“In trouble for what? We had no communication with Lana. Whenever we saw her, she was either with your dad or Lincoln, and trust me, I didn’t want to believe that about Lincoln either.”
“That’s bullshit.” I glared, but my anger faltered. A part of me knew there must be some truth to this.
“We were teammates. The year before last, we were partners. Your brother is like a brother to me,” he said, as if to reassure me of their bond. It didn’t. I focused on something else.
“You have different partners every year?”
“We take turns. Only eight people are allowed at a time, so if two graduate, two who are still here get new partners.”
“Who was your partner last year?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Was it a girl?”
“What does it matter if it was a girl, a guy, or a goat?” He was looking at me like I was crazy.
“It matters.” The bed creaked as I stood up, placing my hands on my hips. “Did you buy her sexy lingerie? Did you kiss her in order to create a diversion? Did you flirt with her until she uncloaked?”
“Amelia.”
“No. I want to know. Is this some sort of sick game? To bed the newbie?”
“It’s not a game and having sex isn’t a requirement, no.”
“But you did, didn’t you? You fucked last year’s partner?”
“I don’t understand why you’re getting all hell-bent about this.” He ran a hand through his hair with a sigh.
“I don’t know either,” I said, still glaring. “I’ll see you later.”
If he couldn’t understand why it bothered me that he seemed to have fucked the entire campus, I wasn’t going to bother to explain it to him. I didn’t even know why it bothered me as much as it did, but it did. I stomped out of the room and slammed the door behind me. I opened my room and closed the door, locking it behind me next. I didn’t want to care about Logan or what he did or who he did it with. I shouldn’t care. My blood boiled in my veins. Yet I cared. I definitely cared. My hands balled into fists as I looked at the underwear on my bed. This was a game. I was a game. And he wanted me to believe my brother had something to do with Lana’s disappearance? Fuck him. I went back to the window and looked at the cemetery. The knock on my door came before I expected it, and just as I was turning in that direction, I saw one—a red cloak. Two red cloaks. They were walking the cemetery, looking into the dug up holes. The knock came harder and I had to turn away. When I reached it, I opened it and saw Nolan on the other side. Not the person I’d expected to see.
“Let’s go.”
“When do I get a lock to my door?”
“When they decide to give you one.”
“Hm.”
I thought we would grab Logan from his room, but we passed it and continued walking down the long corridor. Nolan knocked on another door. A tall, Indian guy opened it.
“Let’s go.”
The guy joined us. In a sense, it made me feel better to know I wasn’t the only new inductee, though my mood soured again when I thought about Logan and the underwear and last year’s partner. He was no better than all the other college assholes out there. I don’t know why I thought differently. He was a star hockey player, a ladies man, a jerk. I mean, the signs were all there.
By the time we went down two sets of stairs and entered a dark room that looked like a dungeon, I was too upset at myself over the Logan thing to be creeped out. That was, until I saw the shelves that lined the walls and the jars of octopuses aglow inside them. What the hell was this place?
“Take a seat in the first row,” Nolan whispered, ushering us toward the first row of four wooden bleachers.
We all sat down quietly, facing some sort of stage in front of us. The wall was black, with a gold octopus painted on it. As I stared at it, a door opened in the center of the octopus, and a person walked out in a cloak. I assumed it was the same person as before.
“When someone enters the room, everyone in it stands,” she said, and it was confirmed that it was the same person.
The guy beside me and I stood in unison, our cloaks rustling against one another.
“You may sit.”
We sat back down.
“You may be wondering what this is and why there are octopuses everywhere,” she said. “Rumor has it, the founder of The Eight experimented on sea creatures in a Hydraulic Lab on campus. In the 1960s, there was a flood that shut everything down, and where do you think the octopuses went? Out the window and into the falls below.”
“Like I said, that’s just a rumor, but as you can see, we do have some of her work.” She waved a hand toward the shelves.
“The Eight take pride in being one of the only legitimately secret societies left. Our mascot, if you will, is an octopus. They camouflage, they’re calculated, intelligent, and their tentacles are a representation of our members. We’re everywhere. Think of your favorite actor, we know him. The politician you back? We know them. The politician you hate? We know them as well. The Eight will give you options beyond your wildest imagination. Do you want to be recruited by a certain sports team? We can make that happen. Write for a specific magazine or journal? Done. Think of it like a sorority or fraternity but better, because instead of you paying us, we pay you.”
She continued speaking. “The point is that once you graduate from here, we will expect loyalty in return. We will expect you to answer when one of us calls, just as we’d answer for you. You’re here either because we know you’re going to get far in life, or because your parents or grandparents, or someone before you is also a part of The Eight. Either way, you’re welcome here. We want you to be part of our family. We want you to make the world a better place with us.”
“While we are in school, we will have different responsibilities. Here, we’re still students, but we can make a difference nonetheless. Don’t worry, you’ll figure out what your task is soon enough. For now, we need to have one last ceremony, the induction. Your partners will come up and stand in front of you now.”
Movement made me catch my breath. A figure stood in front of me. I knew it was Logan, not only because she’d said my partner, but because of his height, his scent, and the way he blocked my surroundings like a brick wall.
“Hold your hands out,” she said.
I did, shakily. Logan placed his underneath mine, cradling them lightly, as if we were carrying a bomb. I glanced up, meeting his gaze, not that I could see much, but it was enough. The others in the room started to hum in unison, just a hum, and I wondered if I was about to be initiated into a cult. My hand shook, but Logan held it steady.
“Ego fidem meam erga te. Nunc membrum sum de composuit, occasionem dedit,” she said in Latin. “Repeat after me: I pledge my loyalty to you. I am now a member of The Eight and shall make The Labyrinth my home.”
“I pledge my loyalty to you. I am now a member of The Eight and shall make The Labyrinth my home,” we all said in unison.
Before I knew what was happening, Logan took his hands away from mine, pulled out a blade, and cut himself.
“This is going to hurt,” he said, and it was my only warning that he was about to slice my hand as well.