Valeria, for her part, did not scream. In fact, she didn’t tear up or flinch, nor even blink. The party-goers, too, did not make a fuss as they made space for the intruder. With one hand gripping the blade, she thrust the intruder halfway across the dancefloor, then smiled.
Kelvin flew into action after only a moment of hesitation. “Valeria! Are you okay?! What am I talking about, of course you’re not.” He ran to the nearest table covered in desserts and tore a strip of table cloth.
As the mysterious stranger regained his footing, he called out, “Kelvin, what are you doing? Help me!”
Who? Did that man just call me by my name? His thoughts continued to spin out of control as he tied the cloth around Valeria.
“Why, hello there, young adventurer. How did you find me?” Though she was just a little girl, Valeria’s face seemed to contort into a horrible monster. Somehow her eyes were sharper, her gaze cutting into the intruder like a knife. As his gaze swung wildly between the intruder and Valeria, the stranger also seemed to transform. No longer was his stance tense and ready to fight. Instead it had become languid and soft.
“What beautiful sconces,” the man remarked. Kelvin watched as he looked around them in wonder, haphazardly taking off his clothing in the process. First his mask dropped to the floor, revealing the stranger to be not a man, but an older teen maybe, perhaps a little older than Kelvin himself. When he shrugged off his coat, the inner lighter tunic was a magnificent red. More interesting to Kelvin was the run of shallow cuts on his back, not unlike his own. Maybe this man really did know him. And if he did, maybe he should be more wary of Valeria.
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With a start, Kelvin returned his gaze to the young girl. Her eyes, maybe a shade darker than when they had danced, were already staring at him, though he noticed she was still tracking the now humming man. “Who are you? And why does that man know me?”
“I guess you found me out,” she said. With the flick of her hand, the entirely-quieted party guests disappeared. Valeria’s parents transformed into statues as if their flesh were only feeding stalagmites on the floor. As the light and color seemed to drain away from the edges of the room, a group of three burst in through the main door.
Panting and ragged, they fought valiantly against a horde of monsters running down the hall. The writhing mass merely turned and ran once they noticed what they had walked into. The party, helmed by a blond woman in white robes, was taken aback at the retreat of their foes. Hurriedly, her two friends turned to face the ballroom as well. The larger one on the right called out, “Ankor, stop running off,” while the more scrawny one on the left gasped, “Kelvin!”
“How do you know my-”
“So the gang’s all here then. Perfect,” Valeria chirped. Her dress exploded, allowing her multiple legs and long chitinous body free. She rose from the floor, a human torso attached to a spider body. “Welcome to the ball.”