“Okay, so we get her and take her somewhere else?” Will asked.
“Anywhere else. Away from here.”
“Understood,” Wolf said.
“Hoods up.” I reached for mine and brought it over my head. With it on, it was difficult to see in this lighting, but not difficult enough. I’d know when I saw Eva. I just hoped I saw her before this started.
“Welcome, Swords.” The Chancellor walked to the middle of the circle. He was the only one who didn’t wear a hood, but a large pointy hat with a cross instead. “Welcome, Brothers. Welcome, Sisters.” He opened his arms to everyone. “Tonight, we are all one, but we will ask our members to stand on the side of The Manor,” he said. We were already on that side, so we didn’t move. “Tonight is about unity. It’s about sacrifice. It’s about power. Long before we were a blip in history people have been using sacrifice as a sign of respect. As a way of asking for something. Tonight, we will be performing a ritual that has been performed alongside our Brothers for millenniums. This ceremony is one that is performed every thirty years. This year’s, we’ve been looking forward to for a long time. We’ve been blessed with a trinity. Thirty years after the last sacrifice, we will make three sacrifices.” He smiled then and stepped back. “Let us begin.”
Three people stepped forward. I took a step forward. Was it Eva? I couldn’t tell. The three people lit the wood they’d laid on the floor and it took me a second to realize what was happening. They were forging a fire between us, as if to make sure we knew our place.
It was the first time in my life that I stood still. Probably because it was the first time that I truly felt the weight of responsibility resting on my shoulders. My last name carried integrity, honor. It was one of the reasons I was the president of the secret society. When they asked me to do something, I did it. I wasn’t compelled by a moral compass that others seemed to have. I only knew facts and calculations and those were the things I used to ensure I could do whatever was asked without getting caught.
It was what the men before me would have done. I followed a lineage of men who had led and fought in revolutions. Skilled workers who made money long before I was born. Plaques, busts, and photographs adorned my homes growing up. Reminders of what I should aspire to be like, of what others who came before me accomplished. Some would say that that in itself was a responsibility. The knowledge that not meeting certain requirements by a certain age meant failure. It was the sum of all of those things that drove me to try harder, to be better, to push myself to beat my twin in all things academia, since my brother had me beat in contact sports and other things.
But, as I stood there, my gaze on the licks of the flame, I realized I didn’t know a thing about responsibility. And worse, I didn’t want it. If being responsible for someone was going to make me feel this helpless, I’d rather not have it, because as she stepped toward the fire and stood still on the other side of it, my heart leaped into my throat. I knew that there were only two things I could do and both ensured the same outcome: we were all doomed. I would have loved to have thought the cops I’d thought to call would help, but we were outnumbered. No amount of hand guns would help, no amount of force. Worse, I realized, was that none of the people on this side of the fire held any power of authority over what was being done. It was church versus state and without a constitution or laws implemented, church would win. I lowered my hood and glanced at Will, who lowered his hood as well, and Wolf who lowered his, and Nolan who lowered his, and Logan who lowered his, and Mae and Nora and Marcus who lowered theirs. How wrong had we all been in the past to pin our societies against each other? Riley and Toby were standing a few feet away. They also lowered their hoods.
It was completely against the Creed for us to lend out hoods like this, but I had no choice. I needed backup and I wasn’t sure who I could trust. An unspoken, unilateral, what the fuck is happening seemed to cross every single one of our minds. I closed my eyes for a moment, looking down at the ground as the priest who had stepped into the middle of the circle began to pray. The Chancellor had confirmed that there would be three sacrifices, but even as I stood there, I didn’t know what to make of that. The crowd on the other side of the fire made way for six men to bring a bench to the center. Another person stepped forward, shoulders shaking. My heart dropped. Was it Eva? Whoever it was, was practically dragged to that bench by two of the monks.