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VERONICA

THE BOX IS ON MY BED when I get to my room, and I don’t even need to open it to guess what’s inside. I lift the lid, and yeah, there’s a cocktail dress but black this time. A card is tucked underneath with time written on it. Great. I need to get ready right away if I don’t want to be late.

I hold the dress up against me in the mirror and frown, because it’s going to fit. Somehow, these people know my size, which is creepy on its own. Do they go through my clothes, even though nothing seemed disturbed in my closet, or did they just guess and get lucky? Still, I hate that they can just leave a box on my bed whenever they feel like it, despite my door being locked the whole time.

I could throw the whole thing in the trash and refuse to go. But ignoring them clearly won’t make them go away. And part of me wants to see what they’ll do next, because the more I learn about them, the closer I get to figuring out why they picked me in the first place. Not that I have anything yet, just questions piling up.

After I get dressed, I head out. It’s already dark, and I hurry to the spot where the masked man showed up last time. Of course Jayden’s already there, in a suit, and he lifts his chin at me. His hair is a mess, as if he ran his hands through it too many times, and I hate that he still manages to look good anyway. But I can’t get distracted. What happened last time was a mistake, and it won’t happen again.

Jayden’s gaze travels down my body. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

The cellar door swings open, and just like last time, the masked man comes out with masks for Jayden and me, and then we follow him inside. When we reach the table, I realize another person is missing. I guess someone changed their mind about the society. Maybe they got scared, or maybe they had less to lose than I do and could actually afford to say no. Jayden and I take our seats.

“Fewer people,” Jayden says under his breath. “Do you think that’s good or bad for us?”

I give him a small shrug, because I have no clue. Fewer people could mean less competition, or it could mean they’re getting picky and things are going to get a lot harder. I’m definitely not going to assume anything’s in my favor.

“Tonight, we’re going to do something simple,” the man says. “We want to see how much you actually know about the place you all fought so hard to attend. I’m going to ask you questions about the history of Blackerville, and whoever answers the most of them correctly will win a reward at the end.”

History of the college? I basically live in the library, and I spent the last few days digging through old yearbooks and archive boxes looking for the secret society member in my own family, so if there’s one thing I might actually be good at, it’s this. I straighten up a little, my anxiety turning into something closer to excitement. Bring it on!

“When was Blackerville founded and by whom?” the man asks.

I don’t even have to think about it, so I lift my hand and quickly answer.

The man dips his head. “Correct.”

Jayden turns to me. “How do you know that?”

“I read,” I whisper back. “You should try it sometime.”

The corner of his mouth pulls up, and he leans a little closer, as if we’re a team now.

“And before it was a college,” the man says, “what was this place originally built to be?”

I think I saw it on a plaque in the archive room, so I raise my hand again. “A boys’ academy.”

“Correct again.”

One of the girls across the table crosses her arms, so I guess she’s not thrilled about me answering everything, but I don’t care. For once, loving history is actually paying off.

“Blackerville won its first national title in which sport?” the man asks.

Jayden perks up next to me, and he leans forward before I can even open my mouth. “Oh, that one’s mine. Gymnastics. There’s a whole wall about it in the sports complex, and they act like it’s some holy shrine.”

“Correct,” the man says.

I nudge my knee against Jayden’s under the table. “So you pay attention to trophies. Nice.”

“Hey, I know things,” he whispers back, grinning. “Sports things. You can handle the boring stuff.”

I bite down on my lip so I don’t laugh out loud, because we’re supposed to be taking all of this seriously. The man asks two more questions, and I answer both. Once the questions run out, I can’t stop grinning because everyone else has barely said anything, or they were outright wrong.

“The two of you answered the most,” the man says, tipping his head toward Jayden and me. “The reward is yours.”

Jayden bumps his shoulder into mine, and I fight the urge to do it back, because I’m not supposed to be enjoying myself here, but I kind of am. I actually crushed the quiz, and now there’s a reward waiting for us. But I can’t let myself get too comfortable since it’s the society we’re talking about. The reward might actually be something bad.