Sweet Deceit Page 11

  Ariana’s throat closed and she turned her head to look at Kaitlynn. Up until that moment, every question posed for the past hour had been straight out of the Stone and Grave handbook—which Lear had updated once the rest of the members had revealed themselves. This was the first personal question anyone had been asked. The implications were clear. Stone and Grave was still trying to find information on Kaitlynn’s family, and they were still, of course, coming up blank.

  “Eyes forward, tap number three!” April shouted. She was standing off to the side as Conrad quizzed the pledges, but she stepped forward now, her green eyes flashing. Ariana whipped her head to face front, her heart bouncing around erratically in her chest.

  “I’m not at liberty to say,” Kaitlynn replied.

  “Tap number five! Stone and Grave cannot admit a pledge if we can’t be certain we even know her true name!” Conrad shouted. “Tell me! What is your true name?”

  Ariana’s mind felt hazy. A tingling sensation began at the back of her skull and clouded over her vision. She was going to faint. Right here and now. She wondered whether the Stone and Grave could admit a pledge who dropped unconscious at the first threat to a fellow tap.

  There was a sudden slam and Ariana’s brain instantly cleared. The sound of scurried footsteps preceded Soomie’s panicked entrance into the Tombs. She raced over to Conrad and April, her dark hair wild, her eyes wide.

  “You guys! The headstones . . . they’re gone!” she gasped.

  The few Stone and Grave members who were milling around, halfheartedly watching the pledges’ interrogation—apparently this was not a required ritual for the membership—moved forward. Palmer emerged from behind the stacks and Ariana’s heart filled with longing. She hadn’t even realized he was there. Now she wanted to reach out and grip his leg for support. She would have killed just to stand up and fall into his arms.

  Just that morning, Ariana had spent her entire free period reviewing the video she’d taken of the two of them on her phone, trying to find the perfect still shot to grab from it. The idea had come to her in the middle of their hook-up. A still-shot of Palmer in a compromising position was just as good as a video, and the task card hadn’t stipulated live footage. After an hour of replaying the five-minute video over and over and over again, Ariana had managed to find a tawdry-looking still in which they were both bare-chested, her back to the screen, and Palmer was kissing her neck. She’d saved it, cropped it, printed it out, and sealed it in an envelope. Now all she had to do was deliver it to Stone and Grave, which she planned to do on Halloween—at the very last minute. No reason to incur whatever consequences would come of this until she absolutely had to. But at least she wouldn’t need to use the video. She could take comfort in that.

  And Palmer could too. Although he didn’t know that yet. Still, she had to believe that he would want her to complete her task, at whatever cost. That her being in Stone and Grave with him was an end that would justify the means.

  “What do you mean, they’re gone?” Palmer asked Soomie.

  “I just went to get them out for our ritual tomorrow, and they’re not there,” Soomie said, throwing a hand up. “Every last one of them is gone. They’ve been stolen. I found this on the floor of the closet.” She handed Palmer an ivory note card. He opened it, read it, and went ashen as he held it out for the other guys to see.

  “Freaking Fellows,” Rob said under his breath.

  Kaitlynn ever so slowly raised her hand.

  “What is it, tap number five?” Conrad snapped.

  “Sorry, Brother Lear. But . . . what headstones?” Kaitlynn asked.

  Ariana rolled her eyes at Kaitlynn’s audacity. Conrad had been just about to kick the girl out of the Tombs and now she was asking questions of the membership?

  “Our ritual headstones,” April explained. “They have our Stone and Grave names on them. We use them at all official rituals.”

  “Remember? From the woods?” Tahira said under her breath.

  “Oh. Right,” Kaitlynn said. “So the Fellows took them?”

  “You are to address us by our Stone and Grave names,” April admonished.

  “Sorry, Sister Miss Temple,” Kaitlynn said, coloring slightly. “Brother Starbuck, did the Fellows take them?” she asked Palmer.

  “Looks that way,” Palmer said, tipping the card. “Tsang does love his rhymes.”

  “Brother Starbuck, is that a clue?” Jasper asked, lifting his chin and inching forward on his knees, as if he could possibly see it from his position on the floor.

  “Yeah. And it’s a riddle, of course,” Palmer replied. He held the card up and read it aloud.

