The Third Lie's the Charm (14 page)

She's always at the chapel. Waiting for me. Naomi isn't at all what I expected her to be. She knows so much about the Sisterhood and the societies and our school. It's kind of unbelievable that all of this stuff has been going on for decades and no one really knows about any of it.

They
have
a
vision, a plan, and I'm a part of it. Me. For the first time ever, someone thinks I'm smart enough, cool enough, amazing enough to actually do something important. They have been fighting for years, but now it's time for unity and I'm the key. The person who will finally make sure Conventus happens. An end to the war and the beginning of a new era.

Kate
and
Maddie
have
no
idea
what's going on. They're too busy chasing Bradley and Alistair and jockeying for a position at the right lunch table and all of that other first-year bullshit that used to seem so important.

But
I
have
a
purpose. A role. I'll be there in the basement on the night of initiation. Naomi told me to wait for him. Sometimes I giggle thinking about it. Would Kate be jealous if she knew that the boy she's been chasing will be coming for me? Sometimes I love imagining the look on her face when she finds out that I spent the night alone with her crush in the basement of the chapel. Just me, Bradley, and a secret plan that will change the history of our school forever. It's all up to us now. That's what Naomi said. It's all up to me.

If my hands had been shaking before, now they were in full-on tremor mode. I held the truth crumpled between my fingers, and I had been right all along. Not one enemy but two. Two people who I had grown to trust. Two betrayals for the price of one.

And Grace. Her words stung. Was that really who I'd been? Some giggling first-year with a stupid crush? Is that really how she saw me? I wanted to call her and scream. I wanted to be able to defend myself. I wanted to run back to camp and tackle Bradley and Naomi and drag them back to Pemberly Brown where they'd be arrested for all the pain and anguish they'd caused so many people.

I wanted impossible things. So instead, I closed my eyes and I fell. I fell back to that place, to brown hair and changing leaves and possibility. I saw Bradley for the first time and felt my heart flutter when he smiled his dimpled smile. I heard cheers erupt in the bleachers of our stadium during football games and was overwhelmed by the scent of Pemberly Brown's expensive hallways.

I remembered that feeling of entitlement. The idea that I
deserved
everything I'd been given, that the universe somehow owed it to me. I'd like to think I'd changed, that I'd grown into someone with a better understanding of how things at Pemberly Brown worked, of how things in my world worked. But all I felt was bitterness. Maybe the only thing that had truly changed was the resentment that clung to me like smoke.

“Your dad sent me. It's almost 4 a.m., Kate.” Seth's voice made me automatically crumple the paper further and kick sand over the beautiful bottle at my feet. “You have to come back.” Seth shifted his weight from foot to foot. “It's not your fault. You know that, right? They warned everyone about night swimming. The lake gets deep fast and it's too easy to lose your bearings,” Seth said. The kindness in his eyes made me want to die. I didn't deserve it. I was too dumb for kindness.

“I know. It's just…first Alistair and then Clayton and now Porter. God, I'm just such an idiot.”

“Why are you doing this to yourself? None of this is your fault, Kate. You have all these people who love you,” his voice cracked a little, “but it's like you're too busy punishing yourself to even notice.”

I couldn't tell him that I deserved to be punished. I couldn't explain how stupid it was for anyone to consider loving me. So instead, I just followed silently in his footsteps as we padded back to camp.

I felt better in the morning when we received word that Porter was recovering. And when we loaded the bus, Liam was on it. Even though he probably hated me, I was relieved to see him. Surely if he really was being accused of planting the Factum Virtus, someone would have come for him by now. I boarded the bus with more baggage, both figurative and literal, than I'd left with at the start of the week.

I had no idea what to think anymore, and I felt myself slipping into shutdown mode when I looked at Liam, Bradley, Naomi, even Seth and Maddie who squeezed into a seat together toward the back. I couldn't work out how everyone fit together, couldn't understand even the most subtle connection between Alistair, Clayton, and now Porter.

Maybe everyone was right. Maybe it was time to give up and move on, let other people clean up these messes. But all I could think about was getting called to another emergency meeting, seeing some terrible message on Amicus, watching my parents shrivel under the news of one more tragedy. And then I found myself right back where I started. But for now, with everyone crammed on the bus, Liam was safe, we all were safe, and that had to count for something.

I just wished I hadn't ever found Grace's message.

I felt a slight tug on my bright red hair and turned to find Naomi peeking through the crack in the bus seat.

“Hey,” she said. Her face was unreadable. “I have no idea what's going on, but I want you to know that I'm here for you. Everyone is. We all just want to help.”

