The Liar Society

by Lisa Roecker

  “Oh, thank God,” I said to the empty room as I collapsed back onto the couch.

  “Yeah, thank God,” a voice said from behind me. It was Liam.

  I jumped up from the couch and held the phone out like a weapon.

  “How did you get in here? I’m calling the police!”

  “I’ve been calling your cell for the past two hours, but you never picked up. And then I rang the bell a million times and no one answered.” Liam walked toward me and reached out his hand. “When I heard you scream, I tried the door. It was open.”

  I jumped back to avoid his touch.

  “Kate, what’s going on? One second you’re having coffee with me, and the next you’re digging through my car with some seventh grader and screaming when you see me. Just tell me what’s going on, and I’ll leave you alone. I swear.”

  And in that moment he was the old Liam again. The charming guy who’d given me a ride home and blushed when he’d asked me out the first time. The one who’d held my hand and made me laugh. And out of nowhere, I heard myself telling him the truth.

  “I know you started that fire. I know you’re somehow connected to the Sisterhood. Seth found the symbol in your car. Just tell me. What really happened that night? I promise I’ll never tell anyone.” The words tumbled out of my mouth. So much for black ops.

  Liam stared at me as I held my hand behind my back and crossed my fingers. I wish I could say he looked murderous or even angry. Instead he looked defeated.

  The doorbell rang, breaking our spell. I whirled around, standing on my tiptoes and stretching my neck to see who stood behind the door, but by the time I turned back around, Liam was gone.

  I ran to the front door and yanked it open, not sure what to expect. Maybe the police had some new technology that could sense when someone was about to call 911? Or maybe Seth had seen Liam’s car.

  “Pizza’s here,” said a bored-looking guy. He held up a large pizza box.

  I grabbed the twenty dollars off the counter and shoved it into his hand.

  “Keep the change.” What can I say? Pizza guys who practically save my life deserve a hefty tip.

  I checked the lock on the front door eight times to be sure any additional unwanted guests would remain where they belonged. Over the past few years, I hadn’t spent a lot of time wishing my parents would come home, but standing in our foyer with a huge box of pizza and a pounding head, I’d never been more lonely. Or less hungry.

  I shoved the pizza into the fridge and flipped on every light in the house. Once I made it to my bedroom, I flopped onto my bed, hoping to clear the thoughts racing through my mind.

  But I couldn’t relax. My head throbbed in time with my heart, and I jumped down from my bed in search of either aspirin or a sleeping pill, whichever I could find first. The medicine cabinet was out of aspirin and didn’t usually carry sleeping pills, so I headed down the stairs for Tylenol PM or even NyQuil.

  As the steps creaked beneath my feet, I looked back over my shoulder a few times just to be sure no one was behind me. I could have sworn I heard footsteps following my own. Tree branches scratched across one of the living-room windows, but when I glanced across the street at my neighbor’s trees, they were moving too. Wind.

  Rhythmic creaking rang through the living room, forcing my eyes to the window. The porch swing was swaying. More than anything I wanted it to be from the wind, but then I saw her. Her face was tilted up at the dark sky, and she wore her school uniform, just like all the other times. She rocked the swing slowly, strands of her long hair lifted by the wind. I stopped on one of the middle stairs and rubbed my eyes in an effort to erase her image, to make her disappear.

  It worked.

  When I opened my eyes again, she was gone, and the swing rocked gently in her wake. I shot right back up the stairs and into my room, leaning against the closed door.

  “Calm down. You’re seeing things. You need to sleep.” Honestly, I wasn’t sure which was worse, the fact that I’d begun talking to myself or the fact that I was seeing ghosts. Neither bode well for my sanity.

  As soon as I sat on the edge of my bed, I noticed that my computer screen was no longer black. Instead my inbox filled the screen. One new message had been delivered.

  I ran to the desk hoping the message was from Grace. But the email in front of me wasn’t from a ghost.

