Chapter Twenty-Four - Rory
“Hey.” I grab Mia in the hallway before she can jet past me. “Have you seen Tera? I’ve been playing phone tag with her all week.”
Mia shrugs me off and keeps going. “I’m late for class and Jeremy is waiting for me outside. Saw her this morning.” And then she disappears out the front door.
I look around, but it’s been quiet all week. I get that school started back up and everyone is busy… but it’s almost too quiet.
Tera never showed up for our one AM meeting last Saturday. And when I went to her room the next morning, she was already gone. Kallie said she was out with Brian. OK. I get it. He’s her pairing, or whatever. And it was all brand new. Hell, Frank has been by to see me every day too. But then she called me back after I left a message. So I called again on Monday. And Tuesday. She finally returned that call—which was a relief because I was starting to seriously worry something had happened to her—but I was in class, so I couldn’t pick up. And she knew I’d be in class.
So… is she avoiding me?
“Hey, Rory.”
I turn around to see Frank walking across the main foyer.
“Hi,” I say. I’ve been doing my best to act cool this week, but he’s really getting on my nerves. He showed up to walk me to class on Monday. Which would be sweet if we were… you know. In like and shit. But we’re not. So it was annoying. Then he showed up outside my class just before lunch. Then again, after my last class to walk me home. And that’s been his routine all week. Like he’s keeping an eye on me.
When Frank is close enough, he reaches for me, leans in, and kisses me on the cheek. I wince, then look around to see if anyone’s watching. But no, we’re alone.
Weird.
“Ready?” he asks.
I don’t need to ask what I’m ready for. Once again, he’s my campus chaperone.
“Have you seen Tera?” I ask. Because I’m desperate. I’m really starting to worry about her. I mean, she was so afraid last Saturday and then she just disappears?
“Yeah, about ten minutes ago. She and Brian were having breakfast in the dining hall.”
“Oh, I’m gonna go look for her real fast. You don’t need to walk me to class.”
But he grabs my arm and says, “They left. I saw them.”
Yup. Weird. And his touch isn’t getting any easier to deal with as the days pass. It’s getting creepier.
“So I’m in luck,” Frank says, smiling. “I get you all to myself.”
All my friends are preoccupied with their pairs. Is this how it’s supposed to be? “You’re in luck,” I say. “Were the guys ordered to keep us occupied? To monopolize our time and keep us from talking too much about this weekend? Because none of my friends seem to have time for me this week, Frank.”
Frank lifts that one stupid eyebrow at me. “What are you talking about? No one’s trying to monopolize your time, Aurora.”
I hate that he’s started calling me Aurora. He says Rory is a kid’s name and his wife needs a woman’s name.
My hand almost slapped him out of instinct when he spewed that shit.
“We’re just enamored with our new ladies, that’s all. Come on,” he says, wrapping my arm around his. “I’m responsible for getting you to class on time and you’re going to be late.”
I let him lead me out the door and across the street to campus, but since when do I need a fucking babysitter to get to class?
When we get to my classroom Frank leans in and kisses me on the cheek again. “See you right here afterward, OK? We’ll grab an early lunch since I know you didn’t eat breakfast.”
“No,” I say. It comes out automatically. I’m not the kind of girl who gets worked up like Mia is. I’m calm and rational most of the time. But once I get an idea in my head, I talk before I think.
“No?” Frank says. “What do you mean, no?”
Is that… anger I hear in his voice? “I mean,” I say, “I don’t need you to walk me to every single class, Frank. And I’m not having lunch with you today. I’m going to look for Tera after this. I just told you I haven’t spoken to her in days. I’m worried.”
He draws in a deep breath. People are staring at us, and he doesn’t miss that fact. But he keeps his attitude in check by putting up his hands in surrender. “Hey.” He laughs. But it’s not a real laugh. “I’m just trying to be nice, Princess.”
I glare at him. And I do mean glare. “Don’t. Call me that,” I say. “And you’re not trying to be nice. You’re smothering me. I barely know you, Frank. And I’m not your property, OK?”
He’s very aware that everyone has stopped what they’re doing to watch us argue.
So he backs away, shaking his head, and then turns on his heel and disappears into a crowd.
Good riddance.
Now everyone is staring at me. “What?” I ask the crowd of lookers. “You’ve never seen a girl be a bitch before?”
