Privilege 4 - Sweet Deceit (14 page)

Ariana folded her hands on the table, feeling very in charge and very proud of herself. She looked around at each of her fellow taps and smiled. "I have an idea that may keep the rest of us from getting cut from Stone and Grave."

Kaitlynn's eyebrows shot up and Tahira shifted forward in her seat. Even Landon suddenly blinked his eyes all the way open, truly awake for the first time.

"Really?" Jasper asked, lowering his forearm flat on the table. "What, pray tell, might this be?"

"All we have to do is solve Martin Tsang's riddle and retrieve the headstones on our own," Ariana said quietly, urgently. "If we do that, the membership will be so grateful they'll let every last one of us in."

Landon sat up straight, tossing his bangs back from his face. He and the other taps all looked around at each other, pondering the idea. "I like it," he said, his voice scratchy. "But do you really think we can do it?"

"Yeah," Tahira said. "We don't even have the poem."

"True, but I thought that between the five of us, we might remember all the important parts," Ariana replied.

"I memorized it," Kaitlynn said, raising her hand to shoulder level.

"You did?" Ariana asked.

"I have a photographic memory," Kaitlynn said, lifting her chin smugly.

Ariana stared at her. She was learning new things about Kaitlynn every day. She slipped a notebook and pen out of her bag, opened the book to a clean page, and poised the pen over it. The others followed suit. All but Landon, who hadn't thought to bring anything with him. He gave Ariana a sheepish look and dropped back in his chair, his hair falling back over his eyes.

"Well? Were you planning to share?" Jasper said.

Kaitlynn took a breath and recited, pausing between each line to give the others time to jot them down. She was biting back a smile throughout the recitation, clearly relishing her pertinent role in the proceedings.

"`Small and dark and cramped am I, though never you would know. . . .'"

Kaitlynn ran through the entire riddle, while the others sat transfixed.

"Thanks, Lily," Ariana said when Kaitlynn was finished.

"Anytime," Kaitlynn replied with a proud smile.

Ariana quickly scrawled the last few words, then sat back to read it over. "Okay. So we're looking for a small, dark, and cramped room," she began.

"Probably a basement," Jasper added, chewing on the inside of his cheek. "Since it says it has a secret lair below."

"The Tombs?" Landon said with a yawn, lacing his fingers together on the table.

"Why would they hide our headstones in our own secret meeting place?" Tahira snapped.

"I dunno," Landon said, parting his palms. "I'm just saying. It's a secret lair, and it's down below."

"And it is dark, but it's not cramped or small," Ariana put in. "Those stacks go on for miles."

"So does anyone know of any other basement rooms at APH?" Kaitlynn asked, looking around. "Storage spaces or anything like that?"

"It's probably not a regular storage room though," Ariana corrected. She tapped the cap end of her pen against her chin. "It says there are honored memories locked inside."

"`Honored memories . . . ,'" Tahira mused, pushing her thick hair back from her face with both hands. "Like diaries? Maybe the headmaster's diary or journal or something?"

"I don't know. `Honored memories . . . ,'" Ariana said, her eyes narrow as she brainstormed. "It makes it sound more important than diaries. More . . . historical, maybe? Like maybe the founders' diaries or something like that?"

"I've got it!" Jasper said, shoving his chair backward with his legs as he stood. The chair made an awful screeching sound against the wood floor, and Ariana's shoulders curled toward her ears. "What about the archives?" he suggested.

Tahira and Landon exchanged a look.

"The archives don't exist," Tahira said with a scoff. "They're a prep school myth."

"But if they did exist, this poem would definitely lead us there, right?" Jasper said, pacing around the table, wielding his copy of the poem. "`Honored memories'? `Only one may enter'?"

Tahira frowned thoughtfully. "I guess. . . ."

"What are the archives?" Ariana asked, intrigued. "I don't remember them from the campus history or the map."

"That's just it," Jasper said, dropping his notebook on the table and leaning both hands into the back of an empty chair. "The archives don't officially exist."

"Okay. I'm confused. If they don't exist, how can our headstones be there?" Kaitlynn asked, shifting in her chair.

