We put on our masks and saluted with our swords.
Brad was our referee. He shouted, "En-garde!"
We adopted the en garde position by bending our knees and holding our blade points towards the opponent.
Brad then shouted, "Fence!"
Neither I nor Charity made a move. Not because I was following Brad's tactical advice, but because I was frozen to the spot as my eyes fixated on the swimming pool below.
Charity tossed her head from side to side. I could hear her snorting with impatience.
"Come on, you little fool. Attack me!"
"You first."
She growled and stepped forward. Leading with her front foot she slapped the floor in a sort of skipping motion, bringing both feet together, but never crossing them. Her lead foot slapped the glass floor repeatedly as if baiting me.
Our blades danced around each other, but never touched.
With a cry of impatience, Charity lunged at me. Without thinking, my blade came up and parried her attack. By the rules, it was my turn. She couldn't attack again until I took my turn to attack.
"Come on you little Cherry turd, riposte."
I hesitated.
Her snorts sounded like erupting volcanoes.
Eventually, I straightened my sword arm.
"At last!"
Charity parried my blade and circled hers around mine, before straightening her sword arm and scraping her blade along my shaft. She then rammed the tip of her blade at my eyes.
Instinctively, I leapt backwards as I disengaged our blades. She charged on as I stopped suddenly and straightened my arm. Charity ran into my tip, forcing my blade to buckle in the middle.
My light box lit up green.
Brad pointed at me and shouted, "One point."
I dropped my arm and the blade sprang back into shape.
Charity stamped the floor and screamed.
Brad ignored her tantrum and shouted, "En-garde!"
We both assumed the position. The tips of our blades, not quite touching, but hovering around each other with electric frisson.
Charity hissed, "I'm going to run my blade right up through your tiny cherry."
"Fence!"
Charity screamed, raised her sword above her head and charged at me. I felt my eyes widen as I sprinted backwards, away from that charging bull.
I heard Mai cry out, "The edge!"
All too aware that the end of the piste was fast approaching, I waited until the last possible fraction of a second. When I was sure I had not an inch to spare, I stamped my rear foot and crouched low as I straightened out my sword arm. Hoping Charity would run onto my blade.
Charity had anticipated that of course and threw herself high into the air. She whipped her blade around her head like she was fly-fishing and brought it down on me.
Without thinking, my blade met hers and made an awful scraping noise as it parried her blade away. I flicked the blade around the outside of her sword arm, but she was too agile and beat it away.
With rage in her eyes, she leapt up at me again. She whipped her blade around and jabbed the tip at my eyes.
I stuck out my blade, as she lunged down on top of me. I flicked my wrist as if turning a skipping rope. My blade encircled hers and trapped it. My arm dropped into a sudden arc and the blade tip plowed deep into her front foot. Pinning her to the floor.
Charity's lunge propelled her onward. She tripped over my blade and rolled. I heard a scream and turned on the balls of my feet to see Charity tumble over the low barrier and plunge some twenty feet into the pool below.
Everyone ran to the barrier. I ripped off my mask and leaned over. I held my breath until at last Charity surfaced. She looked up and shook a fist at me.
She then punched the water as two life guards dived into the pool and hurriedly swam to her.
As the first reached her, she punched him hard in the face and swam to the side.
I straightened up and caught the horrified look on Mai's face. Brad pushed through the crowd who had by now surrounded me.
He shook my shoulders, fixed me with an intense gaze and said, "Where in Hell did you learn to fence?"
I couldn't tell him. Everything about my past had to remain a secret or I'd betray my real identity and risk ending up like Madison.
Brad smiled in disbelief. "Robyn, I haven't seen anyone fence like that since Madison."
I blinked hard. "Who?"
He shook his head and bit his lower lip as if realizing he'd said too much.
"Just someone I used to instruct. She was... amazing. Like you."
He held my gaze a little too long. His ice blue eyes seemed to melt and I felt my lips tingling with the strangest sensation.
Aware that Mai was stood right next to him, I tried to pull away from his gaze, but it was like I was drowning in his eyes. I could tell too, that he was struggling to look away. That he couldn't or wouldn’t try to find the strength.
Jason Drake pushed Brad aside and grabbed both my hands.
"Robyn, you were amazing. I think I'm in love. You are so invited to our party tonight."
An invitation I intended to accept. For one thing I knew was almost certain. Brad kept secrets that involved Madison. And I was about to discover them.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
"Which one is it?" I asked.
Mai shrugged. "Follow your ears."
I drove along the smart tree lined avenue at the edge of Kimberley campus.
We heard the thumping dance music before we even turned the corner. The largest house, set back from the avenue was lit up like a surreal Christmas tree. As if an alien spaceship out of a Hollywood movie had crash landed on the roof and parked in the basement.
My eyes couldn't adjust to the lights. Instead, I focused on the shadows. The house took on the eerie impression of a moated castle with high turrets and a draw bridge.
"Is this for real?"
Mai nodded. "You got to admit they got some style, right?"
"Or something."
We wound up the long drive to the house as if entering a fairy tale kingdom. I parked up Rust Bucket in the drive of Brad's fraternity house.
