“I think you already know the answer to that question.”
Ariana’s heart skipped a startled beat. “Jasper, I—”
“Kidding!” he said with a laugh. “For someone so smart, you sure are gullible.”
Ariana’s face burned anew. She was just about to tell him off when there was a sudden, deafening crack, and the coffin was wrenched open.
Ariana blinked, her eyes throbbing with pain at the sudden tidal wave of light. She looked up, right into the ashen face of Palmer Liriano.
“Sonofa—”
Suddenly Ariana saw herself and Jasper in her mind’s eye and realized what they must look like to Palmer, half-naked and curled into each other.
“Palmer, I—” Ariana sat up, kneeing Jasper right in the groin. He curled into a ball, muttering curses.
“How the hell did you two get your hands free?” he blurted.
Ariana let out a sigh, relieved that Palmer was only upset that she and Jasper had untied themselves.
“No talking!” Conrad hissed, coming over to stand next to Palmer.
Gritting his teeth, Palmer reached down for Ariana with both hands. She grasped his forearms as he hauled her up, and tripped into him once her feet hit the cold floor.
Conrad helped Jasper out of the coffin. He doubled over, still catching his breath. Ariana glanced to the right and saw that Tahira and Adam had emerged from the second coffin. It was Landon who had been all alone in his. Probably, Ariana realized, because he was supposed to be locked in with Kaitlynn.
“Stand up, brother,” Conrad whispered to Jasper, finally slapping him on the back.
Jasper took a deep breath, blew it out, and managed to stand up semistraight. As soon as he did, dozens of new candles lit up the room as the rest of the Stone and Grave brotherhood emerged from the shadows. Ariana’s heart lifted.
“Welcome, brothers and sisters, to the Stone and Grave!”
The cool, satiny insides of her black Stone and Grave robe were even more heavenly than Ariana had imagined, especially after the torture of the burlap sack. As she knelt in front of a wide, stone altar, with Lexa standing before her, she could hardly contain her giddiness. This was it. She was finally going to be an official member of Stone and Grave.
Tahira knelt down beside her, giving her a secret smile. Ariana grinned back as Jasper knelt at her other side. It was all happening.
Standing behind their personal gravestones were the rest of the members of Stone and Grave. Ariana could see Palmer, stationed behind his gray stone that read “Starbuck,” his hands folded reverently in front of him. His face was expressionless at first, but when she met his gaze he smiled, ever so briefly. It was a private, proud smile, and it warmed Ariana from the inside out.
“Brothers and sisters, tonight we welcome five worthy members into our family,” Lexa began, her voice ringing out loud and clear in the silent room. Her dark hair gleamed in the candlelight. “Each person gathered here has proven him or herself to be a valuable member of Stone and Grave, but let us not forget the potential we have lost. A moment of silence for Brigit Rhygstead.”
Ariana bowed her head, surprised by the sudden mention of her friend, who had died at the hands of Kaitlynn Nottingham. Lexa did not mention Lillian Oswald.
“Thank you,” Lexa said, lifting her face. “And now, we will begin our ritual.”
She turned and lifted a gray stone bowl from atop the altar. Soomie walked over and stood next to her, holding something small and glittery in her palm. April Coorigan and Conrad, the pledge group’s educators, joined them, their robes billowing as they moved. Conrad lifted three headstones from behind the altar, while April lifted two. Palmer stepped forward and slid a long silver needle off the surface as well. Its sharp point glinted in the candlelight. Ariana’s heart caught. What, exactly, did they plan to do with that?
Together, Lexa, Palmer, and Soomie approached Jasper.
“Brother, your name, from this moment on, is Amory Blaine,” Lexa said. Amory Blaine. The preppy, lazy, yet charming hero of This Side of Paradise. What a perfect name for Jasper. Still, Ariana felt a slight twinge of disappointment. She had thought they would have the chance to choose their own names. Hopefully she wouldn’t be saddled with something lame and predictable out of some Brontë novel.
From her palm, Soomie plucked a graphite-encrusted pin and held it up in the candlelight. The gray stones formed a small skull. She leaned down and fastened the pin to Jasper’s robe, then stepped back again.
“Hold out your hand,” Lexa instructed.
Jasper did as he was told without hesitation. Lexa held the bowl beneath his hand as Palmer took the silver needle and pricked Jasper’s pointer finger with it. A bead of dark red blood emerged. Palmer tilted Jasper’s hand and squeezed his finger, so that a few drops of blood hit the bowl.
“Ugh. Sick,” Tahira whispered. Ariana barely blinked. Blood had no effect on her.
Palmer, Conrad, April, and Soomie all looked at Lexa expectantly. Ariana’s eyes darted to her friend’s face. Lexa was staring down at the bowl, her skin unnaturally waxy and practically translucent. Her eyes were as wide as moons.