The Dazzling Heights

She turned resolutely back to the party. There was no time to waste.

CALLIOPE

CALLIOPE FOLLOWED HER mom dutifully across the terrace, to an empty area with a few scattered chairs and a lone figure standing at the railing. “What’s going on?” she asked, trying to pull a few loose strands of her hair forward to hide her ears. Her mom didn’t seem to have noticed Mrs. Fuller’s earrings, which was decidedly out of character. Elise had an obsessive, almost photographic memory of everything she and Calliope owned. The fact that Calliope was wearing massive pink diamonds without Elise noticing was, more than anything else, an indicator that something big was going on.

Calliope had already said hi to her mom, barely an hour ago; they’d run into each other on one of the lower terraces and exchanged a quick check-in on their progress for the evening. Calliope hadn’t expected to see her again so soon.

Then they reached the table, and the figure standing there resolved itself into Nadav Mizrahi.

“Hi, Mr. Mizrahi.” Calliope shot her mom a curious glance, trying to take her lead, but Elise was just smiling, her eyes bright with unshed tears.

Calliope had never been as good as Elise at crying on demand.

“You couldn’t find Livya?” Calliope heard her mom ask, and her heart sank a little, because she realized what was happening. Calliope had witnessed enough of her mom’s proposals to recognize them a mile away.

Nadav shook his head. “I wanted her to be here for this, but that’s all right. I can’t wait any longer.”

To no one’s surprise, Nadav sank down on one knee. He fumbled a little as he reached into his jacket—it was endearing; he clearly loved Calliope’s mother, the more fool he—and produced a small velvet box. There was a fine sheen of sweat on his brow. “Elise,” he said fervently. “I’ve only known you a few short weeks, but it feels like a lifetime. I want it to be the rest of our lifetime. Will you marry me?”

“Yes,” Elise replied, breathless as a schoolgirl, holding out her hand so that he could slip the ring on her finger.

It was quite a good proposal, Calliope thought woodenly, even if it was a bit uninspired, getting engaged at a party that someone else had thrown. But at least Nadav hadn’t rambled on for too long, or said anything mushy. Belatedly she remembered to clap, smiling up at her mom’s new fiancé—her fourteenth, if memory served. “Congratulations! I’m so happy for you both,” she said, with a decent amount of surprise and enthusiasm. Here it was, she thought sadly, the end of their time in New York. And then it will begin all over again.

She leaned forward to examine the ring, and her breath caught in spite of herself. Elise’s engagement rings were usually tacky and awful, because any guy foolish enough to fall for her tricks generally had bad taste. But this one was surprisingly lovely, a simple diamond solitaire surrounded by a beautiful pavé band. Calliope felt a pang of regret that they would have to strip it for parts and sell it on the resale market.

“Calliope, Livya and I are so looking forward to getting to know you better. I’m thrilled to be combining our families.” Nadav launched into a description of all his utterly doomed plans. He thought that he and Elise were getting married in the Museum of Natural History, because they were both so enamored of it—Calliope almost laughed at the notion of Elise wanting to get married surrounded by dusty old stuffed taxidermied animals. And, he asked, what did they think of visiting Tel Aviv next month, so that she and Elise could meet his extended family?

“You should both move in right away. There’s no need for you to live at the Nuage anymore,” he added. “Of course, we’ll have to start looking for a new apartment. One that’s big enough for all of us.”

For a brief moment, Calliope imagined what it would be like, getting a taste of normal, stable life. Living in a home, a place that was actually hers, with unique and personalized touches—rather than a glamorous, completely anonymous hotel. Actually being stepsisters with Livya. No longer conning innocent people and then leaving them, in a constant whirlwind of senseless extravagance.

It would have been weird, Calliope thought, actually doing what Nadav said: living with these two strangers. Yet she didn’t completely hate the idea.

“Oh—it’s Livya,” Nadav murmured, tilting his head to receive an incoming flicker. “I’m going to find her and bring her here, to share the good news.” He planted a kiss on Elise’s mouth before heading off into the crowd.

“So, what do you think?” Elise asked, lowering her voice, the moment he was out of earshot.

“It’s a great ring, Mom. I’m sure you’ll get half a million for it at least. Nice work.”

“No, I meant, what did you think of the plan, of everything Nadav said?”

Calliope’s stomach gave a strange lurch. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what do you think of staying in New York?” Elise smiled and took her daughter’s hands.

Calliope couldn’t answer. She felt suddenly irritable and nervous and unable to think clearly. “For how long?”

“We’re staying, sweetie,” Elise repeated. “That is, if you want to.”

Calliope sank wordlessly into one of the Lucite armchairs and looked out into the night. It was so dark. The torches flickered in the rising wind, which was how Calliope knew they were real flames, not holos. Some bizarre part of her wanted to walk over and touch the flames, just to be sure.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said last week, that you wished we could stay somewhere, for once.” There was a strange undercurrent to her mom’s voice. This was unfamiliar ground for both of them. Calliope stayed very still.

“I’m worried that I haven’t always been the best parent for you, the best role model.” Elise looked down at her clasped hands, fidgeting with her new engagement ring. “I’ve been thinking a lot lately about that day when we left London.”

So have I, Calliope thought, but she wasn’t quite sure how to voice it.

“I thought it was the right thing at the time,” Elise said haltingly. “God, when that woman hit you, the things I wanted to do … and after all the years of mistreatment I’d suffered at her hands. It seemed only fair that we take something from her and run.”

“It’s okay, Mom.” Calliope could hear the angry roar of the canal far below, echoing the roiling churning confusion of her thoughts. She’d had no idea that her mom felt conflicted like this—that she’d questioned their life too, when for so long it had seemed like she’d sailed blithely and blissfully along.

Her mom sighed. “No, it’s not. I’m the one who led you down this path, with no actual plan. I got to have a normal teenage experience, with school and friends and relationships, but you …”

“I’ve experienced those things,” Calliope offered, but Elise waved her words away.

“I don’t know where the time went. I feel like I look at you, and it was just yesterday that we were running away from the Houghtons’ house, not seven years ago. I should never have let it go on this long.” She lifted her gaze, and Calliope saw that her eyes were bright with unshed tears. “I’ve deprived you of the chance to live your life, a real life, and that wasn’t fair to you. Where on earth will you end up, when all of this is over?”

Far off, a chorus of shouts arose as an enormous cake floated out from the kitchens on a gleaming black platter. The buttercream icing was packed with microscopic digestible LED chips, so that the entire cake seemed to light up like a torch.

Calliope didn’t answer her mom. She’d never really thought that far into the future, probably because she was afraid to.

“I was thinking,” Elise went on, with a little more self-possession, “that we could make this a bit of a longer con, our longest one yet. We could get you into school, so that you spend your senior year in New York. If you hate it, of course, we can always cut bait and leave on the next ’loop out. But we might as well see how it treats us first.” She ventured a smile. “It could be fun.”

“You would do that?” Calliope wanted what her mom was offering—so, so very much. But she also knew what it meant: that Elise would have to give up her independence, and live with a man who, no matter how kind he was, she didn’t love.