Before we went inside I turned in my seat to Mai.
"What's the party celebrating?"
"This is the pre-ball."
"Pre-ball?"
"Tonight's when the Kimberley knights judge all the guests and decide who to invite to the Knights’ Ball."
"The knights will be here in person?"
"Sure. They're just regular students like you or me. But no one knows who they are of course."
"But Brad knows?"
Mai's eyes widened. "Why would you say that?"
"Oh, I don't know... because the party's at Brad's?"
She shrugged and avoided my eyes.
I pushed. "Mai?"
She rolled her eyes. "OK, so Brad was one of them. But not anymore. He quit."
"What happened to make him leave?"
"Only Brad can tell you that."
Mai opened the car door and jumped out. I sighed, left the keys in the starter and followed Mai.
I had borrowed yet again one of Mai's gorgeous party dresses. In our skimpy silk attire the night air felt chilly as we ran to the house.
So this was my chance to impress for an invite. Perhaps my only chance. But I needed to remain low key. To slip away and search the house for Brad's secrets.
It was beginning to look like I couldn't have both. Brad's secrets or an invite to the secret ball where I could finally confront Madison's killer. But I figured without being forearmed with their secrets, then there was no point in attending the Knights' ball.
Inside the house, Jason Drake leapt out at me and grabbed both my hands. He dragged me into a large room heaving with skimpily dressed women and men in jeans and t-shirts. All were gyrating to the thumping dance music.
I had to admit he was a great dancer and intuitively guided my two left feet away from that invisible line beyond which lay the graveyar
d of all tragic dance moves. We looked so good together that people stopped to gawk at us. This was so not what I planned.
As if he was psychic, Jason put his hands on my shoulders and gently but firmly guided me off the dance floor to a marginally less rowdy bar.
"What's your poison?"
I don't drink and told him so. He was quite the gentleman and handed me an alcohol free bottled beer. His choice was a premium European lager straight out of the bottle.
"So Robyn, how's your first week?"
This could be a long night. "Would you excuse me for a moment, I need to freshen up."
His eyes almost imperceptibly narrowed like a crevasse of ice closing for a split second before flickering back to their usual warmth. He pointed to the stairs for the first floor.
"Bathroom is first door at the top of the staircase."
I thanked him and left my drink with him. I carefully weaved through the mass of people until I reached the foot of the stairs. As I took the first few steps and apologized to a couple making out on the stairs, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck jolt to attention.
I glanced back across the room to the bar. Jason's cold narrow eyes stared hard at me for a long moment before a blond girl tripped into his arms and he caught her.
I hurried up the stairs and ignored the bathroom. In the semi-darkness I bumped into another couple making out and asked them if they'd seen Brad.
The girl told me to check his room on the top floor.
"Which one?"
"Red door. Can't miss it."
I thanked them, but they had already returned to exploring each other’s tonsils and other body parts.
Before long I found a red door and knocked three times. I listened for any response but none came. I took a deep breath, turned the door handle and as the door creaked open, I entered the room.
The room was minimalist in style. A hard wood floor was scrubbed clean. My fingers couldn't resist the soft sensual feel of the crisp white Egyptian cotton sheets adorned a large four post double bed in the center of the room.
Beneath a large circular window with a view of the edge of the woods sat a functional old antique desk with unlocked and empty drawers. On top of that was a laptop. There was a ceiling high bookcase of engineering books and ancient medieval history. I ran my fingers along the top of the black marble hearth of the fireplace. I glanced at my fingertips. Clean.
I stood by the second door. I tapped and listened. No reply. I opened the door that led to a clean white en-suite bathroom. The place smelled of lemons and sandalwood.
Clean. Functional. Masculine. No wall mounted pictures to conceal safes. No creaking floor boards concealing secret spaces. In fact, not anywhere remotely likely to conceal any secrets. I began to panic that the entire mission was a total waste of time.
I took a deep breath and turned to face the room. Then I glanced at the fireplace once again. It was too clean. Surely with autumn marching onward, there was a need to light a fire?
I knelt and placed my hands on the floor boards. They were warm. So the place had underfloor heating hence no need for a fireplace. I wondered if...
I quickly crossed to the fireplace and knelt before the hearth. I reached up inside the chimney and with one hand flush against the inside of the flue I felt back and forth along. After a few seconds my fingers scraped something jutting out from the brickwork.
Steadying my balance with my other hand I dug my fingernails under the object and prised it off the wall. It fell with a pop and landed in the hearth.
I held it up to the light. It was a small metallic box with a magnetic strip on one side. I opened the lid. Inside contained a metal thumb drive on a silver chain necklace with a pendant. I recognized the symbol on the pendant.
A mask and two crossed swords.
I put the necklace over my neck and replaced the metal box where I found it. Just as it clicked back in place, I heard the door creak open.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Jason stood in the open doorway. His eyes undressed me. As his eyes reached my neck they narrowed.
I swallowed hard.
"Looking for something, Robyn?"
"Someone. Brad."
"He's downstairs."
"Oh, my mistake."
