Pure Sin

by Kate Brian

  This was it. Initiation.

  “Let’s go, plebe,” a gruff voice growled in her ear.

  Ariana’s shoes crunched over dried, dead grass, and the group stopped while someone opened a heavy, creaking door. As Ariana was manhandled down a set of shallow concrete steps, she was careful to maintain her balance to keep from tripping. Now that she and the other pledges knew that the Tombs were located in the basement of the APH library, being taken there under black hoods seemed pointless, but she understood that it was all part of the tradition. At the bottom of the steps she started to turn to the left, as usual, but this time, she was yanked to the right.

  Okay. This was new. Ariana’s heart pounded in earnest as they shuffled along the concrete floor. The two Stone and Grave brothers who led her kept bumping into her hips as if they were hemmed in on both sides by a narrow hallway. They paused again, and frigid air rushed in all around her. There was a lot of whispering and shuffling, followed by a series of odd squeals and wails, like several rusty latches opening. Ariana’s throat was dry.

  Finally, Ariana was shoved forward, and the brothers let go. Wherever they had left her, it was freezing. Her wool coat did nothing to ward off the chill. Then someone came forward and ripped that coat off her shoulders.

  “Strip!” dozens of voices shouted.

  “Here we go.”

  Ariana recognized Jasper’s voice. He must have been mere inches from her in the darkness.

  “Strip!” the brothers shouted again.

  Shaking, Ariana removed her heeled boots and unbuttoned her jeans. As she bent to tug them off her heels, she bumped into Jasper and staggered forward. Goosebumps popped up all over her legs as she fought for her footing. She took a breath. So what if dozens of her friends were watching this ridiculous, humiliating display? So what if they were laughing at her in the dark? It was all for a good cause. Removing her V-neck cashmere sweater without taking her black hood with it proved to be a bit more difficult, but she managed, dropping the sweater on the ground at her feet. As soon as she was down to her bra and underwear, someone stepped forward and brought a familiarly itchy burlap sack down over her head, cinching it around her waist with a rope.

  She was dying to scratch the openings around her neck and elbows. But she knew better than to move.

  Just breathe, she told herself. This will be the last time you have to wear this thing.

  A pair of strong hands came down on her shoulders suddenly and turned her around. She could feel someone moving next to her and assumed Jasper was being directed in the same way. When the bags were removed from their heads, would they be facing the brethren? Would this all be over soon? Ariana hoped that Palmer would be right in front of her so she could see him. So she could be looking at him when they performed the rite that would make them members.

  Then, out of nowhere, someone grabbed Ariana’s hands and wrenched them behind her back. This, too, was new. Her wrists were tied together with some kind of thick cord that, when pulled tight, sent a stabbing pain into her upper arms. The black sacks were ripped off, and Ariana’s heart hit her throat. She wasn’t looking into the warm, loving eyes of her boyfriend. Instead, she was looking down at a plain wooden coffin. Actually there were three coffins, set down in deep ditches in the dirt, which had been exposed thanks to a huge hole in the cement floor. She was in a room she had never seen before. More like a cavern, really. The walls were curved like a dome and made of jagged black rock. The room was circular, but the hole in the floor was a perfect rectangle. Low candles flickered all around the hole, but otherwise there was no light in the cavern, and no sign of life.

  Where was Palmer? Where were the rest of the Stone and Grave members? The brothers that had brought them here? Ariana looked at Jasper, alarmed.

  “What the—” He was cut off when someone shoved him from behind. He fell into the coffin in front of them with a thud. Terror seized Ariana, but she didn’t have time to react. A foot hit her in the small of the back, and suddenly she was free-falling, face-first, with no way to stop herself. She landed right on top of Jasper, clunking heads with him. Stars burst in front of her eyes, almost blacking out her vision.

  “That’s gonna leave a mark,” Jasper said, wincing.

  “How can you joke at a time like this?” Ariana hissed. She flipped over onto her back as best she could in the small space, stabbing Jasper’s ribs with her elbow before crushing both arms beneath her. She looked up to see the coffin lid being lowered over them.

  “No!” she screamed, and heard Tahira shout out as well, her voice muffled. “Stop!”

  “Silence!” someone growled.

