Chapter 2
2
I force out a laugh. “Disappeared?” I shoot my eyes between Li and Dominic. “Disappeared, like…kidnapped?”
Li studies me a moment, then shrugs. “No, I don’t think so. We should get you back for your orientation.”
Dominic studies his food, content to sit this conspiracy out.
“Wait, can you explain any more? Fill me in if there is anything I should know.” We tried to look up this scholarship online, and couldn’t find anything. My mom had this insane theory about identity theft and sex trafficking—which I’d dismissed out of hand—but now ? To tell the truth, I’m spooked somewhere inside.
Li sighs as if I’ve asked her to perform “ Middlemarch” by memory. “I’ve only been here two years, so I’m not sure it’s really true. It’s just… we’ve met a few like you. Part of the same scholarship. They start out nice and normal… and then they just slowly disappear. One day, their room is all packed up and they’re gone.”
“Maybe the workload was too much and they didn’t re-qualify?”
“Maybe. I do think the scholarship committee requires a lot of extracurricular activities. Hey Dom, do you remember that nice Indian girl? You liked her a lot, did she say anything before she left?”
Dominic stares into his noodles before shaking his head. “She stayed up way later than everyone else studying, but said she was behind in her classes. I also think she got really homesick?”
I frown. “How long did she last?”
“Not even a term. She was in your room, maybe two people ago?”
I cough and push my noodles away. “A new person each term ?”
“Some less than a term. One lasted two terms. The one on the second floor?” Li gives me a hopeful smile. “It’s not that uncommon, especially Fresher’s term at Oxford. A lot of students leave after one term. It could just be normal attrition. We’ll try to offer any help we can…while you’re still here.” She says it the way you talk about Grandma on her deathbed.
“Peachy.” I grouse before going to dump my food in the trash.
“Aren’t peaches fragile stone fruit?” Li asks as she and Dominic follow suit. I’ve killed the mood for everyone, it seems.
“Fair point. What’s the British version?”
“Ballocks? Shite?” She offers.
“Ballocks.” I agree. “Are classes really that hard?” I think of the giant pile of reading waiting for me before classes even start.
Li shrugs again as we push out of the humid shop and into the brisk air of High Street. I’m glad for the puffer now. “Everyone with the scholarship starts out normal, and just seems to get weird as the term goes on.”
Her words are ominous, and nerves roil in my gut. Surely, they wouldn’t waste money bringing people all the way to Oxford if they didn’t think we could succeed? That’s vast sums of money doled out, if Li is correct.
We reach our college, and Dominic holds the wooden gates open for us. Li peels off to greet another friend, but Dominic walks me to my door. His quiet, steady presence is a balm to my now-tortured soul. Somehow his calm seeps into me, assuring me that while I have a potential mystery and conspiracy to navigate…it will be okay.
I wave my fob and my door lock clicks. “Thanks for the company tonight. I’ll see you guys tomorrow?” I put every ounce into sounding normal.
“Night,” Dominic says as he turns away and heads back up the alleyway. Then he pauses. “And oy, Helena? I hope you’re the one that stays.”
“Thanks, Dominic.” I’m glad that other girl left so that I have the distinct honor of living next to that exemplary specimen of a British man.
My room is just as chilly as outside, as I push through the door. I must have screwed up the thermostat. It’s not surprising, because reading centigrade isn’t automatic for me. I probably set it to 20 Farenheit without knowing.
But what stops me isn’t the open window—the window I know I closed earlier—rather, it’s the card sitting on my desk. It wasn’t there earlier either.
I pick up the thick black card stock. There’s a silver gilt border, and one line of text in the middle of it. I flip it over, blank on the other side. “Eight o’clock. King’s Corner.”
That’s all it says.
I turn the card back over and hold it to the light. Faintly, I can see a pattern as if the shine of the luxurious linen has been rubbed away slightly. I recognize the Greek. Alpha Epsilon Gamma. It’s the foundation for my scholarship.
I close my eyes and tuck the card into my bag before heading back out to my orientation. I have no idea where King’s Corner is. Is it intentionally vague? Secretive? Everything that fits with the picture Li painted for me at dinner. Nerves roil in my stomach because there’s only one way to find out what’s going on and why. Let the games commence.