She nodded.
“They’re kind of like secret societies — they have handshakes and clubhouses and secret initiation ceremonies — but they’re like, the most watered-down, pseudo-secretive, uber-powerless piece-of-crap versions of what they could be. They don’t have power for shit. They’re just a bunch of middle-class douchebags in Abercrombie ties blowing each other while wearing black robes and calling it tradition.”
She raised her eyebrows.
“But when fraternities started, they actually meant something. TJ was in the first frat in the country — this club at William and Mary called the Flat Hat Club. Sounds lame, I know, no idea why they didn’t call it something more badass. Anyway, it was modeled after European secret societies — you know, the Freemasons, and the Knights Templar, all that conspiracy shit — but they didn’t really do anything. It was just an underground group of elite dudes, and they did, like, charity work and hung around talking about history and whatever.”
He was talking so fast, Sadie could barely understand him, but at least his eyes were on the book. She took a tentative step farther away from him, and he kept talking.
“So when he graduated, he complained about how it was cool and all, but they didn’t actually have any real purpose, so he decided to found one at his high school that actually meant something. Then a couple of his sisters got married or died or whatever, and he got like, really fucking lonely. And depressed. So he got really into it. He liked going there for debates and intense discussions — he was into all that shit, you know? — and they really only kept it secret because they thought it was fun. Eventually, that school closed and the members moved it to their new school, Montgomery Academy, and it continued from there. It was there for a long time, until the fucking Yankees took over the school buildings to use them for barracks during the Civil War.
“After that was over, Graff was built on the same land as Montgomery and all the richest families started sending their kids there, so it was natural for the club to be revived with Graff as its new home base. This building is the only part of the old army fort left, so the Sullas took that shit back and claimed it for their own. This is where it gets really good, though.”
He turned and looked at her just as she edged away another few inches. He frowned.
“Where are you going? This is the coolest part.” He pulled her back toward him, gripping her arm so tightly it hurt.
“Tensions were so high after the war, and everyone in the South wanted to make sure the major southern families stuck together. But no one could get caught doing anything that went against the Union, so they had to be really careful. That’s when shit got real. It got really exclusive, and really powerful, and that just continued, for decades and decades. And here we are. Oh, and all that Greek shit from the initiation? TJ had a huge boner for the Greeks. You’ve been to UVA, right? He probably went from six to midnight every time he walked through that quad. Anyway, like fifty years ago the new leaders realized just how powerful they had become, so they started a new plan.”
He leaned toward her and lowered his voice. “The real plan.”
His hand was still on her wrist, and she could feel her fingers starting to go numb. “What plan is that?”
He leaned even closer, and Sadie could see that his eyes were wide and out of focus. “Taking over the world.”
He laughed then, loud and sudden, and dropped her hand so he could turn the book back to the most recent page. She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off.
“Look, it’s all in here. Read it if you don’t believe me. This isn’t just the member directory, it’s a log. Jefferson wrote the first part and the other members added to it as they went along.” He skipped forward a few pages and pointed to an inky block of text.
“See, that’s when they moved to Montgomery.” A dozen or so pages later there was another paragraph. “And that’s when they moved to Graff. This is real shit, Sadie.”
He was really excited now, and suddenly he was jogging back down the steps and across the room. He stopped in front of a four-foot-long wooden musket that was mounted on the wall over a plaque. It had a menacing-looking bayonet that jutted from the tip of its barrel, and she could see light glinting off the polished steel.
“This,” Josh said, out of breath now, “is a Confederate freaking musket from the Civil War. After the war the members of the Order swore they would shoot any weak-ass Yankee who corrupted this sanctuary again.” He looked at her and grinned. He made the shape of a gun with his right hand and pointed it at her chest. “It’s loaded.”
She stepped back.
“What the hell, Josh? Why would they keep that in here? I mean, they wouldn’t shoot anyone now … ”
He sighed. “’Cause it’s a Civil War musket, Sadie,” he said, emphasizing every syllable. “It’s badass. And honestly, no one can get in here. This shit is airtight. But if they did, they would be in for some serious pain.”
