Chapter Nine
"Alyssa? Did I catch you at a bad time?"
"Miriam!" I squealed, excited to hear from my friend after almost a week of not speaking. (I know that sounds like barely anything, especially since it's vacation, but when you go to an all-girls boarding school like Alfea, your girlfriends become your family.) "Not at all, girl." I settled back down on my bed, cell phone in hand, nestling into the mound of fluffy pillows piled at the headboard and undoubtedly causing the maids' silent wrath for ruining their fastidious handiwork. "What's up? Family getting to you?"
"Sort of," Miriam said. "Lily is being her usual annoying self, and my parents keep bugging me about whether I like it at Alfea and if I'm alright in Magix by myself. I guess I should've known this kind of interrogation was coming – going from home-schooling to boarding school is a big jump – but that didn't make it any more pleasant. Overall it was nice, though."
"I'd take an interrogation about Alfea over my current situation any day," I sighed.
"What's wrong?"
Where to begin? Last year, over the break, I'd watched my friends go off home enviously, wishing I had a real family to return to instead of an overbearing, too-strict dad who hardly talked to me and a tiny, cramped house with barely enough space for me to turn around in. And now that I had what I'd dreamed of having – two loving parents, and a freaking palace to boot – I almost wished I was spending the break at Alfea, like I had last year.
The palace was bigger, but that also meant it was lonelier. And since I'd only been living in it for maybe a month over the summer (the rest of the time was spent realm-hopping to visit my friends and Ryan), I'd gotten lost more than once, trying to find my way around. As for my parents… Their fight seemed to keep getting worse, rather than better. While they'd never progressed to actually yelling at each other (at least, not in front of me…), every interaction felt strained, and they certainly weren't giggling and making out all the time like hormonal teenagers. (You'd think that would be a relief, since they're my parents, but I would give almost anything to have them go back to the way things were, if it meant they would stop fighting already.)
I was also worried about Ryan. We'd talked on the phone a couple times, but every time he always insisted there was no way he could sneak off for a couple hours to come see me. I wasn't convinced he was lying to me, per se; he'd mentioned having to be there for his dad, and to put on a good face for the public in the aftermath of Taylor-gate, which was certainly believable. Yet Alexa had crept into my brain, taking root and wrapping herself around my thoughts of my perfect boyfriend like the snake she was. I couldn't help see her smiling face that day in the dress shop, the sinister-seeming glint in her eye. This wasn't just paranoia talking; something was not kosher there, I was sure of it.
But just thinking about all the ways my life was screwed up right now made my head hurt, and I certainly didn't want to burden poor Miriam with this – not when she seemed to be having such a good time with her family. "Oh, everything and nothing," I replied offhandedly, trying to sound casual again. "Mostly I'm just worried about my party. I can't believe Lola, Dee, and Mel found dresses, but I didn't. I mean, whose party is it anyways?"
She laughed. "You'll find something soon, 'Liss. I know you will." She paused. "Hey, do you want to go shopping today?"
My eyes lit up at the thought of getting off of Sparx. "I'd love to!" I exclaimed, sitting up straight.
"Awesome." I could almost see her smile. "So, meet you at the portal center in half an hour?"
My face fell as I realized that she thought I'd meant for her to come here. "You know, I've kind of already been to the major stores here on Sparx with my mom, and so far, nada." A lie, yes (unlike on other visits, Mom and I had barely spent any time together that didn't feel forced, like family dinners), but necessary if I wanted to escape the stifling chokehold of my problems. "What if I came to you?" Isis was supposedly realm-renowned for their fashion, second only to Solaria.
Miriam hesitated, for longer than maybe should've been necessary. "The selection here's pretty bad right now too. I went looking for my own dress, and there's only very slim pickings left. You wouldn't want to come here. Plus… I've got a ton of family visiting right now, and if I bring you here, they'll just bombard us both with questions until it's way past time for you to get home." I could've sworn I detected a trace of guilt in her tone, but it vanished quickly.
"Oh." I didn't try to keep the disappointment out of my voice. "Well then, where should we go?"
"What about Earth?"
"Earth?"
"Why not? I can almost guarantee no one else that's going to your party will have thought of going there. There'll be way more to choose from, with so many untapped resources. Not to mention we'll be light-years away from both our families, and without magic, maybe you can start to forget about whatever's on your mind."
