Privilege 4 - Sweet Deceit (15 page)

"Quiet, everyone," Jasper added. "This is it. Take your positions."

Ariana, Tahira, and Kaitlynn tiptoed around the room, spacing themselves out evenly along the walls, still clutching their pillows. Landon, Adam, and Jasper opened up their bottles of oil and, starting at the top of the room and working their way backward toward the door to the archives, dumped their contents out all over the floor. Ariana scrunched her nose as the scent of oil filled the room, the glug-glug of the bottles sounding like a trumpet call in the silence. Every second she expected the Fellows to come through the door and into the foyer to check out the noise, but the door stayed shut. Finally, the bottles were empty. Jasper shoved the plastic bottles into his bag and placed it against the wall by the door to the archives. Then he pressed his back up against the wall. Landon and Adam stood on the opposite side of the door.

"Everyone ready?" Jasper whispered.

Ariana held her breath and nodded with the others. Jasper met her eye. "Go!"

Jasper, Landon, and Adam pounded on the door and shouted, making a huge cacophony in the silence. It took about half a second for the door to fling open, nearly knocking Jasper off his feet. Four of the Fellows came barreling out and instantly slipped on the oily floor. The first went flying heels-over-head and landed directly on his back. The second tripped over his friend's prone body and fell face-first into the thick of the oil, sliding clear across the floor. The third and fourth saw what had happened to their brethren and tried to stop short, but they were too late. They skidded forward, collided with one another, and were sent sprawling in a fit of shouts and groans.

"Feathers!" Jasper shouted to the girls. "Now! Go! Go! Go!" he prodded Landon and Adam.

The guys ran into the now-open archive room while Ariana, Kaitlynn, and Tahira stepped tentatively forward, staying on the oil-free periphery, and shook out their feather pillows. White fluff filled the room and fluttered down all over the four Fellows, sticking fast to their oil-slicked bodies. Ariana felt a laugh bubble up in her throat as the Fellows struggled to get up onto their hands and knees, only to splay out flat again, cursing and vowing to kill the girls. Soon she, Tahira, and Kaitlynn were all laughing together, adding more and more feathers to the mess and confusing the Fellows to the ends of their wits. She met Tahira's and Kaitlynn's eyes through the thick air and realized she was actually enjoying this, enjoying doing this with them. Little did the Fellows know that their ill-conceived prank was actually working to bring the Stone and Grave taps closer.

"We've got them!" Jasper shouted as he, Adam, and Landon emerged from the archives. Their backpacks were stuffed to the gills, unzipped at the top with a few stones jutting out of each. Apparently the stones weren't stones at all, but made of some lightweight material, because the guys seemed to be having no trouble toting them. "Let's go!" Ariana replied. "Stick to the walls."

The guys followed her instructions, sidestepping toward her with their backs to the bricks. The girls joined them. As they made it to the stairs, one of the Fellows managed to scramble to his feet. His legs slid out on both sides, but he threw his arms out and kept his balance. He was completely covered in white and brown feathers--his hair, his hands, his lips--and his chest heaved as he pressed his fingers into fists. This guy was pissed off.

"You are so dead," he said through his teeth.

"Spread the word," Ariana said, laughing. "The Stone and Grave is not to be trifled with."

Then she balled up her pillowcase and threw it at him. He reached for it instinctively and, in doing so, lost his balance and slammed to the floor with a splat. Ariana and her friends cracked up laughing and ran up the stairs, tripping out into the night.

"Nice one," Jasper said as they jogged away from the door.

"Please. That was all you," Ariana said breathlessly. She paused as they reached the tree line and bent to catch her breath. The others raced ahead, intent on getting as far away from the building as possible.

"I guess we both have wicked minds," Jasper replied, leaning one hand against a thick tree trunk as he sucked wind.

"What do you mean?" Ariana asked. She tugged her hat off and shook her hair out, her scalp tingling.

"The gum thing? I know that was your idea," Jasper said, taking a step toward her. "It was noble, what you tried to do for Lillian . . . but I know a fellow schemer when I see one."

Ariana's face fell at being snagged, but then she slowly smiled. It was nice to have her idea acknowledged. For a long moment, she and Jasper stood there together, under the canopy of branches, catching their breath and smiling.

