And I apologize for the past, and in advance if I spelled Elsie's name wrong.. cause I have realized sometimes I've been spelling her name is Elise instead💀

2026 wynter: hey so… this is like the last one, this is part one but the second one comes with a video so you’ll see it after.

———-

This place is beautiful.

The inside of this ballroom is way bigger than the bureau's. I didn't even think that was possible.

The ballrooms color scheme is gold, white, and baby blue, with tall reaching curved gold windows.

The ballroom floor is so clean I can see the reflection of the crystal chandelier above.

Everyone's dressed accordingly, looking right out of some fairy tale.

The men all dressed like prince's, perfectly matching the color scheme of the ball hall. The women, more off theme with their colors, but still everything and everyone looks perfect together, them all being in magical clothing. I was nervous I'd be overdressed, Elsie and Jayden helped me pick what to wear for this, they wanted to come with me but I convinced them to stay. We all saw how bad things got last time I brought Elsie with me, I can't have her life in Jeopardy again...

I'm wearing a Victorian ball gown, layers of lace, silk, and soft fabric consume me. The gown is a mix of white lace and a off-white pinkish color silk, my corset being the same color. My hair is flat, smooth, pin straight, and silky. The opposite of my usual big, kinky, coarse hair. My face is covered with a lighter rose gold and white Colombina half-mask that is adorned with an ornate variety of Jewels and feathers. Though the type of mask that I'm wearing only covers my eyes, cheeks, and nose I don't think anyone will recognize me. But the opposite to my clothes, my makeup is very simple, just some lipgloss and mascara.

I make my way over to one of the small chairs in the corner of the room.

He's here, I can feel his magic.

That is not something I could do before. Now it randomly happens, Dylan said our powers call to each other I may only have 10% percent of my magic but I feel him.

The sound of music begins to flood my ears. I'm sitting right next to the orchestra and band. There's a harp player. She begins to pull at the strings one by one, unleashing a beautiful soft noise.

"May I have this dance?" I jump at the small kinda familiar voice behind me.

"Uh, no thank you- I'm sorry I'm kinda busy and I'm not really a danc-" finally

turning around I see it's- "Jayden?!"

What is he doing here? I specifically told him and Elsie to stay away.

He smiles "You can still recognize me?"

I raise an eyebrow, confused. Okay yeah he's wearing a fancy expensive looking suit and a mask but it barely covers his face, not to mention the shiny gold chain  he wears around his neck, plus he's wearing Jordans to a masquerade ball. He always said he had to 'spice up' his clothing. And I don't really want to admit it but he looks weirdly good, like I don't think the outfits supposed to work but it does, so you know what I'll give it to him.

But also now I'm honestly rethinking my own clothing choices, cuz if I can recognize Jayden this easily Dylan can do the same with me.

His smile drop once he realizes I'm not in any way happy to see him. I stand up, grabbing him by his hand, and rush out of the ballroom pulling him along with me. I stop once we are far enough away from others. We stand in an empty hallway that's just as pretty as the ballroom. I turn to face him, but I don't say anything. I'm giving him the ~you've got to be kidding me~ and ~explain yourself~ look.

He puts his hands up in surrender, shaking his head, "This is not my doing Elsie thought-" he starts.

"Wait Elsie, is she here too?!" I raise my voice.

" 'Mari"

"Don't 'Mari me—I specifically told both of you to stay far away from here."

Jayden doesn't respond.

"You've got to be kidding me! Would it have killed you to just listened to anything I said?!" I began to step past him, about to go back into the ballroom to find Elsie, but Jayden stops me short, grabbing me by the shoulders.

One hand one each shoulder, he holds me in place.

"Wait." He said leaning down to me. He has gotten so much taller. He basically towers over me now, and that says a lot because I'm not even necessarily considered short and I have heels on.

(I didn’t know she was super short when I first wrote this)

"Before you start getting all pressed and going off again. You should know I.... we were just worried about you." His expression is serious and as soon as he said it I felt like a jerk for yelling at him. "Elsie said your aura was extremely yellow, so y'know we knew you were really worried."

They just care about me and want to make sure I'll be okay. I'm basically hiding from everyone in that ballroom filled with people who could easily recognize me, and they have magic too.