Well, when she presented it that way… "Sounds good. Where should we meet?"
"Let's start our search in Paris. I could go for some authentic croissants and cappuccino before a long day of shopping."
I giggled. "Ooh-la-la…" She laughed too. "Sounds like a plan. See you then."
"Alyssa!" I heard my mom call from downstairs.
"In a minute!" I yelled back, tossing my phone onto my bed. After a quick tangle with my closet, I decided on jeans and a purple T-shirt under a black hoodie, with matching purple suede boots that had been a present from Mel. I scooped up my phone, wallet, and other shopping essentials, tossed them into my current favorite bag of choice (an oversized turquoise leather tote with silver studding and chain straps), then swiped on some lip gloss and mascara, clasped on Ryan's necklace, and headed downstairs to find my mom.
"Hey, sweetie," she said, looking up from whatever she was writing. She was still in her teal satin nightgown and matching robe, her bright red hair spilling around her shoulders in messy, bed-head curls. Normally, seeing Mom in her nightgown at 10:00 in the morning would mean that she and Dad had had a late night (enough said…), but from the looks of things she'd simply gotten caught up in whatever she was doing and forgotten to get dressed. "Where're you going? You look nice."
"Miriam invited me to go shopping with her, to look for dresses for my party."
"Sounds fun," she said going back to her list. "I guess I have to start thinking about a dress soon, don't I?" She chewed on the end of her pen absentmindedly, her eyes glazed over like she was only half there.
"I'll keep a lookout for anything that might look good on you, if you'd like," I offered quickly, trying to bring back her focus.
She smiled. "Thanks, sweetie. You have enough money?"
"I'm sure we'll be fine." I paused, torn between leaving right away to go meet Miriam and trying to help my mom with whatever was troubling her. "What's all this?" I asked, picking up a handful of the discarded, half scribbled-on papers that littered the tabletop.
"Oh, these?" Mom looked up and grabbed them out of my hands, the pen leaving her mouth, her eyes fully alert (thank God). "I've been trying to work out a guest list for your party. We need to send out invitations as soon as possible, since there's so little time to the date. But I can't start figuring out how many people your father and I are inviting until I have your list, so is there any way you could try to get me that some time in the next day or two?"
"Sure. No problem." It wasn't an unreasonable request by any means, but more than that, the way she'd said "your father and I" gave me hope. They would get through this, and things would go back to normal; they had to.
Satisfied that Mom seemed sane enough, and that my parents' marriage wasn't hanging by a thread, I got up and grabbed my bag, turning to leave. As I did, I accidentally knocked over some more papers. Feeling my cheeks burn at my own clumsiness, I quickly ducked down to pick them up.
I wasn't trying to read them, I swear, but one name caught my eye. How could it not, with all the crossing-out and rewriting, circling and question marks?
"Sky? You want to invite Sky to my birthday ball?"
Mom flinched, and I realized too late that the question had probably come out a little more harshly than I'd intended it to. "I still haven't decided for sure about him," she started, sounding much more fragile than a minute ago.
"Decided what about who?" My eyes widened as Dad's voice filled the room. Almost subconsciously, I crumpled up the paper with Sky's name written all over it and hid it in my fist.
"Good morning, sweetheart," Mom said, getting up from the table, her robe slipping off one shoulder; she made no move to pull it back into place. Her voice, which before had been frazzled-sounding and sleepy, took on a cooing lilt, as she came up to his side and placed her hands on either side of his jaw, reaching up to kiss his cheek. I had to admire the fact that she was trying – it certainly couldn't be easy, with him always in a bad mood these days. "Did you have breakfast yet? I could make you something if you'd like."
"I'm fine, thanks." He brushed past her and headed towards the table, still half-covered in papers. Behind him, I saw her face fall, and momentarily wanted to punch Dad for treating her like this, regardless of whether they were in a fight. "What's all this?" he asked, scooping up a couple of papers.
"These? Oh, I'm just trying to figure out the guest list for Alyssa's party." Mom flitted back over, her voice still high and sweet but somewhat defensive at the same time. "I know it's a ways off, but it can never hurt to start thinking about these things, can it?"
He seemed to not hear her, scanning the names written on the bits of paper. I saw her jaw set somewhat angrily, as she yanked at the tie on her robe. "Did you sleep well, Dad?" I asked, trying to distract him a bit.
