Page 70 of Half Truths (Secret Society 1)
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.
“What the fuck?” I yelped.
The person beside me grunted. The girl with him yelped lightly as well. Everyone yelled out some kind of expletive.
“You are now one with your partner,” the speaker said. “You are now one with us all.”
Logan turned my hand over and placed it against his as if we were holding hands. My heart pounded, not because of the hand-holding, but because it hurt like hell. He laced our fingers so they were intertwined and even through the dark veil, I could feel him looking at me.
“That’s it,” she said, “My name is Nora. We’ll formally meet throughout the weekend and next weekend we have a little gala. No more cloaks!”
With that, she left the room, stepping back into the hole she came out of. I took the thing on my head off with my free hand. Logan did the same. I stared at our hands.
“Did you trade blood with your last assignment?” I met his gaze. “You know that none of this is sanitary. I don’t even know if you’re clean, and here we are swapping blood instead of spit.”
“Do you want to swap spit?”
“No. That’s not the point.”
“All of us are clean. That was the point of the lab work earlier,” he said. “Also, stop bringing up last year’s partners. They have nothing to do with us.”
For some reason, that did nothing to calm me down. I tried to pull my hand from his, but he held on tighter.
“Calm down. If you do that, it’ll go everywhere. Let it set.”
“Are you crazy?” I pulled again. “We’ll be stuck together if we let it set. Do you know nothing about how blood works when it dries?”
“Trust me, I know what happens when it dries.” He chuckled, his eyes lighting up. “Give it a second. It won’t dry. Nolan will bring us damp towels and bandages.”
As if on cue, Nolan showed up with precisely that. Logan uncurled his long fingers from mine and wiped his hand roughly before turning to me. I flinched after seeing what he’d just done, but he held my hand gently and wiped softly before setting gauze on it and wrapping it in a white bandage.
“You good?” he asked, as blood trickled from his own hand.
I nodded. “Do you want me to do yours?”
“I got it.” His lips twitched.
I could tell he wasn’t used to help, which made me want to help more, even if he was a huge asshole. I grabbed the towel, gauze, and bandage from his hands, pulled his bloody hand toward me, and pressed the damp towel softly, slowly, until the blood was cleaned up. It was a superficial wound, so I knew it would heal quickly. I covered it with the gauze and carefully wrapped the bandage around his hand, once, twice, three times, tucking the end in.