  Chapter 39

  To: KateLowry@pemberlybrown.edu

  Sent: Fri 8:31 PM

  From: LiamGilmour@pemberlybrown.edu

  Subject: (no subject)

  Kate,

  You’re still not answering your phone, and I didn’t know how to explain all of this to you earlier. I don’t know anything about the Sisterhood or if they set the fire, but I do know someone who’s involved.

  Call me.

  Liam

  I finished reading Liam’s email, and instead of reading it again and again as I usually would have, I picked up the phone.

  “Tell me,” I said, my voice shaking.

  “It’s a long story,” he said.

  “Okay, I’m listening.”

  “First you need to hear about what happened before I—”

  “I don’t have time for this,” I interrupted.

  “Trust me.”

  The strangest thing happened in that moment. The bitterness I’d felt after seeing his T-shirt and snooping through his car released its grip on my heart. I hadn’t even given him a chance. In spite of the email from Grace, and although I’d been seconds away from calling the police on his ass an hour ago, I decided to trust him one last time.

  So Liam began his story and I listened.

  Once upon a time, there were two brothers. They stuck together and protected each other, but the younger one could only do so much for the older one. The big brother made mistake after dangerous mistake, and soon his dad and stepmom gave the final warning. One more screw-up and he’d be shipped off to some military school.

  But one day he came home messed up as usual and slumped against the shed for a cigarette. The shed caught fire. Once the flames broke out, the big brother sobered up pretty quickly. His younger brother came running, and when the fire department arrived, the younger brother, Liam, took the blame. If it got out that his big brother had done this, the younger brother would lose him forever.

  “So I lied.” At this point in the story Liam paused. We sat in silence for a second, listening to each other breathe.

  “I’m sorry,” I finally said. As I listened to the words leave my mouth, I knew they were all wrong.

  “That’s why my dad and stepmom decided to move, to get a fresh start. Only my brother and I know the truth. But it did force him to get his shit together.” I could hear Liam breathing on the other end of the phone. “So I had to do some community service and help rebuild the shed, but it was worth it. Having it on my record is the worst part, but in a couple years when I turn eighteen, I won’t have to worry about it anymore.”

  So I guess his dad wasn’t an arms dealer after all. It was the first thought that popped into my head as I took in all of this new information, and it was immediately followed by about a million questions I wanted to ask. I settled on the most important one.

  “But what about the Sisterhood’s motto you sketched?” I hated myself for the apology I heard in my voice. I had a right to know the truth.

  “I saw the chapel burning the night of the bonfire. I was walking in the woods when I saw the fire and grabbed my phone to call 911. But then I ran into Taylor, Bethany, and your friend Maddie. They looked scared shitless.”

  “Wait, what? You were just walking in the woods?” I narrowed my eyes even though he couldn’t see them.

  “Okay, fine. I was having a cigarette. Taylor, Bethany, and Maddie ran right into me, but Bethany did all the talking. She said it’d be a shame if someone found out I was there when the chapel burned. Especially since I was smoking.

  “I know I should have told someone, but I’m still on probation for everything that ha
ppened in New Albany, and my parents swore they’d send me away if I even got a freaking detention.” I could hear the guilt in his voice, the agony over being forced to hide the truth. “Those words were drawn in chalk on the walkway leading up to the chapel.”

  “The crest?” I asked.

  “Yeah. With the Latin words on it.”

  “Hear, See, Be Silent,” I whispered. “The motto of the Sisterhood.” My mind worked frantically to connect the pieces.

  “It meant something—I knew it. I drew the symbol and words as soon as I got home. I thought I could use it as proof that those girls were there that night, that they were involved. But when I showed it to Bethany, she laughed in my face. It was her word against mine.”

  “Okay, so Taylor, Bethany, and Maddie are involved in the Sisterhood.” As I said the words, it explained so much. Maddie’s betrayal, Taylor’s and Bethany’s bullying. “And Bethany is blackmailing you, so they’re clearly hiding something.” Why, thank you, Captain Obvious. “She sent the threats,” I continued, more to myself than to him. “She was there and started the fire.”