Tahira rolled her eyes and sat forward. "It's this story passed down from one class to the next," she explained. "Supposedly, there's some secret spot on campus where the founders hid all these historical items from around the time the school was founded. Diaries, blueprints, the original school documents . . . plus newspapers and original uniforms. Crap like that."

"Like one huge time capsule," Jasper said, his eyes bright with excitement. "And supposedly each year a senior is gifted with the key to the archives, to keep just in case the faculty member in charge passes on or something."

"Only one may enter," Kaitlynn said, sitting up straight. "Well, where is it?" Ariana asked, her pulse beginning to skip. "And how do we get the key? I mean, how do we find out who the senior student is?"

Silence reigned inside the study room. Ariana felt her spirits fall. She'd never seen such a perfectly blank slate of expressions.

"Martin Tsang. He's the one student who has a key."

Ariana looked up at the door. Adam Lazerri stood there, hugging himself in his skimpy cotton coat, his dark curls sticking out in all directions.

"Adam? What are you doing here?" Ariana asked, her throat dry. Adam shouldn't be privy to inside information. She and her fellow taps could get in huge trouble for this. Immense trouble.

"I followed you guys," he said, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down as he took a tentative step into the room. "When I saw Landon and Jasper walk out together, I knew it had to have something to do with Stone and Grave," he said. "I've been standing outside the room listening this entire time," he added, tilting his head toward the door.

Ariana's spirits sagged. Rule number one in clandestine meetings: Always close the door.

"You shouldn't be here, dude," Landon said, sitting up straight. "You're going to get us all kicked out."

"Wait," Jasper said. "Has it escaped everyone's attention that Adam just said he knows something about the riddle?"

Ariana glanced at Kaitlynn, who stared back, determined. Clearly she was ready to use Adam for whatever information he had. And for once, Ariana couldn't have agreed with her more.

"Get in here and close the door," she told Adam.

Adam did as he was told, but didn't remove his jacket or sit down. He stood in the corner of the small room, looking awkward with his hands down at his sides. His skin was pale and there were dark circles under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept in days. Ariana's heart went out to him. She knew he was still hurting over Brigit. Plus, Adam was here on scholarship. Getting into Stone and Grave probably meant more to him than it did the others. The society meant connections he otherwise had no hope of making, considering his meager background.

"I don't like this," Tahira said. "He can't know what's going on with Stone and Grave. There's a reason it's called a secret society."

"Did you guys really think it was fair, the way I got thrown out?" Adam asked, his voice quiet but firm. "I mean, just because I don't run as fast as Landon, I'm cut? Seriously?"

No one replied. Ariana was sure they were all trying to weigh the risks of Adam being here against the potential rewards.

"I just want a chance to prove to them that I'm worth taking a second look, that's all," Adam said, stepping forward. "And I know I can help you guys."

Ariana took a deep breath. "Okay. You say Martin Tsang is the one with the key to the archives. How do you know that?"

"Tsang is like the right-hand man of Dr. Tomassen," Adam said. "The head of the history department. The two of us are always there together, working on special projects for the teachers, filing, cleaning out old tests and stuff, but he never misses a chance to remind me that he's more important than I am. One day we were talking and he started showing off about how much Tomassen trusts him. How he entrusted him with the biggest secret in the entire school."

"He told you about the archives?" Tahira said dubiously.

"Not exactly, but I know that's what he was talking about. What else could it be?" Adam said, lifting his shoulders. "And then, one night, when we were working late, Tomassen came and pulled Martin out. I was sick of his ego trip crap, so I followed them, and I saw Tomassen give him something. I heard him say that one current student is granted this honor each year--that he had to protect whatever it was, just in case anything happens to Tomassen. It must've been a key to the archives."

Ariana was breathless. This was it. It had to be.

"What's Martin keeping there?" Adam asked. He blushed sheepishly. "I missed that part."

Tahira clenched her jaw and looked away. Ariana was just debating whether to tell him, when Jasper beat her to it.

"They took our headstones," he said. "We're going to get them back."

"Jasper!" Landon admonished, his cheeks flushed with anger.

"We still don't know where the archives are," Kaitlynn pointed out, ignoring Landon.

