Poor Little Dead Girls (21 page)

“Congratulations,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “Have fun?”

Sadie’s cheeks burned, but she was too happy to be angry. “That obvious, huh?” She laughed, and Thayer clinked her glass before walking away. She looked around her, taking in the cavernous room. It was cylindrical, and above them she saw a wide balcony cut into the stone wall. She could see a hall lined with flickering lanterns and dozens of chairs, but they were empty. She remembered the voice and quickly scanned the room, but whoever it was was gone.

Brett appeared at her side and enveloped her in a huge hug.

“You could have at least warned me about Jeremy, you know.”

Brett cringed and spread her hands.

“I really, really wanted to, but I couldn’t. I would have been punished.” As she said it her eyes went to the balcony. Sadie frowned. Punished?

Suddenly she felt a little ill. “Wait, did Jeremy know? Is that why he asked me to the dance?”

Brett opened her eyes wide. “Oh, no. He didn’t know you were going to be here either — this whole thing between you was a complete coincidence. Worked out well for us, though.” She grinned. “These things are a lot more fun when people get into it. You should have seen Finn when he and Thayer got initiated — I swear he was disappointed he didn’t get to feel up some random stranger.”

“Yikes.”

“Really, we have no part in choosing new members anyway.” Brett jerked a thumb toward the balcony. “The senior members do that.”

A girl Sadie recognized as one of the senior prefects joined them, linking an arm conspiratorially through Brett’s.

“You’re lucky, you know. They always initiate one member from Graff and one from Keating at the same time, so the guy could be anyone.” She grimaced. “I got initiated with Brent.” She rolled her eyes and looked over at a guy Sadie recognized as the football player Jessica had warned her against. “I’m Lillian, by the way. Ready to meet everyone else?”

She spent the next half hour shaking hands and meeting people whose faces were already vaguely familiar. They were all notable students at Graff and Keating, heiresses or athletes or prodigies.

Next, they led her down to another room they called the salon. It was richly furnished and softly lit, and an oddly modern gas fireplace blazed on one side. Everything was leather or brocade, and the walls were lined with huge oil paintings in heavy gilded frames.

At around 2
A.M
., someone brought out a platter covered with food, and the members flocked to it like pigeons to scraps of bread. Sadie was sitting on one corner of a sofa next to Brett, and another member, a junior named Olivia whose father was a Supreme Court justice, was sprawled on the other end, one bare foot kicked carelessly across Brett’s lap. The two of them were passing a bottle of champagne back and forth and arguing over which members were going to hook up that night. Brett was making a convincing case for all three of the table dancers when Sadie interrupted her.

“Hey, where’s Josh? I feel like he hasn’t been around all night.”

Brett shrugged and waved a hand. “He’s just doing his own thing.” She chugged another gulp of champagne.

Sadie scanned the room and saw Josh standing with Jeremy near the food. As she watched, she saw him glance at Brett. There was an odd look in his eyes, but before she could decipher it he looked away.

Olivia sniffed the air and struggled to sit up. “Hey … chicken.” She lurched to her feet and grabbed Brett’s arm. “Come on Brett, let’s get some chicken.”

Sadie watched the two girls stagger across the room, giggling and swaying like drunks in a three-legged race. She laid her head back on the cushion and closed her eyes, relishing the first moment she had had to herself since the ceremony. She felt someone sink into the cushion next to her and opened her eyes. Jeremy.

Her body responded instantly to his closeness, and she leaned toward him.

He grabbed her hand, and she could see his face was flushed. “Come somewhere with me?” He jerked his head toward the others. “No one will notice.”

She nodded, her eyes locked with his, and let him lead her out of the room. As soon as the door closed behind them, she grabbed his arm and pulled him to her, wrapping her arms around his neck. They leaned against the stone wall and kissed until they stopped to catch their breath.

His eyes flashed as he looked down at her. “I’ve been waiting to do that all night.” His voice was hoarse. “Come on.” He took her hand and led her down the hall, feeling along the wall for doors as they went. Finally he found one that opened and pulled her inside.

They tumbled into the room and stumbled over a small table. She laughed, but Jeremy looked at her anxiously until she reassured him she was okay. She looked around and realized they were in the dressing room she had used earlier. She remembered the couch and grabbed Jeremy’s arm to steer him toward it. She started to sit down, but he stopped her.

