Half truth

Chapter Seventeen

After a long shower, I gathered my things and headed to my first class. As I stepped out of my apartment, I noticed a sheet of white paper folded in two on the floor outside my door. I looked around and picked it up quickly, my back pressed up against the door as I read it: We’re watching you. Another shiver rolled through me. I hadn’t been able to stop shaking since I woke up. I still didn’t know who was watching me. I didn’t know what anyone looked like under the black cloaks they wore or why they were so secretive about it all. On my way to campus, I called Max. I’d packed my brother’s laptop in my bag and was pla

“What did Lana tell you about what she was investigating?” I asked Max once he picked up the phone.

“Not much,” he said. “Did you find something? Were you invited to join a society?”

“No.” I stopped walking, heart pounding. What if Max was involved somehow? He could’ve been hiding underneath a cloak. I took a deep breath before I continued, “I just keep thinking about her and wondering if maybe she found something incriminating on them. Like incriminating enough to make them want to get rid of her.”

“That’s one of the many Reddit theories,” he said. “But it was kind of discounted by the fact that they’d be charged with murder if they were caught.”

“If they’re caught,” I said. “Big if. They could’ve disposed of the body who knows where by now.”

“Dude, the search parties were insane those first few days. You weren’t here for that, but it was a madhouse. The story got global attention. There were people here from Singapore reporting on it and searching.”

“They could’ve driven out before she was even reported missing.”

“I don’t know, Mae.”

“Let me guess, someone on Reddit discounted that theory as well.”

“It’s just, these guys and girls, are rich beyond belief. I find it hard to believe they’d want to get their hands dirty.”

I thought about Logan’s brother, a former NHL player who was making millions, and how it appeared he got away with raping various girls. I thought about my own father, who was a known cheater, and how that affected my mother and in turn, us. I thought about my older brothers, who had followed in his footsteps from time to time, and the wives that stuck by them. Cheating wasn’t murder though. It was hurtful and shattered the foundation of a relationship, but it wasn’t murder. I couldn’t picture any of those people committing murder or kidnapping. Well, except for Patrick Fitzgerald. I didn’t know him. I knew his brother though and I would bet money that he wouldn’t commit murder.

“I don’t know, Max. It’s all very weird,” I said finally.

“I just don’t think we should jump to conclusions. Besides, we don’t really know who’s a member of what. Quill is the only society that lets us publish their member’s names.”

“Do you think that was Lana’s end-game? To make sure they all let the paper publish their names and make them public?”

“She never said that, so I don’t know.”

I was almost at the crosswalk that led to campus, when I saw a dark figure tucked in the alley, beside a dumpster. I gripped my phone tighter and held my breath, but continued walking. As I passed, the cloaked person lifted their finger to their face in a “silence” position. I walked faster, my feet nearly taking off in a sprint as I passed it.

“Mae? Are you still there?”

“Yeah. I have to go.” I hung up the phone and looked over my shoulder.

Had nobody else seen him? Had nobody thought it was freaking weird that a person covered in an all-black cloak from head to toe was standing in an alley in broad daylight? It was similar to the day the red cloaked people had been walking around, but at least that was at night and they weren’t anywhere near me.

On campus, there was a slew of people walking and ru

I set my eyes on the building I was walking toward, hoping my determination would shield me from whatever it was they were doing. Around me, I heard people whispering about the cloaked people walking around, but it didn’t seem like many of them were surprised by the display.

“I’m glad I’m not the only one who finds this creepy,” I said aloud.

“It’s definitely creepy.” The guy walking beside me chuckled. “It’s not even Halloween.”

“The cloaks? You’ll get used to them. They only do this one week out of the year,” another guy said. “Think of it as rushing for a fraternity, but they have to hand pick you.”

I’d always hated the idea of sororities. It was why I never tried to join one to begin with. While I liked the fact that they seemed to stick together and help each other out, I didn’t think the idea of people being excluded was cool. If I could get in, but my best friend couldn’t, or vice versa, would it have been worth it? Yet, here I was, going to creepy places in the middle of the night to see what these people could offer me. I was doing it for Lincoln. And now, to find out the truth behind what happened to Lana because I was sure that if anyone knew, it was them.

I went to my first class—trigonometry, it was one I’d dropped three times and couldn’t afford to drop anymore. I had two options: pass the class or not get my diploma. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough when we were dismissed.

I was sitting in women’s studies listening to my classmates discuss women in sports when the doors opened and Logan strolled in. Everyone stopped talking at once and stared. He was the only guy in the class. Not that women’s studies should be a woman’s only course, but at least today, it had been until he walked in. If it had been just a random guy, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but not the star hockey player. Not, this godlike figure with the bad boy image and mysterious aura around him. Especially not on the day we were discussing women in sports, of all things.

He seemed utterly unfazed by the attention as he looked around the auditorium. There were more empty seats than taken, so I wasn’t sure what was taking him so long. In his perusal, his gaze met mine. I froze, breath hitching. I couldn’t seem to breathe as he walked up the stairs and headed right to me. He wasn’t going to though, was he? Why would he sit beside me? A row of women turned their heads to follow him. The professor continued speaking as though he was just another kid in her class, which essentially, he was. It was the students who were making it feel like he was some sort of celebrity, and now that included me, because I felt like my heart was going to bounce out of my chest, as hard as it was beating.

He slumped down in the chair beside me with a heavy sigh. “Mondays, am I right?”

“Are you taking this course?”

“What—you think I just stumbled into the class you happen to be taking?” He raised an eyebrow. “You may just be more arrogant than I am.”