Page 8 of Heartless Prince

2

Tatum

It wasthe Friday after Tap Night, a strange night: wild and gusty, squalls of wind roaring across campus, no moon as it slipped behind a cloud to hide.

I was going to spend most of the night hiding too.

I hurried out of Bamford and headed right, down a wide stone path. The Roden cemetery was on the westernmost part of the campus, about a fifteen minute walk from my suite.

I knew sneaking into the Crown and Dagger tomb and getting into the underground lair to witness their party without being seen wouldn’t be easy. It might even be impossible. Still, I’d done all I could to ensure I had a chance.

Willa told me that after the initiation ceremonies on Tap Night, all recruits were given dark brown hooded robes to wear at future events. We’d gone to the Drama Department and borrowed the closest thing we could find, and now I was wearing it.

I figured I would get to the cemetery early, hide near the tomb, and wait for a group of recruits to find their way to the back entrance. Then I would quietly slip behind their group with my head down, pretending to be one of them as they entered the tomb. After that, I would have to think on my feet, because I had no idea what the tomb was like on the inside.

Posters stuck onto stone and brick walls fluttered in the wind as I headed past a campus library. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a girl’s face staring at me from one of the posters. Priyanka Rahman.

Two weeks ago, right after the conversation I’d had with my friends about all of Roden’s missing girls, Priyanka—Pri to her friends—had gone missing as well. It was a horrible coincidence. Her neighbor from her residential college had reported her missing, and posters had gone up all over campus over the next few days, begging for information.

A week later, Dean Davenport released a statement saying that Pri was actually fine. Apparently she’d become stressed from her workload at Roden and dropped out so she could fly back to her home country of New Zealand for some much-needed relaxation. Still, the incident had given the campus quite a scare, and not many people were hanging around outside at night anymore, opting for the cozy safety of their suites instead. It didn’t help that no one had bothered taking down any of the posters yet, either.

I finally reached the path that led down to the cemetery. It was narrow and dimly-lit with only a handful of cast iron lampposts, curling away downhill and lined with deep black hedges. From my vantage point up here, I could see more lights shining on various places in the cemetery, a strangely-welcoming yellow glow that fell on the winding paths within.

There was a large wrought iron gate and stone wall guarding the cemetery. I didn’t want to go directly through the gate just yet, though, in case I ran into anyone. Instead I went slightly to the left and crept along the wall, keeping one hand on the branches and ivy that crept over it. Then I waited, my eyes scanning for movement and ears pricked for sound.

The moon chose that exact moment to come out from behind the clouds. The lawn in the cemetery looked almost white in the light, and the dark outline of gravestones rose up eerily in the night. I didn’t see any people, though.

As quietly as possible, I crept back to the gate and opened it with a creak. I stole across the lawn on my tiptoes until I reached a gravestone tall enough to hide behind and close enough to the Crown and Dagger tomb to see what was going on. The cemetery should seem spooky to me, but I was too excited about my little mission to worry about the ancient bones beneath my feet.

I peered out from my hiding spot to get a good look at the hulking gray sepulcher. It was the quintessential Roden tomb: imposing, windowless and full of secrets. Much larger than I thought it would be, too. I knew I was at the back of it, because I’d seen the front with its stone columns and carved Latin words when I crept past a moment ago.

I checked my phone. It was just after nine. Willa told me the recruits usually solved the riddle and found their way to the back entrance of the tomb anywhere between nine and twelve, so I could be in for a long night.

I curled up and waited. The evening went on and on. A handful of times, there was a noise, and I immediately perked up, but it was just some sort of animal scrabbling through the graveyard.

A few minutes before ten-thirty, there was a snapping of twigs somewhere, too far away to pinpoint. Silence again, then a crunch of footsteps over dead leaves, only yards away from the tomb.

It was time.

I pulled my hood down over my face and crouched in my spot, ready to jump up and silently join the recruits. They arrived a moment later. I counted twelve of them. That was a good number, easy to blend into.

“What’s gonna happen here?” I heard one of them say. “I thought the other night was the initiation.”

“It was. Pretty sure tonight’s just a party to celebrate our acceptance. At least that’s what my uncle told me. He’s a member,” said another guy in a low voice.

“Better be fucking good to make up for it being in a freezing tomb,” another one grumbled.

“I heard it’s wild as fuck, man.”

I saw them heading to the tomb’s back entrance, a large door carved into the stone. Quiet as a mouse, I tiptoed over to the back of the group and followed them, keeping my head as far down as possible with my hood pulled forward so that no one would see my face and realize I wasn’t male. The robe hid my curvy shape perfectly, so hopefully I’d just look like a short guy if anyone happened to notice me.

Fortunately, no one even turned to look at me. They were too excited about what lay ahead of them. I could practically feel them buzzing and vibrating with anticipation.

The recruit at the front of the group pushed the heavy, creaking door open so that it stayed ajar. Everyone else stepped inside, one after the other. I crept in with them, still unnoticed, and I immediately cast my eyes around, planning my next move.

Two burning torches lit the expansive tomb, held by two tall men in dark navy blue robes. The floor was cold gray concrete and a stack of coffins stood to one side. Creepy, but not unexpected.

Several padlocked doors stood nearby, ostensibly leading to other wings. Willa was right about this main room—aside from the coffins, there was nothing in it.

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