There Can Only Be Six

by Andrea Levesque

  “So you keep saying.” I crossed my arms. “V, take a break. I’m sure Adan will call back the minute he has a chance. You need to rest, otherwise, I’m pretty sure we won’t make it back on that jet ski.”

  She rolled her eyes but pushed the phone away from herself anyway. The kettle whistled, and I took it off the burner.

  “Anyway, they’re such morons. Anyone with an ounce of intelligence can get a door off its hinges.”

  I poured the hot water over a filter filled with coffee, watching the steam rise from inside the cup. “And they didn’t think any of your staff would go there and find you?”

  She shrugged, and I handed her a mug with the words Newport, Rhode Island written in scrawling letters on the front. “Well, eventually, sure. But Shane knows my mom is in Paris with your dad. The staff doesn’t usually go down there. If I didn’t get myself out, I probably would have been stuck for a while. It would have been smart if they didn’t also accidentally leave my phone in the cellar.”

  At that, I perked up. “Wait, what?”

  “Yeah. I got out anyway and used the landline to call my phone. I found it tucked under one of the wine crates. Like someone left it there on purpose for me to find.”

  I sat down. “Kind of like the way my phone was left for me to find?” The thought reminded me of the weird brick I saw before dropping my lighter.

  “And how Adan’s phone wasn't thrown away either, all of the swim team’s phones were left outside the school too so they could call for help once they got out,” Valentina said. I opened my mouth to mention the mysterious brick when Valentina’s phone rang. We both jumped.

  “Adan?” She stood up, her chair making a scratching sound on the wood floor.

  I could hear Adan’s voice leak through the speaker, but it was too muffled to understand.

  “Wait, what? Is she okay?” Valentina glanced at me, and I stood up too, anxious to find out what was going on.

  “Okay. Yeah. Adan, calm down.” Her eyes flicked to me once more. “Calm down, Adan. Adan, everything is going to be fine. We’re all okay. I’m with Harper now. Yes. Yes, I’m with Harper.” Adan’s voice grew louder and had I been standing any closer to Valentina, I probably could have heard their entire conversation. One thing was clear, Adan was angry.

  I watched Valentina carefully. There it was, that mirror twins thing Nina was talking about. Something about Adan’s tone had Valentina clicking right into her most soothing voice, the same way I’ve seen him do for her a million times by now.

  Valentina lowered slowly to her chair, her gaze somewhere off in space. “Shit. Okay. We’ll handle it. I told you before it was Shane. I don’t want the Order getting a whiff of this, so please make sure you talk to Nina and make sure your stories are straight. Uh-huh. We’ll meet at Nina’s when we get back. Okay, love you too.”

  She put her phone on the table with a click and pressed her fingers through her hair.

  “Nina’s okay.” She said before I could jump down her throat. “Adan is with her. She called the police. Apparently, she was kidnapped and left in the woods in the middle of nowhere. She was super freaked out.” She dropped her hands and looked up at me. “But I guess when Adan called her, she found her phone out there in the woods.” Her eyebrows lifted. “Like maybe, one of our kidnappers did that on purpose?”

  “Like Jamie?” I offered, following her thought. “No way. He would never go along with kidnapping us. He helped us. We helped him.”

  She shook her head. “Unless he only went along with it to make sure they didn’t totally screw us. Either way, he owed Shane. He’d let him down one too many times. Clearly, Shane was trying to keep us from getting inducted into the Order. Even if me, Adan and Nina all got out, if the kidnappers had really gotten rid of your phone like they were supposed to, we’d definitely spend the next 24 hours looking for you instead of finishing the riddle. None of us would get into the Order. It would also give him the entire day tomorrow to solve it himself without worrying about us stepping on his toes.”

  I held my coffee to my lips but didn’t sip it. “Still, if Jamie was a part of this,” I paused and thought about the guy who’d taken my phone. I considered the way he kept the other guy from assaulting me and urged them to leave. He was probably the same guy who’d wrapped me in the blanket on the boat. And if it were Jamie, he’d likely done it to keep me from freezing to death rather than to restrain me. “If he was, he was doing it to make sure Shane and the other guys didn’t hurt us. He was trying to help.” I shrugged. “That much is obvious.”