  “Small and dark and cramped am I, though never you would know.

  For only one may enter to my secret lair below.

  All honored memories locked inside,

  And now your precious gifts I hide.

  Prostrate and apologize

  Or perish your names in a fiery glow.”

  He folded the card and looked around at the other Stone and Grave members as well as the taps. For a long moment, silence reigned inside the Tombs.

  “Anyone know what that means?” Palmer asked.

  Conrad, Rob, and Soomie all looked at one another blankly.

  “Well, the end is pretty clear,” April said, reaching for the card. “Tsang wants us to bow down to him and apologize for the gum prank, or he’s going to destroy the headstones.”

  “That asshole,” Rob said through his teeth.

  “We need those headstones,” Palmer said. “They’re a huge part of Stone and Grave ritual. If anything happens to them, or worse, if they’re publicly revealed, our alumni will kill us. They may even shut down our chapter.”

  Ariana glanced at Kaitlynn. Shut down the chapter?

  “I can work on it,” April offered, tucking the riddle into her jeans pocket under her robe. “I’m pretty good at word play.”

  “Good. Do that,” Palmer said. “You figure out that riddle, Miss Temple, and you’ll save Stone and Grave.”

  Ariana’s heart fluttered and suddenly she knew what she had to do. She had to solve that riddle herself. If she did, she would be the one to save the APH chapter of Stone and Grave. And if she could do that, she was sure her task would no longer matter. Wouldn’t rescuing the entire chapter from ruin trump handing in a stupid photo of one of their own members fooling around with his secret girlfriend? It would have to.

  Talk about killing two birds with one stone. Or, more accurately, saving two birds—her chapter and her relationship. Ariana smiled slowly, even as her leg muscles cramped in anguish, radiating fingers of pain up her back.

  This time tomorrow, she was going to be a Stone and Grave superstar.

  THE RIDDLE

  “Thanks for gracing us with your presence,” Ariana said tersely as Tahira trudged into study room A at the library on Saturday morning.

  Tahira tugged off her dark sunglasses and shot Ariana an irritated look as she slid into one of the wooden chairs around the conference-style table, right next to Kaitlynn. Her face was, for once, completely free of makeup, and her dark hair was wavy and wild beneath a gray cloche hat.

  “Sorry, but seven a.m. on a Saturday is kind of early for me,” she said, plucking her hat off her head and tossing it in front of Landon’s crossed arms.

  Landon’s eyes were at half-mast, his cheeks stubbly. Only Jasper and Kaitlynn looked as if they’d bothered to shower before showing up for Ariana’s secret meeting. Jasper’s blond hair was still wet and slicked back from his face and Kaitlynn had actually bothered to apply a little eyeliner and lip gloss.

  “What are we doing here, anyway?” Tahira asked. “Your e-mail was seriously cryptic.”

  Ariana folded her hands on the table, feeling very in charge and very proud of herself. She looked around at each of her fellow taps and smiled. “I have an idea that may keep the rest of us from getting cut from Stone and Grave.”

  Kaitlynn’s eyebrows shot up and Tahira shifte
d forward in her seat. Even Landon suddenly blinked his eyes all the way open, truly awake for the first time.

  “Really?” Jasper asked, lowering his forearm flat on the table. “What, pray tell, might this be?”

  “All we have to do is solve Martin Tsang’s riddle and retrieve the headstones on our own,” Ariana said quietly, urgently. “If we do that, the membership will be so grateful they’ll let every last one of us in.”

  Landon sat up straight, tossing his bangs back from his face. He and the other taps all looked around at each other, pondering the idea. “I like it,” he said, his voice scratchy. “But do you really think we can do it?”

  “Yeah,” Tahira said. “We don’t even have the poem.”

  “True, but I thought that between the five of us, we might remember all the important parts,” Ariana replied.

  “I memorized it,” Kaitlynn said, raising her hand to shoulder level.

  “You did?” Ariana asked.

  “I have a photographic memory,” Kaitlynn said, lifting her chin smugly.

  Ariana stared at her. She was learning new things about Kaitlynn every day. She slipped a notebook and pen out of her bag, opened the book to a clean page, and poised the pen over it. The others followed suit. All but Landon, who hadn’t thought to bring anything with him. He gave Ariana a sheepish look and dropped back in his chair, his hair falling back over his eyes.

