Page 4 of Twisted Legacy

We finish our workouts in silence, a stifling heaviness in the air between us. The longer Finn runs, the looser he gets. Exertion is his happy place, and he’s never been one to hold a grudge. That means the vibes I’m getting are coming off of Holden, who internalizes so much shit. I walk over to where he is. He transitions from downward dog into cobra. His movements seem forced. He’s definitely not feeling the zen.

“I wasn’t implying you didn’t do a good job on the intel, Holden, but we took Malcolm’s word for it and never thought there was anything else to look into. That could bite us in the ass. We need to make sure it doesn’t.”

“I’ll take care of it.” He exhales, releasing some of the tension from his body. I’m done working out, so I go back to my room to get ready for our first appearance of the day at The Rock. We may have had a fucked up weekend, and we’re currently at odds with each other, but no one will know anything’s wrong when we step off the elevator.

Chapter4

Holden

Pax and I walk into The Rock, and I debate walking back out to save my ears. Everyone’s still talking about the pranks we pulled over the last week, and wondering how big the party will be when we celebrate the initiates crossing over. I think my friends would agree, we’re not in a party mood.

Someone fucked up last night. Starting with the dorm check that didn’t happen and ending with the gate guard not manning his post. Protocols are in place to prevent people, like Thea, from stumbling across sacred rituals, like Epsilon Tao doing their secret circle jerk.

I was in the graveyard spying on Epsilon Tao, donned in one of their ceremonial masks and robes. Thea’s lucky I’m the one who caught her. It would have been a nightmare trying to explain to The League how she wound up in the middle of Epsilon Tao’s slam fest on Mayhem Night.

I’ve been out of sorts all morning. I could barely concentrate on my yoga and it’s more than the tension between me and the guys. This sense of unease started this morning before I went to the gym and it’s only gotten worse post-workout and shower. I can’t pinpoint what it is or why, but something feels off. That’s why I’m providing my own ingredients for an omelette today. Spinach, mushrooms, onions, peppers, and a carton of egg whites.

I’ve learned to trust my gut and embrace my need to question everything. The one time I didn’t, I almost became a kid on the milk carton. I was seven, and I knew all about not walking off with strangers. Nobody could show up at school and lie about the nanny sending them to pick me up. I wasn’t going to help any strangers find their lost puppies. I was prepared for all those dangers. But nobody told me that there was a simpler way to get me to go with them. A way that no one would suspect. By poisoning my food at a kid’s birthday party.

I didn’t want the piece of cake the member of the wait staff insisted I eat. But it would have been rude not to have a slice. In our world, manners are everything. The sedative took effect during a game of hide and seek. I was always a good hider, and very observant, so I hid in the one room of the house that was always off limits to everyone. It was the perfect spot. I don’t know how long I was unconscious before Pax found me. Or how long it took for an adult to reach my parents before getting permission to take me to the hospital. I just know when I woke up, Pax was there. He stood guard over me, refusing to let anyone come near me. Not even the doctors.

It was never in the papers. The police were never called, but I know the kidnappers were caught and punished. That’s the first time my parents sat me down and explained the life we live is different. That my father’s job and associations put me and my sister in danger. My near kidnapping led to our first conversation about The League of the Daggered Ravens. My father was a field agent in the FBI, working on one of the biggest cases of his career. Little did he know his investigation would implicate a legacy family with ties to the cartel. They planned everything. Where to approach me, how to gain access to the party, and when to drug me. My curiosity about the wall to ceiling bookshelves in Mr. Winston’s office saved me. I’d stolen the spare key earlier in the afternoon and planned to hide in the office to escape the party. If I would have gone anywhere else, the people hired by the cartel would have found me, shoved me in the back of their van and driven off with me, never to be seen again.

I was trusting back then. Insulated. Never again. Which is why I genuinely question everything. I do a quick scan of the tables. Cataloging who’s sitting where. Everything seems normal. Everything in its place. I reach the counter, order my food, and pass over the basket with my ingredients. Making note of who’s working today. It’s one of the cooks I usually trust, but today I’m feeling off, so I grab a hairnet and go into the kitchen to watch him cook my food. I collect my plate, put it on a tray and carry it to our table myself.

