“I think, maybe, he might have left some stuff out,” I say quietly, my shoulders sagging.
Reuben nods. “We’re a package deal, Trinity.”
My brain instantly rejects the thought. “But—”
He puts a finger on my lips. “That’s why I didn’t stop you when you left. It’s always too complicated. Girls like things simple.” His dark eyes flash. “We’re not.”
Understatement of the fucking century.
He stands and gets ready to leave, putting his rosary around his neck, buttoning up his shirt again.
Well fuck this. I’m not leaving empty-handed.
“Apollo said you found something in Gabriel’s files.”
Reuben pauses as if considering my statement, and then nods just once.
“Can you tell me what it is?”
He goes to his haunches in front of me and watches me for a moment as if he’s trying to figure out how sincere I’m being.
“That’s the thing with us, Trinity. You’re either with us, or you’re against us.” He smiles, not unkindly, and traces my bottom lip with his thumb. “There’s no in-between.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Zach
My last student files out of the door seconds before Reuben steps into my class. I happen to glance up, and do a double take when I see him.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I widen my eyes at him as I hurry past to force the door closed faster than the hydraulic normally allows. “Did anyone see you?”
Reuben doesn’t have a class with me, and I’ve made a point of not associating with him in the dorms. Cass being the hallway monitor gives us a little more leeway, but this…?
“You weren’t checking your phone,” he says, not even seeming apologetic for contravening our strict guidelines. “It’s important.”
“So what is it?” I ask, and then duck my head forward when nothing changes on his stony face. “Well?”
“Trinity came to see me. Wants to know what we found.”
“And?” I cross my arms over my chest. “What did you say?”
“What you told me to.” He shrugs. “But it’s been hours. I don’t think it worked.”
“Of course it did,” I tell him, pushing the words through my teeth as I head back to my desk. This was my last lesson of the day—I was on my way to pack up and head back to my room. I shove my handbook in my drawer and remove my cell phone. There are a handful of notifications on the screen—so many that most of them are crowded out. The last few are from Reuben. “So what’s so urgent it couldn’t wait?”
“We’re running out of time for your games. Why can’t we just tell her about—?”
“Why are you risking everything coming here to argue over something we’ve already discussed?” I shove the phone in my pocket and head for the door. “The decision’s been made. Now get out before someone sees you.”
I turn, my hand on the door handle, to see if he has any last words before we exit the classroom. His eyes narrow, but that’s the extent of irritation he ever shows.
Reuben’s like an iceberg, though—what you see on the surface is only a tenth of what’s lurking below. If he looks this annoyed, he’s close to a meltdown.
“We have until Friday,” I tell him, my words exiting with a sigh. “Trinity will come around by then.”
“But if we just told her—”
My hand tightens on the handle, but I force my voice to remain at the same level. “Then what, Reuben? She’ll trust us? Trust requires proof, belief doesn’t. You want her to trust us? I want her to have faith in us like she should have from the beginning.”
“Blind faith?” he asks.
“Best kind there is.”
He opens his mouth, possibly to carry on arguing, but cuts off when the door opens under my hand. I take a hasty step back so it won’t crash into me, my heart doing acrobatics at the thought of who was about to walk in on Reuben and me.
Apollo’s blond head peeks around the door, his eyes going wide when he sees me, and then wider still when he sees Rube. “Thank fuck I found you,” he says.
“The hell are you doing here?” I whisper furiously.
“It’s important, and you weren’t answering your—”
I grab him by his shirt and drag him inside, closing and locking the door behind him. “Christ, what the fuck has gotten into you two?” I turn on them, but don’t get a word out.
Apollo’s very rarely serious, but right now he could be running for fucking president.
“What?” I bark out.
“I started searching manually through everything Trinity copied. I just found a bunch of emails,” he says, voice wooden. His mouth twitches as he starts nibbling on the inside of his cheek. His eyes flicker to Reuben. “You’re not going to believe this.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Trinity
The church goes quiet when Father Gabriel climbs onto the altar. I’m sitting right by the door of the chapel, hoping I can be the first to get out of here at the end of morning prayers.
I still have no idea what I’m going to do. As much as I want—need—to know what the Brotherhood found, Reuben’s words keep going through my head.
You’re either with us, or you’re against us.
But I can only decide which side I’m on once they tell me what they have on Father Gabriel. They could be bluffing. Trying to get me on their side so they can use me for their own nefarious purposes.
And then there’s the other thing Reuben said. How they’re a package deal.
He wasn’t talking about their war, or their oaths, or any of that shit.
He was talking about me and him. Or…I guess…me and them.
Definitely not the sort of stuff I should be contemplating in a house of worship. I might just catch on fire and I doubt any amount of Holy Water could put me out.
The hall shushes as soon as Father Gabriel walks onto the stage. I study him as circumspectly as possible as he leads us through a prayer. Usually we go through announcements and read a bible verse before ending on the Father’s Prayer and being dismissed. But this morning, everything feels like it’s taking a thousand times longer.
So, like always, I zone out.
And I’m only wrenched back to the here-and-now when everyone inside the hall breaks out into cheers.
My heart pounds in response to the unexpected ruckus as I hurriedly scan the hall to figure out what I’d missed. Some students even have the gall to stand up, but they hurriedly sit when Gabriel lifts his hands to silence the crowd.
“The buses arrive at seven tomorrow morning. Please ensure you are ready to depart so we don’t have any delays.”
I sit back, shoulders sagging in relief. The last I’d heard, the buses taking us to Sisters of Mercy were supposed to arrive on Saturday—now they’d be here tomorrow. Three days early.
But that relief evaporates a second later.
What am I going to do?
I need to find out what the Brotherhood knows. I thought I’d still have a few days, but now…?