  Valentina brought her mug to her lips and chugged her coffee. The color was moving back into her skin, and I figured she’d be ready to go soon. Hell, I sure was. “Regardless,” she said. “Nina called the police. And so did the swim team. But as far as I know, the police don’t realize the incidents are related. According to Adan, Nina was too stunned to pick up much about the guys who kidnapped her, so I don’t think the police have a ton of leads, thank God. If everything plays out right, no one finds out the Order was at the heart of this.”

  I pushed my mug away from me, my eyes on Valentina. The same girl who’d come all the way out here to save me was now hoping our kidnappers wouldn’t be caught. I blinked. “Valentina, Shane and the others or whoever did this need to face consequences. They shot me up with something. With drugs. We can’t just let them get away with it.”

  Valentina stood up again and finished off her coffee. “They will, Harper. When we’re in the Order, and they’re not, we can punish them. That’s why we must finish the riddle. We will finish the riddle. And then they will face the consequences.”

  I opened my mouth to speak, then closed it again. After all this, I didn’t know if I wanted to be a part of the stupid Order. This whole thing was getting absolutely ridiculous. But I didn’t say that.

  “Let’s just talk about it with Nina and Adan, okay?” I said instead.

  Valentina put her cup in the sink. “I’m ready to go. Let’s get my coat and get out of here.”

  And we did. But just as Valentina was readying the jet ski for our departure, a ding sounded from her phone. She pulled it out, and her mouth dropped open.

  “What?” I asked, coming up to read the text from behind her.

  “Jamie Russo was arrested for kidnapping.”

  TWELVE

  “Nina, your parents can’t expect us to stay in your house forever. We have to get out of here and do something.” The angry voice that woke me up the next morning was not Valentina’s like I would expect. It was Adan’s.

  “Yes, we do.” The other voice was Nina’s, her feet making dragging sounds on the carpet as she paced. “But Adan, I understand where they’re coming from. They know what happened to us, and you know what? It was scary as hell! I don’t want to risk something else happening to me. And even though we didn’t tell them about Harper and V, I’m pretty sure they were suspicious when the two of them showed up in the middle of the night soaking wet.” Nina dropped her tone, probably assuming we were still sleeping. Light was streaming in from Nina’s balcony, and I wondered how late I’d slept. After last night, probably a while. “And we can get Jamie out from here. We can make some calls, see if we have any connections we can reach out to. We can...”

  Adan didn’t let her finish. “No, this isn't about Jamie. At least, not completely. I’m talking about Shane. I’m saying we need to make sure that Shane is held responsible and punished for what he did.” Adan’s voice rose, almost to a shout. “Especially to you and Harper. What if you hadn’t found your phones? You could have gotten hurt. You could have died out there.” Something clattered to the floor near him, and my eyes popped open. Either Adan had knocked something over on purpose, or he’d run into it while pacing angrily. Neither option was good.

  I registered my surroundings and remembered that the four of us had slept in Nina’s oversized bed last night. Either her parents were too concerned about the kidnapping to care, or she
realized that saying no to Adan, the only guy in the room, would have been a double standard considering she was allowed sleepovers with a lesbian. That, or this house was so big that her parents had no idea which rooms any of us even slept in.

  Laying across from me was Valentina, her bronze-colored eyes on me. But it wasn't that same evil glare I was used to burning a hole in my back. “Are you okay?” She mouthed to me, her hand reaching out and touching the soft skin of my forearm. A fire spread across my entire body. I forced myself not to react to her touch.

  “Yes. Are you?” I mouthed back, my hand landing instinctively on top of hers. She nodded. In the distance, I heard Nina shushing Adan and attempting to calm him down. So, this was the Adan I’d heard so much about. And this, I thought, eyes still on Valentina, was the version of V I’d been so wanting to meet.