  And then, all was dark.

  “Well,” Jasper whispered, his lips grazing her earlobe. “This just got interesting.”

  Trapped. I’m trapped. I’m trapped inside a coffin in the ground in a cellar, and no one knows I’m here.

  The bottom of the coffin was hard and cold against her shoulder, and pain radiated up her spine, into the base of her skull. All she could hear was her pulse rushing in her ears, and the steady sound of Jasper’s breathing.

  Don’t be stupid, Ariana. Tons of people know you’re here. Palmer, Lexa, Maria, Soomie, Conrad, April, Rob, Hunter . . . and certainly Jasper, every inch of whose body is touching yours. He couldn’t exactly miss you, could he?

  Ariana tried to take a deep breath, but the air in the coffin was thick with humidity and the choking scents of mold and dirt. She turned her head toward the ceiling and coughed, struggling for air.

  But no one knows I’m here. Me. Ariana Osgood. No one knows where I am. I could die here and no one would know. Not my mother or my father or—

  They already think you’re dead, you idiot! Shut up and stop heaving! You’re going to use up all the oxygen!

  “Ana?”

  Ariana flinched at the sound of Jasper’s voice. She slammed her head into the lid of the coffin, reinjuring the exact spot where she’d hit Jasper. The pain exploded all over again.

  “What?” she said through her teeth.

  “Are you okay?” Jasper asked. “You do know there are air holes in this thing, right? We have enough oxygen.”

  “Are you sure?” Ariana asked, sounding irritatingly pathetic.

  “I promise,” Jasper assured her calmly.

  Ariana’s right arm was screaming from bearing all her weight. She tried to squirm into a new position and rest more squarely on her back, but she succeeded only in pressing her shoulder blades together so tightly that she pulled a muscle—and flattened Jasper against the wall.

  “Ow. Okay, there is someone else in here with you, you know,” Jasper said.

  “Sorry,” Ariana went back to her former position. “And speaking of which, weren’t there three coffins in the ground?”

  “So?” Jasper said.

  “So? Do the math. There are five of us. Which one of us got a coffin all to themselves?” Ariana whispered. “My best friend is the president, and my boyfriend is second in line. Where the hell are my perks?”

  Jasper laughed. “Perhaps you’re not as significant as you think you are.”

  Ariana’s face burned at the insult, and for the first time she was grateful for the pitch darkness.

  “Besides,” he added, his tone more placating. “Think about it. Would you really want to be in here alone?”

  Ariana considered this. The boy had a point. If he weren’t there to distract her, she’d probably be having an acute panic attack.

  “How long have we been in here, anyway?” she asked. “An hour? Three hours? When are they going to let us out already?”

  “Ana, we’ve only been in here about fifteen minutes,” Jasper said, sounding amused.

  “What? That’s not possible,” Ariana whispered.

  “I’ve been counting the seconds since they closed the coffin,” Jasper replied matter-of-factly. “We’re at exactly nine hundred and four.”

  Ariana scoffed. “You have not.”

  “Yes. I have.”
>
  “That is so not possible,” Ariana replied. Jasper said nothing. His breath was minty fresh on her face. “You can do that?” she asked finally.

  “I can do lots of things.”

  She felt him shift, his cheek pressing against hers as he leaned forward. For a brief moment she was sure he was trying to kiss her. Unbidden, her skin sizzled and her face burned. But then she felt his fingers on her hip.

  “Wait,” she said slowly, realizing what this meant. “You got your hands free.”

  “Ta-da,” Jasper said, tapping her hip with his fingers.

  “How did you do that?” she asked.

  “Not important.” Jasper shook his head slightly and his nose brushed hers. Ariana’s heart seized, and she suddenly felt light-headed.

  I am not attracted to Jasper, she told herself. It’s just all this . . . touching. And lack of air.

  “Here. Let me get yours,” Jasper said, making a move.

  “Wait,” Ariana said. “Won’t they be mad if we’re untied when they let us out of here?”

  “I think they’ll be impressed with our ingenuity,” Jasper replied. “Here.”

