“Because we’re concerned with what went on in this very room twenty years ago, and because I don’t trust that the maintenance staff isn’t accepting bribes to report on us. The Eldritch Club have ears everywhere. I know I can trust you all.”
“You sound disturbed, Hermia,” Professor Atwood called out.
“Do I? If you knew the things I knew, you’d think me not disturbed enough.” Ms. West paced along the center of the court, her hands wringing behind her back. Where she walked, symbols and lines appeared beneath her feet, lit up with blue flame. No one else acknowledged them – perhaps I was the only one who could see them. “All this time, the Eldritch Club has kept the power of the god to themselves. They made us promises – that we would have comfortable lives, that we had liberty to indulge our darkest proclivities free from the eyes of authorities, that we might possess any material good our hearts desired. All these things to make up for the great sacrifice we made. Many of us left families, friends, promising careers to forfeit our lives to babysit their bratty re-animated children. And what do we have to show for it?”
“Nothing!” Mr. Dexter called from the front row. I heard a few grumbles of agreement.
“Exactly.” Ms. West’s lips curled back into a wicked smile. “For what good are material possessions if we cannot show them off? What good is comfort without challenge and stimulation for the brain? After twenty years trapped inside this school, even indulging my desires has become stale. And then Hazel Waite arrives and things are exciting once more. She is connected to the god in a way I do not understand. Her pain causes him pain and weakens the Eldritch Club’s power.
“This year’s trouble has shown us that the god’s power is waning, and with it, the Club’s authority and influence. They have become so glutted with their power that they no longer acknowledge where it came from. Few of them ever visit the god. They know nothing of the rites or the history that gave them their blessings. They refuse to listen to us, who spend our days in worship to the god. Their incompetence allowed Hazel Waite to escape. They are no longer worthy of our sacrifice. If we are to have what we deserve, then we must act now.”
“What are you proposing?” Dr. Halsey asked.
Ms. West raised the torch in her hand and walked backward toward the center of the court. The light punctuated the darkness, illuminating the faded paint and the fainter, flame-tinged lines of the sigils. Around her feet, the five-pointed star glowed bright – in the same sickly color as the veins of strange stone in the caves below.
“I have told Vincent numerous times that our current system is no longer sustainable, but he will not see it. They have grown careless – no, they have always been careless. I discovered recently the student who escaped ten years ago was Ayaz Demir’s sister. How could she have been allowed to enter the school? Another mistake like that and Derleth is done for. What will become of us?”
All around us, teachers murmured to each other as they took in this information. My heart hammered against my chest.That means either Ayaz told her or she got her hands on Zehra and got those answers from her. Either way, that means there’s no hope Zehra is still alive.
Beside me, Quinn squeezed my knee. He’d figured that out, as well.
Zehra, I’m so sorry. I wish more than anything I could have saved you.
I forced my grief-stricken mind to focus on Ms. West’s words. “—Vincent refuses to listen to reason. He wants to take more power from the god, not less. He will not entertain the idea of giving us our due while his own power deteriorates. But he has forgotten one important fact – every one of us in this room has immortality. We do not need the god’s power to keep us young and strong. As the Eldritch Club wane, we have the power here.”
Several teachers cheered.
“What are you proposing we do with that power, Hermia?” Dr. Halsey called out.
“I want to leave the school. Let the Eldritch Club find new babysitters for their brats, or let the whole place burn to the ground, I don’t care. But I’m done wasting allthis—” she indicated her lithe body. “Andthis—” she tapped her brain “—trapped inside these four walls. When we return to the world, our families will have moved on. Our friends will have forgotten us. Our careers will be non-existent. We can view it as our curse, or as an opportunity. The Eldritch Club owes us – I say that it’s time to take what we are due.”
“Vincent will never agree to let us go,” Atwood argued. “And we need the Eldritch Club to break the sigils to allow us to leave. They have abandoned their old ways, but they are still the descendants of a long line of powerful magicians – and only their magic could undo the boundaries. Why would they do that when it would free their children, as well?”
“They will find a way to make it work,” Ms. West said. “I don’t intend to give them an option to refuse. The school production looms closer. All the club members will descend upon us. There will be the usual chaos and disorganization and parties till all hours of the night. It will be the perfect time for us to kidnap Gloria Haynes.”
I glanced at Quinn.Kidnap Courtney’s mother? Why?
From the rumbling in the bleachers, at least some of the teachers agreed with us. “What will that achieve?” asked Mr. Dexter.
“Leverage,” Ms. West replied. “If they want her back in one piece, they will break the sigils for us.”
“How do we know they’ll agree to that?” asked Dr. Halsey, who seemed willing to entertain the idea. “They might just leave Gloria to our mercy.”
“If you paid attention to the politics at play here, you’d understand that they’d have no choice but to agree. Many of the Eldritch Club families – including the Bloombergs – are running low on funds. It’s hard to keep the kind of secrets they keep and continue in the manner they’ve become accustomed to without burning through your fortune. The god can give power, but it doesn’t understand how money plays into that world. They need Gloria’s fortune to fund their campaigns and activities. They need her to pay their bribes and grease the wheels of their machine. She’s their meal ticket, and they know it.”
“But they have the power of the god behind them!” cried Dexter. “We’d be going up against a cosmic deity!”
“They may wield the god’s power, but we’re the ones who feed him. If he’s loyal to anyone, it’s us. Their power is already weakened because of Hazel’s disappearance and the deception we pulled with Greg Lambert.” My ears perked up at Greg’s name.He really, truly is alive.“They know nothing of the old spells or rituals, and they cannot get into the cavern to see the god without coming through us. If we cut off their access to the god, they won’t have any advantage over us. Remember, they can’t kill us, but we can kill them.”
Quinn’s fingers tightened around my thigh. I turned to him, noticing the brightness in his eyes from the shadow of his hood. We both leaned forward in unison, clinging to Ms. West’s every word.
All around me, the teachers chatted, their voices tight with excitement. Ms. West clapped to get their attention. “I’ll have a show of hands. If we’re all in agreement, we must make arrangements before—”
Her words cut off. She swirled her head up, her piercing eyes searching the bleachers. My heart pummeled against my chest. My whole body froze.
She’s seen us. She—
But she was looking behind us, up toward the roof of the gym, to the area shrouded in deepest shadows. “What’s that?” she demanded.
