Page 41 of A Dead Man's B-Side
“On the second floor? Exactly where this riddle leads us?”
Wolf kneeled in a trance. “No. There’s a purpose behind this fire after all. Look.”
August and I hunched closer and looked to where his finger was pointing. The remnants of a burnt paper in the corner of the fire. A twin of the one in my hands.
“A fire to light the way…” I finally understood and followed in the footsteps of those who’d been here before us. I threw in Wolf’s as well as my own.
“We’re not the only ones, it seems,” August said, following my actions with his own, pulling it from his pants pocket and kissing it before throwing it in. He caught us watching and his cheeks flushed. “For… luck. You know…”
His voice dwindled into silence, and no one said a word after that.
We watched them burn, and when they were completely consumed by the flames, Wolf tapped his fingers against his thigh. “Well… what now?”
“What time is it?” I asked.
Wolf lifted his arm and checked his watch in an unnecessary flourish. “It’s half past eight.”
I nodded slowly, my eyes moving down the hall again to the lone chair. “Isn’t it strange that no one had come searching for theirseatas well?”
“Maybe they had,” August said.
“Maybe,” I replied.
This didn’t appear to be a joke or an elaborate plan made up by someone looking to extract revenge from one or all of us anymore. It made me tense. Because if the Founder’s Society was what Wolf believed it to be, that would open up a set of questions I’d dismissed. And that made my need for answers more than Wolf or August’s want to satiate their curiosity.
Walking down the row to the chair at the end of it, I could hear the pairs of footsteps following me. I lifted the book and read the title.
A Seat at the Tableby Susan Wilkes. It was written in 1976, if the cover was anything to go by.
A little on the nose, I thought.
I showed the book to Wolf and August, gone with their giddy smiles and skips in their steps–the ones they’d arrived here with.
“Whoever burned their invitation first also left the book for the next, right?”
“Seems about right.” Wolf shrugged before pulling the book outof my grasp.
It was August who narrowed his eyes and made a grab for it. “Hold on, I know this book. It was banned a while back. Dark stuff and whatnot. But I suspect they simply didn’t want to see a woman with knowledge they were otherwise lacking.”
I didn’t ask whotheywere, only waiting for the next clue to reveal itself. I would get my answers to this entire ordeal soon enough, and when I did, I could move accordingly.
“Well… Anything?” Wolf ran a hand through his dark curls and waited as August continued studying the synopsis on the back.
“Mmm, it’s said that Susan Wilkes shot herself. Twice, if I’m reading through the lines correctly.”
“So, she was murdered?” I asked, the story unfurling.
August shrugged, not at all bothered by the dark news. “Seems that way.”
He flipped through the pages, and a note fell out. There.
All three of us dived for it, but Wolf was faster. He snatched it from the ground and momentarily smirked proudly at us before unfolding it and reading aloud, “It is with regret that I inform you the hunt has reached its end. It was quite fun. If you have come this far, congratulations are in order. Retrieve your rightful key and take your place among your predecessors.”
At the end of his words, I released an exhale. Turmoil coiling in my gut.
It was true. The Founder’s Society.
And whoever had written that letter was inviting us to join.
