Page 65 of Soulless Rivalry

“He still didn’t name names?”

“No, but he did call the girl who I assumed was his sacrifice ‘B’.”

“Did you get anything else from it?”

“They did weird shit with the blood.”

I felt bile rise in my throat. “How weird are we talking?”

“Weird like douse themselves in it.”

I winced at the mental image his words brought.

“He writes that The Brotherhood always opens the year with three sacrifices to Tyche. They Empty them of their blood and bathe in it. He recalls an incident where one of their blood basins was connected to the piping but they didn't know. It ended up spraying blood in the locker room showers.”

“Oh, my God! Do you think that's what happened that night in the kitchens?”

“Seems like it,” he shrugged.

Just as I was about to ask him about where he’d stopped, my phone, along with his and everyone else’s in the library, judging from the sounds coming from a little bit everywhere around us and on the floors below, vibrated.

We shared a glance before unlocking our respective phones. A video had been sent to seemingly everyone at school, the quality was mediocre but I could make out a brown girl wearing a leotard, twirling on the tip of her toes. It took me a second to recognize Briar.

She danced beautifully, like she was born for it. I couldn’t help but smile as pride welled in my chest. For as long as I had known her, Briar had dreamed of being Black Swan; to see her make her dream come true was simply beautiful.

But then…

Then something horrible happened. A single board from the scene gave out, trapping her feet inside up to her ankle. She lost her balance and fell, her knee bending at a weird angle. I didn’t have the sound on, but Konstantin did and the deafeningpop that echoed around us made me flinch. I gasped, my hand coming up to cover my mouth in shock. Tears welled in my eyes to see my best friend, basically a sister, howl out in pain.

Briar screamed, agony written all over her face, as other dancers, including Katarina Korolova, and their teacher rushed to the stage to help her.

The video stopped there, and I found myself staring at the black screen for a few seconds longer before realizing what just happened.

Briar had broken her knee.

She would most likely be unable to dance again.

“Oh my God, I got to go,” I breathed heavily, gathering my things, ready to run off to the theater to help my friend.

Just as I turned around, heading for the staircase, Konstantin grabbed my elbow.

“Go help your friend, but meet me in the secret room tonight.”

I frowned, “She’ll need me, Konstantin. I don’t know if or when I’ll be able to come down there.”

“I’ll wait. All night if need be. Just… please, meet me there tonight.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but ultimately snapped it shut, giving him a simple nod before he let go of me and I hightailed it out of there.

Today was a sad day.We were all gathered in Briar’s room, as she lay on her bed with her leg propped up and bandaged. Dry tears on her cheeks, eyes red from crying, she stared into nothingness, not even acknowledging our presence.

Mia and I shared a worried look as Sinem silently dried her tears. She hadn’t been able to stop crying since we joined Briar at the infirmary. She had such a pure soul… she felt Briar’s pain like her own.

And so did I. I would never forget the pure suffering on her face when the nurse told her her leg was broken and the scream she let out still replayed in my mind. I couldn’t understand her, I had never been in her shoes. Sure, I had violin and was pretty good at it, but I didn’t love it like she loved dancing. I had taken it on because I’d been forced to, as a good mafia daughter.

But Briar loved dancing, it was the one thing in life that had gotten her through the death of her parents. The one thing in life that still connected her to her mom, who had been a ballet teacher. The fact that nobody could answer her on whether or not she would be able to dance again, even after the inevitable operation she’d have to go through, was the last nail in the coffin.

Her grandfather had been alerted and he was coming tomorrow via helicopter to take her back to the mainland. We had no idea of when she’d be able to come back.

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