Sweet Deceit

by Kate Brian

  Just breathe, Ariana.

  In, one . . . two . . . three . . .

  Out, one . . . two . . . three . . .

  Thick, waxy air filled Ariana’s lungs and her vision slowly began to clear. She had to concentrate on her current purpose. She had to concentrate on Kaitlynn. Kaitlynn, who had to be freaking out right about now. Because Kaitlynn needed Stone and Grave even more than Ariana did. While Ariana had Briana Leigh Covington’s past to build on, Kaitlynn had nothing. No money, no family, nothing. Her very identity was a complete fabrication. Ariana knew that Kaitlynn was hoping that Stone and Grave would offer her stability, a sort of de facto family—a network to rely on for money, places to stay, college recommendations—her whole future. Which was why she’d gone so far as to kill to get in.

  Slowly, Ariana turned her head so that she could see Kaitlynn from the corner of her eye. Kaitlynn’s skin looked sickly pale in the candlelight, like she was about to throw up. For a split second, Ariana’s heart almost went out to her.

  “Over the next two weeks you will be led through a series of tasks,” April said, shaking her red curls back from her face. She pushed her glasses up on her nose and gave the pledges a no-nonsense glare. “And I want to be perfectly clear on this. When it comes to these tasks, failure is not an option.”

  Behind April and Conrad, the members of Stone and Grave stood still and hushed. This was a serious directive. If ever the pledges wanted to be standing on the other side of this ceremony, they had better not screw up.

  “We will meet tomorrow night at midnight, on the steps of the chapel,” Conrad said. “Don’t be late.”

  With that, a hood was yanked over Ariana’s head again, and she was unceremoniously dragged up the stairs with the rest of the pledges.

  PROVE IT

  Ariana was the first to arrive at the foot of the chapel steps on Wednesday night. There was no sign of Conrad or April. Tahira and Allison were on their way—she’d heard them gabbing in their room about what to wear as she’d left the dorm. The guys would probably be the last to arrive, because they’d want to look cool and blasé about the whole thing. But the person she was most curious about was Kaitlynn.

  Kaitlynn, whom Ariana hadn’t seen all day.

  She’d been up and out of the room before Ariana’s alarm had ever gone off and she’d been MIA ever since. During the two classes the two of them shared, her desk had remained vacant and she hadn’t shown up for any of the day’s meals. By the time the dinner dishes were cleared, Ariana had started to suspect that Kaitlynn was gone for good.

  Was it even possible? Had the news that her spot in Stone and Grave was not guaranteed sent her over the edge? Maybe she’d taken what was left of her money and gone off to start a new life. Ariana knew the very prospect should have sent her screaming gleefully across campus, turning cartwheels and hugging every person she met, but instead she felt an odd sense of disappointment.

  A cold breeze tossed a yellow leaf across Ariana’s foot. She looked down at it as it blew off into the night, and sighed.

  “You’re early.”

  Ariana whipped around, heart in her throat. Kaitlynn was standing directly behind her.

  “You’re here!” Ariana squealed. She threw her arms around Kaitlynn’s neck and squeezed.

  “Okay. What was that?” Kaitlynn asked when Ariana released her. There were dark circles under Kaitlynn’s eyes and her short blond hair was frizzy and unkempt. She wore her black wool coat over jeans, and her sneakers were caked with mud.

  “Where have you been all day?” Ariana asked under her breath. From the corner of her eye, she saw Tahira and Allison tromping down the hill from Privilege House, dressed in black from head to toe. Adam and Landon were close behind.

  “Why? Were you worried about me?” Kaitlynn cocked an eyebrow.

  “Yeah. I was,” Ariana said under her breath. “I wanted to talk to you about the meeting last night,” she said, tugging her coat closer to her against the cold. “I’m sure you were as freaked as I was by this whole no-guarantee thing.”

  Kaitlynn avoided Ariana’s gaze, looking down at the ground and shoving her hands into the pockets of her coat. “You were freaked?” she said dubiously. “Don’t you mean pissed?”

  Ariana clenched her jaw for a moment and took a deep breath. “Why? Because of Brigit?”