  He bent his right elbow, then straightened his arm out so that it rested in the open space between her neck and the bottom of the coffin. Then he slid it down under her shoulder, so that it was pinned beneath her. His arm continued to travel down, while Ariana twisted and adjusted, doing her best to lift her weight off of it and help him along, until his hand found hers behind her back. At that moment, her weight tipped her forward over his forearm, and suddenly her whole body was pressed against his. Her face buried itself in the spot between his shoulder and his neck. If she pursed her lips, she could have kissed his skin.

  “Almost there,” Jasper whispered, his voice husky.

  His left arm was around her now, pulling her, impossibly, even closer to him. His body was wiry and strong. Stronger than she would have thought just by looking at him. As he struggled to blindly untie the cord that bound her hands, his breath was hot and labored on the back of her neck.

  “How’s it going?” she said, because she felt she had to say something.

  “I think I’ve . . . yes. I’ve got it,” Jasper whispered.

  She felt a jerk and the cord slipped free.

  “Thanks,” she breathed.

  “Any time.”

  Jasper leaned backward, and the space between them suddenly felt like a chasm. With some effort, Ariana brought her hands in front of her. She folded them at chest level and Jasper did the same. Now the two pledges were curled, knees touching, hands touching, foreheads touching, perfect mirror images.

  “So,” he said, his breath warm and comforting against her face, “what do we do now?”

  “I don’t know,” she said quietly. “What do you want to do?”

  “I think you already know the answer to that question.”

  Ariana’s heart skipped a startled beat. “Jasper, I—”

  “Kidding!” he said with a laugh. “For someone so smart, you sure are gullible.”

  Ariana’s face burned anew. She was just about to tell him off when there was a sudden, deafening crack, and the coffin was wrenched open.

  Ariana blinked, her eyes throbbing with pain at the sudden tidal wave of light. She looked up, right into the ashen face of Palmer Liriano.

  “Sonofa—”

  Suddenly Ariana saw herself and Jasper in her mind’s eye and realized what they must look like to Palmer, half-naked and curled into each other.

  “Palmer, I—” Ariana sat up, kneeing Jasper right in the groin. He curled into a ball, muttering curses.

  “How the hell did you two get your hands free?” he blurted.

  Ariana let out a sigh, relieved that Palmer was only upset that she and Jasper had untied themselves.

  “No talking!” Conrad hissed, coming over to stand next to Palmer.

  Gritting his teeth, Palmer reached down for Ariana with both hands. She grasped his forearms as he hauled her up, and tripped into him once her feet hit the cold floor.

  Conrad helped Jasper out of the coffin. He doubled over, still catching his breath. Ariana glanced to the right and saw that Tahira and Adam had emerged from the second coffin. It was Landon who had been all alone in his. Probably, Ariana realized, because he was supposed to be locked in with Kaitlynn.

  “Stand up, brother,” Conrad whispered to Jasper, finally slapping him on the back.

  Jasper took a deep breath, blew it out, and managed to stand up semistraight. As soon as he did, dozens of new candles lit up the room as the rest of the Stone and Grave brotherhood emerged from the shadows. Ariana’s heart lifted.

  “Welcome, brothers and sisters, to the Stone and Grave!”

  The cool, satiny insides of her black Stone and Grave robe were even more heavenly than Ariana had imagined, especially after the torture of the burlap sack. As she knelt in front of a wide, stone altar, with Lexa standing before her, she could hardly contain her giddiness. This was it. She was finally going to be an official member of Stone and Grave.

  Tahira knelt down beside her, giving her a secret smile. Ariana grinned back as Jasper knelt at her other side. It was all happening.

  Standing behind their personal gravestones were the rest of the members of Stone and Grave. Ariana could see Palmer, stationed behind his gray stone that read “Starbuck,” his hands folded reverently in front of him. His face was expressionless at first, but when she met his gaze he smiled, ever so briefly. It was a private, proud smile, and it warmed Ariana from the inside out.

  “Brothers and sisters, tonight we welcome five worthy members into our family,” Lexa began, her voice ringing out loud and clear in the silent room. Her dark hair gleamed in the candlelight. “Each person gathered here has proven him or herself to be a valuable member of Stone and Grave, but let us not forget the potential we have lost. A moment of silence for Brigit Rhygstead.”

