Arabella dragged Saylor back out into the swarm of well-dressed students, and rejoined Solaris, Arun, and Mars. Zian had mysteriously disappeared, but the three other young men were still crowding the refreshments table.
Arun was eating a croissant when the two young women arrived, while Solaris and Mars were debating the existence of half-vamp sorcerers.
"I just find it hard to believe that a sorcerer would stoop so low as to mate with a vampire is all," Solaris asserted, his platinum blonde hair shimmering faintly lavender under the sparkling lights above.
"But theoretically, it's possible," Mars insisted. The gold jewelry on his ears glimmered with any movement he made. "Don't think so narrowminded, Solaris. There are all sorts of sorcerers in the world. Surely, some of them would be willing to be wed to a vampire."
"Ugh, vampires are so vile," Arabella interjected, her face scrunching in revulsion. "They're worse than angels."
"Why does everybody say that?" Saylor asked rather innocently. "I thought angels represented divinity and righteousness."
"Sure, if you're human," Arabella sneered. Her black eyes bore into Saylor's blue ones as she deadpanned, "Angels, ordained by The Holy God, seek to destroy anything that could potentially pose a threat to their Holy Plan for humans, and sorcerers are a part of that threat, apparently."
"Now, the real question becomes could a half-angel sorcerer exist?" Arun tried, imploring Mars and Solaris to consider this new idea.
"Of course not," Solaris shook his head vehemently. "Angels can't reproduce."
"I'm sure they can," Arun countered. He ruffled his dark curly hair over his head before finally resting his hands on his nape. "Angels start off as humans before they are granted Holy powers, no? And they still wander around in their human bodies, after all."
"They're sworn to celibacy," Mars said. "They would be outcasted by the Holy God were they to create a child, much less with a sorcerer." He popped a cherry in his mouth and promptly spat out the seed into a napkin.
"I suppose we could only muse the type of power one could inherit from being a half-angel… Mind-reading perhaps?" Solaris suggested half-heartedly.
Arabella, already bored with the conversation, said, "Where's Zian?"
"He's—" Arun began to answer but then realized their tattooed classmate was nowhere near them. "Huh. Where did he run off to?"
"He mumbled something about needing to talk to someone," Solaris informed everyone.
"Zian said that? Our Zian? He talks to people outside of our program?" Arabella said as if that were impossible, though she was visibly amused at the idea.
"Easy for you to say. You're obsessed with hearing yourself talk," Mars interjected. Arun snickered next to him.
"Truly hilarious, Mars. Are you gonna explain to anyone what you did to the punch, by the way?" Arabelle retorted, placing her hands on her hips.
"You're no fun, Ara. You have to wait until later to find out," Mars said to her.
"He's planning a prank," Arun said to Saylor who looked confused. She formed a small 'O' with her lips and nodded.
"Don't worry. You won't be affected if you stay away from the punch," Mars assured her, but Saylor's face was still contorted in concern. "You like pranks, right?"
Saylor stammered while Arabella laughed.
"Her? Goldilocks? Liking any fun at all?" Arabella asked sarcastically. Solaris looked amused at the raven girl's taunting but did not add to it.
"Gods, you really do love the sound of your own voice. Let the girl speak for herself – How do you feel about pranks, uhm, Saylor, is it?"
Saylor nodded at her name while Arabella rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue with annoyance at Mars.
"I don't mind them if I am not the target, I suppose," she said simply.
"Ah. Could be a worse answer, I suppose… I hoped you'd be a little more enthusiastic, but that's alright. Maybe one day I'll change your mind," Mars said lightly.
"At this point, drinking the punch at a party hosted by alchemists is asking to get pranked, if we're being frank," Solaris commented smugly.
"Oh, hey, Zian," Arun said suddenly. Apparently, Zian had returned from wherever he had run off to. He pampered his clothes as if touching other people on the way to his classmates had sullied his attire. "Had a thrilling conversation? Where were you anyway?"
Zian hesitated but said, "it was a private conversation. I had to find another room."
Saylor noticed that the palm of Zian's right hand had crimson red etchings on them like scribbles of words, but they were quickly fading. Before she could decipher it, they were gone, and she wondered if it had been a glimpse of her imagination.
"Here. Have some punch," Arabella said as she extended a cup to Zian. He merely eyed the cup with disinterest.
"Not thirsty," he said simply.
Arabella shrugged and poured the drink into a plant nearby.
"How did you know the punch was tampered with?" Arun asked Zian.
"Huh?" he hummed curiously. "Oh. I didn't know."
Suddenly, the plant Arabella had poured the drink into began to sizzle, pale silver fumes shimmering out of its green leaves.
"Huh. What'd you brew this time? Dragon Breath?" Arun asked Mars, frazzled. "Why does it affect this plant so instantaneously while no one at the party seems to be showing any signs yet?"
"I didn't brew that one. But no, not Dragon Breath. I think Sykam said he called it Vaporize," Mars shrugged, observing the fuming plant with everyone else. "Plants digest a lot faster than we do… though, the potion should start taking effect soon."
Saylor tried not to be visibly alarmed.
As if on cue, silver fumes consumed the atmosphere of the party. Guests had the glistening vapour coming out of their pores. The lights suddenly went from pastel atmospheric fairy lights to flashing purple, pink, and blue lights. The music also shifted from lovely classical music to hard modern beats.
Several people cheered and pulled their glasses up, while a few others groaned at the fumes coming out of their pores. Saylor looked around in amazement at the sudden change in atmosphere.
"This is a prank?" she asked Mars who simply raised an eyebrow at her.
"Got a problem with it?" he asked. "Orchestrated by yours truly, and of course, his fellow first-year Alchemists."
"It's just a little tamer than I expected," Saylor admitted with a shrug. Mars chuckled and swiftly moved over to her.
"Let's dance," he said. "I'd like to get to know you better."
Arabella snorted next to them but did not object as the pair went off into the dance floor