"Sure." I don't feel like there's any other response for me to make. I don't want to seem hostile in front of everyone else here and get myself a bad reputation.
"Great. Let's set up for truth or dare," she announces, to be greeted by a lot of cheers.
"What have I gotten myself in for?" I mutter.
"I don't know," Caspian responds. "But I have a bad feeling about it."
"Me too." The twisting in my gut isn't going away until I'm back in my own bed, but it's too late to think about that now. I just have to play the game and try my damned best not to fall for any of her traps.
Easier said than done.
Chapter Nine
I roll my eyes as two girls I don't know end the kiss they've been dared to share. I don't have a problem with two women kissing normally, only when they're being dared to do it by men. It just doesn't sit right.
This whole game hasn't sat right though, and I haven't even had my turn yet. Neither has Caspian, who is still sitting quietly to my left waiting for it to come around to us.
"Caspian, your turn," Ivy announces loudly, standing up and walking around the middle of the circle. She's been getting progressively drunker as the game goes on. Probably because there are more people playing than I expect. It's silly of me to have even entertained the notion that we've grown out of childish games like truth or dare.
"Dare?"
"Uh uh," she contradicts. "The last one was a dare, so that means you have to go truth."
He sighs loudly, probably because he's aware it's more about her wanting to give me a dare than hear a truth from him. "Fine. Truth."
"Why did you arrive late at Grimalkin?" she demands.
My eyes widen. Why is she asking him something so private? I get that it's part of the game, but some things should still be off limits, and something like that definitely should.
"I was travelling." He looks her dead in the eyes as he says it, as if daring her to ask more than that.
If anyone were to ask me, I'd say it's a waste of a truth to ask something like that. Of course, no one is asking me, so I suppose it doesn't matter.
Ivy and Caspian face off against one another, and I have to wonder if there's something else going on there. Not that I think Caspian is into her, but maybe she wants him for herself. There's got to be something more to her dislike of me than my lack of magical ability. That's really none of her damn business.
"Who's next?" her jock boy-toy drawls.
Ivy finally pulls her eyes away from Caspian. "It's dear little miss Mona's turn now. And I think it's a dare."
I don't point out that she knows it's a dare because she planned it that way. There's no point. I just have to hope she doesn't ask me to do something magical, though I have no doubt she will. The whole point of this game is to be cruel.
Not wanting to face this sitting down, I climb to my feet, meeting her mocking gaze. She's not going to get the better of me over a game. "What would you like me to do?" I ask her, trying not to let my nerves be known. I've no doubt she's going to try and get me to do magic. The whole point is to humiliate me. We both know it. So do half the people here.
Her mouth twists into a calculating grin, and I know what's going to say.
"Make a feather," she says slowly to a chorus of laughter from her friends.
My stomach twists into a knot, even if it's exactly what I thought it was going to be, it doesn't mean I'm not nervous.
"Got it." I take out my wand despite knowing this is a bad idea. But I've already seen one girl do a forfeit, and I have no desire to let Ivy pick something even worse for me to do.
With a flick of my wand, I think about the way Daphne coated my room in feathers the other day. I don't know if it'll work, but if she wants a feather, I'll give her lots. The familiar zing up my arm gives me reason to hope and I look around, surprised to find that there are feathers everywhere, just like I planned.
Ivy's face is sour as she wipes away the feather sitting on her nose. "Fine," she mutters.
The urge to do a sarcastic bow fills me, but I resist. I don't want to look too petty. Instead, I turn back to my seat.
"Oh, Mona?" The note of gleeful torture is back in the other girl's voice.