They avert their eyes and pretend to resume what they were doing.
I go inside the classroom, fuming.
It’s one of those big auditorium classrooms because this is a freshman class I’ve been putting off for ages. Stupid economics. And someone is sitting at my desk. Not that I really have a desk, it’s only the third day of class, but I was sitting there on Monday and Wednesday and now…
“Pssst. Rory!”
I turn to see who’s whisper-yelling my name and almost squeal with delight to see Tera, scrunched down in a seat in the back row. She’s wearing a gray hoodie and the hood is mostly covering her face.
“Tera!” I whisper back, pushing my way through the people still entering the auditorium, and flopping down beside her. “Where the hell have you been?”
“Bitch,” she says, lifting up her hood a little so she can look me in the eyes. “We need to talk.”
But just as she finishes, the professor begins to lecture and some uppity girl turns around in front of us to say, “Shhh.”
I roll my eyes. It’s freshman economics, for fuck’s sake. Not rocket science.
My phone dings in my backpack, which makes uppity girl shoot me another dirty look. I fish it out, turn off my ringer to keep the peace, and read the text.
Tera: I’m leaving school after this. Cliff is coming to pick me up.
Me: WTF?
Tera: Brian is being weird. He’s on me all the time. Like he knows I’m not going through with this pairing thing tomorrow night. I have to go.
Me: WTH is happening?
Tera: You should leave too. It’s not safe.
And then, before I can write anything back, she gets up from her seat and leaves.
I follow her out of the classroom and we’re barely through the doors when I grab her arm and spin her around. “What the hell is going on, Tera?”
“Shhh,” she says, looking nervously around. “They have spies everywhere.” She grabs my sleeve and drags me off down the hallway. But she doesn’t say another word until we get to a stairwell and have a flight of stairs and a closed door behind us.
“This is weird shit, Rory. Don’t you think this is weird?”
I can tell she’s afraid. And I can tell she’s not sure if she should trust me. So I just nod and say, “I do think so. But you can’t leave school, Tera. That’s crazy. We can just go to the administration building and file a complaint. We can leave Palladium House. Right now. Just go get our stuff and move out. We’ll get our own apartment.”
The whole time I’m talking she’s shaking her head. “No. No, this is bigger than you know. Cliff did some digging. I took a picture of that woman at the pledge dinner last weekend. Cliff says he knows her. And she is bad fucking news.”
“How does he know her?”
“He said she’s some rich guy’s daughter from Martha’s Vineyard. He met her in the Hamptons over the summer and she was asking all kinds of questions about where his girlfriend was.”
“What does this have to do with—”
“It is a cult, Rory! I know it sounds crazy, but I’m dead serious. You should not go back to the house. You should call up your parents and tell them you’re going home and if you don’t make it, they should call the police and implicate Frank Fulbright in your disappearance.”
She’s out of control. It’s not that I don’t agree with her, but… “Listen, Tera. I know this is weird, but you have to trust me, OK? I have people who can help us. You need to stay here with me.”
“Are you one of them?” Tera asks, suddenly pulling back from me. “Did they get to you too?”
“What? No! Of course not!”
“I tried to talk to Kallie about it on Sunday, but she just got angry. Told me to shut my mouth and do as I’m told or they’d…”
“They’d what?” I ask.
“They’d hurt me, Rory. I have to get out of here. And you should too.”
And then she’s racing down the stairs. Trying to get away from me. “Tera!” I call after her. But she’s through the door and gone before I can say anything else.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit.
And then I get nervous and decide it’s a bad idea to follow her out.
I get out my phone, wondering if those texts we just exchanged were safe or not. If they’re not, well, too late now. But I delete them anyway. Either way, that can’t be a bad idea.
I decide to go back into class because Frank is definitely not going to let that little argument go. He’ll be back when class is over and if I don’t come out… well. Who the hell knows what he’d do? He might even have someone watching me in there.
The door creaks as I enter and three dozen people in the back turn to look at me. I slink back to my seat in the last row and pass the time pretending to taking notes. But all I really do is stare at my phone, wishing it would light up with a text from Tera.
It never does.
I was right about Frank. He’s standing outside my classroom when I leave. Holding a white rose in his hand and smiling like a fool.
White? Really? Isn’t that the rose of death or something? It reminds me of funerals.
“Hey,” I say, unsure of what to do.