As if he'd just realized I was there, he looked up at me, his face softening. "Oh, good morning Alyssa. I slept fine, thank you." Looking me over, he added, "Are you going somewhere?"
"Dress shopping, with Miriam," I babbled on, hoping he'd lose interest in the papers. I wasn't sure if the paper in my hand was the only one with Sky's name on it, and I did not want to have to listen to Part XV of the Sky argument.
"Miriam, huh? Is she the one I don't know?" I could hear him starting to abandon interest in the papers, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling.
"Yeah, she's my new roommate," I continued. "I can't wait for you guys to meet her at my party; she's so amazing."
"Sounds nice, honey." Though he'd dropped the papers back to the table, I could tell he hadn't completely lost interest. My eyes widened as I saw him stiffen, his golden eyes landing on a three-letter name.
Mom seemed to sense the change too, subtle as it was. I saw her cross her arms over her chest, adopting a defensive stance, as Dad turned around to face her with the paper in hand, his eyes cold as stone. "Why is Sky's name on this list?"
"He's my friend."
"And your ex. Who's made it no secret that he wants you back." His eyes flashed with anger as he tore the paper into tiny little pieces that fell to the floor like confetti.
"And I have made it very clear that that ship has passed. We're inviting Ryan; it would be positively rude not to invite Sky too." My breath caught in my throat as I saw the same intense anger mirrored in her eyes. "Why is it so hard for you to just trust me?"
His fist came down on the table, and both Mom and I jumped. "Damn it, Bloom, you're not exactly making it very easy for me to do that."
"You could at least try and act like our marriage vows mean something to you!" she retorted.
"I'm not the one running around with someone who carries a blatantly obvious torch for me."
"Will you two please stop fighting already!" I didn't realize I'd actually said what I was thinking until I saw both of them staring at me, slack-jawed. Oops…
"See what this is doing to our daughter?" Mom asked angrily, recovering quickly. "Our beautiful, smart, talented daughter, whose birthday is coming up and who should not have to listen to her parents fight like this?"
"I'm not the one who started it," Dad grumbled, but his face softened nonetheless.
"Yes you are," I heard her murmur under her breath. His eyes flickered, but he didn't call her out on it.
After an uncomfortable moment of tense, awkward silence, I slung my bag over my shoulder and turned toward the door. "Um, I'll see you guys later, okay?"
Without waiting for a response, I bolted out of the kitchen.
"Okay, I give up. My perfect dress just does not exist." I collapsed into the chair across from Miriam and heaved an enormous sigh.
"Oh come on, don't be like that, Alyssa," Miriam insisted, setting down a mug of hot chocolate in front of me. "It's out there somewhere; you just haven't found it yet."
"Well if it's out there, I'd like to know where." I raised the steaming mug to my lips and took a long sip, the warm, chocolaty liquid heating me up from the inside out. In my haste to get out of the house this morning, I'd forgotten that the weather on Earth was much harsher than in the rest of the magical dimension without the wonders of climate-control spells, and was woefully underdressed in just my T-shirt and hoodie. I could (and did) cast a minor heat spell so I wouldn't freeze, but there were limits to using magic on Earth, of course, and too much would alert other people to the fact that there was something off. Miriam, at least, was more prepared, in a long black wool coat and burgundy knit scarf wrapped around her neck that matched her slim-fit cords tucked into black boots, a cute black knit hat with a pom-pom on top atop her long blond curls.
I gulped down more hot chocolate and sighed. We had combed through all the best shopping centers Earth had to offer: the Champs-Elysees in Paris, the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai (that place with the indoor ski hall), Melrose Avenue and Rodeo Drive in LA, Madison and Fifth in New York, the Fashion Show Mall in Las Vegas, and we'd just finished looking through Harvey Nichols in London. Everywhere it was the same – lots of beautiful dresses, but none that really stood out to me. Maybe Mel and the others were right, I mused, taking another sip of my drink. Maybe I am being too picky.
"You'll find it, Alyssa." Miriam placed her hand over mine. "And anyway, today was fun, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, it was fun," I smiled, but something in my eyes must have betrayed otherwise.
"And you're sure you don't want to talk about what happened before you left?"
I nodded. Miriam had been incredibly understanding when I showed up at our agreed-upon meeting place, late, breathless, and upset, but refusing to talk about it. That hadn't stopped her from pushing (gently, of course) every so often, though. Each time she was met with the same non-response, but to her credit, she never stopped trying to be a good friend. I just didn't want to talk about it.
