Privilege 5 - Pure Sin (3 page)

Ariana blinked, her eyes throbbing with pain at the sudden tidal wave of light. She looked up, right into the ashen face of Palmer Liriano.

"Sonofa--"

Suddenly Ariana saw herself and Jasper in her mind's eye and realized what they must look like to Palmer, half-naked and curled into each other.

"Palmer, I--" Ariana sat up, kneeing Jasper right in the groin. He curled into a ball, muttering curses.

"How the hell did you two get your hands free?" he blurted.

Ariana let out a sigh, relieved that Palmer was only upset that she and Jasper had untied themselves.

"No talking!" Conrad hissed, coming over to stand next to Palmer.

Gritting his teeth, Palmer reached down for Ariana with both hands. She grasped his forearms as he hauled her up, and tripped into him once her feet hit the cold floor.

Conrad helped Jasper out of the coffin. He doubled over, still catching his breath. Ariana glanced to the right and saw that Tahira and Adam had emerged from the second coffin. It was Landon who had been all alone in his. Probably, Ariana realized, because he was supposed to be locked in with Kaitlynn.

"Stand up, brother," Conrad whispered to Jasper, finally slapping him on the back.

Jasper took a deep breath, blew it out, and managed to stand up semistraight. As soon as he did, dozens of new candles lit up the room as the rest of the Stone and Grave brotherhood emerged from the shadows. Ariana's heart lifted.

"Welcome, brothers and sisters, to the Stone and Grave!" The cool, satiny insides of her black Stone and Grave robe were even more heavenly than Ariana had imagined, especially after the torture of the burlap sack. As she knelt in front of a wide, stone altar, with Lexa standing before her, she could hardly contain her giddiness. This was it. She was finally going to be an official member of Stone and Grave.

Tahira knelt down beside her, giving her a secret smile. Ariana grinned back as Jasper knelt at her other side. It was all happening.

Standing behind their personal gravestones were the rest of the members of Stone and Grave. Ariana could see Palmer, stationed behind his gray stone that read "Starbuck," his hands folded reverently in front of him. His face was expressionless at first, but when she met his gaze he smiled, ever so briefly. It was a private, proud smile, and it warmed Ariana from the inside out.

"Brothers and sisters, tonight we welcome five worthy members into our family," Lexa began, her voice ringing out loud and clear in the silent room. Her dark hair gleamed in the candlelight. "Each person gathered here has proven him or herself to be a valuable member of Stone and Grave, but let us not forget the potential we have lost. A moment of silence for Brigit Rhygstead."

Ariana bowed her head, surprised by the sudden mention of her friend, who had died at the hands of Kaitlynn Nottingham. Lexa did not mention Lillian Oswald.

"Thank you," Lexa said, lifting her face. "And now, we will begin our ritual."

She turned and lifted a gray stone bowl from atop the altar. Soomie walked over and stood next to her, holding something small and glittery in her palm. April Coorigan and Conrad, the pledge group's educators, joined them, their robes billowing as they moved. Conrad lifted three headstones from behind the altar, while April lifted two. Palmer stepped forward and slid a long silver needle off the surface as well. Its sharp point glinted in the candlelight. Ariana's heart caught. What, exactly, did they plan to do with that?

Together, Lexa, Palmer, and Soomie approached Jasper.

"Brother, your name, from this moment on, is Amory Blaine," Lexa said. Amory Blaine. The preppy, lazy, yet charming hero of This Side of Paradise. What a perfect name for Jasper. Still, Ariana felt a slight twinge of disappointment. She had thought they would have the chance to choose their own names. Hopefully she wouldn't be saddled with something lame and predictable out of some Bront� novel.

From her palm, Soomie plucked a graphite-encrusted pin and held it up in the candlelight. The gray stones formed a small skull. She leaned down and fastened the pin to Jasper's robe, then stepped back again.

"Hold out your hand," Lexa instructed.

Jasper did as he was told without hesitation. Lexa held the bowl beneath his hand as Palmer took the silver needle and pricked Jasper's pointer finger with it. A bead of dark red blood emerged. Palmer tilted Jasper's hand and squeezed his finger, so that a few drops of blood hit the bowl.

"Ugh. Sick," Tahira whispered. Ariana barely blinked. Blood had no effect on her.

Palmer, Conrad, April, and Soomie all looked at Lexa expectantly. Ariana's eyes darted to her friend's face. Lexa was staring down at the bowl, her skin unnaturally waxy and practically translucent. Her eyes were as wide as moons.

