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The bone will knohat to do, er had faded once I'd been able to e thanup her dress anyway

"How on earth did you pull that together?" Elodie asked She tried to keep her tone sweet, but her eyes were cold and angry

I just s

Apparently I got a cursed dummy"

Her eyes widened a little before she broke aze "Weird," she mumbled

"Yeah, it was Luckily, I was able to lift the curse, and then--tada!" I held ht smile, and was rewarded with Elodie's scowl

"Don't you think it's a littleloud?" she asked

Before I could ansith so, Archer turned to her

"Oh, coreat and you know it"

That did it The goofy grin could no longer be held back Archer smiled and winked as he and Elodie slid past us and into the ballroohed and rolled her eyes "Oh, girl, you got it bad"

She was still giggling, and I was still s like a lunatic e entered the ballroo, but the ballroom blew me away There were no paper strealoith soft faerie lights, smaller and softer versions of the orb Alice always ht rested on what looked like a dark purple flower They floated high in the air, bobbing softly like they were caught in a gentle breeze The chandeliers weren't lit, but their crystals had been turned violet for the occasion, and the fairy lights made them sparkle like aht bug Jenna, but e looked in them and saw only me, she just pointed and said, "Look In Mirrorland, you're still a dateless wonder," which er the shiny light wood they usually were, but a deep and glossy black I shook my head in wonder "This is"

"I know," Jenna said She took lad you s for a while, watching everybody dance I reone to with Ryan, where everybody had danced like they were auditioning for a rap video This could not have been more different The witches and shapeshifters were all waltzing, which freakedlessons were a prerequisite for going to Hecate The faeries were off to one end of the ballroo so out of Elizabethan England

I spotted Archer and Elodie dancing, and ht at how beautiful they both were: Archer, tall and dark, and Elodie, her hair glowing in the lights, her dress floating around her But then I looked at their faces and saw that they were clearly arguing Archer was frowning and looking at a spot so a mile a minute

Then suddenly Elodie pulled her hands fro of dread rose up in me as I watched Archer lead her off the dance floor She was trying to srimace I saw her wave hiasped and clutched her side again I saw Anna push her way through the crowd, Mrs Casnoff in tow By now Elodie was nearly bent double

"I wonder what's going on," Jenna said

"Maybe she got a stitch in her side"

"Yeah Maybe"

I looked over and saw that Jenna was looking at me with a troubled expression

"What?"

"What did you do to Elodie's dress this afternoon?"

"Nothing!" I insisted, but I' all over my face

Jenna just shook her head and turned back to watch Elodie, as now being led from the room by Mrs Casnoff and Anna Archer went to follow, but Elodie turned back and said so to him We couldn't hear, obviously, but it was clear from her expression that she was pissed

Whatever she said, Archer backed up a couple of steps and raised his hands in front of him Elodie turned back to Mrs Casnoff, and the two of the behind

Archer cary

I could feel Jenna's eyes on my back as I crossed the room to him

"What was all that about?" I asked hi at the door they'd led Elodie out through "I don't know She was fine, then she started saying her dress felt too tight, like it was shrinking or so trouble breathing Mrs Casnoff thinks the dress was cursed"

I was glad he was still looking away from me so that he didn't see me flinch

The bone will knohat to do

Had Alice known this would happen, or had I screwed it up soic on it had, I don't know, soured or so in the week I'd held on to it

Or she'd known, a voice kept whispering She never e colors She'd meant for it to hurt Elodie

But ould Alice want to do that? I knew she didn't like Elodie, but this seemed really harsh No, I must have screwed it up somehow, like the love spell on Kevin

"Hey," Archer said

"Yeah," I said weakly Then I smiled and tried to sound more enthusiastic "Yeah, I'm fine That's justyou knoeird about Elodie"

"Yeah," he agreed, looking back toward the door

"Is shea hand though his hair, he sighed and said, "I guess She told lad because now I could spend the ball with the person I really wanted"

He looked down at uess she meant you"