"Who?" Eric asked, again.
"Should we include him?" Becky asked.
"Can we trust him? He is a man," George said.
Ellie glanced around them, making sure that there were none of the abyssal eyed people left behind. However, when she looked back into the lecture hall, the boy that had been waiting behind Becky was walking their way. His eyes were a fresh punch to her gut, silencing her quickly and easily with their dark depths. Ellie took a step away from the door, pulling Alex and Eric with her, to allow him to pass undeterred. As he did so, he gave Ellie half of a smirk, nodding his head at her as he passed.
"I'm starting to wonder if there are anyone that we can truly trust," Ellie said, staring after the boy as he continued down the hall. He had seemed so lost and defenseless when waiting to speak to her father.
"Was he...?" Becky asked.
"Yea," Ellie said.
She led the way down the hall, keeping her distance from the boy, and from the rest of the class, as crowded as it was with those people. While she never doubted her initial reaction to the group, she had to admit that not all of them had to be the scary monsters she expected them to be. Perhaps there was still something human inside of them, yearning to break free. Wanting her to free them. Could that be what they wanted from her? A cure for whatever it was that ailed them?
"Well?" Eric asked. "Are you going to tell me or not?"
Ellie turned around, continuing to walk backwards down the hall. There was no one behind them besides her father, finally coming out of the lecture hall, arms ladened by the now completed tests. His eyes were to the floor, as if his soul were similarly ladened. That there was something weighing him down. For a split, gut wrenching second, she worried that the boy had done something to him. She worried that in those few seconds he had been with him, he had done the very thing that they had been threatening Ellie with. But, when the doors to the lecture hall slammed shut behind him, Dave's eyes darted up and towards them. They were as blue as Ellie's were and, when they locked on her, had nothing but warmth and love to offer her.
"Maybe," Alex teased.
"No," Ellie said, coming to a halt in the hall. They were still several feet from the main lobby to the building, and their fellow classmates. Safe enough from the prying ears of those hellish eyes. "He should know this. He has to know this. I'd shout it from the rooftop if I thought people would believe me."
Ellie waited there for a moment, letting her father pass them in the hall. When he did, Dave nodded towards them, the same exact way that the boy had. Ellie had to look twice at his eyes to make sure that she hadn't missed it. That he was still her father and not some twisted shell of a man whose eyes could suck out a person's soul. Once he, too, was out of earshot, she explained everything to Eric, everything that she had told the others. The only thing she held back from any of them was those eyes, and how she was the only one that could see them. She was starting to feel like that secret, that one little tidbit, was the only thing saving her from... From what? From turning into them? From giving up? From being committed? All the fears she had been having over those few weeks were banging at the gates of her mind, and that one little secret was the lock holding them at bay.
"No way," Eric said, once she was done telling him. "There's no way that there's some secret society hanging out around here. I mean, here, of all places? It's U of C. Not even ivy league. Those kinds of groups should be hanging around Yale or something, not U of C. I'd sooner think it was aliens."
"We haven't ruled out that possibility," Alex said.
"I like demons better," George said.
"You wouldn't if you knew any," Becky said. "There are plenty of things out there these days. They could be anything. Or nothing. This could just be some elaborate joke."
"It's no joke," Ellie said.
"Maybe not for you. However you can sense them, maybe they know that, or maybe they're controlling it. Maybe the entire point of this group is to choose someone to drive completely nuts."
"They're doing a good job of it, then."
"So, what, it's like the prison experiment, only with something more elaborate?" Eric asked.
"Sure, why not?" Becky asked.
"If that were the case, I'd almost laugh at it," Ellie said. "But, no. I'm afraid it's not something that simple. Come on. Let's get out of here. These walls have ears." She looked around at the walls of the hall, half expecting them to have eyes as well. And she knew just what kind of eyes those would be.
As they came out of the physics building, she got a whole new shock. Over by where the sidewalks broke apart, heading off in a bunch of directions, Vern was standing by a tree. She had thought that he would have left ages ago, heading back to the security offices or home. Instead, he was standing there, talking with someone that she couldn't see at first. As the group headed around the corner, and the students started clearing out, Rebecca Anne came into view. She was looking up at the guard, smiling broadly, her dark eyes seeming nothing but delighted by whatever it was Vern was telling her.
"That can't be good," Ellie said, staring over at the two of them, no doubt conspiring against her.
"She doesn't know it was me in that room with you, does she?" Becky asked, her voice barely a whisper. Yet, still, the two of them, Vern and Rebecca Anne, turned in the group's direction right when she said it, as if they could hear her across the distance and over the din of the crowd around them.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Conspiring Against the Conspiracy
"You two are totally screwed," Eric said. After seeing Vern and Rebecca Anne together, the group backtracked, heading back into the lecture hall they had only just escaped moments ago. Without the impending test, and the swarms of the abyssal eyed people around them, the room felt much less intimidating, and a whole lot more welcoming.
"Yes, thank you, Eric. That's very helpful," Ellie said.
