Page 31 of A Dead Man's B-Side
Looking back, I suspected there was a ploy in the works. Suspicious of the fact that we’d all received letters the night August coincidentally forced his presence onto me, but I was wrong all along. It was fate that brought us together–or something else entirely. I never found out.
“Well, what’s it say?”
August’s eyes squinted behind his round glasses as he tried making sense of the words. “My Latin sucks, but itshouldsay ‘Control the s-she… Yeah, control the shepherd. Control the… sheep. Control them all.’ Wow, that is creepy.”
His last words rushed out breathlessly.
Wolf didn’t make a sound, and considering the word ‘founders’ was written in bold cursive, something told me he had to know what this was. “What’s The Founder’s Society?”
August turned the paper in his hands, only to find something just as cryptic, a riddle of sorts, before turning it back and finishing the words. “Never heard of it. But there’s a time and place at the bottom. It’s tomorrow at nine in the… library–I’m not joining a book club, no. Not this time–not after last time.”
I didn’t ask what happened last time, choosing to read through the location instead.
9 PM.
Wolf still hadn’t said a word until I flicked his ear. He yelped in surprise, cupping the sore spot, before looking up to glare at me.
I didn’t let him complain. “Got anything to add?”
“What, you think I planned this?”
“No, but the fact that you suspect as much tells me everything.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Which is what?”
I tilted my head to the side, suspicion boiling in my gut. “That you know something and you’re not willing to share.”
August looked between us before deciding it best to busy himself with the paper in front of him, most likely reading and re-reading until the tension simmered down.
“I–...” Wolf looked down at the ripped envelope in his hands before meeting my eyes. “I’ve never heard of this Founder’s Society… but it sounds like a secret club.”
I reared back at his farfetched guess. “A secret club?... Do you hear yourself? Does it look like we’re all about to slaughter a lamb and bathe in its blood?”
“Well, doesn’t it?!Control them all? What does that sound like to you? A playdate?”
I couldn’t deny the seed of doubt he’d planted in my mind. But why us? Why me, more importantly?
August was academically brilliant. Wolf’s family is on the board. What does a new kid with no obvious track record other thana history of suspicious activity bring to the table?
“Not to pick sides or anything but… Wolf’s got a point.” August shrugged meekly before caving in on himself when I turned my heated eyes to him.
“Well… how does Castle Hill define ‘a secret society’?” I held up air quotations, choosing to go along with their narrative because, again, I did not understand how anything worked around here.
I was drawing blanks on what any of this meant. Whether it was a prank, a formality, a senior class ceremony. But none of the possibilities seemed as plausible when I looked at Wolf and August’s expressions.
The board prodigy shook his head before backing up and going to unlock his door. Running, it seemed to me.
He avoided our eyes, pressing against the frame to get through. “I’ve never heard of any. But anyway, we’ll find out soon enough. Tomorrow. For now,” he said, turning to face us one last time, “I’m calling it a night.”
August nodded without argument, taking slow steps back towards his dorm. “Yeah… O-okay, alright. I’ll see you both tomorrow.”
I narrowed my eyes, shifting my gaze from Wolf to August, at how quickly they put the matter to rest, before scoffing. “You two have fun at your little book club.”
I didn’t wait before rushing back into my dorm.
And for a moment, I remained standing in complete silence. Just as I had done when I’d come in, earlier.
My gaze shifted to the stiff paper in my hands, impossibly hard to ignore.