  Was that why Kaitlynn had stayed away all day?

  Kaitlynn simply stared. “Aren’t you?”

  Blowing out a sigh, Ariana tugged her wool gloves out of her pockets and pulled them on. “Look, what’s done is done. But I thought about what you said the other morning and I realized something.”

  “What?”

  Ariana swallowed hard. The others were fast approaching. This conversation had to get where she needed it to go and she needed it to get there fast. “Brigit’s gone. I can’t bring her back. But you and me . . . we’re still here. And you were right. We were best friends once.”

  Kaitlynn eyed Ariana with doubt. She turned slightly away from Ariana, as if she wanted to make sure there was no one behind her, ready to pounce and announce the joke was on her.

  “Maybe we can be friends again,” Ariana said with a small smile. “At least, I’m willing to try.”

  Kaitlynn narrowed her eyes and faced Ariana again. She opened her mouth to speak, but at that moment Tahira and Allison arrived.

  “Hey there,” Tahira said, tossing her long black hair over her shoulder. “Any idea what we’re doing here?”

  “None whatsoever,” Ariana replied, trying not to sound as irritated as she felt at being interrupted.

  The guys stepped up behind them, just as the blond boy from last night’s ceremony arrived from the opposite direction. Ariana gazed past him, her brow knit, wondering where else he could have been coming from at such an hour. All of them lived in Privilege House, and the class and administration buildings had been closed since dinner.

  “Evening, ladies,” he said, nodding at them. “Gents.”

  “You guys know Jasper, right?” Landon knocked fists with him without waiting for a response.

  Jasper smiled at Ariana as he rolled up onto his toes and back down to his heels again. There was something about his blatant stare that irked Ariana, and she looked away.

  “It’s a little weird that they picked such a wide-open spot for this, isn’t it?” Tahira said, lifting her shoulders as she shivered. “Anyone could look out a window and see us.”

  “Ah, but it proves that Stone and Grave isn’t afraid of anything,” Jasper replied. “All part of their mystique.”

  “Well, whatever we’re doing, I hope it doesn’t take too long,” Adam said, his brown curls tossed by the breeze. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he had a scrape on his lower cheek where he’d clearly cut himself shaving. “I have to work first thing in the morning.”

  One of a few scholarship students at Atherton-Pryce Hall, Adam was working off part of his tuition by acting as a student aide to the teachers in the history department.

  “Dude. Whatever this is, it’s way more important than work,”

  Landon said, tossing his long bangs off his face. They fell right back where they’d been.

  “Says the guy with seven-figure royalty checks rolling in every other month,” Adam said flatly, earning a round of laughter from the group.

  “Welcome, pledges.”

  Ariana whirled around, the moment of levity interrupted by the staid tone of Conrad’s voice. Lear and Miss Temple had appeared on the chapel steps as if from nowhere. They both wore long black coats over their clothes, and Conrad carried a few black cotton bags. Ariana’s heart started to pound from nerves.

  “Tonight’s test is a scavenger hunt,” April explained as Conrad walked down the steps toward them. “Inside these bags is a list of things you are to find on campus, along with a camera so you can take a photo of each item.”

  Conrad handed one bag to each of the pledges. Ariana clutched the straps of hers, itching to get st
arted. She glanced inside and spied a tiny silver digital camera and a thick card, but she couldn’t make out a word on the list.

  “Each list is different, and each of you must find every item on your list,” April continued. “Once you’ve photographed all the items, you will bring the camera back here for inspection.”

  Conrad handed out the last bag and rejoined her on the steps. “This task is to be completed in a timely fashion,” he warned. “Miss Temple and I will be waiting here, and believe me when I say neither of us wants to be up all night.”

  “And here’s a little added motivation for you,” April said. “Whoever returns last, loses.”

  “And you don’t want to know what happens if you lose,” Conrad said, his voice sending waves of dread through Ariana. She glanced at Kaitlynn, who shot her the briefest of looks before retraining her eyes on Conrad. Tahira and Allison were clutching hands, knees bent, as if they were waiting for some sort of starting gun to go off.