"Follow Tsang," Adam said, his posture straightening. "I'd bet money that he hangs out at the archives every chance he gets. I'm sure it makes him feel all special, the fact that he's the only one with a key. And he'd definitely be there if he was keeping something of Stone and Grave's there."

"So follow Tsang . . . find the stones," Jasper said, looking at Ariana.

Ariana grinned at him. "It's time for a stakeout." FELLOW SCHEMER

Ariana tugged her black wool hat down over her ears as she knelt in the dirt next to Jasper. The two of them were huddled behind a large rock, about fifty yards away from the back door of Pryce Hall. Behind the tree to her right were Tahira and Landon, and crouched behind another rock were Kaitlynn and Adam, all of them dressed in head-to-toe black. The debate over whether to include Adam had raged for an hour before Jasper had suggested a vote and Tahira and Landon had been outnumbered. Ariana knew it was a risk, but she agreed with Adam. He hadn't deserved to be thrown out so offhandedly. And it was too late anyway. He already knew what was going on. Besides, without him, they wouldn't have even gotten as far as they had.

"Are we sure this is where the archives are?" Ariana whispered.

"Adam and I took shifts watching Martin Tsang all day," Jasper replied, tugging a pair of high-tech binoculars from his waistband. Ariana had no idea where he'd gotten them, and she decided she didn't care. She was just glad he had them. "He went in through this door three different times, and Adam saw a couple of Fellows come out right before lunch. Then after lunch I saw two others go in. That's why we think there might be more than one of them guarding the stones. It's like they're taking shifts."

He lifted the binoculars to his eyes and adjusted the knobs. "Y We have movement," he said, handing over the binocs. "Check the

es. westernmost window."

Ariana stared him down. "You can just say right or left."

He smirked, his blond bangs sticking out from beneath the hem of his black hat. "Left."

Ariana rolled her eyes and checked the window. Linen blinds were pulled securely over the windows to discourage prying eyes, but the lights were on inside, and sure enough, Ariana could see the shadows of two or more people moving around behind them.

"Okay. Are you ready to do this?" Ariana asked.

Jasper lifted his stuffed backpack onto his shoulders. "Say the word, General Covington."

Ariana stifled a laugh and stood up. "Everyone," she whisper-shouted. "We're going in!"

Tentatively, Landon, Tahira, Adam, and Kaitlynn slipped out of their hiding places, each toting a large bag, some empty for carrying back the headstones, others full of the creative weaponry needed for Jasper's plan. The six of them crouched and ran, two by two, across the open grass between the tree line and the back of Pryce Hall.

"Get down!" Jasper whispered as they reached the outer wall.

Ariana hit the ground, her back up against the cold brick wall, the branches of the decorative shrubbery around the building scratching at her knees. Tahira and Landon ended up on one side of the metal door, Ariana, Jasper, Kaitlynn, and Adam on the other. For a few moments, no one moved a muscle. Ariana's heart pounded in her throat and in her temples. If the Fellows realized they were here before they wanted the Fellows to know, their plan was done for. And the headstones might be done for too. All of this was being done to impress the Stone and Grave membership, but they would not be impressed if the taps frightened the Fellows into destroying the stones prematurely.

"Okay. Is everyone clear on their assignments?" Ariana whispered.

The others nodded. Jasper and Landon pulled several bottles of canola oil from their bags, stolen from the dining hall earlier that day. Tahira jimmied out a couple of torn feather pillows. A few white feathers escaped into the breeze. Ariana and Kaitlynn followed suit, carefully extracting their own pillows. Ariana clutched the tear closed to keep from making too much of a mess.

"Let's go!" Jasper whispered.

He got up and, ever so quietly, tugged open the heavy back door. He held it as Ariana, Tahira, Landon, Kaitlynn, then Adam slipped through, then closed it slowly--silently.

Ariana tiptoed down the stairs, her leg muscles tense, the others following her lead. At the bottom of the steps, she found a perfectly round, empty room with a gleaming marble floor. To the right was a heavy wooden door with an imposing-looking bronze doorknob and an ancient keyhole. She held up a hand as the others fell in behind her on the stairs. A loud round of laughter sounded on the other side of the door.

"They're in there," she whispered.