Chapter 22
The pledges were taken to the second floor, blindfolded (a thin blindfold—Nina could still safely see the glow of her votive candle), and led to separate rooms in pairs. Every heartbeat seemed accelerated; each perfect forehead was suddenly host to a sheen of clammy sweat.
The hum was back and ever nearer. Time alone moved too slowly; everything else was too fast. More than once Nina had seen their new member educator Nicole slightly twitch; small spasms of something.
Dalil reached out for Nina with the hand that wasn’t holding the candle, gripping Nina’s fingers with something that was part nerves, part childlike excitement.
“I hope we see a ghost,” Dalil whispered to Nina, her voice warm in Nina’s ear.
“I hope we see ten ghosts,” Nina whispered back, and Dalil giggled.
“Quiet,” said Nicole’s voice. Nina felt dizzy, or possibly dazed. The wave of a cramp metastasized and she rode it, ignored it. Nicole was leading Dalil, who in turn led Nina. “Watch your step.”
Nina tripped a little over the threshold despite having been warned.
This was probably Tessa’s room, then, which had an uneven board in the entrance that Tessa frequently complained about.
Nina knew this was all very silly, that nothing scary could possibly happen to her, that all of this was for performance, for drama.
Still, she enjoyed the mystery, the unknown that was her crossing from one version of herself to the next.
“State your name, sisters,” came Nicole’s voice again as she maneuvered Nina to one spot in the room, Dalil to another. She seemed to be speaking to someone other than Dalil and Nina.
“Fawn Carter,” answered a low breath of Fawn’s voice across the room.
“Tessa Alden.” That came from somewhere just behind Nina, a handful of inches away.
“Will you speak for these new members?” asked Nicole.
“With the blessings of our founders, I speak for Nina Kaur,” said Tessa.
“With the blessings of our founders, I speak for Dalil Serrano,” Fawn replied.
“Do you know these women to be of righteous honor and upstanding caliber? Are they fit to join our ranks?”
“They are,” said Tessa and Fawn.
“Sisters, we call upon you now,” said Nicole’s voice. “Be with us. Guide us.”
Nina felt another unexpected shiver as Tessa undid her blindfold. The room was dark and still, the moon glowing brightly just outside the frame. The only light came from the votive candles still clutched in each of the girls’ hands.
Across from Nina was Dalil, Fawn’s free hand on her shoulder.
Nina caught Fawn’s eye, and Fawn raised a finger to her lips.
Like Nina and Dalil, Fawn wore no makeup, no jewelry.
Her dress was white muslin, angelic. She seemed younger than Nina had ever seen her, impossible and distantly familiar, like someone Nina had known from a previous life.
Tessa’s hand mirrored Fawn’s, set on Nina’s shoulder.
Later, Nina would learn that the rest of her pledge class had been distributed in larger groups, three or four pairs to a room.
She was glad to have been in a smaller setting, for a more intimate avowal.
The implication that anyone else even existed outside their foursome would have seemed silly, almost absurd.
The humming frequency wrapped tighter, lassoing in around the room.
To Nina it seemed they were the center of the universe; that nothing of consequence would happen outside this space, this fellowship, these breaths.
“Sisters,” whispered Fawn. “Speak.”
And abruptly, Nina’s candle went out.