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No, it can’t be him, he had a game tonight and he usually has a party afterwards, no way he’s sober enough to be outside my door. Looking for a weapon behind me, I quickly snatch up the heavy Virgin Mary candle, but before I can swing the door open, an envelope slides under the door.
It looks old and made of delicate paper, but it’s the wax seal that captures my attention.
I squat to get a closer look and see my name written in perfect calligraphy with a felt pen. The seal above it is red with the Calavera Society skull front and center. With a shaky hand, I pick the envelope up, feeling the weight of the paper as I replace the candle.
What could this be?
Deciding to treat it like a band-aid, I rip it open. Pieces of the wax fall to the floor as I read the words written in a similar fashion to the outside. The cursive, written with confident strokes, sends a slithering chill down my spine.
Bienvenida a la Coventry, Valeria Sinclair Calavera.
Tonight, your attendance is required at the great hall for the final ceremony of novices. It is a semi-formal, black attire event. You have twenty minutes to get into the car waiting for you outside of your dorm house. Tell no one of this invitation, leave all electronic devices at home, and give this letter to your driver. If you fail to follow these instructions, the consequences will be on your hands.
Fear like I felt the night of the ritual settles deep in my heart, making my breathing come in short gasps. First instinct is to call Noah, but the threat glares brightly at me from the letter. My next thought is to hide or run, but where? I’m in their territory, and if I run, there’s a very big chance I'm being watched, therefore I’ll be caught and I’m not willing to find out what these consequences are.
Fuck it. I want to know who the bastards are, and they just invited -or demanded- my presence, so I might as well dive face first into the den of these wicked men.
I’m about to drop the letter and get dressed when a thought comes to mind. They said leave my phone home, but they never mentioned taking a picture of the invitation. I quickly grab my phone and snap a clear shot before hiding the image in my locked folder.
I drop the note and blanket, embracing the cold detachment I feel washing over me like an ocean wave. It coats me, smothering my fear until there’s nothing left. No fear, no courage–just nothing. I’ll take that over fear though.
I pull a deep red dress that Nimona picked out for me on one of our shopping trips. It’s my favorite of all the dresses I have. I’ve never been much of a dress girl, but that’s only because I never had a need for them, I wasn’t into events that would require one so why bother buying them?
I quickly get dressed, zipping up the side and pulling on my fishnet stockings before pulling on my knee-high boots and long black overcoat. They wanted all black, but I’m nothing if not a rule breaker. Besides, I’m a grown ass woman–the last time I let someone dress me was when I was eight years old.
I only have a few minutes, so I quickly run a comb through my wavy hair but decide to leave it as it is. These fuckers gave no heads-up, so they’ll get what they get.
With my shoulders pushed back and my head held high, I leave my room and make my way toward the front door. I cast a glance at Noah’s door, hoping he hears me and comes out, but that’s highly unlikely as it’s almost three in the morning.
There’s a blacked-out SUV parked against the curb with a man standing beside it. His face is blank and unreadable as he holds out his hand but makes no move to open the door for me.
“The letter.” he says monotonously.
Once I pass it to him, he opens the back door allowing me to slide in and come face to face with my stone-faced guide, Rey Calavera.
This ought to be a fun night.
THIRTY-FIVE
* * *
‘DISPOSABLE FIX’ THE PLOT IN YOU
I may not have been raisedin this life of wealth and secrets, but I’ve never been one to back out of a challenge. This is my father’s world and he wanted me in it, I just hope he’s ready for the sleeping beast he woke up in me. I’ve been labeled a lot of things in my young life, wild, untamed, reckless, stubborn but only one of them is more core embedded than the rest–determined.
It’s why I chose law as my major. I’m not one to sit and let an injustice be swept under the rug, and if you weigh the actions of my father, good versus bad, you’ll find that the bad has broken the scales of balance. I’m wholeheartedly determined to set those scales right again. He may be my father, but his deceit proves to me that I am nothing more than a pawn in his life. There’s no real fatherly affection from him and I know that if I look deeper into the memories, I’ll find the dark spots and red flags my daughterly mind chose to ignore.
Not anymore.
“Why was I invited?” I ask Rey as I stare at him in the dark cab.
“Were you?” He asks cryptically.
I scoff and look around the cab, “I guess I must be dreaming then.”
His stupid grin makes an appearance, but I turn away from it, eyeing the dark scene passing outside my window. I should have known this prick would be here.
After a few moments of awkward silence, Rey hands me a glass.