"I'm always worried." I say in a now calm guilty voice.

"We'll be okay. Like come on Amari, we got a literal dragon for a friend." He says laughing.

I roll my eyes though I can't help but smile. He's right, and Elsie was the one who saved me in the last round of the great game.

I didn't notice earlier, but Jayden and I are really close. Which I'm not saying is weird or anything like that, y'know we're friends. Friends hug, and I don't know.... touch shoulders and stuff...

My body stiffens, and I assume Jayden realizes it too, cuz then quickly slid his hands off my shoulders and took a step back.

We just stand there for a few seconds before he breaks the silence. "And I'll be fine too, cuz I'm like that man from that one movie."

He moves so we are standing next to each other, us now walking back towards the ballroom. "What movie?"

"The one with that doc who can talk to animals." He snaps his fingers together as he thinks.

Oh no.. that's what I think when I realize what movie he's talking about.

"Dr. Dolittle?!"

He laughs while shaking me, "There you go! Dr. Dolittle! But I'm the cool one... The Eddie Murphy version."

"Ah.. my favorite version." I laugh.

"So just know I'll easily be able to call out that snake." By snake he means Dylan and I honestly can argue.

I roll my eyes again, then we both start cracking up.

"You're an idiot!" I laugh, playfully pushing him away from me. He comes back putting his arm around my shoulder, still laughing.

We finally made it back to the ballroom.

"Hey!" I see Elsie rushing over to the front of the ballroom. Holding up her dress so it doesn't drag on the floor. She looks good. I'm honestly impressed that they both got ready and made it all the way that quickly. They were in normal clothes when I left them.

She stops in front of us. She isn't wearing her glasses so I think she might have contacts on. She didn't straighten her hair or anything extra like me. it's just tied back in a slick bun with some curly ends hanging out.

She awkwardly looks at us. And Jayden moves his hands off my shoulder.

"You look nice." I say smiling.

At first she doesn't respond then, "I'm sorry for not listening to you. It's just last time-"

"It's okay, I know y'all were just concerned." She looked lowkey shocked by my reaction. "But next time-"

"Yeah, of course." She smiles.

She stares at Jayden, but I can't really read her expression. He chuckles, "I'm the one who got all the heat."

Elsie smiles and I realized they were talking about me. My reaction to them being here.

Jayden moves in front of Elsie, bowing and offering his hand. "May I have this dance." He asked in a horrid fake British accent.

"Yes you may," she responds in an equally hilariously horrible fake accent. And takes his hand. Jayden walks back over to me. And bends his right arm, forming a triangle, offering me his arm.

I want to take it. I truly do but there are more important things to do right now. But I can't help but smile at the gesture.

"I would but l-"

"Come on, Amari." Elsie pleads, "We can worry about saving the world later, let's just have some fun."

"I can't even dance in these heels." I complain.

"Take 'em off." Jayden offers.

"I'll do mine too if you say yes." She interlocks her fingers together like in prayer. "Pleaseee!"

I look back at Jayden, "I ain't takin' these off," he shrugs, looking down at his shoes.

I roll my eyes and grab his shoulder so I can take the heels off. Elsie does the same. Then I take his arm and he escorts us to the dance floor.

What harm can one small dance do?

I glance back at Jayden, to see an amused smirk on his face. I bet it's cuz he likes the look of walking around with two girls on his arms.

"Two girls Jayden, you've really stepped up your game," I teased.

He shrugged. "I just got it like that. You shoulda seen me back at The 'Wood, I could bag any girl."

Elsie laughs. I roll my eyes. "Oh.. don't gas yourself up too much."

We stop in the middle of the ball room. I don't think anyone noticed that we are barefoot.

"Don't hate the player..." he jokes.

"I'll be back." He runs towards the band at the corner where I was sitting earlier.

“What’s he doing?”

"I think he's getting them to play some better music," said Elise.

I think he might be arguing with one of the band players.

Oh gosh.. this isn't good.

He throws his hands up before walking away. The song changes right away. It's still what one might consider classy but now more upbeat, a recognizable song.

