The other initiates were twittering with excitement as the first names were called. I looked around frantically for some escape, but the doors were sealed and we were deep under ground and I didn’t know which door led toward the exit. Running wasn’t an option.
There was a sound like pebbles scattering. The kid with the peanuts had spilled the bag beneath his robe. He quickly stepped on the mess, trying to hide it beneath his cloak, but several nuts had rolled toward me and lay untouched by my foot. I stared at them. They were a way out. It might kill me, but an allergic reaction would surely get me out of there. And right then that was all that mattered. I could not take their vows.
Fear not, the voice whispered, and my decision was made.
I glanced up at the altar. The serpent was slicing a female initiate’s thumb with a thin sliver of mirrored glass while she recited the vows, pledging her life to the society’s aims, promising never to reveal its existence or her affiliation. Her voice was familiar. It took me a second to realize it was Rachel. I watched as he pressed her bloody thumb to the leather book then gave her a quilled pen to sign her name. Eight seconds when he was distracted. Long enough to pick up the peanuts without drawing attention.
“Epsilon,” the serpent called. The sixth letter in the Greek alphabet. He was going in order. The boy with the peanuts moved toward the altar. Zeta would be next. If I was doing this, I had to do it now. I waited until the serpent reached for the boy’s thumb. When he started cutting, I bent for the stray peanuts, said a quick prayer, and popped them in my mouth, chewing quickly, my mouth like sandpaper.
“Zeta” came the serpent’s voice. My throat had begun to itch. It was working. But would it be fast enough? I walked to the altar and peered directly into the painted mesh of the serpent’s eyes. I could make out the whites of the human eyes staring back at me, the wrinkles around them. “Repeat after me,” the serpent said, gripping my wrist. The sleeve of his cloak fell back, revealing his bare hand. He wore a jade ring on his ring finger, emblazoned with a design of overlapping Os.
My throat was closing in.
He was reciting the vows I was supposed to repeat, but I couldn’t make them out. All I could hear was my own labored breathing, heaving through my swelling throat.
I saw his lips stop moving, and his gray eyebrows arch up like a question mark behind the painted mesh. “Can’t. Breathe,” I managed, as my knees buckled.
“She’s having an allergic reaction,” I heard a female voice say. Unlike the serpent’s, it wasn’t distorted. And I recognized it right away. I’d heard it every weekday morning for the past two months, and sometimes in my sleep. The voice I’d come to fear. “I’ll take care of it,” she said briskly. “You stay.”
No! I tried to say. Not Tarsus. But I couldn’t form the words. I felt myself falling, and then I passed out.
28
THERE WAS A DULL ACHING in my throat. Fighting for consciousness, I tried to swallow and immediately gagged. Someone was trying to choke me. I went to react, to push whoever it was away, but my hands were strapped to something hard.
My feet were free and so I kicked them, thrashing with all the energy I could muster, which wasn’t much. I felt as if I were underwater, swimming for the surface.
I forced open my eyes. I was lying on my back, strapped to a table, or was it a bed? There was a bright fluorescent light above me, so bright it was blinding. Oh, God. Where had she taken me? I squeezed my eyes shut, breathing through my nose, trying not to panic. I realized now there was something in my throat. I had to get it out. Where was I? Where was Tarsus?
Stupid, Rory. As soon as I put the pieces together, that Gnosis and the Few were one and the same, I should’ve realized that Dr. Tarsus would be in that room. Of course she was one of the society’s leaders. She’d been part of the machine from the very beginning. But if she was so high up in the organization, how had I made it as far as I had? Shouldn’t she have been able to keep me out? There was still so much I didn’t know. Things I’d never know unless I made it out of here alive.
It was quiet except for the hum of machines. I did a mental scan of my body. Other than my throat, nothing hurt. I blinked my eyes open again. My vision adjusted to the light now, and I looked around.
It was a hospital room. Through a pale flowered curtain I saw doctors and nurses with tablets. One made eye contact with me and smiled. Her pink scrubs were printed with the words THEDEN HEALTH CENTER. She’s awake, I saw her mouth. A moment later she was sliding the curtain to the side.
My brain was struggling to keep up. I wasn’t in the society’s tomb. I was at the health center. Dr. Tarsus wasn’t torturing me. Inexplicably, she’d saved my life.
“Hi there,” the nurse said kindly. “You scared us. Let’s get that tube out of your throat.” She gently reached into my mouth to dislodge it. Seconds later it was out. I immediately started coughing. “Your throat will be sore for a few days,” she said, unstrapping the bands around my wrists. “Sorry about these. We couldn’t risk you pulling at the tube.” She went to the sink and filled a cup with water.
“Small sips,” she instructed, and handed the cup to me.
I gulped the water. It burned my throat.
“Small sips,” she said again, and smiled.
I drank the rest slowly then set the empty cup on the tray beside my bed. “How’d I get here?” I asked her hoarsely.
“Your boyfriend brought you in,” she replied. “I’m just glad you had that EpiPen, and that he knew how to use it. It saved your life.”
“My boyfriend?”
The nurse winked at me. “Don’t worry, we won’t report that you were together after curfew,” she said conspiratorially. She went to the sink to refill my water cup. “Any idea what you ate that triggered the reaction? I imagine you’re pretty careful with peanuts. Says in your file you were hospitalized the first time you were exposed.” She handed me the cup and I took another tiny sip.
“A granola bar,” I lied. “I forgot to scan it with Lux.”
I heard a tsk, but it hadn’t come from the nurse. She looked past me toward the door and smiled. “Couldn’t stay away for long, could you?”
“From this girl? Nah.” It was Liam, dressed for class, his hair wet from the shower. He put his hand on my forearm, his lambda tattoo peeking out from the webbing of his fingers. “How are you feeling, babe?”
“Better,” I said, managing a smile. It took effort not to snatch my arm back. It’s just Liam, I told myself. But now that I knew what the society really stood for, even he creeped me out. I saw his eyes drop to my collarbone. Out of habit, I felt for my necklace.
It was gone.
Tarsus must’ve taken it while I was unconscious. But why? Did she know what it really was? I swallowed my panic. There were no files on the pendant anymore. North had taken them off. Still, my heart was pounding. It didn’t help that Liam was staring at me.
“Well, I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone,” the nurse said. “Just press the button on your armrest if you need me.” She stepped outside the curtain and slid it closed behind her.
“Why would you eat a peanut granola bar?” Liam asked when she was gone.
“It wasn’t a peanut granola bar,” I told him, my voice still raspy. “It was chocolate chip. Must’ve been made on shared equipment.”
“Why didn’t you scan it with Lux?”