Sisters in arms.
I nearly squealed but managed to hold it back at the last moment. Instead, I quick-stepped in place, doing a silly little dance I’d done a million times with Sara and Bethany over the years whenever one of us was excited. I fished my phone out of my pocket to text them, to tell them my news, then froze with my finger above the keypad.
As much as I was sure this was real, I wouldn’t know until after the meeting. Besides, there was always the chance the super stealthy society was watching me and would rescind my invitation if I blabbed. Better to wait until after I was a sister.
It was time to meet my destiny.
Chapter 10
I stuck to the shadows and fingered the slip of paper with the clue as I made my way across campus under the protection of the new moon. Campus security was thick, especially since the second body had been found. A shiver ran up my spine as I remembered the smell of death on the body Bash and I had discovered, and a thought I’d been trying to ignore forced itself to the forefront of my brain.
What if whoever had murdered those innocent wolves was waiting for me at the end of my little adventure? What if there was no Sisterhood, and I was being lured into a trap?
I dismissed the idea, though not altogether, as I crept forward. The bodies had both been male and only one had been a student, or so the grapevine reported. Not that I paid much attention to the grapevine. I was probably front-page news in its publication.
I glanced down at my phone for the millionth time to check if I was still good. I’d given myself an hour to get across campus and find what I assumed would be a super-secret entrance to an underground meeting room. The education building loomed before me with thirty-four minutes to spare. Now to find the Sisterhood lair.
Compared to the science, math, and arts buildings, the education building was small. It was also in need of some updates as far as I could tell, based on the state of the ivy-covered brick that made up the east-facing wall. I sprinted across the open path and tucked myself back into the shadows in case any of the guards the academy had hired happened by.
No sooner had I melted into the darkness than a low-pitched chuckle sent my heart racing and stretched my eyes wide. I squeezed them shut just in case they reflected the light from the lamp post, and waited until three wolves I faintly recognized as third years moved past my hiding place and disappeared around the side of the building.
I moved as quickly as I could in stealth mode, praying they wouldn’t hear or scent me as I peered around the corner just in time to see them slip through an unimpressive door no more than twenty feet away from where I stood.
The door snicked shut behind them and I darted out, head whipping wildly around to see if anyone was watching me as I’d been watching them. I lifted my hand to the handle with equal parts hope and nausea and let out a rush of breath when I found it unlocked.
This is it, I told myself, stealing my backbone for what was to come. I’d gotten lucky seeing the girls enter, or I’d still be searching the perimeter looking for a way in and I’d still be wondering at the back of my mind if this were a ruse for murder. At least now, knowing there were other female students inside the building as curfew approached, the chances that I was right about what I was getting into were climbing.
Inside the building I was met with a long corridor, lit faintly by two light fixtures, spaced well apart. It was spooky as Hell. I wished again that I could have brought Rory. She was small, but she was definitely a fighter.
I strained to hear the girls’ footsteps but nothing reached my ears, so I began down the corridor, trailing my hand along the wall on one side in case a hidden doorway latch just happened to find my fingertips. I knew it was stupid, but I did it anyway.
I tested two doors and found them both locked. Another glance at my phone showed that my time was dwindling. Fear that I’d be locked out for good if I didn’t make this final leap pushed me onward.
I stopped at the end of the corridor and swiveled my neck to look down at my two choices. Each new corridor was dark like the first and lined with doors. And there was absolutely nothing in either that gave me any kind of clue as to which I should choose. I sagged with frustration, and clapped my hand against the bookcase anchored to the wall in front of me, then swore under my breath.
It was here, I could feel it in my bones. I just had to use my brains and figure out which way to turn. The girls hadn’t disappeared. They’d gone somewhere and quickly. I should check each door just in case, I thought. Unless…
I clicked on the light on my phone and held it up towards the bookshelf. Remembering every Nancy Drew book I’d ever read, which was all of them seeing as my mom had the entire collection from when she was a girl, I turned the light towards the floor, hoping to see scratch marks, and saw absolutely nothing.
“Damnit,” I muttered, gritting my teeth. So much for that theory. It would have been so friggin’ cool if the shelf had been a hidden door. I glanced down the corridor to my left and took a step forward, needing to move quickly at the seconds ticked by. Indecision made me pause and turn back.
That’s when I saw the crest mounted to the side of the bookshelf.
I abandoned my previous decision to check all the doors and turned all my attention back to the bookshelf. It would be foolish to leave any indication of a false door on the floor and The Sisterhood was anything but foolish, based on the fact that they’d stayed in the shadows for centuries. No, I chewed my lip and thought it over. They wouldn’t make it easy to spot the way in.
I moved my fingers slowly over the crest, pressing gently in hopes it would release some kind of latch. When nothing happened, I moved to the other side and, finding another crest, did the same.
Still nothing.
Blowing out the breath I’d been holding in hope, I turned to the books themselves. The spines identified them as mostly textbooks written by prominent AWA professors and alumni with a smattering of fiction and non-fiction books written by names I didn’t recognize. Most of them looked relatively new as if they’d been put there only recently and untouched by the mass of students on campus. One by one, I tugged them forward, searching for something, still hoping the right move would release a hidden door.
When I got to the last shelf, I squatted down and tried every book, then collapsed onto my ass, overcome with frustration.
“Where the hell is the release mechanism?” I muttered, staring up at the bookshelf. I traced the line of books down from the top shelf to the floor with my gaze, looking for something, anything. “What if it’s not visible,” I mumbled, and absently worried I was turning into a crazy person. But the idea stuck and got me moving.
I shot up from the floor and launched forward with my heart hammering in my chest and ran my hand along the bottom of the second last shelf. When my fingertips traced a small niche in the wood, I held my breath and pushed the rounded bump I found.
The bookshelf swung open, revealing a secret stairwell lined with lit torches.
I threw my arms up and danced on the spot, but only for a few precious seconds because the time on my phone was showing 8:57 p.m. It was time to either get murdered or become a part of history.
At the bottom of the stairs, a woman I didn’t recognize waited with a soft smile in front of a dark door. She held out her hand without saying a word and waited while I pulled the slip of paper from my pocket and handed it to her.
“Welcome Sister,” she murmured, then stepped aside as the door disappeared into the wall, revealing a room full of women.