Josh was still staring at the gun, but his grin had faded. He was vibrating with energy, and Sadie knew she had to get out of there. Fast.
She shivered. “You know, Josh, it’s pretty cold up here. I’m going to go downstairs.” Without waiting for a response, she turned and ran for the door. As she opened it she sneaked a look back at him, but he was still staring, enthralled, at the mounted gun.
When she got to the salon, she still couldn’t get the images out of her mind: Olivia’s limp leg, Josh’s glassy eyes, the book. She walked immediately to where Jeremy was standing and collapsed into him.
“Whoa, whoa,” he said, laughing. “Where have you been? Thought you got lost or something.”
She pressed her cheek against his chest. “Or something. Let’s just sit for a second, okay? I’m really tired.”
He looked down at her in surprise. “You okay? You’re freezing.” He sat back on the couch and she folded herself in next to him.
“I’m okay, I promise.”
But she wasn’t. Her mind shuffled through the images until it settled on one, replaying it over and over again like a broken record stuck on a single, discordant note.
Anna Ralleigh.
Maybe the curse was real. She shivered involuntarily and felt Jeremy’s arms tighten around her. It was something else, though, something much darker than anyone knew. Sadie suddenly had the awful feeling it had nothing to do with finals or college applications, and everything to do with Sadie’s family — which one, she wasn’t sure. Either the Ralleighs, the family she never knew she had, or the Sullas, the new family she had sworn her loyalty to for life.
“Sadie, you’re scaring me. You look really freaked out.”
She shook her head. “It’s okay, I think I just need to relax for a minute.” She tried to laugh. “Probably just had too much champagne.” It was true — or at least, it had been an hour ago. Now she felt completely sober, like she was seeing things clearly for the first time.
“Let me get you a soda. It’ll help settle your stomach and stuff.”
She nodded and settled back against the cushions. She watched him make his way across the room toward the bar, stepping over the empty bottles and pillows that littered the carpet. She tried to shut her eyes for a minute, blocking it all out so she could think, but the darkness just made her panic. Everything was all wrong, and she didn’t even know where to start.
She looked over at the bar again, and her heart stopped. Jeremy wasn’t alone — Finn and Josh were with him, and they looked angry. Finn was gesturing wildly, and Josh was bouncing anxiously on the balls of his feet. All three of them glanced toward her, and she quickly closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep. This was bad.
“Drink this, okay? It’ll help.”
When she opened them, Jeremy was settling in next to her.
“What was that about? I saw you guys arguing.”
Jeremy rolled his eyes. “They’re just coked out. Josh was rambling about something, and Finn was being his usual belligerent self. Don’t even worry about them.”
&
nbsp; He held out a glass, and she took it. Jeremy put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed, and she forced herself to take a deep breath. Everything was going to be okay. She was sure there was some explanation for all of this, but she would find it tomorrow. Now, she just needed to get out of here, and get some sleep. She tipped the glass back and took a small sip.
“Is it okay if we leave soon?”
“Definitely. How about you finish that, and then I’ll walk you back?”
Sadie nodded, and his arm squeezed tighter. More than anything, she just wanted this night to be over. As she tipped the glass back again, she saw Finn and Josh, still standing at the bar. They were staring in her direction, and they were both smiling.
Chapter 21
It was after noon by the time she woke up, but she felt like she hadn’t even slept. Her head was pounding so hard she gasped. She squinted up at the ceiling, and the two names swam immediately in front of her eyes. She shut them tight, but the image remained.
Something was wrong. Her stomach rolled, and her limbs were heavy and sweaty under the tangled sheets. She knew she had had too much to drink the night before, but this hangover felt different. Her whole body felt achy and bloated, and her stomach was cramping so painfully she had to curl into a ball until the muscles relaxed.
When the pain finally faded, she struggled to her feet and limped down the hallway to the bathroom.