What happened this morning with my parents had honestly scared me. I'd slowly gotten used to their fighting, but up until now I'd always figured that this was just a passing phase, and that sooner or later they'd make up. This morning's fight, though, chilled me to the core. For the first time, I wondered if maybe they wouldn't recover from this.
No, I mentally berated myself. Don't think like that. They will stop fighting eventually.
"So, back home now?" Miriam said, draining the last of her hot chocolate.
I swallowed the last of mine and sighed. "I guess. I just can't believe this whole thing was a total wash."
"Hey, it wasn't a wash! We got to escape our families and have some honest-to-goodness girl bonding time. I'd say that was pretty nice, wouldn't you?"
The bitingly cold wind hit me like a slap in the face as we stepped outside. For the millionth time today, I realized that I didn't deserve someone as nice as Miriam as my friend, especially not with the way I'd been acting lately. "Yeah, it was. Sorry, Miriam, I'm just in a crap mood today."
"It's alright. Everybody has those days." We started walking up the snow-covered sidewalk, both knowing without having to say a word that we were looking for a quiet, discreet place to open a portal back home. As we walked, I couldn't help keep an eye out on the storefronts. Earth was so pretty this time of year – all the red and gold balls and bells and boughs of greenery with red ribbons, the stars and twinkling lights and candy canes. Everything was so pretty and colorful and festive. It made me wish that there was something like Christmas in the magical realms.
"Wait!" I ground to a halt outside a tiny storefront. Miriam, who was several paces ahead of me, turning around, confused, and doubled back to see what had made me stop.
The store looked barely bigger than my walk-in closet in the palace, but it had a cozy sort of charm to it, even from the outside. The sign over the door, written in swirling, Edwardian-style cursive, read Preserved Memories.
Miriam wrinkled her pert little nose. "I never understood the concept of vintage clothes. Why would you want to buy something that someone else already wore? Besides, I can almost guarantee that they won't have evening gowns. Come on, Alyssa, we have to get home."
"I want to go in," I insisted, pulling open the door. Miriam rolled her eyes but followed me in anyways.
Inside, Preserved Memories was just as quaint and cozy as I'd imagined it would be. The walls were painted a deep, warm, nut-brown shade, with gold trim. All of the furniture, even the throw rugs on the aged but burnished hardwood floors, looked antique. It was a tiny space, but somehow the racks of clothes that lined the walls didn't make it look even smaller.
The only other person there seemed to be an old woman sitting behind the counter, reading a book. When she saw us, she looked up and smiled. "What can I do for you lovely ladies today?"
Miriam immediately dropped down into the nearest armchair, grabbing a magazine off the table and turning up her nose at the selection. "Pardon my friend," I apologized. "It's been a long day."
"All is forgiven," the old woman smiled. "My name is Marianne."
"Alyssa," I said. "It's my birthday in a couple months, and my parents are hosting a… a big formal party in my honor. And I need a dress. I was hoping… maybe your store has one?"
"Preserved Memories is an odd choice for such an important occasion," Marianne commented, flipping through one of the racks in the back. "You look like someone with money to spend. Wouldn't you have better luck in Selfridges, or Covent Garden, or perhaps even Harvey Nichols right around the corner?"
I felt my cheeks flush, although I didn't quite know why. "We went there already, but there was nothing that caught my attention."
"So why come here?"
"There's something about this place that just… drew me in." The words were out of my mouth before I really even knew what I was saying, and behind me I could hear Miriam snort.
Marianne smiled widely, like that was just the answer she'd been looking for. "Well, Alyssa, I do think I can help you. It just so happens we have something new – just got it in, haven't even gotten around to putting it out on the racks yet – that I think would be perfect for you. Wait here a moment while I go find it."
"You're seriously into this, 'Liss?" Miriam asked, while Marianne was in the back.
"I don't know. I wasn't lying when I said that something sort of drew me here. And now that we're already here, well, it can't hurt to look, can it?" She just rolled her eyes and went back to her magazine.
Marianne returned from the back of the store holding a light-as-air green dress. "This is it," she said proudly, handing it to me. "What do you think?"
I was speechless. This was it. The one.
