18th August, 1977

Now

I stood with my eyes trained on the crowd. The ceiling was still the most fascinating thing on the planet but of course, I took my time to enjoy the less appealing affairs. The banquet hall was a decent assemble of reputable men, women and their very civilized children. Soft music played in one corner, a duet of a harp and a piano unheard of in my society. Waiters glided around with platters and drinks. A cool breeze carried with it the scent of flowers every now and then. 

I looked around the hall. The room was flanked with two wide archways on both sides that opened to scenic gardens. Near one such archway stood Lisa giggling with her friends. Her black, form-fitting dress went gorgeously with her blonde curls. Her deep grey eyes were crinkled with a pleasant smile. Several men stole glances at her as they passed by, and Lisa, as always, feigned ignorance. 

Mother was busy making small talk. Father, of course, was nowhere to be seen. Frankly put, I knew I was supposed to sabotage the meeting between him and the conglomerate but didn’t exactly know how. By now, I’d have fled the scene to someplace quieter, but it didn’t end well last time, so I decided to stick close to the crowd instead.

"Standing here won’t get you anywhere, lassie," a voice boomed behind me. I looked over my shoulder. The ghost was hovering next to a round table full of drinks. Her lips were down-turned into a scowl; she hated how her fingers would pass straight through the glasses. "I checked the floors above. This whole place is owned by that conglomerate. If I were you, I’d start vandalizing right away."

I looked at her incredulously. "Do you want me to get arrested?"

She broke into a smirk. I shook my head and began manoeuvring through the crowd, deciding to explore the first floor for some clue. 

Compared to the ambience downstairs, this floor looked straight out of a horror movie. Deserted corridor, pin-drop silence, dark corners. I could hear my own footfalls as if I were strutting ahead in high heels like my mother.

It looked like an office of sorts. An array of doors stood bolted shut on both sides. Moonbeams poured in through one mammoth window behind me, near the staircase that I had just scaled. Another floor-length window stood at the end of the corridor, probably leading up to more stairs.

I peered through each of the doors. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Spotless tables, well-furnished rooms. Nothing to give me any ideas to stop the meeting. Even if I did want to vandalize, I had no means to break my way in.

It wasn’t until my eyes landed at the end of the corridor that I dropped the idea entirely. Fumes of a burning cigarette escaped from a corner there, clearly announcing company. I raised my chin into a half nod and hightailed my way back to the ground floor.

Now that I was back among people, I decided to look for my father instead. Perhaps, distracting him would work faster?

As my eyes began to wander, it landed on Lisa again. She was nowhere to be seen. A feeling of apprehension gripped me but I decided to ignore it. Lisa had a knack of disappearing just like our father. She was with her friends, she’d be fine, I thought.

"Friends who hardly know her," the ghost quipped, making me look up at her abruptly. My unease grew, clouding my judgement. Lisa was ten times more reckless than I was, which unfortunately meant she was a magnet for bad company. The last thing I wanted was to find that scoundrel messing around with her. 

Suddenly, father wasn't my priority. I was storming out of the hall before I knew it.

When I landed outside, some of those guys were still there under the tree, cackling like madmen. I wouldn’t have cared less but I caught one of Lisa’s friends with them. "Excuse me," I strode towards her, my heart beginning to pound as their gazes landed on me. It took considerable effort not to think about how they had burst into laughter the last time. "Where is Lisa?"

She looked down at me and frowned. "Hm?" 

I sighed softly. Her eyes were glazed. She seemed unfocused enough to lose my attention ever so slightly. "Where is Elisabeth?"

"That blonde chick?" one of the guys said, making my eyes narrow into a glare. "Careful. She’s my sister."

That guy, blond-haired and dark-eyed, raised his chin into a half nod. "Sure," he said, a ghost of a smile forming on his lips. With a turn of his head, he gestured towards the dark, open space to his right, the place that I had wandered into last time. Anxiousness gripped my heart but I kept my gaze trained on him coolly. Bobbing my chin into a curt nod, I turned around and strode there without a word.

The ghost watched as I walked away. "You are scared of him. Why?"

As if I’d tell her, a voice echoed in my mind, but I didn’t even know what I was going to tell her. Maybe I was too embarrassed to acknowledge what had scared me. I shot her a glare instead.

"Ah." She smirked. "They are mages."

I stopped dead in my tracks. My brows furrowed in frustration. She’d hit my insecurities spot on.

