A menacing laugh escaped her mouth. “Funny, it doesn’t seem like he sees it that way.”
“Nina quite literally told him I was a lesbian. You were there. He knows.” I shot back.
She spun around. “Oh yeah? Do you think he cares? Do you think that ever matters when you like someone? When there are feelings involved, nothing matters. It’s always ‘I don’t care if she doesn’t like me’ or ‘it’s going to be different with me’. Haven’t you ever had a crush? You know better, Harper, don’t bullshit me.” She spat accusingly. “The way that you look at him, the way that you touch him? We all see it, including him.”
My mouth dropped. “Adan is my friend. He’s nice to me. I’m nice to him. That’s it, Valentina.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “I don’t get it. What is it you want with my brother? You have money; you don't need his. You don’t seem like you even want to fit in in this town, so I know you're not doing it for status or reputation, so what is it? It’s not like you’re worried people will find out you’re gay, not with the way you dress.” She took a few steps towards me, her grip tightening on the wine bottle by her side. “Is it because he fawns over you? Is it because you can’t find anyone else to follow you around like a puppy and take care of you?”
I whipped around and took a step towards her. “It’s interesting you’d say that, V, because it sounds to me like that’s why you are so intent on having Adan in your life. Like maybe, you keep your distance from everyone by being a raging bitch because you know that no one will be there for you the way Adan is. Do you realize how much pressure that probably puts on him? How unfair it is? You know it’s wrong, but you take advantage of him anyway. Do you even really care about him?” I couldn’t help it; the words were tumbling from my mouth before I could stop them. I immediately wished I could take it back.
Valentina’s eyes were swimming with rage, her shoulders tight against her neck and her lips pulled apart in a snarl. After a beat, she screamed and threw the wine bottle to the floor, the dark glass shattering. I brought my hands up to cover my eyes and jumped a step away from her.
“I’m warning you, Fontaine. Stay away from my brother. I won’t let you hurt him. After this whole Order of the Six thing is over, we’re finished.” I lowered my arm and chanced a look at Valentina, who was still seething from my earlier comment. She was standing right in the middle of the shattered mess, her strappy heels offering no protection against the bits of sharp glass.
Something caught my eye, and I drew in a breath. “Valentina,” I said. “Look.” I pointed to the mostly shattered bottle sitting dangerously behind her ankle. What I didn’t see, however, was a drop of wine. There, peeking out from beneath a broken mess, was the edge of a white piece of rolled-up paper.
“The scroll!” We shouted at the same time. Valentina stepped around the shards carefully and bent down. I rushed over, conscious not to step on anything I’d soon regret, and helped her pick off the remains of the wine bottle as she pulled out the scroll. I dug around until I found the piece of the label I’d been looking for.
“1923,” I said, holding up the piece detailing the year the wine was made, the numbers etched into the bottom of the torn label below a sketch of a ship and the wine’s inconsequential brand name. A satisfied expression inched its way up my face. Valentina’s eyes glistened, but this time with a glimmer of excitement, the anger from earlier miles away. She pulled open the scroll, verifying the paper was what we had been looking for, the rose emblem winking at me from the back of the paper.
“Okay,” I said, standing up quickly. “So, we need to find three more bottles. We have to find all three to make sure Shane’s group only finds the remaining two.” I started looking around for a good place to start.
“Interesting.” She said. There was that word again. “The scrolls are in the bottle, like a kitschy message in a bottle thing.”
Now that we knew what label to look for and that the scrolls were, in fact, down here, we picked up our pace. The two of us picked up bottles and read the labels quickly, moving as fast as we could until I found a second bottle of the same year.
“Here!” I shouted. Valentina was at my side instantly, pulling the wine bottle from my hands. Before I knew what was happening, she smashed the corner of the bottle on a nearby table and pointed it at me, wielding it like we were in a street fight.
“Um, okay.” I said, “I thought we were done arguing?” She rolled her eyes and pulled the scroll from the inside.