  “I’m not sure it’s that easy,” Liam whispered. “I saw someone else there too.” I held my breath while he paused. “Alistair Reynolds. He was running in the opposite direction, but I’m sure it was him.”

  Oh. My. God.

  Chapter 40

  Last Fall

  Half-empty paint cans clattered to the floor in the garage as I yanked on the handlebars of my bike, attempting to release it from the jaws of junk. Instead of picking the cans up, I kicked them out of my way. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. I just needed to see Maddie. To be with someone who understood.

  After finally freeing my bike, I swung my leg over the seat and pedaled furiously, tears streaming down my cheeks. I pushed up Maddie’s steep driveway and jumped down from the bike without bothering to stop. It fell to the concrete in a heap. The entire ride there, I’d imagined the front door opening before I even had a chance to ring the bell. I pictured Maddie throwing her arms around me so I could cry with someone who had lost as much as I had.

  I did not expect Taylor Wright to open the door. Her long hair was damp and twisted on top of her head, and she wore a pair of Maddie’s pajama pants rolled at the waist and paired with one of her lower-school T-shirts. Taylor’s eyes were wide and skittish, and she shook her head slowly back and forth when she saw me.

  “I’m so sorry.” She opened her arms to hug me, and I awkwardly wrapped my arms around her. But it was all wrong, forced, uncomfortable, tense. “Everyone’s inside.”

  The word “everyone” made me want to stop, and yet my body continued to move. When I saw the crowd of people in Maddie’s kitchen—Bethany, dressed impeccably with a full face of makeup; Maddie’s younger sister and a few of her friends; and even Alistair—I knew it had been a mistake to come.

  The news was muted on the TV, and Mr. Greene sat on the couch with his head in his hands. Maddie was distraught, seated at the kitchen table next to her mom, who gripped her hand, their knuckles so white I imagined it must have hurt. As soon as Mrs. Greene saw me, she jumped up from her seat and pulled me into a hug.

  “Kate, sweetie, Maddie said you couldn’t come.” She rocked me back and forth, resurrecting that shard-of-glass feeling in my throat as I swallowed. Tears slipped out the corners of my eyes and soaked Mrs. Greene’s shoulders. I didn’t want to think about why Maddie had lied to her mom; this was about Grace. Mrs. Greene pulled away, grabbed my hand, and led me to Maddie. But Taylor had already taken the seat next to my best friend, her arms wrapped around her, pulling her close.

  Just like that, I had been replaced.

  I elbowed my way past the lower-school kids, Bethany, Taylor, and even Alistair, who put his hand on the small of my back.

  “Kate, if you need to talk, I’m here,” he said so softly that I could barely hear. “I lost my cousin when we were kids. We were like brothers.”

  Anger seethed through me. Even though he was trying to be understanding, trying to show that he cared, I resented his empathy. He had no idea what I was going through. No one had any idea. I had come because I thought maybe Maddie would, and now I wasn’t even sure of that. His hand still rested on my lower back, and when I jerked away from him, his arm fell to his side. I elbowed my way in to face the only friend I had left.

  “Do you want to get out of here for a while? Maybe go on a walk or something?” I asked, my voice edging on desperate.

  Maddie continued to sob, more so when I tried to sit down near her. Worse, Taylor stood up, almost blocking Maddie from my view. I didn’t care that Taylor Wright was the most popular girl in school; I wanted to claw her empty blue eyes right out of their sockets and talk to my friend.

  I ignored Taylor and tried to reach Maddie. “I just really need to talk to you. I miss her so much.” Maddie raised her bloodshot eyes and looked at Taylor, who offered an almost imperceptible shake of the head.

  “Why don’t you sit down, and we can all talk,” Taylor said, loud enough for Mrs. Greene to hear. “We’re all missing Grace.”

  “Maddie.” My eyes pleaded as I said her name. I heard the desperation in my voice, the tears lurking just beneath the words. “Please?”

  But Maddie just kept crying, unwilling or unable to respond.

  Mrs. Greene pulled me aside. “She’s having a really hard time with this, Kate. Don’t give up on her, okay? She needs you, and sooner or later she’ll be ready to talk.”

