Circus
Chapter 9
"Whoa," was all Lillian could think to say when she, Eve, Elizabeth, and Gregory climbed out of his jeep in front of the huge LA mansion.
Lillian looked over at Eve, who looked just as intimidated by the wealth as she was.
"Shall we, ladies?" Gregory held his arms out for Lillian and Eve to take. They walked towards the mansion together, with Elizabeth scowling right behind them.
Shamira Abijah certainly knew how to throw a party. After two hours, Lillian was quite convinced that she was at a real club instead of just a house party. The DJ played only the best dance music; the alcohol was actually pretty good, unlike at the few other parties she had been able to sneak out to go to in Seattle where the alcohol was a keg of keystone. She had already met Shamira three times, as the gracious hostess did her rounds. And although Shamira was great at throwing parties and was perfectly polite when she introduced herself, it became obvious to Lillian why Elizabeth had such distaste for her. Everyone was beneath Shamira Abijah, according to Shamira Abijah; even her boyfriend, Gregory's friend Brian, was not quite good enough to breathe her air. She didn't invite people to her party: she deigned to allow them on the premisis, and it was starting to piss Lillian off.
"I don't think glaring helps," Lillian commented as she leaned against the same sofa as Elizabeth.
"Something's weird about her tonight."
"Why even pay attention to Shamira? She has plenty of other people to do it." Elizabeth sent a half smile to Lillian.
"Woo-ooo!" a loud shout and a crash drew everyone's attention from what they were doing to a new arrival. Pierced and tattooed, the boy was obviously not an invited guest. But as he walked through the room, no one tried to stop him. They all backed away in fear.
"Hey, man," Brian finally decided to stand up to him. "This is a private party. I'm sure there's somewhere else for you to be."
The other man did not say anything, but suddenly Brian was completely taken over by rage, swinging wildly at him. People just stared, too entranced to even begin a fight chant. All Brian's shots missed, but one shot from whatever-his-name-was and Brian was doubled over in pain. Instead of going to her boyfriend's side, Shamira ran out of the room crying. Gregory jumped in, instead, and tried to pick up where his best friend left off. Gregory was almost immediately punched in the face, with a sickening crack of his jaw being broken. He didn't go down, though.
Lillian looked over at Elizabeth, wondering if there was something they should do, but her new somewhat-of-a-friend seemed to be in another world: her pupils were dilated, her expression blank. And with the same sudden flash that came over Brian, she ran outside.
There was something weird going on. Something… like out of a nightmare.
Lillian looked around wildly for Eve. They had to get out of there. No one seemed to be paying any attention to anything but the fight, which was continuing to go poorly for Gregory and Brian, who got back up to join the fight. Lillian pushed through the crowd, calling Eve's name. Finally, she found her friend huddled in a corner, crying.
"Eve? Eve, what's wrong?"
The girl didn't respond.
"Come on, we gotta get out of here."
Lillian helped Eve up and let the girl lean on her, as she tried to hurry them out of the house. They finally stumbled out of the house and onto the lawn, where both Shamira and Elizabeth stood, facing two others, similarly dressed to the party crasher inside.
"Elizabeth!" Lillian tried to gain the girl's attention, but instead, Eve wretched herself from Lillian's grasp and stumbled towards the other four. "Eve!" Lillian wanted to run and try to help the three girls from whatever was causing them to act so strangely, but she couldn't get her legs to move. And then she saw it, a flash of light, like lightening, coming from Shamira's chest. She moved around to see what was causing it. The fronts of all three girls were bathed in ethereal glows coming from the matching necklaces they wore. Necklaces just like hers.
"Well, isn't this the party of the century?" The party crasher was joining them outside, walking closer to her friends, but not paying any attention to Lillian. As if someone turned off the mute on a television set, noise from within the house suddenly erupted, though Lillian couldn't tell what they were shouting.
Shamira, Elizabeth, and Eve looked behind them at the man and back and forth between him and the two others. Terror and confusion was apparent on all of their features
"What do you want from us?" Shamira asked through her tears.
"Aw, don't cry, Shamira; we just wanna have some fun."
Whatever he wanted, Lillian doubted it would be fun for the now cornered girls. Lillian bit her lip. It was three against three… she should make it three against four. Ripping open her purse with one hand, she reached in and clasped the other around a necklace, thankful she had taken to carrying it around with her since seeing Elizabeth's at the beach. The necklace seemed to come alive in her hand, energizing her. She pulled the chain hastily down and her head and let the amulet hit her chest and illuminate her as well.
"O Mater Luna, Regina Nocis, aduivo me nunc." The words spilled from her mouth before she could even think about stopping them. The three bad boys whirled around to face her. The apparent leader, who crashed the party, looked enraged.
"Well, seems Selene sent four after all." They started towards her and Lillian felt something strange start in her mind. She saw the other three come to themselves again, unwatched by the three goons.
"Hey! What the hell is going on here?" Elizabeth exclaimed angrily. And Shamira, knowing something was wrong backed her up, despite their antipathy towards each other. Eve broke into a run and ended up at Lillian's side. They grasped hands out of instinct or fear and sparks immediately flew everywhere. Lillian felt an intense and terrifying jolt, as she felt the strange sense of déjà vu wash over her, and she knew this was just like a nightmare – it had been one.
Completely furious, the three punks looked like they were about to murder them all, as pain started to pound in Lillian's mind.
As if by an act of God, sirens suddenly pierced through the air and people began pouring out of the mansion. The three were there and then they were gone, as if they simply became shadows. The four girls looked at each other and then they ran. Whether it was to or from something, Lillian had no idea; all she knew was that they needed to know what the hell just happened.