Suddenly Ariana's heart started to race. What was wrong with Lexa?

"Sister Becky Sharp?" Palmer prompted her.

Lexa looked up at him, startled, as if she'd forgotten he was there--forgotten that any of them were there. Ariana wished she could pull her friend aside and talk to her. Was it the blood? Was she thinking about Kaitlynn's death?

Then Lexa cleared her throat. She swung her hair back over her shoulders and smiled, taking a deep breath as if she was just gathering herself together.

Ariana let out a sigh of relied. That's my girl, she thought.

"By adding your blood to our sacred vessel, you swear an oath to us," Lexa said to Jasper. "Repeat after me. I, Jasper Montgomery, do hereby accept the name of Amory Blaine and forevermore pledge my life and soul to the brotherhood of Stone and Grave."

After Jasper repeated the oath, Lexa, Palmer, and April moved to stand in front of Ariana. Conrad placed Jasper's headstone in front of him for the first time.

"Sister," Lexa said, shaking her hair back and looking Ariana in the eye. "Your name, from this moment on, will be Portia."

A thrill of satisfaction went through Ariana, and she grinned up at Lexa. She adored Portia, the strong, beautiful heroine of The Merchant of Venice. If she'd been allowed to choose for herself, she couldn't have picked better. Willingly, Ariana held out her hand above Lexa's stone vessel. She could see the tiny pool of blood Jasper had left at the bottom of the bowl. Palmer reached out and pricked her finger. He squeezed out a few drops of her blood, adding it to Jasper's in the bowl.

"By adding your blood to our sacred vessel, you swear an oath to us," Lexa said. "Repeat after me. I, Briana Leigh Covington, do hereby accept the name of Portia and forevermore pledge my life and soul to the brotherhood of Stone and Grave."

"I, Briana Leigh Covington, do hereby accept the name of Portia and forevermore pledge my life and soul to the brotherhood of Stone and Grave."

Palmer smiled over Lexa's shoulder, and Ariana felt a burst of pure joy. Soomie stepped forward and affixed her Stone and Grave pin to her robe, and then April placed her headstone in front of her. As the group moved on to Tahira, Ariana tilted the pin toward her.

She had done it. Finally, finally, she was an official member of one of the most influential secret societies in the country, which meant that the whole world was at her fingertips. "I'm so glad you like your name," Lexa said as she and Ariana walked toward the dining hall late on Sunday morning. They had been up most of the night, partying with the rest of the Stone and Grave members, and were barely going to make it to breakfast before the dining hall closed. "I struggled hardest with yours because I wanted to get it just right."

"Really?" Ariana said, blushing. "Thanks for working so hard on it."

Lexa grinned and took her arm. "What are best friends for?"

They had just reached the door of the dining hall when Maria and Landon came striding around the corner, their heads so close together they were practically kissing.

"Dude," Landon said, shoving Maria away from him.

Ariana glanced at Lexa to see if she noticed anything odd, but Lexa merely smiled.

"Good morning. Are you two coming or going?" she asked them.

"Coming. I mean, uh, going," Landon said, scratching the back of his neck. "We just, uh, ate."

Maria rolled her eyes. "Excuse him. Someone's still a little hung-over from last night."

"Rock star can't party like a rock star, huh?" Ariana joked.

Landon blushed, hanging his head as he glanced at Maria guiltily from under his bangs.

"I'm glad I bumped into you guys," Maria said, without a trace of Landon's awkwardness. She had her hand inside her bag and was rooting around for something. "Now I can give you these."

She extracted three dark gray, oblong envelopes from her bag and handed one to each of them.

"What are they?" Ariana asked.

"Invitations," Maria replied, glancing around. The campus was quiet, as it usually was on Sundays, with people either sleeping in or heading out for shopping sprees or to visit family. Except for a couple of joggers at the far end of the sunlit quad, there was no one in sight. "To the Stone and Grave Ball at the end of next week. My parents offered to host."

"Cool," Landon said.

"Not to look a gift invitation in the mouth, but didn't we celebrate last night?" Ariana asked, tucking hers into her bag.

"Y but this is much bigger," Maria told them. "All the local Stone and Grave chapters attend. Everyone from all the private schools in Virginia

es, and Maryland will be there, as well of some of the most influential alumni. We're talking serious networking possibilities."

"How do you think she got to tour with the Boston Ballet last summer?" Lexa put in.

