“Hello?”
“Scott? It's Reed. Did I wake you up?”
44
“No! No! I don't have a class for another three hours, but hey, I'm wide awake,” he said.
I smirked. A group of girls was watching me from a few feet away so I stared back at them until they were shamed into looking away.
“How's everything there?” I asked.
“Fine. How's everything at Eat Me Academy?” he asked.
“Ha ha. So glad I got all the intelligence in the family.”
“At least I got the stunning good looks,” he said. “So what's wrong?”
“Something has to be wrong? ”
“In this family, yes,” he said.
I blew out a sigh. “It's gotten really weird around here,” I told him. “This . . . well, this guy has gone missing and the cops are all over the place now. They're gonna interview everyone.”
“Missing? Like kidnapped or something?” Scott asked.
“I don't know,” I said, swallowing hard.
“Do you know this guy?” he asked.
“Kind of.” Like in the biblical sense. “He's a friend.”
“Wow. That sucks. But I'm sure he'll show up,” he said. “I bet people disappear from that place all the time, then turn up on exotic cruise ships or something.”
I laughed.
“What? Isn't that what rich people do? I remember Felicia saying something about some dude inviting the entire senior class to his palatial estate in Turks and Caicos or something.”
Felicia. Right. My older brother's older and cooler girlfriend.
45
How had I forgotten that Scott knew someone who had gone here? She was the whole reason I had looked into Easton in the first place. She had spent her junior and senior years here at Easton before graduating and heading off to Dartmouth. Which meant, of course, that she knew everything about this place.
“Hey, speaking of Felicia,” I said, settling in, “did she ever mention anything to you about the Legacy?”
“The Legacy? No. Doesn't sound familiar. What is it?”
“Some party, I think. I don't know. Everyone's talking about it, though.”
“So why don't you ask someone about it?” Scott asked.
“I don't want to look like a loser,” I told him. It was a relief to actually say it. A relief to talk to someone I could be honest with.
“Too late,” he joked.
'You're funny," I told him flatly.
“Whatever. Look, I better go. I'm annoying Todd,” he said. I imagined my brother's roommate groaning and pulling a pillow over his head. “But listen, you should call Dad later.”