  Ariana bowed her head, surprised by the sudden mention of her friend, who had died at the hands of Kaitlynn Nottingham. Lexa did not mention Lillian Oswald.

  “Thank you,” Lexa said, lifting her face. “And now, we will begin our ritual.”

  She turned and lifted a gray stone bowl from atop the altar. Soomie walked over and stood next to her, holding something small and glittery in her palm. April Coorigan and Conrad, the pledge group’s educators, joined them, their robes billowing as they moved. Conrad lifted three headstones from behind the altar, while April lifted two. Palmer stepped forward and slid a long silver needle off the surface as well. Its sharp point glinted in the candlelight. Ariana’s heart caught. What, exactly, did they plan to do with that?

  Together, Lexa, Palmer, and Soomie approached Jasper.

  “Brother, your name, from this moment on, is Amory Blaine,” Lexa said. Amory Blaine. The preppy, lazy, yet charming hero of This Side of Paradise. What a perfect name for Jasper. Still, Ariana felt a slight twinge of disappointment. She had thought they would have the chance to choose their own names. Hopefully she wouldn’t be saddled with something lame and predictable out of some Brontë novel.

  From her palm, Soomie plucked a graphite-encrusted pin and held it up in the candlelight. The gray stones formed a small skull. She leaned down and fastened the pin to Jasper’s robe, then stepped back again.

  “Hold out your hand,” Lexa instructed.

  Jasper did as he was told without hesitation. Lexa held the bowl beneath his hand as Palmer took the silver needle and pricked Jasper’s pointer finger with it. A bead of dark red blood emerged. Palmer tilted Jasper’s hand and squeezed his finger, so that a few drops of blood hit the bowl.

  “Ugh. Sick,” Tahira whispered. Ariana barely blinked. Blood had no effect on her.

  Palmer, Conrad, April, and Soomie all looked at Lexa expectantly. Ariana’s eyes darted to her friend’s face. Lexa was staring down at the bowl, her skin unnaturally waxy and practically translucent. Her eyes were as wide as moons.

  Suddenly Ariana’s heart starte
d to race. What was wrong with Lexa?

  “Sister Becky Sharp?” Palmer prompted her.

  Lexa looked up at him, startled, as if she’d forgotten he was there—forgotten that any of them were there. Ariana wished she could pull her friend aside and talk to her. Was it the blood? Was she thinking about Kaitlynn’s death?

  Then Lexa cleared her throat. She swung her hair back over her shoulders and smiled, taking a deep breath as if she was just gathering herself together.

  Ariana let out a sigh of relied. That’s my girl, she thought.

  “By adding your blood to our sacred vessel, you swear an oath to us,” Lexa said to Jasper. “Repeat after me. I, Jasper Montgomery, do hereby accept the name of Amory Blaine and forevermore pledge my life and soul to the brotherhood of Stone and Grave.”

  After Jasper repeated the oath, Lexa, Palmer, and April moved to stand in front of Ariana. Conrad placed Jasper’s headstone in front of him for the first time.

  “Sister,” Lexa said, shaking her hair back and looking Ariana in the eye. “Your name, from this moment on, will be Portia.”

  A thrill of satisfaction went through Ariana, and she grinned up at Lexa. She adored Portia, the strong, beautiful heroine of The Merchant of Venice. If she’d been allowed to choose for herself, she couldn’t have picked better. Willingly, Ariana held out her hand above Lexa’s stone vessel. She could see the tiny pool of blood Jasper had left at the bottom of the bowl. Palmer reached out and pricked her finger. He squeezed out a few drops of her blood, adding it to Jasper’s in the bowl.

  “By adding your blood to our sacred vessel, you swear an oath to us,” Lexa said. “Repeat after me. I, Briana Leigh Covington, do hereby accept the name of Portia and forevermore pledge my life and soul to the brotherhood of Stone and Grave.”

  “I, Briana Leigh Covington, do hereby accept the name of Portia and forevermore pledge my life and soul to the brotherhood of Stone and Grave.”

  Palmer smiled over Lexa’s shoulder, and Ariana felt a burst of pure joy. Soomie stepped forward and affixed her Stone and Grave pin to her robe, and then April placed her headstone in front of her. As the group moved on to Tahira, Ariana tilted the pin toward her.