  As much as I wanted to continue laying there with my hand in Valentina’s, Adan’s attitude was off the charts. I sighed and sat up, pulling my grip away. “It’s fine. We’re awake.” I looked at Adan, whose head had snapped in my direction, almost like an animal taken by surprise in the middle of a hunt.

  Valentina slinked off the bed and ran her hand through her hair. With that much of it, I was shocked it wasn't a tangled mess like mine probably was. “Cool it, okay, Adan? Nina’s parents may want to keep us here all day, but that doesn’t mean we have to. They’re not our parents.” She said, and Nina scowled. “And plus, don’t forget I used to hang out here. I know how to slip out when no one is looking.”

  Adan relaxed his shoulders and sat down on a loveseat in the middle of the room. “That’s hardly our biggest issue right now.” He said, his voice finally sounding like his own.

  I moved to the end of the bed and let my feet hit the floor. I looked down at my bare legs and realized I was wearing one of Nina’s PJ sets. The white frills felt entirely not me. I groaned. I must have been too out of it to fight Nina after making it here from Rose Island. I looked at Valentina, who was wearing a stylishly comfortable tracksuit set. Was that Nina’s? I made a mental note to give my friend a hard time about this later.

  “Right,” Valentina said, finding one of Nina’s combs and going to work on her hair. “Our biggest issue is Shane,” She turned and looked at us on the other side of the room. “And the absolute hell I’m going to give him.”

  Nina bounced anxiously on her heels. “You guys, we don’t even know for sure it was Shane! Maybe it’s a coincidence Jamie got framed for this.”

  Valentina slammed her comb on the table and grimaced, watching the old V slipping right back into place.

  “I’m just saying!” Nina continued. “It’s impossible that Jamie did it. He simply couldn’t have managed to shove me in that body bag and dump me in the woods, much less pull a scrunchy off my ponytail if he wanted to.”

  I gawked at Nina.

  “Body bag?” Adan’s eyebrows knit together.

  “Well, okay. I mean, it was probably just a garment bag since it was super thin and the plastic ripped when I pulled the zipper open, but like… they still shoved me in a bag! Did they shove you in a bag, Harper?”

  No, they only drugged me and shipped me to an abandoned island in a boat, I thought, but chose not to say out loud. “To be fair, Nina, how do you explain Jamie’s arrest? And the phones? I agree, there could totally be something bigger at work here, but like… you can’t really argue with the facts.” I said before Valentina could jump down Nina’s throat.

  “I’ll prove it,” Valentina said, standing up and walking over to us. She pulled out her phone and swiped around on it for a moment, then held it out expectantly. We all leaned over, a video appearing.

  “Our security cameras,” Adan said. “Brilliant.”

  A group of lanky-looking guys in the same pig masks my kidnappers were wearing made their way down one of the many hallways in the Vasquez Estate. Still, you couldn’t see any of their faces, and their clothes, while obviously preppy, weren’t distinguishable to me at least. Valentina swiped through until she found what she was looking for. She’d swiped quickly through the details of her own kidnapping but stopped on an eerie close-up of the guys leaving the wine cellar. The angle was relatively close, being a shot of just the doorway. She paused the clip when the leader of the group, the guy who’d held me down, was perfectly in frame.

  “There!” She shouted, pointing to the screen.

  Nina shrugged. “He’s wearing a mask.”

  “No, look,” Valentina repeated, her finger going directly to the guy’s shoes. Even in the grainy film, you could make out a pair of fancy white shoes with a trim, not your average sneakers.

  “Those look like Fendi.” I said, “But the colors are different.”

  Valentina smirked. “Exactly. The stripes you see here, that’s Wellsley Prep emerald green. They’re custom-made, and there’s only one pair like them. And that pair belongs to Shane Gallagher.”

  Nina made a little “eek!” sound, and I was unsure if it was a victory noise or a “this is freaking me out” screech.

  “Okay, so we got him!” Adan said, his tone unquestionably victorious. “We take this to the police, and -”

  “Don’t be stupid, Adan.” Valentina’s tone was harsh, and I cringed. “You know they would never arrest a Gallagher.”

  I gasped. “Which explains how Jamie was framed.”