Right
, I thought.
Just
as
soon
as
you
achieve
Conventus.

“Liam has nothing to do with any of this, Naomi. Just leave him out of it. Please, just leave him alone.” My dad's head bobbed in the seat we shared. Most people were dozing after the crazy events of the previous night stole everyone's sleep. I was wide awake.

“You just…I just wish you understood, but you never can, Kate. Everything is so complicated, and I know this stuff with Liam doesn't make it any easier, but you have to take a step back. For you.”

She had to be kidding. I raised my eyebrows and nodded. So that's how she wanted to play. A quote from Grace's journal entry was on the tip of my tongue, but I wasn't ready to tip my hand just yet. At this point, I wanted Naomi to think I was a complete idiot.

“Yeah, maybe you're right.”

She smiled and started gathering up her stuff. We were home. Well, almost home anyway.

And that's when I saw it.

When we pulled down the lane onto Pemberly Brown's main campus, I blinked in rapid succession, willing the scene in front of me to dissipate like fog.

I blinked again.

I was seeing things. I had to be seeing things.

But it was still there.

A police car parked in front of the school, silent and ominous.

Maybe there was a break-in at the school. Or maybe it was just an alumnus stopping by to walk through campus. Maybe someone had pulled the fire alarm or dialed in a bomb threat.

But deep down I knew the truth, and when I saw Ms. D. standing next to the uniformed officer, it was confirmed.

The bus rolled to a stop, and moments later, the police officer and Ms. D. were talking to the driver and then making an announcement.

“Everyone please stay seated.” The police officer's voice rang with quiet authority. “Liam Gilmour?” My stomach dropped when Ms. D. called his name. This couldn't be happening. Porter was wrong. This was a huge mistake. It had to be.

I pushed out of my seat and up the aisle to explain. “Wait!” I shouted to no one. To everyone.

“Miss, I'm sorry, but you need to go back to your seat immediately.” The police officer's hand squeezed my shoulder just a little too hard.

“But you don't understand. I need to talk to Ms…er… Headmistress Bower. I need to explain. Liam isn't the person she's looking for. I just need more time.”

The policeman gave me a stern look and then turned to my father. “Please control this student.”

“Yes, sir.” My dad's arm snaked across my lap like a seat belt.

“What the hell do you think you're doing?” he hissed. “This is why you're always in trouble, Kate. I know you care about Liam, but you need to let him fight his own battles.”

Tears sprung in my eyes as I watched Liam walk slowly up to the front of the bus, only to be led outside into the waiting police car with Ms. D.

The problem was that Liam wasn't in trouble for fighting his own battles. He was in trouble for fighting mine.

It's amazing how slowly time goes when you're waiting for something to happen. I locked myself in my room the second we got home from our ridiculous camping trip. I couldn't believe that I had failed so many people I cared about so miserably.

Liam was in serious trouble, and it was all my fault.

I had to do something, but there was no way I was getting out of the house tonight. I had heard my father whispering to my mom about my behavior on the bus. They had gone into full lockdown mode. My cell phone was charging on their nightstand, the house alarm was set, my dad was camped out on the couch, and my mom was supposedly working in her bedroom, but I knew the truth. They were watching me. Policing me like a couple of parole officers. Of all the nights for them to take an interest in my safety, I cursed them for choosing this one.

And so I sat up all night staring at my alarm clock. Willing the seconds to pass so I could leave for school. Willing the minutes to speed by so I could figure out a way to get to Liam. Willing the hours to dwindle so I could do something aside from sit here completely worthless.

Not that I had any idea how I was going to fix everything, but I knew where I had to start. The Farrows.

Morning bled into night, and it was finally time for me to leave for school. My parents watched me walk toward the bus stop, all bathrobes and nerves. I waved at them as I turned the corner, finally out of their sight.

I felt the presence of the car before it even got to my side. It was black, more Batmobile than sedan, all tinted windows and fancy finishes. It slowed to a stop, and I heard Ms. D.'s voice.

“We need to talk.”

“Thank God.” I pulled my book bag from my shoulders so I could slide into the car.

Ms. D. had on her usual uniform of all black except for a pair of shocking red pumps. Even her glasses were black-rimmed. An open newspaper rested in her lap and a slash of red lipstick lined the rim of her coffee mug. I searched her face for signs of the security guard who had once been the only adult I trusted at PB, but all traces of her had been wiped away with tasteful makeup and careful styling.

“I'm sure Liam's arrest must have come as a shock.” Ms. D. did not look up from the newspaper, but did offer a flick of her eyebrows.

I dug my fingernails into the soft leather of the seat beneath me.