“Wait, Sadie, hold on a second.” As she watched, he took a deep, controlled breath. “I want you to know I’m not, you know, expecting anything. I know tonight was crazy, and we’ve had lots of champagne and everything, but I just wanted to get away so we could talk. Everything just happened so fast, and I wanted to tell you something.”

She smiled. “I know. This has been pretty nuts, right?” She sank down onto the couch and pulled her legs up underneath her. “What did you want to tell me?”

“I just wanted you to know I’m excited about all of this, but I’m also really glad it was you in there.” He grinned and raised an eyebrow. “Now we’re linked forever. Whether you like it or not.”

She laughed. “So did you know? I mean, about any of it?”

He shook his head. “Not really. They told me the basics tonight, but I still feel like it’s barely started to sink in.”

“Did they tell you much about the Order? Like, what the point of it is and what they actually do?”

He looked thoughtful. “I guess it’s sort of like a frat, only stronger. The members all help each other out — they’re in the same social circles, they give each other jobs, finance each other’s companies — you know, all that stuff.” He shrugged. “So this has been going on for the two hundred years since it was founded, and they’ve managed to get members in most of the most powerful companies and all the branches of government. It’s just a really loyal group of rich and powerful people, and wealth and power breeds more wealth and power.” He shook his head again and looked at her. “Blows your mind a little, doesn’t it?”

She gave him a wry smile. “No kidding. And here I thought you just had to invent something cool like Post-its or blankets with sleeves.”

She sighed and leaned into him. “I guess we shouldn’t complain, though. We’re on their team now.” He put an arm around her and squeezed, then leaned down and kissed her. He tipped her slowly back onto the cushions, and she let the last bit of anxiety drain out of her as she kissed him back.

She groaned and rolled over, pulling her blanket over her head and trying to fall back asleep. Her head was pounding and her stomach felt like she had spent the night chugging seawater. What felt like seconds later, she woke up again to someone banging on her door.

She heard the old hinges creaking open, and someone jumped onto the bed next to her.

“Rise and shine, bitch. Time for practice.”

Sadie didn’t move. Maybe this was a bad dream, and she would wake up soon and feel fine. Then someone yanked the blanket off her face, and she saw Jessica grinning at her from the foot of the bed. Jessica’s smile faltered.

“Jesus, Sadie. No offense, but you look like crap.”

“Thanks,” Sadie croaked, throwing an arm over her eyes. “Why is it so bright in here?”

“Uh, ’cause it’s ten o’clock, otherwise known as half an hour before we have to be in the gym for conditioning or Coach kills both of us.” Jessica jumped off the bed and started rummaging through the piles on Sadie’s floor. “Where’s your bag? I’ll pack it for you while you brush your teeth.”

Sadie pulled herself up and rubbed her eyes. She still felt like someone was playing the bongos on her temples, and her skin was clammy and cold. She pointed to a black duffel in a far corner of the room, and Jessica started tossing things into it.

“God, I completely forgot practice was on Sunday this week. I’d rather do anything than run right now.”

“What’s wrong? Hung over or something? You totally look hung over. Oh, and by the way, don’t think I didn’t realize that you and Brett never came upstairs last night.” She pouted a little. “You could have just told me if you wanted to sneak out to meet Josh and Jeremy.”

The night came back to Sadie in a rush. The ceremony, the voice, the people on the balcony. The dark dressing room. Jeremy. Her body felt warm at the thought, and she smiled.

“Okay, you are seriously grinning like an idiot. That good, huh? Now get up. You can tell me about it on the way.”

They got to the gym with minutes to spare, and Thayer was already leading the rest of the team through warm-ups. Thayer caught Sadie’s eye and nodded slightly. Sadie scanned the court, but Brett wasn’t on it.

“Hey, did you wake Brett up?”

“I tried. She wasn’t in her room.” Jessica was sitting on the front row of bleachers, lacing up one of her tennis shoes. “Sounds like she had an even better night than you did.”

Sadie frowned. “I guess. She’s never late, though.”

Jessica shrugged. Coach whistled for them to corner up, and they dropped their bags and joined the rest of the team.