She didn’t even remember leaving the tower — the last thing she could picture was sitting on the couch with Jeremy with so many awful new thoughts running through her head.
When she saw herself in the mirror, she flinched. Her hair was tangled up in the remnants of last night’s elaborate twist, and the makeup had melted off of her face like candle wax. She had thick slashes of black under each eye, and her dark, stained lips looked grotesque against her puffy, pale skin.
She took a long, hot shower, then padded back to her room.
Her phone was buzzing on her desk, and Trix and Gwen both had their pillows folded over their heads. “Make it stop,” one of them moaned.
“Sorry, guys,” Sadie mumbled, picking it up and silencing it. She had three unread texts — all from Jeremy.
“Where’d u go?” the first one said, followed by two more asking if she was okay, and if she had made it home. They were all from after 1 A.M. Her stomach hardened into a knot. She felt terrible.
She typed out a quick response:
“Sorry … did I leave without saying bye? Can’t really remember.”
She lay back on her bed, covering her face with a pillow and willing the pounding in her head to go away. She felt the mattress give as one of the twins bounced onto the bed next to her, and a fresh wave of nausea coursed through her.
“Spill it, Yankee.”
Sadie lowered the pillow to see Trix sitting on her bed, puffy-eyed and sleep-haired. “Spill what?”
Trix rolled her eyes. “You were out even later than we were last night. Come on, don’t hold out on me.” She pouted. “Where were you, and why didn’t you invite us roomies?”
Sadie raised her eyebrows. “I got home at, like, one. You guys have an early night or something?”
Trix giggled and shook her head. “No way. You must have had even more fun than I thought. We got back at three and you still weren’t here.”
Sadie frowned. Jeremy’s texts were from hours before then. Where had she been?
Her phone buzzed and she reached for it. “You completely disappeared. Went to find Thayer and then never came back. Everything okay? I was worried.”
She glanced back at Trix. “Sorry, guess I lost track of time. I was just at Graff.”
“I knew you were more fun than you looked!” Trix grinned and bounced up and down on her bed. “Hey Gwen, did you hear that? I told you she was fun.”
Gwen just groaned and rolled over.
“Uh, thanks,” Sadie said. “Are you sure I wasn’t here until after three?”
Trix nodded. “It was more like five. I know because you were so wasted you tripped over that pile of clothes over there and woke me up. You are one sloppy drunk.”
Sadie paused. She remembered everything before going back to the salon — if anything, she had been too sober to handle everything that had happened. But after she talked to Jeremy, everything just stopped. Four hours were just black.
Trix pointed gleefully to Sadie’s arm. “Look, you even have a bruise. Battle wound!”
Sadie turned over her forearm. There was a dull purple smudge that circled her arm like a bracelet. But it wasn’t from tripping and hitting something. Sadie forced a smile, but inside she was screaming. What the hell happened last night?
“Guess you’re right — sorry I woke you guys up.”
Trix stood up and stretched. “No worries. Just invite me next time.” She strolled back to her bed and collapsed onto it, sending a few items of clothing cascading onto the floor. “And tell your sexy boyfriend I said hi.” She pulled on an eye mask. “He’s a good one. He walked you back to your room and everything.”
“No way, he said — ”
Trix rolled to face the wall. “Don’t bother denying it — I heard a guy’s voice before you came in. No way you would have made it back on your own like that, anyway.”
A guy’s voice. Outside her room, at 5 A.M., four hours after she left Jeremy in the tower. The seasick feeling in her stomach intensified, and she couldn’t shake the dread that was surging over her. What had she done? Her phone buzzed again, and her hand shook as she picked it up. She took a deep breath and opened the message.
“Plus, I’m supposed to walk you home after we get wasted in our secret society’s clubhouse after partying at the White House. It’s a pretty key part of every high school boyfriend’s duties.”
Boyfriend. If Sadie hadn’t felt so terrible, she probably would have been jumping up and down. Instead she was just numb.