  I nodded my head. There was no way any words would be able to make it past the huge lump in my throat.

  I took one last look at Maddie and her newly formed entourage of grievers and walked back out the Greenes’ front door.

  Another best friend lost without even a good-bye.

  Chapter 41

  Present Day

  The next morning, I walked through Seth’s garage door without knocking. Mrs. Allen insisted I come through the garage as opposed to the front door, which was for her “formal guests.”

  “Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Allen.” I awkwardly glanced from person to person. “Seth.”

  They were seated at the kitchen table eating a fairly extensive-looking breakfast together—eggs Benedict, potatoes, some pancakes. I didn’t think families ate breakfast together anymore—well, maybe the occasional bowl of cereal, but nothing like this. It looked like they were filming an orange-juice commercial or something.

  “Oh, Kate, you’re just in time,” Mrs. Allen sang. “Come eat. I’ll get you a plate.”

  Mr. Allen beamed at me as I pulled out a chair to sit down. His appearance offered a very accurate window into Seth’s future. His hair was flaming-red despite his age, and he barely pushed five feet, seven inches. I looked back and forth between Seth and his dad as his mom placed a heaping plate in front of me.

  I hadn’t realized how hungry I was. I never did get to eat any of that pizza the night before, and an Allen breakfast was just what the doctor ordered. It was kind of nice to spend some time with a normal family.

  “Now, Kate, Cindy Woodrow down the street says you’ve taken a break from tennis,” Mrs. Allen said. “What about States, dear?”

  I take that back. Maybe normal wasn’t always nice.

  “I was having a hard time deciding between tennis and the Concilium,” I lied. “My coach is holding my spot if I change my mind.”

  “Taylor Wright heads up the Concilium, is that right?” Mrs. Allen asked. I rolled my eyes in Seth’s direction. “I’ve always encouraged Seth to join, but he insists on helping in the office.” She frowned toward Seth.

  “That’s enough, Rebecca,” Mr. Allen stepped in. “Kate, how are your parents?”

  “They’re fine, Mr. Allen. Thanks,” I said.

  “Here, Kate, have a few more pancakes. You’re too skinny!” Mrs. Allen heaped three more pancakes on my plate.

  I think Seth’s mom secretly kept tabs on the Lowry household, which probably included counting the number of times she saw the pizza-de
livery guy at our house each week. As a result, she was constantly trying to shovel home-cooked food down my throat on account of my deprived upbringing.

  Seth mopped up extra hollandaise sauce with his toast. He was heaving food into his mouth at an incredible speed. It was obvious he couldn’t wait to talk privately—and not for the usual reasons a guy wanted to get a girl alone. At least I didn’t think so. He cleared his plate and lifted mine before I even had a chance to tuck into the additional pancakes.

  “Oh, um…thanks.” I almost choked on a hash brown. “Breakfast was delicious!”

  “Seth, honey, she wasn’t even finished. Kate, I’ll make you a to-go container,” Mrs. Allen said, jumping up from her chair. She threw some pancakes into a plastic container and even added a little side of syrup.

  I grabbed them and followed Seth up to his room. I mean, who was I to turn down homemade pancakes? As soon as I entered the room, Seth slammed the door behind me.

  “I know something you don’t know,” he taunted. “Check this out.”

  Seth practically shoved me onto his neatly made bottom bunk. When I was little, I used to be really jealous that Seth had bunk beds. Come to think of it, I was really jealous Seth had a tree house as well. Funny how quickly jealousy turned into cringing embarrassment.

  Seth sat next to me with his laptop and brought up an email from his good buddy, ConspiracyLuvR. He turned the computer so I could read it.

  Over the years, the definition of the term “secret society” has been debated. Some believe that to be a true secret society, members must deny any involvement and knowledge of the society. While others believe the integration of rites and rituals forbidden to outsiders grants a society the label “secret.” Whatever the definition, secret societies are very much a reality, and some may even be linked to your own community—although finding them is the true challenge.