"Well, whose idea was it to break into that room?" he asked.
"It doesn't matter whose idea it was. If we had gotten whatever was in the envelope, we might have actually had some idea on who, or what, these people are."
"Or, it could have just been her grocery list."
"It was hidden far too carefully not to be about this... what exactly are we calling this?"
"I still like secret society," Becky said. "Even if it's not just a secret society, it's still a secret society. They're a group of people, therefore a society, and it's a secret."
"Yea, it's not quite a conspiracy," George said. "I mean, what would they be conspiring to do?"
"Whatever," Eric said. "Look, you guys have two choices. You could drop it completely, and ignore it, hoping that would be enough for those two to get off your back."
"Wait, you guys?" Alex asked. "You're in this, too, now."
"No, I'm not."
"What do you mean, you're not?"
"I wasn't in that room. I didn't break any laws. I'm just an associate. I can just as easily deny any knowledge of your actions at all. There's no proof that I know anything. In fact, I don't know anything."
"Fine," Ellie said. "What's the other choice?"
"Seriously?" he asked. "We're not just going to drop this? We don't even know that they're really doing anything. If they're just a secret society, then who really cares?"
"I care," Ellie said. "I care because they're looking at me like I'm supposed to be one of them. I don't want to be one of them, no matter who or what they are, and they're not getting that message."
"Fine. Fine. Then, your only other choice is to get something on them."
"What? Seriously?" Ellie asked.
"They have something on you. Mutually assured destruction and all that. Maybe it'll be enough to get them off your backs as well."
"How exactly do you propose we get something on them?"
"Yea, that didn't go over so well the first time we tried it," Becky said.
"Well, you can start by getting a more complete list of everyone that's in the group."
>
"How would that even help?" Alex asked.
"The girl whose room you broke into," Eric said. He started to pace back and forth in front of the blackboard, as if he was teaching a class. The fact that the other four had chosen to sit in the seats in the front row completed the appearance.
"Rebecca Anne," George supplied, raising his hand like a good student.
"Why did you choose her over any of the others in the group?"
"Because we knew who she was," Ellie said. "We could find out where her room is."
"Exactly. You chose her because she was a target, not the best target. What we need to do is find someone who would be an easy target. The weakest link, as it were."
"Ooh, I love that show," George said. "You are the weakest link. Goodbye."
"Except that wouldn't work," Ellie said. "Yea, it might be easier to break into their room, or somehow convince them to let us in."
"I'm sure Becky could flirt with someone to let her into their room," Alex said.
"Why do I have to do it?" Becky asked.
"Cause you're the only straight girl in the group," Ellie said.
"Uh, hello," George said, raising his hand. No one dignified that comment with a response.
"My god, how did I get stuck in this group?" Eric mumbled.
"Anyway, even if we knew a weaker target, there's no guarantee that they have the same intel, or any intel, as anyone else in the group. It was a complete fluke that Rebecca Anne had anything, whatever it was."
"For all we know, it was just a list of the people in the group," Eric suggested.
"With how she reacted to me having it, I doubt it."
"Maybe their roles in the group as well," Eric said. "In any case, just having a list of who is in the group would be a step in the right direction. Then, if it comes to going to the authorities, we'd have something to bring them."
"How are we even going to get a list of everyone that's in the group," Ellie asked. "It's not like we can take a survey of the school or whatever."
"We don't have to take a survey. We know exactly where they're all going to be."
"Where?" Ellie asked.
"When?" Becky asked.
"Friday," Eric said. He walked over to the desk, sitting on the edge and folding his arm, as if the lesson was over and had come to its obvious conclusion.
"Oh, come on," Ellie said. "That's just... cruel."
"What?" George asked. "Did I miss something?"
"The dead parents' society meeting," Alex said. "Where they all come to grieve over their missing parents. Didn't you say that it's almost completely made up of these people?"
"Yea, pretty much. It was... discouraging, to say the least."
"I don't think I'll ever be able to go back there," Becky said, shuddering at the thought.
"Besides, there's no way of knowing that that's all of them in the group," Ellie said. "There could be more, or some could skip out on it. You remember that Miranda girl from our first study group? She's one of them, and she missed the first meeting. I somehow doubt that a support group would be something mandatory for these people."
"So, maybe we don't get them all," Eric said. "Maybe we just get enough of them to make it look like all of them. Certainly, it would be enough to get them off your back, to take down the majority of the group."
"With a list?" Ellie asked. "How are we going to take down the group with a list? We don't even know what they're doing."
"Or if they're doing anything," Eric said. "Which is why I'm still saying you should go with option number one."
"Not on your life," Ellie said.
"Well, if you have the list, then that's at least a start. You can threaten to go public about it, or go to the authorities."
"On nothing but a bad feeling about them?" Ellie asked.
"I know a guy who might be interested in looking into it," Becky said.
"I know a guy who'd look into it for me," Ellie said. "I just... I don't want to bring him in if I don't have to. He's... Well, he's my girlfriend's dad, so, if he knows, he might feel inclined to tell her."
