This is my daughter,he would have said, pride spilling from his voice.Going here too. Chip off the old block.
But visions and reality rarely aligned when it came to her father. And so the real Emma had found her home at Gabriel College and had never seen St. Dunstan’s up close. It had the flavor of a medieval keep, she thought. Troops of gargoyles grimaced down, faceless from years of acid rain. Emma shivered, missing the jovial angels and chubby deer that framed the doorways at Gabriel.
Julia waved them on, and they passed through lushly planted cloisters and an endless parade of formal gardens. The yew hedges were clipped into the shape of dragons, the college’s mascot. Twilight had pulled itself swiftly over the city in their wake, and now it overtook them. Emma could barely make out the shapes of the farther trees. Only a whisper to the left told her that the river was somewhere near.
All this time, Tabitha had been peppering the girls with questions about the party’s host. Emma listened with one ear, half-sick of the sound of his name already. Whoever and whatever JasperBalfour was, he seemed likely to be as puffed up as a bullfrog. The way they talked about him. Such praises of his curling hair and broad shoulders; such tales of the private jet he packed with his friends. Most of all, the whispers about the hopefuls throwing themselves at him. Even models and celebrities. Even mothers.
Regal Elizabeth Lim stooped so far as to giggle, and Tabitha’s cheeks were pink.
Emma found herself gritting her teeth. “Who else will be at this party?”
A cluster of surprised faces turned to her.
Julia recovered herself first. “Oh—well, there’s his roommate. Richard. They share a set of rooms, so they’re both throwing this party, really.”
Venetia snorted.
“Richard is a little quieter than Jasper,” Julia added. “That doesn’t mean he’s—”
“Boring.” Venetia flashed white, wolfish teeth.
“No, no,” protested Julia, in distress. “When you talk to him, you find he’s really—”
“Boring.” Venetia flicked her hair over one shoulder. “Honestly, Julia.”
Emma felt a first stirring of interest. Quieter. Next to the oafish Jasper—she could already picture the rugby-field bellow and leering smile—she saw an unpretentious, friendly face. He would be perhaps a little slimmer across the shoulders, with less of the Eton swagger. Perhaps he also found it hard to talk about himself, at first. She found her step quickening.
“But apart from that?” squeaked Tabitha, breathless as much from excitement as from trying to keep up. “Who else will be there?”
“Most of the Society, I should think,” Imogen said absently, checking her makeup in her phone’s camera.
“What society?” asked Tabitha, eager-eyed.
Sharp looks telegraphed around the remaining girls. Elizabeth Lim hissed in a breath.
Imogen pulled up short, wearing a rather guilty look. “What? Oh…”
“And Imogen does it again,” drawled Venetia, with a slow clap that lost nothing of its viciousness as it echoed off the fountains of St. Dunstan’s. “You’ll have to tell her something now, won’t you?”
“Ah—hm. Tabitha, it’s just Jasper and some friends. It’s like a—a University-wide club. Mostly drinking and dinners and stuff, but it’s properly old and historic. Anyway, there’s not much you need to know, it’s just a night out.”
“But what is this club?” pursued Tabitha. “What’s it called? Can I join?”
“No, you can’t. Boys only, I’m afraid. And it doesn’t have a name. At least, it does, but not one you can know. And you can’t tell anyone about it. Not even that you know it exists.”
“So it’s a secret,” Tabitha breathed, round-eyed. “Cool. My older brother Hamish will be so impressed I know a secret society now.”
“You can tellyour older brother Hamish—” Venetia began silkily. But before she could finish whatever crushing statement she had planned, most of the group had doubled over.
“Whatisthat?” choked Elizabeth Lim. Beside her, Antonia Viacelli retched into a box hedge.
“It is the worst—”
“—I can’t breathe—”
“—disgusting—”
A wall of rot curled up from the darkness to their left. It rose around them, foul and overripe. Emma felt it coat her tongue. Nausea shuddered through her throat.