“Careful,” I said quickly, and she shot me a glare.
“Two down, two to go.” She said with an air of confidence. When we’d finally found the last two, I heard a buzzing in my pocket.
I pulled out my phone and held it to my ear. “Where are you guys? Shane is getting suspicious!” Nina yelled into my phone speaker.
“We should find the last scrolls, so Shane doesn’t have a chance,” Valentina said, her fingers scanning the remaining wine bottles.
I put my hand over the receiver so Nina wouldn’t hear me. “We don’t have time, V. We should go.”
Nina’s voice piped up in my ear. “You guys aren’t hooking up, are you? If so, just say the word, and I’ll stall more.”
“Oh wait, you probably can’t just say that out loud with her right there, can you? We’ll do a code word. If you guys are making out, insert the word ‘watermelon’ into a sentence.” Nina’s voice echoed in my ear. I clicked the volume down on the side of my phone, just to be sure Valentina couldn’t hear her.
I cringed. “No Nina, no watermelons down here. We found the scrolls. We’re coming back.”
She shrieked. “Yay! Adan, they got them!” She whispered a few inches from the receiver.
“Wait,” she continued, her voice loud again in my ear. “You used watermelon in a sentence. Does that mean you guys are making out?”
“I’m hanging up now,” I said, then ended the phone call.
When Valentina and I arrived back in the main room again, we had stashed the four scrolls into various parts of our wardrobe. How Valentina was able to do that in her skintight velvet mini dress, I was highly unsure.
We scanned the room, finding Nina and Adan back in their seats.
“Everyone, please take a seat. The auction is about to start.” A voice echoed through the loudspeaker. To my surprise, I heard another voice, almost as loud, coming through a nearby cell phone.
“What do you mean you can’t find them?” I glanced over, understanding dawning. Jamie was still at his table, looking like he hadn’t even left, the corners of his mouth turned down into permanent frown lines. Shane’s voice echoed again. “Find them. Or find the scrolls. I don’t care, but you need to do something. You’ve sat on your ass this entire competition, and what have you contributed? Nothing. If you don’t do your part, I’m not letting you come along to the final six. And even worse, I’ll make your life a living hell.”
Valentina snorted at the threat, and Jamie glanced over at us. “I found them.” He said unenthusiastically to Shane, not even trying to hide it.
“Good. Don’t forget Jamie. You owe me after last time.” Shane finished with a click. I guessed by “last time” Shane meant Jamie giving us his scroll at the school. If anyone owed anyone, it was us to Jamie. In the welcome absence of Shane’s voice Jamie shook his head at us and gave me a small wave. I offered up a sympathetic smile.
Jamie threw his phone onto the table and shoved his face in his hands. He obviously wasn't going to follow us and clearly hadn't been before.
“Don’t even think about it,” Valentina growled next to me.
I ignored her and walked over to Jamie. When his hands dropped, and he saw me, he straightened in surprise.
“Look for a message in a bottle,” I said quietly, looking around to make sure none of Shane’s friends were lurking around to steal the clue for themselves. “But don’t tell Shane. He doesn’t fucking deserve it.” I winked.
&nbs
p; “A message in a bottle…” He whispered. “Thanks.”
NINE
You are cordially invited to the induction ceremony for the Order of the Six. That is, if you can find it.
Friday, 6 am
There can only be six.
“If you can find it…” I murmured out loud, rolling over onto my stomach. My fingers traced over each word of the newest riddle, my very own scroll resting between my palms as I lay on my bedroom floor. After all the shit we’d been through, things were looking up. We bested Shane today and walked away with an invite to join the Order of the Six. That is, of course, “if we can find it”.
“It”, meaning the location of the induction ceremony. That’s the obvious, at least. We can’t show up somewhere if we don’t know the location. But is it possible, I wondered, that “it” could mean something else too? Was there something we had to find first to pass one final test? If so, what?