This was written after I read the second book. I’m going to repost these on Wattpad after I fix some things but rn imma just post for people to read, so disclaimer if there is spelling mistakes or anything like that, I will fix them later. I just can’t seem to care for them right now.

This place is beautiful.

The inside of this ballroom is way bigger than the bureau's. I didn't even think that was possible.

The ballrooms color scheme is gold, white, and baby blue, with tall reaching curved gold windows.

The ballroom floor so clean I can see the reflection of the crystal chandelier above.

Everyone's dressed accordingly, looking right out of some fairy tale.

The men all dressed like prince's, perfectly matching the color scheme of the ball hall. The woman more off theme with their colors, but still everything and everyone looks perfect together. I was nervous I'd be overdressed, Elise helped me pick what to wear for this, she wanted to come with me but I convinced her to stay. We all saw how bad things got last time I brought her with me, I can't have her life in Jeopardy again...

I'm wearing what seems to be a Victorian ball gown, layers of lace, silk, and soft fabric consume me. The gown is a mix of white lace and a off-white pinkish color silk, my corset being same color. My hair flat, smooth, pin straight, and silky. The opposite of my usual big, kinky, coarse hair.  My face is covered with a lighter rose gold and white Colombina half-mask that is adorned with an ornate variety of Jewels and feathers. Though the type of mask that I'm wearing only covers my eyes, cheeks, and nose I don't think anyone will recognize me.  Despite the the extravagance from my clothes, my make up is very simple just some lipgloss and mascara.

I make my way over to one of the small chairs in the corner of the room.

He's here, I can feel his magic.

That is not something I could do before. Now it randomly happens, Dylan said before our powers call to each other— I may only have 10% percent of my magic but I feel him.

The sound of music begins to flood my ears. I'm sitting right next to the orchestra. There's harp player. She begins to pull at the strings one by one, unleashing a beautiful soft noise.

"This is the opposite of party music," I jumped at the sound of a soft whisper from behind. It's a boy. He's tall with brown hair. I smile at his remark then turn away. My eyes are beginning to dart around the ballroom looking for any signs of the blonde boy I once knew.  Dylan has something, that I need. And I have to get it back.

I hear the boy next to me clear his throat, so I turned back to look at him. His arm now reaching out offering me his hand.

"Would you like to dance?"

"Oh um- no thank you.. I'm waiting for someone," I murmured, pulling my eyes away from him, beginning to look for Dylan again.

"Is he here yet?" He questions. Now putting his hand down.

He...?

My eyes darted back to him "how do you know it's a 'he' ?" I questioned.

"Oh okay... no judgement here," the boy implied. Holding his hands up as if surrendering, a growing smile on his face.

Wha- Oh.

"No that's not-... That's is not what I meant." I stutter, slightly laughing at the awkwardness of it. "Sorry l'm just a paranoid person."

"It's fine," He laughs.

Again my eyes go back to looking for Dylan, though I do feel bad for not paying more attention to this boy.

"I can help you find your friend," he offers. My eyes shoot back to him.

"Would you really?" I eagerly questioned, slightly leaning forward in my chair.

"I can help you.... if you dance with me," he offers his hand again.

I do need help. And one dance wouldn't hurt. "Fine. But only one dance."

"Thats fine by me," I take his hand. He begans to lead me to the middle of the ballroom.

The song changes, and others began to join at the center.

"Uh- I don't know this dance," I muttered. I'm not about to make a fool of myself.

"It okay, I'll show you," he smiles, leaning down to kiss my right hand, mimicking almost every other man in this room.

He then pulls my right hand into his left, vertically so our palms are facing in. I place my left hand on his shoulder. And his free hand moves to my waist.

"Your name?" I inquired. Moving to look at him in his eyes, his eyes are a very pretty blue, they seem to be filled with life, and something else... He's taller than me, with warm and glossy chocolate brown hair hair. Wearing an all black suit with a white undershirt and tie. His mask only covers the upper and right side of his face. A gold, black, and white Phantom mask.

"Right foot forward," he instructs, as he takes a step back with his left foot. At the corner of my eye I see the rest of the ballroom follow. "And It's a masquerade ball for a reason, not knowing who people are is what makes it fun."

He's right. And even if he did tell me who he was I wouldn't do the same, I even straightened my hair so no one would recognize me.