Ariana frowned, impressed. "All right. I'm in."

"Of course you're in," Maria said, reaching back to tug the band from her ponytail. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders. "It's an intense party."

Ariana saw Landon reach up automatically to touch her hair. Maria froze and Landon flinched, pulling his hand back. It was all Ariana could do to keep from groaning in frustration. Why didn't they just let the proverbial cat out of its stifling bag already? Who cared if the kids at school knew? They could still keep the secret from Maria's dad, who'd forbidden her to date.

"Oh, and there's a dress code," Lexa said, slipping her invite into her handbag and reaching for the door. "Everyone has to wear gray or black."

"That's not very festive," Ariana said. She'd always hated the tendency of the girls at Easton to wear black to parties. New Y and Connecticut

ork bashes always ended up looking like upscale funerals. And despite recent events, Ariana was in no mood for a funeral. "I don't even own a black dress."

"Shopping spree!" Lexa squealed as Maria strode off, Landon loping a few paces behind. "Come on. Let's get inside before all the pancakes are gone."

Ariana's cell phone rang. Lexa paused in front of the door, waiting for Ariana to extract the phone from her bag. The number had a Texas area code, but it wasn't one of the Covingtons' numbers. She took a few steps away from the door to let April and Hunter--another couple of Stone and Grave stragglers--inside.

"Hello?" she said, as Lexa followed her, keeping a polite distance.

"Miss Covington? This is Leon Jessup, attorney at law," a gruff voice greeted her.

"Uh . . . hello," Ariana replied, confused.

"I'm very sorry to be the one to tell you, but your grandmother has passed away."

Ariana simply stared at her phone, dumbfounded. Briana Leigh's grandmother had died? Lexa eyed her with curiosity, and suddenly Ariana remembered the role she had to play here--that of a girl who had just found out that the only family member she had left in the world had just died.

"Miss Covington?" Jessup said.

"Y Ariana said. She turned her profile to Lexa and gripped a low-hanging branch on an elm tree for support. She knew she should be crying,

es," but she couldn't seem to summon any tears for the old woman. "Yes, I'm here. I'm just . . . stunned. What happened?"

"It was peaceful," the man replied. "She passed away during the night. I'm very sorry for your loss."

"I can't believe this is happening." Ariana squeezed her eyes closed, forcing herself to think back to one of the worst days in her own life--the day of her own funeral. She'd watched her mother and father sob over the ashes they thought were hers. She felt a choking sob hit her throat, and tears stung her eyes. Lexa stepped closer and took her hand.

What is it? she mouthed.

"My grandmother," Ariana whispered.

Lexa covered her mouth with her free hand.

"I know this is short notice, but I'm flying to DC tomorrow so that you can sign the paperwork," Jessup said, all business.

"The paperwork?" Ariana repeated. A tear spilled over onto her cheek, and she would have wiped it away if Lexa weren't crushing her fingers in her grip.

"Yes. So that you can receive your inheritance," Jessup said impatiently.

"What?" Ariana blurted. Lexa was now alarmed. She searched Ariana's face, as if looking for some kind of answer as to what, exactly, was going on. Ariana's pulse raced like mad. "But I thought that was supposed to be held in trust until I was twenty-five."

"I don't know anything about that," Jessup said. Ariana could hear papers rustling in the background. "As far as your grandmother's estate is concerned, it all goes to you upon her death, and your parents' estate is to be released to you as well. As of three o'clock this morning, Miss Covington, you are a very wealthy young lady."

Ariana looked at Lexa, who was clearly desperate for the exact details. It took every single ounce of control and strength and sheer will inside of Ariana to appear as devastated as a truly dedicated granddaughter would have felt at that moment--to keep from twirling in a circle on the grass, throwing her head back, and singing at the top of her lungs.

Because she wasn't Briana Leigh Covington. Not in her heart of hearts. Down deep, she would always be Ariana Osgood. And thanks to good old Grandma Covington's timely kicking of the bucket, all of Ariana Osgood's fondest dreams were about to come true. "Are you going to go home for the funeral?" Lexa asked as the elevator rose to the top floor of Privilege House that evening. They'd spent the past few hours in the library with their American history study group, but Ariana had zoned out, daydreaming about what she was going to do with all her newfound money. But hearing Lexa's words, Ariana's heart dropped, as if the lift had suddenly taken a dive for the ground. She hadn't even considered the funeral--which she absolutely could not attend, because someone would undoubtedly notice she was not the real Briana Leigh.