  “Well? Were you planning to share?” Jasper said.

  Kaitlynn took a breath and recited, pausing between each line to give the others time to jot them down. She was biting back a smile throughout the recitation, clearly relishing her pertinent role in the proceedings.

  “‘Small and dark and cramped am I, though never you would know. . . .’”

  Kaitlynn ran through the entire riddle, while the others sat transfixed.

  “Thanks, Lily,” Ariana said when Kaitlynn was finished.

  “Anytime,” Kaitlynn replied with a proud smile.

  Ariana quickly scrawled the last few words, then sat back to read it over. “Okay. So we’re looking for a small, dark, and cramped room,” she began.

  “Probably a basement,” Jasper added, chewing on the inside of his cheek. “Since it says it has a secret lair below.”

  “The Tombs?” Landon said with a yawn, lacing his fingers together on the table.

  “Why would they hide our headstones in our own secret meeting place?” Tahira snapped.

  “I dunno,” Landon said, parting his palms. “I’m just saying. It’s a secret lair, and it’s down below.”

  “And it is dark, but it’s not cramped or small,” Ariana put in. “Those stacks go on for miles.”

  “So does anyone know of any other basement rooms at APH?” Kaitlynn asked, looking around. “Storage spaces or anything like that?”

  “It’s probably not a regular storage room though,” Ariana corrected. She tapped the cap end of her pen against her chin. “It says there are honored memories locked inside.”

  “‘Honored memories . . . ,’” Tahira mused, pushing her thick hair back from her face with both hands. “Like diaries? Maybe the headmaster’s diary or journal or something?”

  “I don’t know. ‘Honored memories . . . ,’” Ariana said, her eyes narrow as she brainstormed. “It makes it sound more important than diaries. More . . . historical, maybe? Like maybe the founders’ diaries or something like that?”

  “I’ve got it!” Jasper said, shoving his chair backward with his legs as he stood. The chair made an awful screeching sound against the wood floor, and Ariana’s shoulders curled toward her ears. “What about the archives?” he suggested.

  Tahira and Landon exchanged a look.

  “The archives don’t exist,” Tahira said with a scoff. “They’re a prep school myth.”

  “But if they did exist, this poem would definitely lead us there, right?” Jasper said, pacing around the table, wielding his copy of the poem. “‘Honored memories’? ‘Only one may enter’?”

  Tahira frowned thoughtfully. “I guess. . . .”

  “What are the archives?” Ariana asked, intrigued. “I don’t remember them from the campus history or the map.”

  “That’s just it,” Jasper said, dropping his notebook on the table and leaning both hands into the back of an empty chair. “The archives don’t officially exist.”

  “Okay. I’m confused. If they don’t exist, how can our headstones be there?” Kaitlynn asked, shifting in her chair.

  Tahira rolled her eyes and sat forward. “It’s this story passed down from one class to the next,” she explained. “Supposedly, there’s some secret spot on campus where the founders hid all these historical items from around the time the school was founded. Diaries, blueprints, the original school documents . . . plus newspapers and original uniforms. Crap like that.”

  “Like one huge time capsule,” Jasper said, his eyes bright with excitement. “And supposedly each year a senior is gifted with the key to the archives, to keep just in case the faculty member in charge passes on or something.”

  “Only one may enter,” Kaitlynn said, sitting up straight.

  “Well, where is it?” Ariana asked, her pulse beginning to skip. “And how do we get the key? I mean, how do we find out who the senior student is?”

  Silence reigned inside the study room. Ariana felt her spirits fall. She’d never seen such a perfectly blank slate of expressions.

  “Martin Tsang. He’s the one student who has a key.”

  Ariana looked up at the door. Adam Lazerri stood there, hugging himself in his skimpy cotton coat, his dark curls sticking out in all directions.

  “Adam? What are you doing here?” Ariana asked, her throat dry. Adam shouldn’t be privy to inside information. She and her fellow taps could get in huge trouble for this. Immense trouble.

