Sweet Deceit (Privilege 4)

They all glanced at one another, letting the significance of this sink in.

“I don’t get it,” Landon said.

Ariana laughed. “We now know where their top secret meetings are held,” she explained as she turned and started across the frostbitten grass toward the hill. “They must be serious about letting the rest of us in.”

“She’s right,” Jasper said, his chin up as they hurried along, one big, frozen group. “We must be getting close to initiation.”

“Well, that’s good,” Landon said. “I’d be so pissed if I was randomly booted like . . . you know,” he said, glancing guiltily at Tahira.

“I wish I had my cell,” Tahira said. She looked up the hill toward Privilege House, where a few of the common room lights glowed through the darkness. “Allison must be freaking out.”

“You don’t need to call her. You’ll be back inside your room in less than two minutes,” Jasper pointed out.

“Yeah. If I don’t freeze to death first,” Tahira snapped back.

“I can’t take this,” Landon said. His lips were rapidly turning blue, and his shivering was growing more violent. “I say we run.”

“Run?” Ariana asked, her molars clicking together.

“Faster you go, faster you get warm,” Landon replied. “See ya!”

Then he turned and ran ahead, sprinting up the hill, his sneakers squishing with each step.

“Pop boy makes a good point,” Tahira said. “Later.” And she took off after him.

Ariana watched them go. After the emotional roller coaster of the last hour, she didn’t have it in her to run.

“So, that was hilarious,” Kaitlynn said under her breath.

“What?” Ariana asked as they came around the corner and onto the pathway that led to Privilege House. Jasper was lagging behind, strolling and whistling as if he didn’t have a care in the world, as if the cold and wet didn’t have any effect on him.

“The answer you gave them,” Kaitlynn replied. “About Briana Leigh.”

“I had to say something,” Ariana replied, glancing sidelong at Kaitlynn. “Besides, I couldn’t exactly answer how I wanted to, so I tried to think of how Briana Leigh might answer if she was actually here,” she said quietly. “You know I’d never actually tell them the truth.”

“I know,” Kaitlynn said with a small smile. But her eyes were far away, and Ariana couldn’t help feeling that she had undone some of the progress she’d made with Kaitlynn these past few days. There was a fine line between what might make her smile and what might send her into a murderous rage.

“So what was with all the ‘I’m not at liberty to say’ stuff?” Ariana whispered, glancing back at Jasper, who had fallen a few yards back and was still whistling a jaunty tune.

“Well, I figured they were going to ask about my past, so I decided that if they pressed it, I would tell them my parents are top secret diplomats and that I can’t say anything more than that or I’ll risk national security,” Kaitlynn replied with a grin. “I mean, we are in DC and half the members have family in the government, so they’d probably understand.”

“Not bad,” Ariana conceded. In fact, she was impressed by Kaitlynn’s creativity. But she also knew that national Stone and Grave had connections in every branch of government. If they really wanted to find out who Lillian Oswald’s family was, they could. And if they tried, they would definitely find out that no one even remotely related to her worked in the government. There was no one related to her anywhere—she didn’t even exist.

Of course she couldn’t remind Kaitlynn of that. She had to be supportive of her friend. All she could do was hope that it never came to such an inquiry.

“Hi, ladies. Balmy night we’re having, no?” Jasper said, finally falling into step with them.

“You’re a little crazy, you know that?” Kaitlynn said to him.

“More than a little,” he replied with a wide smile. “So, Ana . . . I was sorry to hear about your dad back there,” he said, tucking his hands under his arms. “The same thing happened to my mom.”

“Really?” Ariana and Kaitlynn said in unison.

Jasper blinked and lifted one shoulder as he walked. “Well, almost the same. I mean, she was shot, but she did it to herself.”

He said it so matter-of-factly, Ariana’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Wow. I’m . . . um . . . sorry.”

Jasper shrugged again. “So . . . you going to open that?”