Sweet Deceit (Privilege 4)

THE RIDDLE

“Thanks for gracing us with your presence,” Ariana said tersely as Tahira trudged into study room A at the library on Saturday morning.

Tahira tugged off her dark sunglasses and shot Ariana an irritated look as she slid into one of the wooden chairs around the conference-style table, right next to Kaitlynn. Her face was, for once, completely free of makeup, and her dark hair was wavy and wild beneath a gray cloche hat.

“Sorry, but seven a.m. on a Saturday is kind of early for me,” she said, plucking her hat off her head and tossing it in front of Landon’s crossed arms.

Landon’s eyes were at half-mast, his cheeks stubbly. Only Jasper and Kaitlynn looked as if they’d bothered to shower before showing up for Ariana’s secret meeting. Jasper’s blond hair was still wet and slicked back from his face and Kaitlynn had actually bothered to apply a little eyeliner and lip gloss.

“What are we doing here, anyway?” Tahira asked. “Your e-mail was seriously cryptic.”

Ariana folded her hands on the table, feeling very in charge and very proud of herself. She looked around at each of her fellow taps and smiled. “I have an idea that may keep the rest of us from getting cut from Stone and Grave.”

Kaitlynn’s eyebrows shot up and Tahira shifte

d forward in her seat. Even Landon suddenly blinked his eyes all the way open, truly awake for the first time.

“Really?” Jasper asked, lowering his forearm flat on the table. “What, pray tell, might this be?”

“All we have to do is solve Martin Tsang’s riddle and retrieve the headstones on our own,” Ariana said quietly, urgently. “If we do that, the membership will be so grateful they’ll let every last one of us in.”

Landon sat up straight, tossing his bangs back from his face. He and the other taps all looked around at each other, pondering the idea. “I like it,” he said, his voice scratchy. “But do you really think we can do it?”

“Yeah,” Tahira said. “We don’t even have the poem.”

“True, but I thought that between the five of us, we might remember all the important parts,” Ariana replied.

“I memorized it,” Kaitlynn said, raising her hand to shoulder level.

“You did?” Ariana asked.

“I have a photographic memory,” Kaitlynn said, lifting her chin smugly.

Ariana stared at her. She was learning new things about Kaitlynn every day. She slipped a notebook and pen out of her bag, opened the book to a clean page, and poised the pen over it. The others followed suit. All but Landon, who hadn’t thought to bring anything with him. He gave Ariana a sheepish look and dropped back in his chair, his hair falling back over his eyes.

“Well? Were you planning to share?” Jasper said.

Kaitlynn took a breath and recited, pausing between each line to give the others time to jot them down. She was biting back a smile throughout the recitation, clearly relishing her pertinent role in the proceedings.

“‘Small and dark and cramped am I, though never you would know. . . .’”

Kaitlynn ran through the entire riddle, while the others sat transfixed.

“Thanks, Lily,” Ariana said when Kaitlynn was finished.

“Anytime,” Kaitlynn replied with a proud smile.

Ariana quickly scrawled the last few words, then sat back to read it over. “Okay. So we’re looking for a small, dark, and cramped room,” she began.

“Probably a basement,” Jasper added, chewing on the inside of his cheek. “Since it says it has a secret lair below.”

“The Tombs?” Landon said with a yawn, lacing his fingers together on the table.

“Why would they hide our headstones in our own secret meeting place?” Tahira snapped.

“I dunno,” Landon said, parting his palms. “I’m just saying. It’s a secret lair, and it’s down below.”

“And it is dark, but it’s not cramped or small,” Ariana put in. “Those stacks go on for miles.”