Shoving her remarks to the back of my mind was an effort in the least. I had to take a few seconds to calm my nerves and recall where I had been to last time. 

As far as I could remember, my encounter with Gilbert had been near one of the archways of the banquet hall, somewhere close to a garden. The enclosure had been barred by walls that looked like an assemble of pebbles put together. Now, where was that place...

Noticing that I wasn’t paying any attention to her, the ghost smiled in amusement and hovered over to catch up with me. "So what if they are? Doesn’t make you a lesser human."

I rolled my eyes. How corny. 

The ghost raised her eyebrows as if she were half offended. I kept my gaze trained ahead, more focussed on finding my sister. 

It didn't take long. Nestled against the sidewall of the banquet hall stood two people, their slender bodies shrouded in the dark. I peered closely. Sure enough, that Nate Gilbert had a girl pinned to the wall, her long blonde tresses in plain sight. Unease instantly washed over me. "Lisa!"

Both of them seemed to be in a daze of sorts, not having noticed. It filled me with anger. I strode towards them, my hands curling into fists. It surprised me how enraged I was to find her in trouble, probably because I had lost her twice already. "Get your hands off!" I hissed, yanking his elbow off of her waist. 

It wasn't until I had wrung his arm away from her that they had noticed my presence. Lisa's eyes widened like dinner plates. "Sis, I can explain—" she began, but I wasn’t listening to her. "Nathan Gilbert," I stepped in between him and Lisa, glowering. It took everything in me to keep myself from lashing out, probably because I knew he wasn’t in his right mind.

He staggered back and lowered his head, squinting his eyes and frowning as if he had walked out of a dark room into the light. He hadn’t come around yet but it didn’t matter to me. "I don’t have a second to waste on you. Apologize to her now and be done with it."

A scowl formed on his lips. It ticked me off a little too quickly, and I found myself raising my voice, "Apologize now!" 

"Oh shut up," he murmured, eyes still wavering as if he were dazed. A small crowd began to gather around us. I flinched as those guys from under the tree began to whistle. "SCORE!" the blond yelled, making the girl beside him shove him with her elbow. "OR NOT!" he added, making them burst into cackles. It unnerved me. Suddenly, I didn’t have the gall to do anything. My mind went absolutely blank. He hadn’t apologized. What…

What now?

Gilbert stood up straight and looked around with a frown. Noticing that a glass—probably Lisa's—was now rolling on the floor, he picked it up and sniffed it. A frown crinkled his brow. He flitted his gaze up at Lisa dubiously, and then, turned around and began to walk towards those who had been shouting at us brazenly. They instantly broke into grins which seemed far from menacing.

I stared at him in shock. It was tonight that I had realized something: I absolutely couldn’t stand being vulnerable, and being refused and jeered at was vulnerable. I didn’t know what came over me. Suddenly, all my courteousness and years and years of good conduct vanished like a puff of smoke and I shoved him to the ground, hard. "Apologize, you bastard!"

Gilbert groaned, the glass flying away from his hand and hitting the ground with a soft crack. "Sandra!" Lisa clamped my mouth shut in horror but I yanked her wrist away. A loud "Oooh" filled the crowd, sending shivers down my spine. I didn’t like it. It felt like they were mocking me. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Gilbert stood up with his face contorted in rage. "How dare you?"

"How dare you?!" I croaked. My heart was pounding in my ears now. I felt like this fight wasn’t about Lisa anymore, as if not being apologized to would put my pride at stake. And yet, at the same time, the crowd felt so foreign, so intimidating that I felt like I was shrivelling.

Lisa grabbed my wrist. "I’m sorry, she’s had a misunderstanding. We’re leaving." She smiled stiffly. I could feel her hands grow clammy as she tugged on mine firmly. I pursed my lips and wrung my hand away. "I just want an apology," I said, more hurt than angry now. "How hard is it for you to say you’re sorry?"

Gilbert gave me a long, hard look. Then, his gaze flitted at the glass rolling beside him. It lay on a soft pool of a dark red beverage, as empty as it could ever be. He took his time to pick it up, shook the remaining contents off, then sauntered towards me until we were a foot away. I stiffened as memories of being drenched flashed in my mind and kept my gaze trained on the glass warily. He noticed it and brought it in front of me casually. "You want an apology."

"Yes."

He broke into a sneer and turned the glass upside down over my head, and suddenly, I was dripping with dark liquid all over my face.