  “I followed you guys,” he said, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down as he took a tentative step into the room. “When I saw Landon and Jasper walk out together, I knew it had to have something to do with Stone and Grave,” he said. “I’ve been standing outside the room listening this entire time,” he added, tilting his head toward the door.

  Ariana’s spirits sagged. Rule number one in clandestine meetings: Always close the door.

  “You shouldn’t be here, dude,” Landon said, sitting up straight. “You’re going to get us all kicked out.”

  “Wait,” Jasper said. “Has it escaped everyone’s attention that Adam just said he knows something about the riddle?”

  Ariana glanced at Kaitlynn, who stared back, determined. Clearly she was ready to use Adam for whatever information he had. And for once, Ariana couldn’t have agreed with her more.

  “Get in here and close the door,” she told Adam.

  Adam did as he was told, but didn’t remove his jacket or sit down. He stood in the corner of the small room, looking awkward with his hands down at his sides. His skin was pale and there were dark circles under his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept in days. Ariana’s heart went out to him. She knew he was still hurting over Brigit. Plus, Adam was here on scholarship. Getting into Stone and Grave probably meant more to him than it did the others. The society meant connections he otherwise had no hope of making, considering his meager background.

  “I don’t like this,” Tahira said. “He can’t know what’s going on with Stone and Grave. There’s a reason it’s called a secret society.”

  “Did you guys really think it was fair, the way I got thrown out?” Adam asked, his voice quiet but firm. “I mean, just because I don’t run as fast as Landon, I’m cut? Seriously?”

  No one replied. Ariana was sure they were all trying to weigh the risks of Adam being here against the potential rewards.

  “I just want a chance to prove to them that I’m worth taking a second look, that’s all,” Adam said, stepping forward. “And I know I can help you guys.”

  Ariana took a deep breath. “Okay. You say Martin Tsang is the one with the key to the archives. How do you know that
?”

  “Tsang is like the right-hand man of Dr. Tomassen,” Adam said. “The head of the history department. The two of us are always there together, working on special projects for the teachers, filing, cleaning out old tests and stuff, but he never misses a chance to remind me that he’s more important than I am. One day we were talking and he started showing off about how much Tomassen trusts him. How he entrusted him with the biggest secret in the entire school.”

  “He told you about the archives?” Tahira said dubiously.

  “Not exactly, but I know that’s what he was talking about. What else could it be?” Adam said, lifting his shoulders. “And then, one night, when we were working late, Tomassen came and pulled Martin out. I was sick of his ego trip crap, so I followed them, and I saw Tomassen give him something. I heard him say that one current student is granted this honor each year—that he had to protect whatever it was, just in case anything happens to Tomassen. It must’ve been a key to the archives.”

  Ariana was breathless. This was it. It had to be.

  “What’s Martin keeping there?” Adam asked. He blushed sheepishly. “I missed that part.”

  Tahira clenched her jaw and looked away. Ariana was just debating whether to tell him, when Jasper beat her to it.

  “They took our headstones,” he said. “We’re going to get them back.”

  “Jasper!” Landon admonished, his cheeks flushed with anger.

  “We still don’t know where the archives are,” Kaitlynn pointed out, ignoring Landon.

  “Follow Tsang,” Adam said, his posture straightening. “I’d bet money that he hangs out at the archives every chance he gets. I’m sure it makes him feel all special, the fact that he’s the only one with a key. And he’d definitely be there if he was keeping something of Stone and Grave’s there.”

  “So follow Tsang . . . find the stones,” Jasper said, looking at Ariana.

  Ariana grinned at him. “It’s time for a stakeout.”

  FELLOW SCHEMER

  Ariana tugged her black wool hat down over her ears as she knelt in the dirt next to Jasper. The two of them were huddled behind a large rock, about fifty yards away from the back door of Pryce Hall. Behind the tree to her right were Tahira and Landon, and crouched behind another rock were Kaitlynn and Adam, all of them dressed in head-to-toe black. The debate over whether to include Adam had raged for an hour before Jasper had suggested a vote and Tahira and Landon had been outnumbered. Ariana knew it was a risk, but she agreed with Adam. He hadn’t deserved to be thrown out so offhandedly. And it was too late anyway. He already knew what was going on. Besides, without him, they wouldn’t have even gotten as far as they had.