Half truth

Chapter Twenty

There was a chill in the air as I walked to the library that had less to do with the weather than it did with my mood. I wasn’t sure if it was the tower chimes, and how eerie what they were playing tonight was, or the fact that I couldn’t stop thinking about whatever meeting may be going on in there at the moment. Maybe it was that I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about whether or not the black cloaks were still following me. They’d left me that note saying they were watching me and I fully expected one of them to pop out in the middle of the night. The wind picked up with a hum, and I held my coat closed tighter, lowering my head to fight against it.

When I finally got into the library, I exhaled a shaky, cold, breath and walked to the back, where there were tables set up everywhere and I felt like I had my own little work space. I sent the pictures I’d taken on the camera to my phone, and emailed them straight to Ella Valentine. She’d been kind enough to let me take all of those days off and Max had been awesome and taken pictures of the football team’s first home game while I’d been away. Sending these pictures was probably not a big deal to Ella, but I definitely felt good about completing another assignment.

Slinging my bag on the table, I set it down softly and opened it to pull out Lana’s laptop. I’d switched it out with my brother’s after still finding nothing of interest in his. I spent fifteen minutes opening folder after folder on Lana’s laptop and not finding anything, until I saw a folder labeled: PERSONAL SHIT and inside of that, another folder labeled: PORN. I hesitated. I didn’t want to see Lana’s personal videos, especially if she was having sex in them, but it could just be regular porn. Either way, I clicked the file. Instead of videos, what I saw were word documents titled by date.

April 1^st—

By the time I got to the Gorges and knocked on the door, it was 12:05 am. He greeted me with a smile and told me I was late. Tardiness was unacceptable. I told him I’d make it worth his while. I’d never spoken to anyone that boldly before, and I definitely never imagined speaking to him like that, but once the words left my mouth and I saw darkness encompass his gaze, I knew I had him. He’d asked me to bring a friend, and I couldn’t. That was another thing I’d have to apologize for, or pay for, depending on how you looked at it. The next day, I had welts on my backside and a soreness I’d never felt between my legs, but I’d never felt more alive.

It ended there. My jaw dropped. She’d been right to label it porn. Who had she been with though? There were files dated from April through May. She’d disappeared sometime in May. I checked the date of the last file. May 23. I Googled Lana Ly to verify when in May she’d disappeared and caught my breath when all of the searches with her picture came up. Missing girl: Lana Ly. Another missing student. Kidnapping victim or runaway? My eyes were riveted on that word: another. I clicked on one article, then another, until I ended up on a Reddit message board about the missing students. According to Reddit, which I knew to only take with a grain of salt, girls had started going missing on campus since 1902. One of the users said the reason it wasn’t made a bigger deal was because a lot of the girls came back, claiming they’d just run away for a little while. Some people on the message board suspected a serial killer in the area. Others argued that was stupid because if that was the case, the cops would be vigilant and on it. The serial killer topic caused an argument between people that went on for forty pages.

I bookmarked the page and decided I would go back to it after reading legitimate articles about the students who disappeared. Most were girls, but there were a few boys too. It was odd—the last three had been from prestigious families, families you would never think would lose a child and call it quits on their search. I remembered seeing them on the news at one point or another and pausing to offer a small prayer, the only thing I could think to do in a situation like that. One of them had been gone five years and still hadn’t been found. My chest squeezed as I thought about Lana in those terms.

Glancing around the library, my eyes wandered to the window. I jumped in my seat when I caught a glimpse of a cloaked figure staring back at me. I looked at the next window and saw another figure, and the next, and the next. I tore my gaze from the windows to look around the library. Everyone in here was either talking quietly to the people they were with, busy on their laptops, or leafing through pages of whatever book was in front of them. I looked back at the windows again, but they were gone. Just like that. Goosebumps pricked my skin. Were they waiting for me outside? From my peripheral, I saw someone walking toward me and whipped my head in that direction, fully expecting it to be one of them. It was a petite blonde, smiling at me as she approached. I felt my brows furrow slightly. Was she in one of my classes? She dropped a white envelope on the table in front of me.

“They told me to tell you not to be scared.”

“Who?” I looked at the envelope and back at her.

“The cloaks.”

“They just approached you and gave this envelope to you and asked you to give it to me?” I picked up the envelope, still looking at her.

“Pretty much.”

“And you weren’t scared?”

“Not really. Maybe the first day of freshman orientation, but I’m used to them. Besides, I heard they give their members $50,000 just for joining.” She shrugged a shoulder. “Doesn’t sound half bad.”

“Right. Let’s all die for $50,000.” I tore open the envelope in my hand and looked back at her briefly. “Thanks.”

“Sure.” She stayed put. I shot her a can you get out of here look, but she remained.

“Did they also tell you to watch me as I read this?”

“No, but I’m curious to know if you’re going to be one of them. Or are. And like, which society is it? Quill?”

I blinked. She was seriously not going to leave until she got an answer and what was I supposed to say? I didn’t know their names. I didn’t know whether or not I was officially one of them yet. I didn’t know what they looked like. I literally knew as much as she did. I shook my head after a moment.

“Honestly? They’re trying to play a prank on me. I don’t know their names, who they are, what they look like, what they do, so your guess is as good as mine.” I shrugged. “It’s probably Quill though.”

“Oh. Well, they publish their member’s names in the paper, so the cloaks and secretiveness is kind of overkill.” She frowned, looking at the envelope. I nodded my agreement. The cloaks were totally overkill. She hesitated, idling for another beat before shrugging and walking off.

I exhaled, though I didn’t know why I was relieved that she’d left it alone. It wasn’t like I knew what was in this envelope. I stared at my name written on it. Their calligraphy was really on point. I had to give them credit where credit was due.

Amelia,

We trust you have not told anyone where you were last night. For this, you get a point. Two more and you’re in.

X

I stared at the black X. It was long, scripted, and looked as if it had been added quickly to the bottom of the page. I re-read the note again. One point. That was what I’d gotten for being locked in a dungeon and not telling anyone about it, which was what a sane person would have done. I put the note back in the envelope and pushed it aside. I went back to Lana’s computer, which was ru