells him the exact sentence he read. Everyone applauds. Then she picks a kid, not from our group and puts them in a box. They disappear. When they reappear, they're in the middle of the audience.

"Whoa!" Garfield mumbles. He glances at Richard and I to see if we're equally amazed and we are. I've seen magic. I've used magic, but I don't think I could that. She's really talented.

For her third trick, a giant wooden crate is wheeled on stage. She opens it and it's empty, but she spins it around three times and suddenly a tiger comes out of it. The tiger walks to the edge of the stage and people start to back up. She whistles and it turns towards her.

"No..." Garfield mumbles. He's starting to shake and bite his lower lip. Before I can ask what's wrong, he pushes through the crowd and runs.

"Not here..." Richard groans. He starts to follow Garfield, but pauses and turns back to me. "We'll be right back, stay here." Why can't I come? He doesn't wait for me to ask though and I don't follow him, because this is one of those things, we don't talk about... Still, I don't want to be alone...

It's hard to pay attention to the show. I keep looking around, waiting for them to come back, but they don't. When it's over and people separate and go back to mingling, eating and drinking. They're nowhere. Panic washes over me and my chest tightens. Where are they? Did they ditch me? Did something happen to them? There aren't any other familiar faces in the crowd either. There are other kids from the other group homes and orphanages, but I don't see any of the ones from Shining Oaks. The staff members are MIA too... Where's Mrs. Huntington? Is the ballroom really that big that they could scatter like that? Or did they leave me here?

It's hard to breathe... I need to calm down and remember my training. They said to stay here, but the music is starting again and it's loud. People are coming over to watch. I need to find somewhere quiet to calm down and think.

Abomination. My whole body shutters. I turn around and there are two men walking behind me. They're wearing fancy suits like all the other men, but something about them is off. They don't belong here. I watch them head deeper into the crowd. Should I do something? Tell someone? Where is Mrs. Huntington?

"You look lost." I look up. There's a tall man, with dark hair and glasses looming over me. Next to him is the magician.

"Do you need help finding your friends or a teacher?" The magician asks. She bends down and touches my arm lightly, but I pull away and take a step back. Her brow furrows for a minute and her face changes. It's gone from being concerned about my welfare, to concerned about something else. If she's a real magic user, can she tell? Does she know about him? She stands up and takes a step back.

"What are you?" the words are barely above a whisper, but I hear them and the man hears them too. He turns to her and she puts an arm out in front of him and takes another step back, forcing him to take a step back too.

"There you are!" Richard and Garfield run up from behind them. Garfield looks a little disheveled. His hair is a mess again and his suit is a little wrinkled. They're out of breath, like they've been running for a while.

"Hey, it's Zatanna!" Garfield grins. "Your show was so cool!"

"Yeah, it was awesome." Richard says. Suddenly I'm chopped liver, even though they ditched me? They don't even apologize. The woman is trying to engage with them, but her eyes don't leave me. This is bad... I need to stay away from her.

I walk around them and head towards the wall. I need to find somewhere quiet. Garfield and Richard run after me.

"Hey!" Richard says.

"I'm sorry." Garfield grabs onto one of my arms and Richard grabs the other.

"..."

"Really, we're sorry." Richard says.

"I just had... a thing." Garfield says. "I had to step away for a minute. Please don't be mad." I sigh, but nod. I'll try not to be mad, but I'm still tired... I wish we could leave, but they're having too much fun. They'd never want to sneak away.

"The talent show is going to start soon, so I have to get by the stage." Garfield says. "Make sure you come watch."

"We'll go wait in the front row." Richard says. Garfield lets go of my arm and takes off again.