Page 48 of A Dead Man's B-Side
Thaddeus blinked slowly with a nod towards Jett, but he didn’t respond to her words when he spoke. Instead, he looked at each and every one of us. “I wouldn’t want anyone wandering into the wrong room and settling into someone else’s place, so let me do a quick attendance check before we begin. Simply raise your hand when I call out your name.”
Marigold shifted, accidentally bumping her legs with Paris, who recoiled away before turning to her with a click of her tongue.
“Rain Jett, I’ll already ta–”
“Atlas.”
Thaddeus blinked, but RainAtlasJett didn’t shy away from his stare. “I prefer going by my full name.”
He nodded. “Of course. Rain Atlas Jett. Paris Vega?”
The blond raised her hand.
“Marigold Walter?”
The poor girl barely found it in herself to raise her hand. It only made it halfway before dropping back onto her lap, but Thaddeus seemed to accept that as an answer. Or maybe he’d expected it.
“Wolf Kingsley.” That didn’t sound like a question, more like a conclusion on settled dust, and perhaps it was only me and Rainwho’d noticed, our heads turning from Wolf to Thaddeus, and back.
Rain noticed our twin movements and did a small double-take before rolling her eyes.
I didn’t spare her a glance.
I was too busy watching Wolf blink, then blink again, before raising his hand in reluctance.
Thaddeus smiled, but only a small one, before he moved along.
He called out to August and Ajax next, both moments uneventful. August seemed to almost, though impossibly, trip over himself at the call of his name. Ajax raised his hand in a manner of laziness I’d never seen before. Like the mere act had exhausted him. Or perhaps it was the aftereffects of Paris’ unsuspecting yet sharp tongue.
For a moment, I considered not being on the attendance list he was rattling off from the top of his head. I wondered if I’d received the invitation by mistake.
I wondered if I belonged here.
“Alexandr Miroslav.”
My hand raised without a second thought. Almost too similar a feeling to eagerness filled me. And I knew then, I should have remained in my dorm tonight.
“Let me be perfectly clear,” Thaddeus began. “And this will be the only time I ask, if you feel as though you do not or will not belong in such a place, now is the only time in which I am offering you the door out.”
His words didn’t sound like an offer, and I was sure, from the gleam in his eyes, we’d be sacked for the knowledge of the Society’s existence alone.
No one moved, not a single muscle twitched. Thaddeus smiled. “Excellent. Then let us begin.”
The answers that Rain had failed to deliver on, or rather found her way out of delivering, were given to us by Thaddeus, “The Founder’s Society, for those of you in the dark, is… as you well know, a secret society. It is not listed on the club list for good reason. In 1642, the year of Castle Hill’s founding, the board that derived from the founding families created this small haven for their offsprings. A higher class within the high class.” He sat back as though to get comfortable. “Every twenty years, each board member appoints a single student to enter into the Founder’s Society. This is a privilege but also a duty. One held in secret for more than three centuries.”
He paused and looked at each and every one of us with a pointed look. But I could have sworn his gaze lingered on me.
Do I belong?
“Now, of course, some of you may know that you are not, in fact, descendants of any board members, legitimate or otherwise. But for reasons unbeknownst to yourselves, you’ve been chosen. And you should take that as the greatest of honours. The privileges this Society offers within and outside of Castle Hill’s walls are not to be considered subpar, but neither are the duties. One must earn them. And that is what this year will hold for you all.”
Great.
My last year of high school will consist of sacrificial rituals to an unseen board that will make me of a higher class should they consider my offerings sufficient.
“Does anyone have any questions so far?”
He offered, but from the tap of his foot and the occasional glance at his watch, something told me he’d rather we remain silent.