  “Well? What are you waiting for?” April said. “Go!”

  Ariana shoved her hand into the bag and whipped out the white card. It wasn’t a simple laundry list of items. Each one was a riddle that first needed to be solved.

  1. My sentries stand two feet tall.

  2. I sit where the angels weep.

  3. A rose by any other name.

  Ariana groaned. This was going to take forever.

  Tahira and Allison turned and started off across campus arm-in-arm, reading over each other’s lists and starting to work out the clues. Clearly, they were going to complete this task together. Kaitlynn, meanwhile, was staring down at her card, her camera dangling from her wrist by its strap, one hand covering her mouth as her forehead wrinkled in concentration.

  “I don’t know what half of this stuff even is,” Kaitlynn said under her breath.

  Ariana walked over and glanced at her list. “I do.”

  “You do?” Kaitlynn asked doubtfully. “How? You’ve only been here a week longer than I have.”

  “But I spent the two weeks before I came here memorizing everything there is to know about this school,” Ariana said, looping her arm around Kaitlynn’s, mimicking Tahira and Allison. “Come on. We can help each other.”

  She tugged Kaitlynn away from the steps, but Kaitlynn didn’t move. She stood so still, in fact, that Ariana almost tripped herself. “You want to help me,” Kaitlynn said, her tone disbelieving.

  “Isn’t that what friends do?” Ariana asked innocently. “Now come on. We’d better get started before we waste any more time.”

  She glanced over her shoulder and sure enough, Conrad and April were glaring down at them.

  “Ticktock, ladies,” April said, tapping her watch.

  Kaitlynn sighed and looked at Ariana. “If you sabotage me, I am not going to be happy.”

  Ariana looped her arm around Kaitlynn’s and started for the fountain at the center of campus. “Believe me, Lily, the last thing I want right now is for you to be unhappy.”

  DISMISSED

  “‘A rose by any other name.’ What does that mean?” Ariana said through her teeth.

  The frustration and panic mounted inside her chest as she gazed around campus, as if the answer would jump out at her from behind one of the arched doorways or from underneath a dormer window. Ariana had single-handedly solved every other clue on both their lists while Kaitlynn had been next to useless. So why was she coming up blank now, when it mattered most?

  Perhaps it was the shock over the fact that Kaitlynn’s list was complete and she was still there trying to help Ariana, instead of hauling ass back to the chapel with her camera full of photos to show Lear and Miss Temple how well she’d done. Why? Why, for the first time in her life, was Kaitlynn not focused completely on herself?

  “Okay . . . okay, is there a rose garden on campus?” Kaitlynn asked, holding her palms up. Her camera lay in one hand, while her black cotton bag dangled from the other. She curled the fingers of her free hand into a fist and blew into it. With each passing moment the air seemed to grow colder and colder.

  “No. There aren’t even any rosebushes in the topiary garden,” Ariana said, bringing her gloved hand to her forehead. “What else could be called a rose?”

  “Maybe we’re thinking too literally,” Kaitlynn said. She shoved her hands, camera and all, under her arms and chewed on the inside of her cheek as she looked around. Her eyes fell on Cornwall House, one of the girls’ dorms. “Wait a minute! All the buildings have names, right? Are any of them named Rose? Or maybe some other flower? Since it’s a rose by any other name . . .”

  Ariana’s memory prickled with a vague heat.

  She took a few steps away from Kaitlynn, struggling to piece it together. It was something she’d read in the APH handbook all those weeks ago when she was staying at the Philmore Hotel on Lake Page, getting ready to start her new life as Briana Leigh Covington. She closed her eyes and tried to see the words. “The Winifred R. Sherman Computer Annex . . . Winifred R. Sherman. Her maiden name was Winifred Rose!”

  “That’s gotta be it!” Kaitlynn said, her eyes wide with glee. “Once she got married, she had another name!”

  “Let’s go!”

  The annex was connected to the library. Ariana turned and ran for the building at a sprint, Kaitlynn right at her side. Ariana’s cold feet protested with tingly pain at each step. As she rounded the corner at the north end, she spotted the annex’s cornerstone and felt a rush of elation. Just above the date, 1948, there was a small but elegant rose etched into the stone. Ariana crouched in front of the stone, turned on the flash, and snapped the picture.

