The Ritual

“Where were you?” she asks.

I nod. “Got caught up.”

She rolls her eyes. “Let me guess, Matt?”

“Something like that.”

“Hey, look what I found.” She reaches into her bag and pulls out a piece of paper. Unfolding it, she sets it down on my desk.

“What is it?”

“Our first official college party of junior year,” she squeals.

I pick it up and read over it. It’s a black piece of paper with The Ritual written across the top in white letters. From what I know, the Lords do this every year. I’ve heard girls talking about it here and there, but whenever I ask Matt about it, he shuts me down and says they’ve been sworn to secrecy.

“It wouldn’t be a secret society, Blakely, if we told everyone what goes on, on the inside,” he once said to me, and I rolled my eyes.

I begin to read over it.

I vow.

You vow.

We vow.

The ritual is what one must do in order to become a chosen.

A chosen must be willing to surrender in all that they do.

I look over at her and raise a brow. “Is this shit for real?” Does she even know what this means? I’ve never actually seen a flyer about it before with rules listed. I just thought it was a stupid rumor that some girls started to feel wanted. Some will do anything to get some dick.

She nods. “I hope so.”

Rolling my eyes, I look back at it.

A chosen is protected under the ritual. Any and all must treat them as such.

“No.” I wad it up and throw it back at her. “That’s stupid. Or fucked up. Either way, you know I can’t go.” Matt would kill me if I showed up at the house of Lords.

“Matt can’t tell you what you can and can’t do, Blakely,” she argues.

I ignore that and focus my attention on the professor down at the front of the room. I start thinking about what Ryat said in the hallway. He called me a stray. Said that someone may choose to take me away. Which is stupid because he knows I’m with Matt.

“Wait?” I say a little too loud and sink down into my seat when the kid to the left shushes me. “Give me that back,” I whisper.

Running my hand over it, I try to flatten out the wrinkles the best I can on my desk. “Who chooses?” I ask her, my eyes scanning over it.

“I’m not sure.” She shrugs, leaning over and looking at it too.

The girl in front of us turns around and glares.

“Sorry,” I whisper.

Her eyes drop to the paper, and then she spins around, throwing her blond hair over her shoulder. I pull out my cell and send Matt a quick text. I know he doesn’t have a class this hour. He was going to hang out at the library for a little bit this morning.

Me: What does it mean for a Lord to choose someone?

_______________

WE EXIT CLASS, and I pull out my cell once again to see if Matt has responded. He read it immediately but has yet to reply. I sigh, placing it in my back pocket.

Sarah starts hanging on my arm. “Come on. Let’s go,” she whines. “We’re running out of time to actually have fun. It’s junior year. We spent all summer back home. We swore this year would be different. That we would actually go and do things. It’s just one party. What could it hurt? Not like we already have plans.”

“I …”

“Are you guys talking about the ritual?” the girl who sat in front of me asks.

“Yes,” Sarah answers.

“Well, I wouldn’t go if I were you.” She clutches her books to her chest. “It’s evil. Vile. Demented. Just some guys on a high horse who like to fuck around with women.”

“How so?” I ask, interested. Something about how Ryat worded it to Matt has my curiosity piqued. You can’t take something that doesn’t belong to you.

“Tyson Crawford.” She states the name like we should know who that is.

We don’t. “Who is that?”

“He was a senior at Barrington a few years ago. He chose Whitney Minson as his. Well, once she performed the vow ceremony …” She trails off, her eyes going from side to side to see if anyone is listening to her. When satisfied no one is paying attention, she steps in closer to us. “He tied her facedown on his bed, naked, gagged, and blindfolded. Left her there all day while he went to his classes. He had cameras all over his room with a live feed of it on his phone. Then once he went home, he fucked her, which he also recorded and sent to her boyfriend—the boyfriend she was cheating on after she took the vow to be Tyson’s.”

“Damn. Savage. I like it.” Sarah laughs.

The girl’s eyes narrow on her. “It was disgusting,” she spits out.