Months of preparation. Careful planning, dancing around Richard in a ridiculous ploy of secrecy, reading and researching and staying out late just for this. But tonight was the night, and you could all feel it. Energy thrummed in the air, even during the walk out into the woods of Francis’ property. None of you said a word.

The setup went by fast. Wine drunk, chants said, and you felt it; you believed, you didn’t just study but you were the Ancient Greeks, living and breathing them, and they were you, too, seeing through your eyes and laughing through your mouth. Reality quickly fell apart.

Bright lights. Noises you didn’t know the origin of. It was all giggling and touching each other unabashedly, skin on skin, skin on dirt, skin on wood and grass and leaves. Wine staining your clothes. These were the flashes you saw through your drunken haze.

And you saw Henry, too, looking uncharacteristically happy. His eyes met yours, and he grinned.