Mariam's POV
We walked together back to the party. I hadn’t looked in a mirror, so I had no idea if my appearance had changed or, if it had, by how much and in what way. The only thing I knew for sure was that I no longer needed glasses. I held Anthony’s arm, and pretending to be just two loving twins who had gone into the woods for a private chat, we returned to present ourselves to everyone.
At first, no one seemed to notice our arrival, but as we passed through the guests on our way to the central table, where Luna Emma was about to stick two large candles with the number 17—one pink and one blue—into the spectacular three-tiered cake, people started to follow us with their eyes, and the murmurs began, which I could now hear perfectly as if they were being spoken directly to me.
“Who
