Page 39 of A Dead Man's B-Side
I looked down at his outstretched hand, and had it been a few months later, I would have shaken it without hesitation, but at the time, it took me several seconds of contemplation before I reluctantly met his hand in mine.
By the time we made it out into the chilly Scottish air, August seemed to have forgotten about the entire ordeal completely. Coming up with all kinds of absurd conspiracies about what we’d be walking into.
Looking back, I couldn’t decide if I would have changed it all. If I had rather stayed in my dorm that night and ignored all bangs and clatters and knocks. If that would have made it easier. All of it.
“Anyone figure out the riddle?” Wolf closed his grey trench coat after a gust of wind had him sucking in a harsh breath.
“A toddler could have figured it out.” I scoffed. “The question is how ‘secrets’ help.”
Wolf tilted his head into my line of sight as we walked, and grinned, our momentary violence in the past. “I guess we’ll find out.”
At my flat lips and silence, he huffed and bumped his shoulder into mine, the contact making me shuffle away. “Oh, come on, you can’t tell me evenyouaren’t curious.”
I was. And that was the problem.
The campus was quiet, peaceful at night. No student running up the path to retrieve their forgotten textbooks, or a group of friends planning their evening fun.
Curfew was almost upon us, but the Quarter monitor was nowhere to be found, and the lie we’d saved for him, never used.
The library was open, as it soon would always be on nights like these, uncoincidentally so.
The imposing castle seemed to blend into the night if it hadn’t been for the warm orange lights glowing through the windows and illuminating our walk in. The smell of stale books and hardwood filled my nostrils, but I paid it no mind. Walking past August, who’d rushed ahead and held the door open, I looked around and found it vacant. No staff and no other possiblecandidate.
The bookshelves were high and reached the ceiling, the second story had railings that one could lean against and overlook the main floor. It was an eyeful of different shades of brown, and the light coming from oil lamps, held up against each row that one would delve deeper into, illuminated our coming path. Though, the main source of light came from the chandelier that hung down the middle. It almost looked like a thousand crystals raining down on us, frozen in time.
I was never in the library. I hadn’t ever explored it yet and never found the need to. I could study just fine in my dorm, and the thought of focusing the entirety of my attention on something other than my surroundings bothered me.
We walked silently from row to row searching for anyone, anything, but instead we were met with an empty library. Though I didn’t know what we expected to find, this outcome was very high on my list of expectations.
Wolf pulled out the invitation from his pocket, and we seemed to subconsciously gravitate around him. “Well, it isn’t meantto be so simple, is it? A secret society is meant to be a secret.”
I rolled my eyes at his words of conviction, though I didn’t know if they were for us or for himself. “Or maybe it's just a big game we’re being led into. Callum Queen would find something like this hysterical.”
August shuffled from one foot to the other as nervousness made him antsy. “I didn’t think about something like that.” He mumbled.
I wanted to say that he didn’t think at all, but Wolf’s glare, pointed towards me, stole my attention. “You’re a real charmer to be around, aren’t you?”
I shrugged. “Let’s get this over with.” And grabbed for the paper, my eyes reading through it quickly, “I–mmm… amsharedunderthecloackofnight… mhmm… mhmm… rippedofcloth–well this is just frustrating. They offer nothing else.”
I muttered the riddle under my breath again and tried piecing together what it could possibly mean.
“You think we’re allowed group effort?” August asked as he looked around, running a finger over the old books.
“Not to worry, August. I’m sure they’d understand. What with your… situation.”
He turned with furrowed brows and alarm written on his face. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
I offered nothing else in return, only turning back to where Wolf had been studying the note.
“For those loyal in acceptance. So, if you don’t shred the ‘cloak’, you get a seat at the table.”
I leaned against the table behind me and nodded. “And a fire to light the way there.”
I hadn’t finished my words after it came to me. I straightened, and Wolf caught the act with a quick tilt of his head. “What?”
I only held out my hand. “Let me see it?”
He handed it over, almost giddy, and waited. August, who had been down a row only moments ago, seemed to teleport back and look over my arm. Both boys allowed me their full attention, one looming and another hovering. I ran my hand over the invitation but didn’t feel anything. Only smooth paper. “What is the cloak?”