I rolled the paper back up and tossed the scroll to my left. To my right was my cell phone, lying face down on the plush carpet. Should I call her? I asked myself. Nina texted me Valentina’s number after the challenge at Wellsley Prep, thinking we’d somehow hit it off. Obviously, she couldn’t have been more wrong. Valentina hated me. The minute we were to be inducted into the Order of the Six, she and I would be done.
My hand went to my phone, and I pulled up Valentina’s number. Maybe that’s all the more reason I should call her, I thought. I could try and fix things, somehow. Or maybe I should call Adan and try to cut things off with him completely. Would she give me a chance if she knew I wasn't stringing Adan along? No, I thought. If I did that, Adan might not spend time with me anymore. If I didn’t get time with Adan, there would be no more Valentina either.
“Forget it,” I muttered, tossing my phone back onto the floor and rolling onto my back. I closed my eyes, then opened them again. My grandfather taught me to lay on the ground to better solve a problem. “Look at the world from a different angle,” he’d said. My eyes traced the fancy moldings spanning the length of my bedroom ceiling.
“Okay, Grandpa,” I said. “I’m ready for a solution. Hit me.” I spread my arms out, encouraging him to send me a sign beyond the grave. The beam from the Rose Island Lighthouse moved across my balcony window and left a reflection on my walls. I craned my neck and watched the light move from side to side through the darkness.
I sighed and pulled myself up, closing my balcony curtains tightly. “Thanks a lot,” I said, looking up. “You’re not much help, are you?”
Scooping up the scroll and tucking it under my arm, I opened the trunk at the end of my bed, poised to tuck the scroll safely inside. Instead, my gaze landed on the two other scrolls in my possession, the ruined one from the first challenge and the scroll I’d gotten my first day in Newport inviting me to the Cunningham party. Valentina insisted on keeping the one scroll from the priest hole, which shocked no one.
“Wait…” I muttered to myself. I set the new scroll beside the others and pulled out my phone, opening my text thread to Nina. I shot off a text quickly, realizing I could hit two birds with one stone.
Hey, maybe we should all get together tonight to work on this last riddle.
I bit my lip, waiting for her response. Nina was a quick texter. I didn’t know anyone as obsessed with their phone as she was. After about a minute with no reply, I sent off another message.
Hello? Earth to Nina? I need you to initiate a hang with the twins so they don’t think I’m trying something with either of them.
My phone dinged, acknowledging my message was just sent.
“Ugh.” I sighed and fell back onto my rug. “Come on, Nina. Where are you?”
I held my phone above my face and fired off one last text, hoping she'd hear the vibration and get back to me.
Obviously, I also really want to figure out the riddle. This isn’t just about V.
I held my phone in front of my face for a few minutes, but the three dots never popped up to indicate Nina was typing. Weird.
I groaned again, annoyed, then pulled myself off the ground.
Okay, fine, Nina. I’m coming over!!
The little woosh noise sounded once more, and I locked my phone, slipping it into my back pocket. My Dolce and Gabbana boots beckoned me from my closet, so I shoved my feet in quickly and grabbed the same puffer coat I’d been sporting since I got here.
When I stepped outside into the frigid air, the outdoor lights flicked on dimly, battling the blackness of night. I pulled my coat tighter around me and started walking down my back porch, the light-colored wood seemingly stretching miles. The sounds of the wind danced with the lapping of the waves, the noise menacing against the stillness of my house.
I pulled out my phone and checked for a reply from Nina, but there was none.
“Weird,” I whispered, a chill going up my spine. Something didn’t feel right. I trained my eyes on the Muller’s house, its windows emitting a yellow glow, signifying they were home. I knew they wouldn’t mind if I stopped by, especially since my dad was away. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling something was up.
I turned the volume all the way up on my phone, ensuring I’d hear it through my coat pocket if Nina texted me before I made it over there. When my phone landed safely back in my pocket, I started walking again, my jacket crinkling as I moved.
