Page 25 of Make Me Lie (Rich Demons of Darkwood 1)

I stared at it for long seconds, staring at the arrow sign that had been drawn between the picture of Aurora and the picture of Delilah. Then I dropped the flyer on the floor.

Everything was over.

Woodenly, I went into our dorm room and into the bathroom, where I took another shower. But I felt like I couldn't wash the dirt off.

The dirt on me from being The Demon's daughter wasn't anything that I could ever wash off. When I got out of the shower and got dressed, there was a knock on the door.

I opened it and found my RA there with a new kind of smile: an apologetic one.

“Hey, because there are some concerns about your security and making sure you're safe, you've got a new room assignment.” He rattled off the words fast as if he were in a hurry to escape.

“I don't think that's going to help. It seems like I have a stalker.” I'd be lucky if it was just one person.

He hesitated, then said, “Aurora, your room has been reassigned. This isn't really an option.”

I stared at him until he seemed to cringe, although he kept smiling, then sighed. I didn’t really want people to be scared of me. “Fine. Where am I going to have to move? Different floor?”

I didn't really relish the thought of dragging all my stuff into an elevator.

He cleared his throat. “You're being assigned to a whole different building. Here's the address.”

He handed over a printout to me. My name was at the top, and there was an address, but no room assignment.

“Great.” I shoved it into my pocket. “Fantastic. Thank you so much for your help.”

I decided to leave my stuff in the washing machine for now and go scope out my new spot. I made sure to pack up my few undamaged things in a few bags. At least I'd had my laptop with me and some of my most expensive textbooks.

It wasn't as if I hadn't lived most of my life owning nothing really of my own. I’d never been allowed to get attached to things other than The Demon himself. So maybe it wasn't a great loss for me to leave my paint-soaked room behind and set off across campus with nothing but the backpack digging into my shoulders and two bags.

I had to check a campus map to find the right street, and I wandered along looking for the address. I was in a row of frat houses on the edge of campus. I felt a little funny about the location. I didn't see any big dorms out here for freshmen.

Then I saw the castle-like building in front of me. It was the same secret society house that my roommate had pointed out to me with so much enthusiasm.

Why in the world would I be assigned to a secret society? I wasn't a part of this. I think I would have noticed. This had to be some kind of mistake. I looked down at the paper again, then back up at the address. I could go back and talk to my RA, but he didn’t seem super helpful.

Maybe I should knock. I was just curious enough that I’d be glad to have an excuse to glimpse the inside of the building.

I climbed the stone steps, glancing up once more at the foreboding stone walls covered in ivy.

I could have sworn that my knees shook just for a second as I raised my hand to knock.

The door was made of a thick, dense wood that muffled the sound of my knock completely.

I fidgeted nervously, just hoping that I didn't have to stand out here with my bags. Students were walking past me on the sidewalk, and the back of my neck burned thinking about all of them staring at me and talking about me. I had somehow convinced myself it was an impossibility that anyone would ever find out.

And yet here I was. Stuck with a face I didn't need, and a name I didn't want.

There was a whirring, mechanical sound nearby, and I frowned as I tried to find the source. I jumped a little when I saw what looked like a security camera peeking out from the ivy, pointed directly at me.

"That's not the entrance," an unfamiliar voice said from behind the ivy right by my head...making me jump again.

I was like a nervous rabbit.Get your shit together,I told myself fiercely as I lifted up the ivy to find the source of the voice. It seemed to be my mantra since I'd been here.

Behind the ivy was an old, rusted speaker. I heard laughter from nearby and hunched towards the building as if it somehow had the power to absorb me and make me invisible from everyone.

"Are you going to stand there all day like an idiot?" the voice said again from the speaker, and I glared at it before remembering he was watching me from the camera. So I glared at it too.

"This is the front door. Just open the damn thing," I said out loud, even though I wasn't sure if the speaker worked two ways.

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