"Come on. Let's go reap our spoils," he said finally.

And together, they took off after their friends. CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

Ariana and her fellow taps all lined up in tap order in the Tombs--Tahira at position one, Kaitlynn at five, Ariana right in the center at number three --standing in the spots in which they were normally placed for Stone and Grave interrogations. On the floor behind them were the bags full of headstones. Each of the taps stood with their hands clenched behind their backs, and Ariana felt as if she could hear the hearts of her cohorts pounding with excitement. When she heard the door squeal open in the distance, followed by a bevy of confused, intense voices, she found she could hardly breathe.

This was going to work. It had to.

The first person to enter the room was Lexa. Her jaw dropped slightly when she saw the taps standing there, but she quickly recovered and stormed over. She was wearing jeans and a sweater under her red coat. Her face was scrubbed clean, and there was a crease on her right cheek from her pillow. Ariana felt a twinge of satisfaction, knowing her text to the membership had woken Lexa up.

"You? You called this meeting?" she demanded, looking down the line of pledges. "And what the hell is Adam doing here?"

"If you don't mind, Sister Becky Sharp, we'd like to wait for the entire membership to arrive before we explain," Ariana replied coolly. She was not going to let Lexa intimidate her. Right now, Ariana had the power.

Lexa's green eyes flashed. "Do not use that name in front of him," she snapped, thrusting a finger out at Adam. "How dare you bring an outsider in here? This is sacred space."

Ariana could feel Landon and Tahira staring her down. Her face burned under their accusatory glares, but she didn't flinch. She was in the right here. And she wasn't about to let them think otherwise. Soon the Tombs were filled with Stone and Grave brothers and sisters, all of whom were staring the taps up and down, murmuring and whispering. Lexa narrowed her eyes at Ariana.

"Well, it appears we're all here now . . . at your request," Lexa said with a sneer. "Why don't you give me one good reason not to throw all six of you out on your asses right now?"

"We've got about thirty," Jasper replied.

He, Ariana, and Landon turned, picked up the backpacks full of Stone and Grave headstones, and placed them at Lexa's feet. April stepped forward out of the crowd, her red hair back in a ponytail, her coat tied loosely over flannel pajamas, and she gaped down at the bags, dumbstruck.

"Are those--?"

Lexa bent and tugged one of the stones from the first bag. Then she and April unzipped all of them and dumped them out carefully onto the floor, laying them out in front of the taps.

"How did you . . . where did you . . . ?" April stuttered. "I haven't even cracked the riddle yet."

Palmer slipped out from the huddle of members wearing gray sweatpants and a navy blue Yale sweatshirt. He knelt down to inspect the stones. "Someone start explaining," he said, looking up at Landon. "Now."

"Brother Starbu--," Kaitlynn began. Then, off a silencing glare from Lexa, her mouth snapped shut. She cleared her throat and started again. "If I may speak?"

Lexa nodded. "Go ahead."

"Ana thought it would be good for us to take initiative and retrieve the stones," Kaitlynn said. "As a gesture to you . . . our brothers and sisters. She called the tap class together and she and Jasper figured out the riddle."

"Is this true?" Lexa said to Ariana.

Ariana was so dumbfounded over the fact that Kaitlynn had just given her credit where credit was due--that she hadn't even mentioned her own role in the riddle-solving--she could hardly find her voice. Her body tingled with warmth from the top of her head all the way to the tips of her toes. It was in that moment that she knew all of her plotting had worked. She and Kaitlynn were friends again. Really and truly friends.

"Yes," she said, unable to contain her grin. "It's true." Then she took a breath and continued. "But Lillian was the one who remem-

bered the riddle word for word," she added. "And if it wasn't for Adam, we would have gotten nowhere with the answer. We never would have found the archives without him."

"The archives?" Palmer said, standing up and turning to Adam. "They exist?"

"They do," Jasper replied as Adam blushed in silence. "And thanks to Adam, we now know exactly where they are."

"The Fellows were keeping our headstones there," Ariana explained.

"`All honored memories locked inside, and now your precious gifts I hide,'" April recited, crossing her arms over her chest. "Of course."

"The archives made sense, but it was Adam who came forward with the information that Martin Tsang had a key to get inside," Ariana explained. "We followed Tsang and we found the stones."