Just then, a creak sounded, and I froze. I looked down at my right boot, its weight heavy on the planks beneath my feet. My heart rate sped up. Had the sound come from behind me, or was I paranoid? I stood still and listened for a moment, the only noise besides the sea the hushed tangling of windchimes. I picked my foot up slowly and placed it down in the same spot, but the wood did not groan. I tried once more, hoping it was, in fact, my own feet straining the wood as I walked. But there was nothing.
I looked over my shoulder, my eyes scanning the darkness for movement. When nothing jumped out at me, I turned and kept going, this time quickening my pace.
The clank, clank, clank of my boots dissipated into the night, sucked away by the sounds of the coast. When my phone finally beeped, I stopped, my frozen hands digging eagerly into my pockets.
“Finally, Nina.” I groaned. But the message that came up was from an unknown number.
Go back to where you came from.
I spun around wildly, seized with panic. My gaze darted from Nina’s house, a solid ten-minute walk from here to my screen door, probably about 50 paces from where I was standing. I didn’t relish the idea of staying home alone, but I couldn’t bear to be out there for another second.
I took only seconds to shoot off a reply, my posture rigid as I typed, shoulders hunched, and head tucked into my neck.
Fuck off.
Anger was starting to mix with fear, and I felt my face contort into an angry frown as I shoved my phone back in my pocket and headed straight for the door. First, someone jumps through hoops to get me out here. Now all of a sudden, someone is trying to get rid of me? My god, whoever this was needed to make up their damn minds.
A sense of relief washed over me as my hand touched the door handle. But that sensation was short-lived. A cloth was pressed hard over my nose and mouth, and at first, I thought someone was trying to either smother me or drug me with it. But it wasn't the cloth that did it; it was the needle I felt bite my skin as they pulled up my coat sleeve. Confused, I flailed my limbs for a second on instinct. But it was too late; the warm tingle of the sedative spread rapidly through my bloodstream.
TEN
My consciousness went in and out, and it was apparent I was on a boat of some kind. The rocking of the waves only aided in pulling me back under each time I tried to open my eyes, the sheer terror I knew subconsciously to feel numbed by the drugs. Eventually, my brain started to cooperate, and though physically I was too out of it to move, I forced myself to listen to the male voices talking over the sounds of the ocean.
“Doesn’t matter if the others get out eventually.”
One guy said. “She’s the one they want. Therefore, she’s the biggest threat.”
“Who?” Someone asked.
“The Order, you idiot. Who else?”
I blacked out for a second, then strained to pick up more clues.
“Won’t they come looking for her?” Another male voice said from the other end of the boat. Their voices were muffled by something when they spoke.
“Her friends?” The first guy laughed. “Yeah, but by the time they do, it’ll be too late. That’s the point.”
Too late? What the hell did that mean?
“Shouldn’t we wrap her up?” This voice was higher pitched than the others, and something nagged at me about their voices, though I didn’t quite recognize any of them through whatever was pressed up against their mouths.
My eyelids fluttered, and I felt hands lift me, my head flopping backward, then set me back down again. Thick wool was now swaddled against my body, and though it kept me from moving any further, I relished the warmth it gave me. We were on a boat to God knows where in the middle of the night, and it was beyond freezing. I started drifting off against my will, the blackness swallowing me once again, but not before I had one final thought.
I made the wrong choice. I didn’t want to join the Order in the first place. I could have stayed home that night. No one would have blamed me; it was my first night here. Except for Nina, of course, but still. Instead, I went to the Cunningham’s party and was recruited into the Order. And someone, it seemed, didn’t like that. And now I might not make it out alive, all because of some stupid secret society.
The impact of the hard ground jolted me awake once more. Of course, when I say jolted, I mean my eyes popped open. The rest of my body lay partially unmoving under the tight restraints of the thick blanket still bundled around me. The blood that was pulsing rapidly through my heart was a good sign. If my blood was flowing, I would soon wake up enough to control my body.
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