  “And why Jamie is still being held even though I told them I didn’t want to press charges! Even though I told them it couldn’t have been Jamie.” Nina said, her hand going to my arm.

  Adan bit his lip. “To be fair, Nina, you did tell the police you didn’t see any of their faces. I don’t think it matters if you vouch for Jamie.”

  “Still.” Nina pouted.

  Valentina flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Shane’s family has legal connections all over the country. With their pull, they could do pretty much anything.”

  “Okay,” I rubbed my arms, thinking. “Then we text Cunningham. We tell him what happened and get Shane disqualified. Maybe the Order will even take matters into their own hands, considering Shane’s total disregard for the risk of exposure.”

  Adan closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall. “I already tried. Cunningham isn’t going to do anything.”

  “What?!” I yelled. “But if he disqualifies Shane, Shane will have no reason to threaten us. He could let Jamie go.”

  Adan rubbed his face. “He didn’t care. Cunningham said this kind of thing is expected, and Shane didn’t technically break any rules. Whoever finishes the riddle makes it into the Order. He said it wasn't over yet, and we still had time.”

  “Okay, then we quit.” Nina threw up her hands. “We quit this whole Order thing and text Shane and tell him we’re out. He’ll have to let Jamie go then.”

  “No.” Valentina stood in front of Nina, towering over her. “We’re not quitting. We’re figuring out the last riddle, and we’re going to be inducted into the Order of the Six.”

  Nina straightened. “Jamie was arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. When I called the police last night about it, I asked when he would be released. They said they didn’t know. We need to get him out of there. He helped us. When Shane Gallagher was tossing me onto the dirt and driving away, Jamie hid my phone nearby in the woods. I’m not letting him rot for that.”

  “Well, I am.” Valentina turned and grabbed a backpack from one corner of the room. She unzipped it and turned it upside down, a pile of scrolls falling out. “I’m going to finish this.”

  Nina ran up behind her and examined the pile of scrolls. “Uh, you did not have that with you last night when you showed up here.” Nina’s voice was tight.

  I watched Valentina look at us over her shoulder. “Uh-huh. Good one, Veronica Mars. I told you I could get in and out of this house without anyone noticing. I went back for these in the middle of the night and stayed up looking at them. The induction ceremony is tomorrow at 6 am. We have less than 24 hours
to figure this out. Now, who is going to help me?”

  I found myself dropping to my knees next to Valentina, an image of Zeke in an orange jumpsuit popping into my head. I had to see this through, and maybe we could figure out how to help Jamie in the meantime.

  My hands spread out the scrolls in the order we got them. In total, there were four. The original invitation to the Cunningham Party and the scrolls we recovered from the dinghies, the priest hole, and the wine cellar. Our hands moved over each word in the riddles, hoping for clues.

  “Well, I’m texting Shane,” Nina said behind us.

  “Don’t you fucking dare,” Valentina snapped without taking her eyes off the scrolls.

  Nina’s voice was defiant as she turned and walked away from us, phone in hand. “I’m just going to tell him to release Jamie and see what he says.” Adan looked between Nina and us, then turned to follow her to the other side of the room. Valentina ignored Nina’s comment and picked up the first scroll, turning it over. I followed suit and turned the others over, displaying four identical rose compass crests in a row.

  My mind raced, and I let my hands trail over the rose.

  “What?” Valentina said. “You’re thinking something.”

  “Huh? Oh,” I said, my mind refocusing. “I saw this rose on a stained-glass window at the Rose Island lighthouse, but there was no compass. But still, it was drawn exactly the same. I’m just wondering if maybe that’s where the emblem came from, originally. Maybe that means something. Like maybe Rose Island is… I don’t know where the Order began somehow.” Valentina tilted her head, thinking. Something shifted in my mind. “Actually, I forgot to tell you last night, but I actually did find something weird on Rose Island before you arrived.”

  Valentina perked up, her eyes landing hard on me, urging me to continue. I licked my lips. “Yeah, um, in the well. I was looking for my phone in there and, well, I dropped my grandfather’s lighter by accident but…”