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And in freshman news: The first rounds of cuts are here! Time to face reality, fish: some people have it all, and some people have nothing. Especially not a House!
The most brutalround of recruitment was coming. I stayed up all night with anxiety, tossing and turning in the sheets. Would the phone call come? Would my world end overnight? I could already hear Melody’s singsong voice.
“I’m sorry, Luna! You have been dropped from every house during recruitment. However, you can stay on this campus as an unaffiliated, and try again next year! It was a pleasure to get to know you!”
In my nightmare, I didn’t even make it to Rose House, the House that took all women. Reaper’s disruption cost me that interview, and now I’d get to see whether they really took everyone—even those they hadn’t met yet.
It was almost noon. We expected to get our invites to the next round as soon as the clock hit twelve. Until then, I waited. And paced. And stress-cleaned my bedroom.
I had such a frightening meeting with Flora yesterday I was worried she wouldn’t uphold her end of the bargain. After a month of chasing demons around, I only got two pieces of information: that the gwisin was from Reaper’s territory and that he had a father. I tried telling her he had shadows, but the tattoo had constricted so tightly around my neck that I couldn’t breathe out the words. She kicked me out with so much vigor I was sure our bargain was over.
“Perhaps instead of worrying about your House, you can return to fretting about your love life,”Gaksi suggested. He lit up my phone screen, sending off a happy little ringtone.Love Storyby Taylor Swift. My favorite.
“Get out of that thing! I need to know if I’ve been dropped!”
“Please. Flora’s a fan of yours, too. I can feel it.”
“You feel all sorts of things!”
He jumped into my stereo, playing classical music instead.“You need to relax.”
“Relax? With what? Not my recruitment status! And not with my personal problems from yesterday either! He called my mother! That’s like kindergarten tattletale behavior. If this were colonial times, I would have just challenged him to a duel. Scratch that. I would have just beheaded him! I bet you can infuse enough magic into a guillotine to do it.”
Gaksi only laughed.
I flopped down on my bed in frustration. 11:00 A.M., my stereo said. I hopped out to my bookshelf and picked a book to read. MaybePride and Prejudicewould calm me down. My comfort characters usually did.
Tap. Tap. Tap. A pigeon tapped its beak on my window.
“Shut up, Gaksi.”
Tap. Tap. Tap.
“Isn’t me, child.” His voice sounded from the stereo.
Shoving the window open, I got a good look at the creature. A little brown bird carried a bottle on its back. A messenger pigeon!
I darted over, unclasping the wine-red bottle, and read the inscription on the back.
Regards from Vamp House. Enjoy your first taste of power, on us.
It was early! They could get in trouble for breaking recruitment rules by sending out invites early. I was about to text Aubrey and Cordelia but waited. What if they didn’t get the favor? I wouldn’t want to rub salt into the wound.
I guessed it didn’t matter, anyway. When you were as old and wealthy as vampires, a little recruitment fine was no big deal.
Rotating the bottle in my hand, I read the description on the back.
1000-year-old wine. Cellars of Vamp House.
Not blood, then. I took a hearty swig, then coughed. It was revolting and sour. Much stronger than the seltzers I preferred.
Gaksi snickered. At least I got one invite back. Maybe Flora did like me after all.
A crisp knock hit my door. Another favor? I scurried to open it.
Outside, a butler awaited. He was dressed in a sharp tuxedo, hair groomed back, holding a black package topped with an enormous bow.
“For Miss Luna.” He handed it to me, bowed, and left.