“Hey,” he says, holding out the rose. I really don’t want to take that rose, but everyone is looking at us now. So I have to. “Just didn’t want to leave things the way we left them. Not a good way to start our new life, Rory. If something’s bothering you, you need to learn to handle it better.”
Which might be true, but we’re not starting a new life together. We’re not even friends, for fuck’s sake.
But I keep my mouth shut and say, “Thank you.”
“So… lunch? I can help you find Tera.”
I hesitate.
“Or not,” he says, putting his hands up in surrender just like earlier.
But she’s gone. It’s stupid to pretend to go looking for her. And I can’t tell him that, so I say, “Lunch is fine.”
I need to play this cool.
“I bet Tera is with Mia and Kallie, anyway. And I know they’re with Brian and Edward.”
He takes my hand, and I let him. Because whatever the fuck is going on here, it’s not going to be resolved simply. And I won’t be dragged into it. Not by Frank, or Kallie, or Mia or anyone. They have no idea who they’re messing with. I can call Cliff later and catch up with Tera. I’m glad she’s out, actually. I hope she’s halfway to upstate New York by now. Safe.
It’s too bad it will end this way. I liked this place. Princeton was a great experience up until now. And I even kinda like Kallie and Mia too. They’re bossy and opinionated, but aren’t all us princesses that way?
Frank talks the whole way over to the tower building, where everyone is waiting for us—except Tera.
Brian gets up, approaching us before we even reach the others. “Have you seen Tera?” he asks, coming off angry, rather than concerned. And he’s only looking at me, not Frank.
“No,” I say. “I’ve been looking for her all week. I’m starting to get worried,” I say, aiming that statement towards Mia, who is standing not six feet away, pretending not to notice me as she and Kallie talk about shoes.
“She’s been acting weird this week,” Frank says. “Have you noticed, Aurora?”
I want to smack him for continuing to call me that. It’s Rory, asshole. Or princess to those who love me. No one calls me Aurora.
“Rory?” Brian asks, snapping me out of my contemptuous thoughts. “Have you noticed anything funny about her this week?”
“I just told you. I haven’t seen her.”
“I think she is,” Mia says.
And then Kallie joins in. “Me too. She’s been avoiding everyone all week. I think it’s the stress of school.”
“Well,” Brian adds, “she has been having trouble in her classes.”
“What?” I say. “It’s the first fucking week of school, Brian. How the hell can she be having trouble in her classes?”
“Aurora, can you curb the language, please?”
I want to punch Frank Fulbright right in the nose. “I’m a goddamned Shrike, for fuck’s sake. And I’ll say fuck all I want, thank you.”
Frank just stares at me with an open mouth.
“Do you always let her talk to you like that?” Edward asks.
“Excuse me?” I say, turning my venom towards him.
“She needs to learn some manners,” Brian says.
“Knock it off, you guys,” Frank says. “I’m handling it.”
“You better,” Brian says. “Because it won’t be tolerated.”
“I’m right fucking here, you cavemen. Don’t talk about me like I—”
“Aurora,” Franks says, grabbing my arm. “Stop it. Right now.” He growls those words at me. And his grip is so tight, it hurts.
“Let. Go. Of. Me.” I growl it right back. “Or I will kick your ass right here, right now. And I will make it count.”
He lets go, but he’s angry. His face is turning red as he takes a deep breath, ready to say something nasty, I can tell.
“And another thing, Mr. Fulbright,” I say, cutting him off and staring him right in the eyes. “I like to be called Rory. You don’t get to have an opinion about it. So if you call me Aurora one more time, I’ll kick your fucking ass for that too.”
Mia lets out a nervous laugh, but Kallie quickly shushes her.
“I’m afraid I’ve lost my appetite,” I say in my sweet princess voice. “So I’m gonna take a raincheck on lunch.”
And then I turn on my heel and walk away.
Fuck them.
I spend the rest of the day in class, fuming. Who the hell do these people think they are? Tera is lucky. I’m happy she got out now. Because she’s right, they are definitely weird and I’m out too. Frank Fulbright can go fuck himself tomorrow night. But I’m not going to cut and run. They will not drive me out of Princeton in my last year. To hell with that. I’ve worked too hard to let this… this… cult take it all away from me.
But Princess, that rational voice of Five says in my head. You know better than anyone how weird things like Palladium House can turn out to be something… bigger.
