Eight pairs of eyes widened.
I couldn’t help but smile. “Don’t just stand there. Help me rock the room.”
Red didn’t join in, but the rest of us moved in unison, heaving palms against one wall, then the other. The weight of tea sloshing back and forth added to our efforts. Soon, the entire room tipped sharply to one side. “Lean on the wall.”
This time they listened. We pushed. Everything tilted, then tumbled over. Tea shot up my nose. I landed on the floor, sputtering.
Tipping over the room caused the walls to vanish. The entire game had disappeared.
Red sat in a wet heap a distance away. People gathered. I scanned their faces. Des Rêves wasn’t here yet, thank god.
Next to me, the guests sat in a blubbering pile. I hobbled up and lifted the hem of my sodden skirts. I curtsied. “Congratulations. You may all collect your prizes in the lobby.”
A hand grabbed my arm.
“This way. Now.” Béatrice dragged me toward a potted palm, face twisted in rage. “Before she sees you.”
Then I heard it.
Heels clicked. An orange wig bobbed above the rooms. Red sat across the puddle. I hesitated.
“Leave her,” Béatrice said. “There’s no time.”
She was right. We ducked behind the palm just as Des Rêves rounded a nearby room, Hellas at her heel. They didn’t see Béatrice or me; their eyes were too glued to the mess.
“This game wasn’t supposed to end like this. What did you do?” Des Rêves bellowed.
Tears rolled down Red’s cheeks. She hugged her knees, terrified. But Red didn’t tip the room herself. Surely she wouldn’t be punished.
Béatrice dug her fingernails into my palm to keep me still.
“I don’t have an ounce of time for this.” Des Rêves’s eyes narrowed at Red. “Hellas, take that girl to the ma?tre.”
“I forbid you to speak.” Béatrice dragged me along the service floor, then up a flight of stairs.
“It was an accident. I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to enter a g-game.” I hugged my arms across my dripping frock as a shudder ripped through me. “Will the ma?tre really punish that suminaire?”
“What do you think?”
My shoulders sagged.
On the second floor, Béatrice knocked on a slim door. When no one answered, she ordered me to wait while she left, returning moments later with Bel in tow. My stomach clenched at the sight of him. He shook ice from his hair, nearly as sodden as I was, as if he’d been outside all morning.
“You asked me to watch over this girl, but it’s impossible when she does reckless things,” Béatrice said.
Bel looked me over. “What—” he started to ask.
“She entered a game.” Béatrice cut him off. “A suminaire was taken to the ma?tre.”
“Yet Jani wasn’t caught.”
“Thanks to me.” Her eyes were bright with anger. “Take the rest of the night off. Tomorrow you’re scrubbing toilets,” she hissed in my direction, and stormed away.
Silently, Bel led me inside the small room. My teeth began to chatter. Bel rifled through a closet by the door. “Here.” He handed me an old maid’s frock that looked two sizes too big then turned to face the opposite wall.
“You have got to be kidding.”
“Freeze to death if you want.” He shrugged. “One less thing for me to worry about the next two weeks.”
I faced the door. “Don’t you dare turn around,” I said, and struggled to undo the wet buttons at my back. My hands shook from cold. “Damn it.”
“Hold still.” I gasped when strong fingers pinched the material at my nape. I squirmed, but Bel held me in place. “This isn’t anything I haven’t seen before.”
“So you often help remove the dresses of frightened, helpless women?”
He snorted. “Daily.”
Quickly, he undid all the buttons down my back. I spun around. “Face the wall,” I ordered, and kept an eye on him as I peeled the wet dress off until it was a sopping puddle on the floor.
He started to turn.
“Not done!” I shouted, fumbling with the new frock. He huffed and turned anyway, hopefully only catching a glimpse of my bare legs before the black material fell into place. My hands still shook, but the rest of me was blessedly warm.
“Took you long enough,” he said.
I rolled my eyes and looked around the room. There was no bed. “Is this your room?”