Page 16 of Dig Your Grave

I tried to read his face.The flickering lamplight made it harder, but I picked up guilt and sincerity woven in his expression.He was telling some version of the truth.Maybe.Or was this all part of a bigger prank?Strangely enough, relief washed through me.He’d admitted it.I wasn’t crazy.He had orchestrated some of those humiliations.And he’d done it, so he claimed, to protect me.The logic was warped, but Edenvane’s labyrinth of politics might indeed require twisted logic.

I took a shaky breath.“So what do I do now?”

Anubis reached across the gap between us, resting a hand over mine.Despite everything, the warmth of his touch sparked a comforting electric pulse along my skin.I let out a slow exhale and didn’t pull away.

“I want to show you something,” he said at last.“But it means you’ll have to trust me for at least one night.No prying editor, no illusions that you can run to the Dean or the campus police.I need you to keep an open mind.Will you come with me?”

I wasn’t sure how wise it was to trust him.The last time I went with him, I found myself buried alive as he buried his bone in me.The memories that flooded me as I thought of it did little to discourage me.But also Toccara’s face flashed in my memory, and with it came the strangest sense that she’d want me to keep prying.

“Alright,” I whispered.

Chapter 7

He stood, offering me his hand.I took it and followed him back into the corridor, where the single overhead light still glowed.Past the bar and lounge area, a set of double doors led us out onto the veranda behind the Boat House.This was where people usually jumped into the river during parties, but it was empty and silent now, the moon shimmering off the water like polished onyx.

Anubis walked down the steps, guiding me toward a smaller, inconspicuous path that cut through the trees near the riverside.The earthy scent of moss and wet leaves enveloped us.The hush of the night made every twig snap underfoot sound thunderous.

Before long, I spotted diffuse lights through the canopy.My mind raced with images, a cultic clearing, a hidden grove, some sinister shrine.But as we drew closer, I realized it was more straightforward, the old caretaker’s cottage, perched at the water’s bend, ringed by an old fence.

“What is this place?”I whispered, stepping around a muddy puddle.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small key ring, fiddling with it before carefully inserting the oldest-looking key into a padlock on the cottage door.It clicked, and he removed the chain.

“A relic,” he said, pushing the door open.“Part of Edenvane’s original campus, left to rot decades ago.Now it’s used for… Well, come see.”

A wave of mustiness hit my nostrils as we stepped inside.The cottage’s interior was surprisingly intact, though dust sheathed the furniture.Large windows overlooked the inky river.A crooked painting of the earliest Edenvane founder, Anubis’ ancestor, hung by the fireplace.The furniture seemed from another era, with thick upholstered chairs and a battered ottoman.

Anubis flicked a switch, and antique lamps blinked to life, illuminating shelves upon shelves of old ledgers, books, and black binders set against the cottage walls.

“Welcome to one of the last remnants of the Skulls’ unofficial library,” he said.“Not the official campus archives.This is the part that never made it online or onto microfiche.”

My chest constricted.When Harry, the Howler’s editor, had pressed me about the Skulls, I assumed it was a rumor or at most a hush-hush club.And my mind had been spinning nonstop, wanting Anubis’ connection to the Skull to be a hoax, a trick, some way to call me out for looking into it.

But this place, this library, suggested an entire shadow network, meticulously documented across centuries that he was indeed connected to.

Anubis closed the door behind us, pocketing his keys.“I’ll inherit the caretaker role.It’s supposed to pass among certain families in the society.That includes…” He gestured to the frames of old black-and-white photographs showing groups of men and women in heavy robes, some in half-masks or holding cryptic insignias.“Everyone in these pictures was a Skull.My family used it to guard knowledge they’d rather not have in public.If my father was around, he’d kill me for bringing you here.”

I stared, speechless.It was a gold mine for anyone investigating the Skulls.The pictures alone told a story of secret traditions, from the early 1900s up to modern times.I recognized a few faces from the more recent frames, some were major public figures, famous CEOs, or high-ranking politicians.That old rumor that half the country’s movers and shakers graduated from Edenvane with membership in a secret society?It wasn’t just a rumor.It was right here, plastered on the cottage walls.

“I don’t know what to say,” I murmured.

He went to a battered side table and rummaged through a drawer.Finally, he withdrew a small black ledger and held it out to me.“Start here, if you want a lead for your Howler article.”

Swallowing thickly, I took the ledger in trembling hands.I recognized the name scrawled in gold ink on the cover:AlbertReginald Edenvane.That was Anubis’ great-grandfather, the same man rumored to have reconstructed the main campus building block by block.

I looked up, meeting his gaze.“You’re…giving me this?”

His jaw tightened.“For tonight, yes.But you can’t remove any of these records from the cottage.If you want notes, you do it here.And you have to promise me you’ll keep quiet about how you got it.”

“Alright,” I said softly, my heart pounding.The significance of this trust wasn’t lost on me.“Thank you.”

A ghost of a smile twitched across his lips before he turned away, scanning the shelves.“There’s a lot more here, but that ledger is the foundation.It’ll show you the original Skulls’ membership rolls, their philanthropic acts, and some of the dark theories about…human psychology, if you want to call it that.”His eyes darkened.“Look closely for references to the ‘Bone Trials’ that’s the archaic name they used for their initiation rites.”

The old term sent a chill through me.“The Bone Trials,” I repeated.“Sounds like something from a horror movie.”

He gave a short, humorless laugh.“It can be.It used to be worse.Some of it was toned down after certain…incidents.Now, the society operates more in the shadows of finance and politics.They like to test loyalty with… tasks, but it’s not all bizarre costumes and chanting.More psychological, less…visceral than it used to be.”

I raised a brow.“Is that supposed to comfort me?”

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