I tilted my head to avoid his eyes and headed for the door. As I brushed by him, he kicked the door with his heel and it slammed shut. He grabbed my wrist firmly.
"Jason, what are you doing?"
"Be a shame to let the only quiet room go to waste."
He leaned in and tried to kiss me. I pulled away. He squeezed my wrist tighter.
"I've been nice to you," he said. "Time to reciprocate, don't you agree?"
He pushed me against one of the bed posts. His lips covered mine forcefully. The stench of his beer breath felt foul enough to force me to retch. He bit my bottom lip. I brought my hands up between his chest and mine and pushed out.
He stumbled back. "What gives Robyn?"
"Let go."
"Or what? I tell Brad I caught you snooping, that's what."
"Tell him what you want, but I'm leaving."
The back of his hand flew at me and caught the side of my face. I fell back against the bed. He moved towards me with a glazed look in his eyes like an animal on the hunt for prey and going in for the kill.
He straddled me. He twist one arm behind my back and lifted his t-shirt, revealing the symbol of the Knights of Kimberley tattooed on his chest.
The door swung open and Brad stepped in.
He glanced at me and then at Jason.
"Jason, get out."
Jason looked over his shoulder at Brad.
"Hey bro, we only need a few minutes. Someone's got my room, already. We thought you wouldn't mind."
A look of confusion crossed Brad's flushing face. He looked to me questioningly.
"Is that right, Robyn?"
Jason turned to face me and shot a cold, hard look.
I felt Jason's weight shift as he turned his head one more time.
"Bro, you're killing the moment."
Brad turned his back on me. I heard the door creaking shut.
This was my last chance to get out. I brought one knee sharply up into Jason’s groin.
He gasped.
Brad strode over to the bed and grabbed Jason's neck in an arm lock. Throwing him to the floor.
Brad looked at me angrily and said quietly, "Go. Find Mai. Leave. Now."
I jolted from the bed and ran out of the room. I could barely see through my tears. I found Mai dancing with some guys and girls of the fencing team.
She took one look at me. Her happy, smiling face grew stern and her eyes widened with fear. She grabbed my wrist where Jason had held me.
I winced from the pain where before my fear had meant I felt nothing. She dragged me out of the house. She told me to get in the passenger side. She sat behind the wheel and turned the key in the starter.
She gunned Rust Bucket down the driveway, forcing an oncoming car to swerve off into bushes.
Keeping her eyes on the road she asked, "Who was it?"
I tried to speak, but my voice deteriorated into a steady procession of pathetic sobs. All I could think was how careless I had been. And if I wanted to continue my quest to find Madison's killer, then I needed to act smarter and tougher.
I drew a deep shuddering breath and said, "Forget it."
"Forget what? Are you crazy? This kind of thing is a silent killer around campus. You can't let it go. Who was it?"
"Jason."
It was then she looked over at me with shock etched across her face. And something else. Fear.
"Jason who? Not Jason Drake?"
I nodded.
"Shit, Robyn. Does Brad know?"
"Brad saved me."
"How the Hell did this happen?"
How could I tell the truth? I couldn't. Not and expose my true identity and all that went with it.
I had no idea before now, how addictive lies could be
come.
I succumbed to another round of sobs. But more so I could give myself time to think through my story.
"It was my fault. I went looking for Brad to thank for a lovely party. I thought I found him in his room."
"Brad's room?"
"It was empty. Then Jason appeared and..."
I let myself succumb to the raw pain of vulnerability and sobbed again until snot streamed down my face and dripped all over the beautiful silk dress that now had a rip in the front.
"I'm so sorry, Mai."
"You're sorry? You wait until I catch up with that son of a bitch."
I sat next to Mai and marveled at her ferocity.
Then something occurred to me. "But, Mai..."
"But what?"
"What if Jason is one of them."
"One what? You mean one of these secret bastards that thinks he can do what he likes to girls like us and get away with it?"
"Exactly Mai. What if he's a Knight of Kimberley?"
She hit the brakes and Rust Bucket juddered to a halt. She turned in her seat and looked at me.
"How do you know?"
I swallowed hard and hesitated.
"Robyn?"
"I saw he had a tattoo. A Viennese mask with two crossed swords."
"So? Brad also has one. All the men's fencing team have it. So what?"
I held her trembling hands. "Mai, you know what that symbol means, don't you?"
She avoided my eyes and stared ahead.
"I think, Robyn, you should stop talking right now."
"Mai, Jason is a Knight of Kimberley."
Mai screamed and punched the wheel over and over.
As tears flowed down Mai's cheeks, she stopped punching the wheel.
"Robyn, don't be like me."
"What do you mean?"
"Jason. He once, at a party, he..."
"Oh God, Mai, no."
She nodded.
"Does Brad know?"
She shook her head. "He'd kill Jason. I can’t let him ruin his life."
"So you carry Jason's sick secret with you for the rest of your life?"
"You don't understand just how powerful are the knights."
"You're right, I don’t. So perhaps you explain it to me."
CHAPTER NINETEEN
I sat on Mai's bed with a bag of ice on my cheek.
Guilty Secrets (Campus Love and Murder Sorority Eyes Romance Book 1) Page 7