Eloise’s shrill laugh draws my attention to the table. She looks all recovered from her run-in with Thea. I wish I could have been there when Thea tore through the sorority house right before she quit. Everyone thinks it’s because Zeta Nu was about to drop her, but that doesn’t make sense, since Thea was high up on the leaderboard.

The Zeta Nus are trying to keep things quiet, but I know all about Layla-Jean’s chastity vow ceremony. Somehow she wound up in an actual drug den, no pledge master in sight to monitor or control the test, seconds away from being forced to turn tricks. Thea never came out and said anything, but I know that’s why she attacked the sorority house. I think it’s admirable that she felt so protective of her friend. I don’t know what Eloise and the pledge masters were thinking. The purpose of the initiation tests is to push the pledges to the edge of comfort, to see how they act, and assess their critical thinking and problem-solving skills and their ability to improvise and work as a team. None of them are supposed to be in any real danger. As Interim President, Eloise should have been called to appear in front of a campus tribunal. If you ask me, she got off easy. She knows the pledge games she’s playing. She’s been through them before and knows what it takes to score high on the board. Her biggest challenge is having to watch Finn flirt and hookup with other people while she’s celibate. I grimace as I slide into my seat. She’s sitting here without a care in the world, hanging onto Finn like they’re some kind of celebrity power couple.

She smiles up at Pax when he motions for the girl holding two trays to set one down in front of her. I dissect that little exchange as I cut into my omelet. Finn and Eloise are getting married. They go through these phases where they spend all their time together and then avoid each other. But this behavior is out of the norm for Pax. It’s been happening for weeks, but I’ve pretended not to notice. He’s making sure her food is delivered, and has people carrying her books when Finn’s not around. He even blocks off the seats so no other girls can sit near Finn. First, I chalked it up to pledge season and us having to spend more time with the members of Zeta Nu, but this is something different.

I’ve been watching Eloise too, and she seems to have a lot more power around the school than she did at the beginning of the year. Power that only comes when you have a Trium backing you. I guess she and Pax have finally called a truce.

I don’t have much of an appetite, but I force myself to eat, ignoring the conversations going on around me, trying to get lost in my book. It must work because the next time I look up, the table is emptier than when I sat down.

I finish my meal and jerk my head towards the door, letting Pax know I’m heading to the library. Everyone else will be going back to the dorms to sleep in. This morning’s breakfast meet up was just to soak up the alcohol or drugs in their system.

Chapter5

Finn

Iditched the guys this morning, feeling the need to walk to the dining hall alone, then skipped breakfast altogether. I know we have to present a united front in public and we will, but for now, I need some space. I’m crossing the circle when an ambulance comes screeching by heading down the road that leads to the infirmary. There’s a crowd gathered on the side of the building near the ambulance bay, so I go to check things out. I slip through the bodies, coming to a stop next to Eloise, who’s at the front of the crowd. “Hey Ellie, any idea what’s happening?”

She turns and flings herself into my arms. “Oh, god, Finney. I just heard. It’s Zeus.”

“Zeus, what?”

“I don’t know the details, but that’s him in the ambulance.”

“Well, Zeus takes big risks and tends to go overboard on Mayhem Night. It was only a matter of time before something happened.”

She links her arm through mine and rests her head on my shoulder. “I was just heading to breakfast. Walk over to The Rock with me?”

There’s no use in me standing around here, listening to everyone talking about poor Zeus. He’s one of Mikey’s frat brothers. I can’t stand those dudes, so yeah, I’ve got zero sympathy for him sustaining a boo-boo last night. As I’m turning away, something else catches my attention. It’s Thea’s friend LJ, pushing her way through the crowd, like she’s looking for someone. She spots us and walks over, her eyes red-rimmed.

“I know it was you.”

It’s hard to determine which way the accusations are being hurled. Could be Ellie, could be anyone else standing around. I’m guessing the students have begun uncovering the destruction we left behind last night. That could go on for a few more weeks. We’re thorough and insidious. I can’t wait for The Dean to find what I left for him.

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