  “Got it?” Kaitlynn asked as Ariana stood up to check the photo on the display screen.

  “Got it.”

  Ariana grabbed Kaitlynn’s hand, and together they raced across campus to the chapel. As Ariana neared, she could see a few figures standing around the steps and her heart clenched. What if everyone was already back? What if they were too late? Running had never been her favorite thing, but she upped her speed, sprinting the last few steps. She doubled over as she handed her camera to Conrad, gasping for breath. Kaitlynn gave hers to April. They both stood back as their pledge educators scrolled through the photos saved on their cameras.

  “You took long enough,” Tahira joked as Ariana and Kaitlynn joined her and Alison at the bottom of the stairs. Jasper was there too, and he inclined his head in Ariana’s direction. She blushed and looked away.

  “We had a couple of tough ones,” Ariana said breathlessly, glancing at Kaitlynn. At least the run had warmed her up a bit. “I couldn’t have done it without Lily’s help.”

  It wasn’t exactly true—except, possibly, for the last clue—but she knew that Kaitlynn would appreciate the compliment.

  Allison checked her watch. “Where are Landon and Adam? I’m starting to freeze.”

  Then, as if on cue, Ariana saw Landon running toward them from the direction of the boathouse. At the same time, Adam appeared from behind the dining hall, sprinting as if his life depended on it.

  Ariana’s heart was in her throat as the two boys streaked toward the chapel, wondering who was going to make it there first, and what would happen to the other. Landon’s foot hit the bottom stair three seconds before Adam’s. The difference was so negligible, Ariana was certain it wouldn’t matter. They handed their cameras over, and April and Conrad scrolled through the photos. Both breathless, Landon and Adam joined the other pledges at the base of the steps.

  “Good work,” Conrad said, looking up. “Each of you has completed your scavenger hunt lists.”

  Ariana looked at the others and grinned. Their relief was palpable.

  “Unfortunately, Adam, you were the last to return with your camera,” April said.

  The smile dropped from Adam’s face, his chest still heaving up and down from the run. Conrad walked slowly down the steps and stood in front of him, looking down his nose at the far smaller boy. Ariana held her breath, as did everyone around h
er.

  “You’re out,” Conrad said.

  “What?” Adam squeaked.

  “I’m sorry. You are no longer a candidate for membership,” Conrad said. “Leave. Now.”

  Ariana’s mind whirled. She couldn’t believe that Conrad—jovial, devil-may-care Conrad—could be so blunt and cruel. Adam didn’t move. It was like he was waiting for the punch line. Conrad took a step closer so that Adam’s nose was practically buried in his shoulder.

  “Now,” he repeated.

  Ariana flinched. Adam glanced uncertainly at the other taps, as if he thought one of them might speak up for him. When no one did, he took a shaky step back.

  “Fine,” he said with a tense laugh. “I don’t need this crap anyway.”

  Then he turned his back on their silence and walked away quickly, his head held high as he disappeared into the night. April picked up a stack of packages wrapped in plain brown paper, which hadn’t been there when the scavenger hunt began. She descended the stairs lightly, as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened, but Ariana knew the other pledges felt as thrown off as she did. How could the Stone and Grave eliminate Adam so cavalierly? He was a nice guy—smart, athletic, promising. And now he was out just because he was three seconds slower at a sprint than Landon?

  “These are your Stone and Grave handbooks,” April explained, handing one package to each of them. The crisp, brown wrapping paper crackled as Ariana’s fingers gripped the book. “Inside you will find vital information on Atherton-Pryce Hall and its current students and faculty. Your job is to memorize every fact within its pages,” April instructed. “Starting tomorrow, you may be quizzed at any given moment by any member of Stone and Grave, and I urge you to be ready with the correct answers, or the results will not be pretty.”

  She stepped up next to Conrad.

  “I suggest you not test us on this,” she said. “As I believe we’ve just proven, everyone is expendable.”