"Wait, you still haven't told her?" Alex asked. Ellie could see that she was trying not to smile, and failing terribly.
"I don't want her doing something stupid, like cutting out of school to come save me when I don't need to be saved."
"Oh, so she's the overprotective type," Alex said. "I didn't think you were into that sort of thing."
"I'm not, but it has come in handy a couple of times. Besides, she's not always overprotective, just when she thinks I'm in danger. She does tend to have a better grasp on when that is than I do. But I don't want her ruining her life over it."
"Well, then maybe we go to my guy," Becky said. "He tends to be more discreet about things like that."
"Fine, whatever," Ellie said. She got up from her seat and started to pace back and forth in the front of the room, taking up the space that Eric had just been in. "I just... I feel like we're just wasting time while they're out doing, god knows what at this point."
"We only have to wait till Friday," Eric said.
"No, it just still feels wrong. I mean, even with who, or what, these people are, that group kind of feels like, I don't know, like sacred or something. It's like a safe space, like an AA meeting almost. People go there to be vulnerable. It feels wrong to take advantage of it."
"We're talking about a secret society that is conspiring to recruit you," Alex said. "I think this is more of a grey area at this point."
"Besides, if the normal humans at that thing knew who they were hanging out with, do you really think they would?" Becky asked. "I don't."
"We still don't know who they really are," Ellie said.
"Well, there's only one way to find out," Eric said. "If you want to find out who they are, you're going to have to start with... well... who they are."
"Plus, it's not like we're going to be putting this out to the public," Becky said. "And we're not threatening them with that either. That would only backfire, what with them already planning something against us for the break in. I think the two of us should just go to the dead parents' society meeting on Friday, get the names of everyone there, and pass it on to my guy. He's kind of the authorities. And, depending on what they are, they might even be in his jurisdiction."
"Then we hide out for the weekend and let them handle everything," George said. "I mean, they're the adults, right? That's what they're there for."
"Uh, George, I hate to break it to you, but we're in college," Eric said. "We're adults now, too."
"Speak for yourself," Becky said. "Ellie's only seventeen."
"Oh, right," Alex said. "I forgot you're younger than me. Are you still into older women?"
"Yes, Mare is older," Ellie said, rolling her eyes at the familiar teasing about her age. "She's turning eighteen next week. I know, your birthday was last month. Did you finally get that tea set you've always wanted?"
"Oh, shut up," Alex said, laughing at the old joke. Ellie hated to admit it to herself, but she missed her laughter. Maybe, since they were trying to be friends, she would hear it more often.
"I still hate the idea of just holding off until Friday," Ellie said. "Even though I'm still not thrilled with using the group for this. I just feel like I should be doing something now."
"We could break into more dorm rooms," Becky said, though Ellie was relatively certain she was joking about that. "I'm sure you can figure out something to do in the meantime. Maybe brush up on your social skills."
"My social skills?"
"Well, we're going to have to get their names somehow, aren't we? I mean, sure, the ones that get up to speak usually give their first names, but what about those that don't speak at all? Plus, how many Sam's and Tom's are there at this school? How are we going to figure out who they really are if we don't ask them their full names?"
"Oh," Ellie said, as a productive thought flitted through her head. She smiled broadly as she realized there really was something she could
do, and only she could do, to make their work that much easier. "I have an idea on that."
Chapter Twenty-Six
Scouting
"Are we going?" Alex asked. She was standing near the door to their room. Ellie was fumbling around with a stack of papers that she had been printing out all day. The last few sheets were still coming out of the borrowed printer. She wasn't sure just how many more sheets were going to print out, but she knew they couldn't wait much longer before they left.
"I still don't see why you're coming," Becky said. She glared over at Alex, annoyed by her continued presence.
Ever since Alex found out about the group that was stalking Ellie, she had been hanging around her a lot more. Ellie hadn't noticed it at first. They were hanging around all weekend anyway, to study for the test. However, even after they had settled on their plans to hit the group meeting on Friday, she had become an ever-present part of her life. She only left during periods where their schedules didn't overlap, overnight, and, thankfully, when Ellie had her daily call with Mare. Ellie had mentioned to Mare that they were friends again, though she didn't remember if she ever told her that they had dated. That was not a can of worms she was ready to open up just yet.
"Why wouldn't I come?" Alex asked. She edged closer to Ellie, as if she thought that Becky would physically get between them.
"Well, for one, you haven't lost a parent."
"My dad did leave my mom."
"It doesn't count. He's still around, at least some of the time, right?"
"Well, yea, okay, but still. It's not like they know that. I'm not going to speak or anything. I'll just be in the room. Why would they care?"
"They'll care because we're going to be noting everyone that comes in that room," Becky said. She was just pulling on her boots, a pair of old, brown riding boots that were no longer in style. Becky wore them because they were comfortable, though Ellie thought they might have some sentimental value to her. For all she knew, they had once belonged to her mother. The fact that she was taking great care to put them on, while telling Alex off, seemed to speak volumes.
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