It was long and simple, a slim column of pale aqua-green silk with a filmy chiffon overlay in the same pale green color. There was a halter neckline that gave way to a deep V-neck, and a gathered empire-waist, but other than that it was remarkably simple.
"Try it on," Marianne urged me, pointing me towards the dressing room at the back of the shop. Wordlessly, I let my feet carry me there, still unable to speak.
Marianne was beaming when I came out. "Isn't it perfect?"
"Wow, 'Liss, you look really pretty," Miriam said. "Maybe I was wrong about this place."
I checked myself out in the mirror. As deceptively simple as it was on the hanger, it was effortlessly flawless on. The silk skimmed over my curves and highlighted them without being too inappropriate for such a formal occasion. I twisted back and forth, watching the skirt swirl slightly around my legs.
"It fits like it was made for you," Marianne commented, coming up from behind me. "And look, it even goes with your necklace."
I reached down to finger the locket lying against my exposed collarbone, realizing that she was right. The gold didn't clash with the pale green; in fact, it brought out the streaks in my hair and my unusual eyes.
Apparently, Marianne was thinking along the same lines too. "You have such interesting eyes, Alyssa. So emotional."
"They're from my dad's side of the family," I offered lamely.
"I can see much within them. Something is troubling you, my dear." I paused, wondering how she could tell just by looking at my eyes. "You are under a great deal of stress from many angles. Do not fear, my dear. Remember, there is always a rainbow at the end of the storm."
I blinked. For a moment, I wondered if maybe she was psychic or something. But then I remembered that we were on Earth, where magic hadn't existed in hundreds of years. Most likely she was just senile.
Still… there's something about this place. And what she said hit a little too close to home…
I shook it off. "How much?" I asked her.
"For you, I'll make a special price. Only sixty-five pounds."
I did some quick mental math, and realized she was charging me about the equivalent of $100. "That's too low," I argued. "Let me pay you more, for something so beautiful."
She held up her hands and shook her head. "No. I will take sixty-five pounds from you and that is all." With that, she walked back behind the desk and picked up her book again.
Slowly, I changed out of the dress, hanging it meticulously back on the hanger for fear of ruining it somehow. Miriam was waiting for me outside the dressing room when I emerged, and I couldn't help taking the opportunity to rub her nose in it a bit. "So much for coming here being a waste of time, huh?" I jabbed.
She rolled her eyes. "Shut up," she said good-naturedly. "So maybe this place is the exception to the rule."
"Uh-huh. You just keep telling yourself that." I lay the dress over the counter, and watched as Marianne wrapped it up carefully in fragrant lavender tissue paper, before placing it in a large paper bag and tying the handless off with gold ribbon.
"Thank you for your purchase," she said, taking the money I gave her (I hoped she didn't notice the little extra I'd slipped in until we were already gone). "You girls had better get going, shouldn't you? It's a long journey home."
I looked outside to see that the sky had darkened rapidly. It had gotten very, very late without either of us noticing. Admittedly, there was the time difference to contend with in getting home, but still, it was far later than we had planned to leave by. Miriam was likely to be in trouble with her parents when she got home – and I would've been too, if my parents were speaking to each other.
But wait a minute – how would Marianne know that? As far as she's concerned, we're just two rich girls from London who wandered in here sort of by accident…
As if she could read my mind, Marianne winked at me. Then before I could say anything else, she disappeared behind the curtain that led to the back of the store.
My mind swirling with thoughts, I grabbed the bag off the counter and turned back to Miriam. "Come on. Let's go home."
Author's Note: I'm surprised at how long it turned out; I'm really on a roll with this story (which means I might actually finish it ahead of schedule). Just a little update: we're more than halfway through the story if you're counting chapters, but as far as plot-wise, we're just approaching the climax. (Yes, in case you hadn't already deduced, a whole lot of crazy shit goes down at Alyssa's party.)
And just another friendly little reminder that I am still looking for Winx transformation outfits for all the girls, including Miriam (and Alexa, who I forgot to mention last chapter - and yes, before anyone asks, that does mean she is sticking around for a while). Come on, guys! I'm promising spoilers here! Can't you help a poor, artistically challenged author out? *puppy-dog face* If it helps, I've decided that Alexa has powers over air (since we never really get Eraklyon's power source, and air is the like the only element not represented in the Winx world). And being from Isis, Miriam has powers over rocks, crystals, gemstones, etc.
Catch you on the flip side!
- Authoress