"Fair enough."

"Left foot back, then I'll spin you." He explains, I do as he says before he brings his arm up and I move into an underarm turn, following the lead of the others in the room. "So uh- this boy- or girl your-."

"Boy... it's a boy." I Interrupt, correcting him.

"Okay, so this boy is he your friend or...boyfri-," the end of what he is saying gets quieter.

I laugh at the question, "Boyfriend? No. The farthest from it. He's a frie- enemy.." I explain, sounding very unsure of myself.

"Frenemy?" He contributes with a growing smile. I laugh at his words.

"Oh I wish, this boy actually hates my guts." I feel more free with the dancing, I still don't know what I'm doing but I seem to be fitting in with the with the dances more.

"What'd you do, Break his heart?" He jokes. He lets go of my waist and my hand slide it off his shoulder, swinging me around into another spin, my free arm going open seeing the rest of the ballroom not doing the same. I gasp as he pulls me back into him before quickly dipping me.

Show off.

"No. I actually didn't do anything, but be me." I regretted my response as soon as I realized it might change the 'happy' mood.

I am unapologetically me, and people hate that.

His face drops at my response, and he clears his throat.

A second later I see a mischievous smirk on his face as our faces meet again. "Well that's stupid, may I ask why are you so paranoid?"

"I'm trying not to trust people so easily anymore, every time I do it never ends well for me."

"Do you trust me?" He questions, staring right into my eyes. They seem to be more intimidating than before.

I found myself debating whether I'm going to tell the truth or not.

"No." I managed to get out, "but don't take it personally."

"It's all good, I still get my dance." He shrugs. "I like your hair by the way."

Of course, the one thing that I change about myself. I still take it as a compliment, my hair does look good.

"I like your eyes."

Why...

Why...

Why...

"My eyes?" He taunts.

"Yeah, uh-that was not supposed to be my response." Embarrassment washes over me. "I meant to say thank you. But it is true you have pretty eyes."

"Well thank you for that," he laughs again.

Dylan...

I soon remember why I'm here, my eyes begging to look for him again.

The boy obviously takes note of this." I told you, I'd help you find him, if he's even here."

"He is. I know he is... I can feel him, his magic," in a room filled with supernaturals, saying this is nothing crazy.

"You can feel his magic?" He raises an eyebrow.

"You ask a lot of questions."

"I want a lot of answers."

I don't know how to respond to that.

"Well... I know it's weird, I can't really explain it. I just know he's here" I stuttered.

"No need," he responds.

_______

"Uh- so can you help me find my friend now?"

He pulls me closer, where he is now next to my ear. "I had a good time, Amari." He whispers right before turning me into another spin. Letting go as I spin into the middle of the dancefloor.

Amari.

"Hey, how'd you know my na-," I turn around to look at him, but he's gone. It's like he vanished into thin air.

You've got to be kidding me. Of course this happens to me, now I've wasted time and have to look for Dylan alone.

I've looked for 10 minutes, and I'm done he's not here, I don't even feel anything, not anymore.

I make my way to the exit, annoyed by the fact that Dylan's gone and I wasted my oh so precious time with some stranger.

On my way out, someone grabs my arm.

"Ma'am?... Uh, this was left for you." Says a tall lady wearing a suit, she's a guard, handing me a bouquet of flowers. The petals are of sparkling clear glass. And they twinkle like a rainbow.

They seem somewhat familiar...

But I don't know from where.

"Uh, who is this from?"

"Oh the handsome gentleman you were dancing with."

I move my attention back to the bouquet. In between the flowers I see a small black card. It's shiny and blank on the outside. When I open it up, a few butterflies with red and gold wings shoot out of the card followed by matching glitter and sparkles, they flutter around me for a few seconds before disappearing.

The card is all that's left. The message on the card is written in gold.

I truly enjoyed our dance.

And just so you know, I don't hate you... I just want you dead :)

                          -Your Frenemy, Dylan.

I'm frozen. I don't know-...

How did this even-

The boy is Dylan?

the one who I was dancing with? I totally forgot he can change his appearance.

And his eyes..... I knew it.

He is messing with me.

And its working.