“You have the wrong guy. The Farrows…”

Ms. D. cut me off with a wave of her hand.

“The Farrows have nothing to do with this, Kate. We have a witness who saw Liam leave the letter on Porter's bed. And we found additional letters when we searched his bag from the trip.”

“Who?” But I already knew the answer. It was Bradley or Naomi. It had to be. They were the only ones with a motive.

“No one ever said this would be easy, Kate. You lost your best friend. All around you, life continues on, but she's still gone. It gets better, but it never gets easy.” Ms. D. finally looked up from the paper but not toward me. Her eyes narrowed a bit as she spoke, fixed on the window and Pemberly Brown's drifting campus.

“Who's the witness?” I ignored her poetic summation of my life the same way she'd ignored my question the first time I asked.

She sighed then and folded her newspaper crisply onto her lap. “You know I can't tell you that, Kate.”

“Then let me out. Now. I'll figure it out myself.”

“I'm sorry, but I can't do that either.” The car suddenly grew dark.

“Wait…what's…” I scooted toward the window to get a closer look. It was morning; the sun was just making its brilliant debut. My heart came to life in my chest, one beat right on top of the next. “Where are we going?” The car felt half its size now, the dark walls closing in against me, the leather suffocating. My eyes barely adjusted enough to make out the tips of Ms. D.'s blood-red toes. This was not good. I considered how long it would take for someone to realize I had been kidnapped.

I no longer had friends, so that eliminated the school day. My parents worked 'til God only knew when, so that eliminated after school, and I often missed my parents all together in the morning, so that eliminated tomorrow. It could be weeks. I felt the car closing in.

“I expect a lot out of you. Everyone does. But it's only because we know you're capable of great things, Kate.”

Not
if
I'm dead
, I thought, my heart practically clawing up my esophagus. The car moved slower now, and goose bumps erupted along my arms that no amount of frantic rubbing would squelch. Not only did the sides of the car reduce to the size of a shoebox, but the blackened world outside had split itself in two. We were driving through some sort of tunnel, which was impossible because there were no tunnels where we lived. Not one.

“I wouldn't choose anyone else.” Ms. D. continued her bizarre diatribe, which only added to my distress. “You are a leader, Kate. Your friends can't get the job done. They can't even be trusted. But you're different. You're focused. You remind me of…” The car came to a stop, and a faint series of beeps could be made out on the driver's side.

And then light. Not a lot of it, not natural, normal, I'm-not-going-to-die-after-all sunlight, but a soft glowing light that illuminated Ms. D.'s face. We moved a few more feet until the car stopped, parked inside the weird tunnel that I never knew existed.

“You remind me of me.” Ms. D. pulled on the latch to open the door and stood outside the car waiting for me to do the same. It was as though she were asking me in which place I'd rather die. Inside the car or out. I looked around at the expensive black leather and tinted windows. It didn't look at all like the kidnapper vans from my imagination. But I wasn't taking any chances. I slid out after Ms. D.

The space was lined with bricks, and it only took me a second to place it. I
did
know tunnels. I just didn't know cars could drive down into them. But of course they could. At least, of course Ms. D.'s could.

“I hope you don't mind the impromptu meeting. We have a bit of celebrating to do before school.”

The sharp heels of Ms. D.'s pumps clicked along the stone floor, reverberating off the curved walls. The great wooden door loomed ahead, and it struck me how I could still be surprised by Pemberly Brown. Every shock that I swore would be my last was always followed by something even more ridiculous or crazy. I shook my head at the thought, accepting it, embracing it. I was bound to be one of those crazy girls later in life who desperately searched for the excitement of her youth. I was so totally screwed.

“So you accept?” Ms. D. rested her palm beside the intricate carving of the Sisterhood's seal.

My eyebrows pulled in confusion. Accept my death? Accept the fact that Liam is going to be punished for a crime he didn't commit? Accept the fact that I'm a complete failure?

Apparently Ms. D. took my confusion as a yes because she pushed open the door. And then came clapping. Dozens of hands pounding together, smiling faces, girls rising up and clapping. Celebrating. I scanned the crowd and saw Taylor and Bethany. Taylor smiling, Bethany scowling. Nothing new there. I searched for Naomi Farrow. I wanted to see if she'd meet my eye. I wanted to find the truth in them.

But she was nowhere to be found.

Ms. D. cocked her head toward mine, her red lips poised beside my ear. “I've decided you should be our next leader. Your drive, your passion. You're unstoppable, Kate.”

Unstoppable. What a joke. I was constantly being stopped, blocked, thwarted.

“This is a new era, Kate,” Ms. D. continued. “And it all starts with you.”