“Are you sure I left that early? I can’t believe I can’t remember. It’s a little scary.”
After she clicked send, she scrolled back through her texts from last night, praying there would be some clue about what she was doing. She rolled through with a sense of foreboding — she wanted to know, but at the same time, she had a feeling she didn’t. She remembered the image of Olivia passed out on the couch, so limp and defenseless. What if she had cheated on Jeremy? Or worse?
Before Jeremy’s first text was another from a number she didn’t know. The time stamp said 12:55 A.M.
“Portland — meet me in the hall. Have to tell you something.”
She frowned. It had to be from Thayer. But why? Last Sadie remembered seeing her, Thayer was sprawled on a couch with Lillian listening to Fever Stephens on repeat. Plus, she had never even texted Sadie before. Why now?
Sadie glanced at the text again as she snapped the phone shut, and the sight jarred something loose in her memory. The image came over her suddenly, and she sank back down on the bed under the weight of it. It was a hallway, bright and artificially lit, with double doors at one end. The left door had a tiny black rectangle in the center, and she was rushing toward it, faster and faster, until the doors swung open and swallowed her up. Then, just as suddenly, the memory was over.
Sadie blinked, feeling uneasy, like waking from a dream. She couldn’t remember anything else, but the image left her with a feeling that was unmistakable. Fear. She took a deep breath and clasped her hands together to keep them from shaking.
She stood up, pressing a finger to her temples as they pounded even harder. She needed answers, and apparently Thayer was the only person who could give them to her.
She dressed and went downstairs, twisting her wet hair up into a messy bun as she tried to keep the room from spinning all around her. Every step was agony, and she couldn’t believe how much her body hurt.
In the dining room, Sadie filled a cup with coffee, dumping in cream and sugar until it was almost white. She glanced toward the stack of fresh bagels, but even the sight of them made he
r nauseous. As she waited for the feeling to pass, she heard a voice behind her.
“Good morning to you, too.” She turned around and saw Jess, sitting alone at a table. There was a plate of pancakes in front of her, but it looked untouched.
“Oh, hey.” Sadie brushed a wet strand of hair out of her eyes with the back of one hand. “Sorry Jess, I didn’t see you.”
“In a hurry?”
“Actually, yeah.” Sadie shifted her weight awkwardly and waved her bagel toward the door. “I have to talk to Thayer about something.”
“Right. You look like shit, you know that? Where were you last night? We were supposed to go to a movie, remember?”
Sadie closed her eyes. The movie. She had spent the night at a party with Finn and Thayer and completely forgotten about her best friend. She hadn’t even thought to send her a text. What was happening to her?
“God, Jess, I am so sorry. I forgot all about the movie … I, um, I felt sick. I just stayed in my room.” Her head was still pounding, but lying to Jess felt even worse.
She arched an eyebrow. “You seemed fine when I saw you. And I came by your room. You were gone.”
Sadie sighed. “I guess I was in the infirmary then. I don’t know what time I went — I can’t remember.”
Jessica’s face went slack with disappointment.
“Look, I’m sorry I can’t eat with you, but I promise I’ll see you later, okay?”
Jessica sawed off a chunk of pancake with the edge of her fork. “Whatever, Sadie.”
Sadie watched her jam it into her mouth and chew, and a part of her wanted to sit down and explain everything. But she couldn’t deal with that right now. She had so many questions from last night, and Thayer could only answer one of them. She turned and left the dining room, leaving Jessica staring sullenly at the wall.
She pulled out her phone and texted the unknown number. “Can you meet me in the lobby? It’s Sadie — need to ask you something.”
While she waited for a response, she walked down the hall to the computer lab. She logged in, then stopped for a moment, staring at the browser’s blank search field. She had tried to find out more information about her mom so many times, but every search had come up empty. It was like her mother hadn’t even existed before she married her dad, and now she knew why. She had been searching the wrong name.
Poor Little Dead Girls Page 20