"Okay, but how did you get him to give them back?" Palmer asked, crossing his arms over his chest and eyeing them with interest.

Ariana looked at Jasper and laughed. "It's a long story," Jasper said. "But let's just say they didn't give them up willingly."

"Let's just say it was a . . . sticky situation," Kaitlynn added.

Palmer smirked and Ariana could tell he wanted the whole story, but she and the other taps were still on the hot seat, and now didn't seem like the moment for a hilarious retelling of the details.

"I still don't understand how Adam got involved," Lexa said suspiciously. "I thought we made it clear that this is a secret society. How many outsiders, exactly, did you go to for help?"

"They didn't come to me. I followed them," Adam spoke up finally. "I wanted to prove to them, and to all of you, that I deserve to be here. It's not their fault I listened in." He paused and smiled, lifting an eyebrow. "I'm just that good."

Palmer and a few of the other guys laughed, but they stopped short at a stern look from Lexa. She turned around and walked over to the first dusty bookcase, gripping the shelf in front of her with both hands, clearly deep in thought. Ariana held her breath. Would Lexa really kick all of them out? Could the Atherton-Pryce Hall chapter of Stone and Grave really justify having no pledge class at all?

Finally, Lexa lifted her head and turned to face the membership, her back to the taps. A bolt of apprehension sizzled through Ariana's heart.

"Brothers and sisters, tonight our tap class has proven that we have been wise in our selections this semester," she said loudly. Then she glanced over her shoulder at Adam. "And, perhaps, too hasty in some of our decisions."

Adam grinned from ear to ear.

" To our taps!" Lexa shouted, raising one arm in the air.

" To our taps!" the membership shouted back. Ariana's heart inflated with happiness as the entire room dissolved into applause and cheers and congratulations. A couple of the guys clapped Adam on the back and pulled him into the group. Maria and Soomie, meanwhile, raced forward to hug her, which made it all the easier to hug Palmer as well without looking suspicious. As he grabbed her up in his arms and lifted her off her feet, Ariana had never felt so free, so accomplished, and so proud.

She'd done it. She'd gotten the headstones back to Stone and Grave and, thanks to Kaitlynn, she'd gotten most of the credit for it. There was no way they were going to hold her to her task now. She and Palmer were going to remain a secret until they were ready to come out as a couple, and she was going to go down in history as the Stone and Grave tap who'd saved their headstones.

Everything was working out even better than planned. DRESSING UP

Ariana couldn't stop smiling. And since she couldn't remember the last time she couldn't stop smiling, she decided to relish it. As she, Palmer, Kaitlynn, and Jasper walked into Privilege House together, shaking off the chill of the night air, she caught a glimpse of her grinning reflection in the window and it only made her smile wider.

"Y guys have no idea what this has done for your stock," Palmer said as they walked into the elevator alcove. Jasper hit the up buttons for both

ou the girls' and boys' elevators. "We're talking through the roof."

"Deservedly so, I think," Jasper said as Kaitlynn and Ariana laughed happily.

"I just can't believe we solved the riddle before April did," Ariana said.

"I can," Palmer said, eyeing her with pride. "And nice job with the execution, man," he said, turning to Jasper. "I just wish you guys had thought to take some video. I'd give anything to see those guys flailing around covered in feathers."

"Video!" Kaitlynn said. "Why didn't we think of that?"

Possibly because I never want to think about video-recording anything ever again, Ariana thought.

"Next time," Jasper promised.

"There's going to be a next time?" Palmer said with a laugh.

"Never say never," Jasper replied mischievously.

The elevators pinged at the same time and Kaitlynn and Jasper moved to get in. Ariana started to follow her roommate, but Palmer grazed her arm with his fingers.

"Ana. Hang back for a sec," he said.

Ariana glanced at Kaitlynn in her elevator, and Kaitlynn smirked knowingly. Then she looked at Jasper just as the doors closed on him. His sour look wasn't lost on her, but she chose not to think about what it might mean.

"What's up?" she asked Palmer once the others were being whisked off to their floors. "The next group will be along any minute."

The members of Stone and Grave had decided to leave the library in shifts since it was well past midnight, and four people at a time would be able to move a bit more stealthily than a group of thirty-plus.