Five Aston did me a huge favor at the beginning of summer. My tight little circle of family and friends aren’t what they appear either. So you never know what people are capable of until you get into a live-or-die situation.
I mean… maybe I’ve already seen too much? Maybe by the time you get to senior year at Palladium, you’re in too deep to walk away? Maybe if I don’t show up tomorrow night they will start planning other things for my future.
I need to be careful.
By the time my afternoon classes are over, I’m even more paranoid than before. I text Tera to check on her. Make sure Cliff picked her up OK and she’s safe. But she doesn’t answer me back.
I’m not really surprised. I’m still in the house. She has to figure that I’m a risk. She can’t trust me. Or maybe she does still trust me, but she can’t afford to talk to me until I leave too.
And I’m still wondering how safe it is to use my phone. Hell, Five can hack any phone. And if Five can do it, I’m sure lots of other people can do it too.
I make a note to get a new phone first thing tomorrow morning.
By the time I walk across campus and make it back to the house, it’s dark already. And all those glowing lights inside that used to make me feel warm and safe now feel ominous and scary.
I take a deep breath and prep myself for another confrontation as I go inside. It’s busy. Lots of people here for dinner in the dining hall. Mostly juniors, but I see Mia and Kallie, along with Edward and Brian, standing off to one side of the foyer.
Frank enters, sees me, and then… ignores me.
They all ignore me. Literally turn their backs.
“Fuck you all,” I mutter, heading straight for the stairs.
I don’t need them. But when I get to the second floor and glance over my shoulder—they are all staring at me. Like they’re waiting for something to happen.
I get a chill up my spin as I head down the hall towards my bedroom. I pass Tera’s room, and stop to listen.
Silence. And there’s no light shining from under her door.
I bet my ex-friends have all figured out that she left. Hell, they probably blame me.
But I knock anyway. Just for the pretense. “Tera?” I say, rapping on her door.
Silence.
“Tera? Are you in there?”
“Nobody can find her.”
I whirl around and find Frank standing behind me.
“She’s been missing all day.”
“Oh,” I say, playing it off. “Well, I’ll text her and see if she answers.”
“We’ve all been texting her, Rory.” He doesn’t sneer my name. He says it sweetly. Like he took my warning seriously and now he’s trying to make nice. “We’re worried about her. And you.”
“Why are you worried about me?” I ask, barely able to control my laugh.
“Because you’re acting strange. So is Tera,” he says. “She was fine last weekend. Brian said she was excited on Saturday night. And even though you weren’t exactly excited, you were fine too, right?”
I don’t know what to say. How the fuck does he figure I’m on board with marrying him? I barely know him. And I know better than anyone that Tera was absolutely not excited. Plus, she’s a horrible liar. There’s no way she convinced Brian she was on board with this pairing bullshit. So I just… tell him the truth. “I’m in love with someone, Frank. And it’s not you. What more can I say than that? I’m not looking for a husband to be my stepping stone. And I’m not looking for a man who wants me to build him up. I’m looking for true love. And I’ve found it.”
“With Five Aston,” he says. And it’s not a question.
I try not to show my surprise and confusion, but I fail pretty miserably. “How do you know about him?”
“Tera talked, you know. She told Kallie and Mia everything about your childhood crush on that…” He stops to choose his next word carefully. “Man,” he says. But I’m pretty sure whatever he was gonna say first wasn’t something flattering. “He’s dangerous, Rory. Infamous. You are aware that he’s connected to the Chinese mob?”
I shrug. “I dunno. I don’t see him much.”
“Well, he is. And his grandfather just died, you know.”
“What?” I’m actually stunned.
“Last weekend. Didn’t he call to tell you about his new job? He’s the head of his grandfather’s Triad now. He’s a crime lord, Rory. So yeah, I guess… if that’s your idea of a prince, of a romantic happily ever after, then no, I can’t compete because I’m a good guy.”
He turns and walks away.
I watch him descend the stairs and disappear. And then I say, “You’re not a good guy, Frank Fulbright. You’re the worst kind of monster. The kind who thinks he’s good.”
I head back down the hall to my room, unlock my door, and step inside.
When I try for the light, nothing happens. I flick it again. Nothing.
And then a gloved hand covers my mouth and a voice says, “Don’t move,” in the darkness.