That day she was. Instead of running with the team, Coach made Brett spend the whole practice doing laps around the gym. She shuffled slowly along with her head down.

The rest of the team ran for an hour, alternating sets of suicide sprints with lunges, push-ups, sit-ups, and squats. By the eighth sprint, Sadie was trailing a half step behind the other girls in every round. Her legs felt thick and leaden and her headache had retreated from her temples and settled low and heavy around the base of her skull. Seconds after they crossed the baseline, the whistle blew and they dropped to their stomachs for a round of push-ups. Her arms felt strong, and she completed the set quickly. Coach blew the whistle again and the girls lined up on the baseline, sucking in oxygen in short gasps.

“Sadie, I better not see you in last again,” Coach barked. Sadie nodded but looked straight ahead, avoiding her gaze. The whistle blew, and they took off.

She pushed hard, pumping her arms and willing her legs to move faster, be stronger, push harder. At the first turn, she was in the middle of the pack. She dug in her toes, grazed one hand along the gym floor and turned, lunging back toward the other end of the court. She passed two girls who were slow to turn and kept going hard, ignoring the pain. By the next turn, her legs started to give, and she could feel her body losing power. By the last length, she felt like she was running in mud, and she crossed the baseline a split second behind Jenna, the second-string goalkeeper, in dead last.

The whistle blew again, and she started a set of lunges, following Thayer as she led the group to half-court and back. They paused for two counts at the bottom of each lunge, allowing the burn to soak in and take hold. By the end of the set her legs were shaking, and she doubled over and breathed hard, hands on her thighs. The blood rushed into her head and brought a fresh wave of pain. She stood up straight and bit down on her lip until it faded. The whistle blew again and they took off. She crossed the line a full step behind the last of her teammates.

They all collapsed to the ground for a round of sit-ups, grateful for the chance to rest their legs. They waited for the whistle to sound to signal the start of the set, but instead they heard Coach’s voice.

“Again. And if Sadie still can’t keep up, we’ll do it again. And again.” Everyone groaned and Jenna shot her a dirty look. She struggled to her feet.

Thayer stepped off the baseline in front of the girls and put a hand on her hip. “Coach, why should everyone who’s in shape be punished because Sadie can’t lay off the cheeseburgers?”

Coach sighed and held up her hand. “Get back in line, Thayer. Our team is only as strong as our weakest player.” She looked straight at Sadie. “And for some reason, today that’s you.” She raised her eyebrows, and Sadie dropped her eyes to the floor.

So much for the Sullas being Thayer’s family. Apparently she and Thayer were only friends behind generations-old stone walls. She looked down the line and saw Thayer whisper something to Charlotte. As Sadie watched, Charlotte’s eyes widened and she shook her head. Thayer spat out a few more words, and Charlotte turned away. Just then, Thayer met Sadie’s gaze and winked. The whistle blew.

Sadie put the pain out of her mind and pushed hard, but still she felt herself losing ground. Her thighs burned, and her throat felt like it was filled with hot sand. As she made the turn at half-court, she saw Charlotte stumble and slow down. Encouraged, she tried to pick up speed. In the final sprint, she barely passed Thayer, who was furiously pumping her arms despite rapidly falling behind. She crossed the line third to last.

“Much better, Sadie. Everyone give me fifty sit-ups, and then Thayer will lead you in a cooldown.”

She breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed gratefully to the ground. Apparently, Thayer was going to live up to her promise of sisterhood after all.

When they were done, Sadie sank down onto the bleachers and put her head in her hands.

“Feeling better?” Jessica asked.

“I’m alive, but I don’t think I could have done another suicide.” She crushed her paper cup and threw it in the trash, glancing around for Brett. She needed to get her alone. She wanted to talk about last night, and it was killing her that she couldn’t tell Jessica.

“Yeah, that was weird. Charlotte and Thayer are usually really fast.” Jessica frowned. “No offense. Think they did that on purpose?”

Sadie laughed to hide her smile. “Do you really think they would do that for me? Charlotte probably just tripped because she was trying extra hard to beat me.”

Jessica looked unconvinced.

“Trust me, I just got lucky.” She didn’t want to lie to Jessica, and that was true — she was lucky, just not in the way she was implying.