Page 92 of Divine Oaths

It was Luke. Luke was one of the figures dressed in silver, though he’d emerged from the other side of the building.

“He was following us,” Vivian said sharply.

“I thought I saw you levi—”

“Trick of your eye,” Vivian said to Luke, her voice dry. She shot me a look. “You sure they’ll let you rush dressed like that?”

“We’re supposed to be in silver and gold,” Luke explained. “Silver for Sigma and gold for Theta.”

“I didn’t realize there was a uniform,” I said, smiling at Vivian through clenched teeth.

“Relax. I brought you a change of clothes,” Vivian said. She pulled out my mother’s Ankara set from a book bag Luke had brought with him. “You should change or you’ll miss the first initiation challenge.”

At my hesitation, Luke took the set from Vivian and handed it to me.

Our fingers brushed for only a moment. Despite my frustrations with controlling my powers, it was easier to keep my channeling at bay, a testament of the days spent training with Angelica and Vivian. Now I wasn’t immediately yanked into the past.

“Everyone’s leaving,” Vivian said.

“All right, all right.” There was a bush close to one of the buildings. I squatted behind it, slipped on the two-piece set, and folded my shirt and skirt before tucking them beneath some leaves where Luke had tossed his own bag. Hopefully no one would find them later.

“Where exactly are we meeting?” I asked, following Luke as he and Vivian walked briskly away from campus. But neither of them answered.

When a security guard emerged from one of the buildings, we ducked behind whatever was close to us—the shrubbery alongside the perimeter of the buildings. Finally, we arrived at the beaten path that led to Poppy House. But instead of following the trail to the dorm, we ventured off the path, away from campus life entirely.

When I pulled out my phone, my service bars were low. But my GPS was somehow active. We were heading toward the blue dot that I’d been sent on the map earlier, into the depths of the swamplands.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Here I and sorrows sit

UNDER THE COVER OF TREES, the dark night was all-encompassing. For what felt like hours, we trekked through muddy underpasses and thickets of bushes, our footsteps silenced by the sound of crickets and the soft cries of the insects and creatures that inhabited the swamp. More than once, I caught a glimpse of yellow eyes staring back at me from hooded trees, entreating us to turn back, return to where we’d come from while we could.

Against the moonlight, the Ankara dress I wore was a milky constellation of golden embers. I had to hike my skirt up to my knees to keep the dirt and mud from consuming every inch of it, even as my sneakers took the brunt of the swamp’s hold.

Finally, we arrived at a clearing where a campfire sparked to life and a gathering surrounded it. There was a small shack not far from the spot. It was obscured by more foliage and wasn’t far from where the fan boat had docked when we’d arrived at Westfield for the semester.

The Sigma and Theta members were clad almost entirely in black. The Sigmas wore long-sleeved feathered dress shirts and riding boots with silver riding gloves and their house blazers, most of which were Rose or Ivy. Bird masks obscured their faces. Most were crow-like, but three of the Sigmas, the leaders, wore vulture masks, which were lined with shimmering metallic paint.

On the Theta side, most of the members wore long black dresses with knee-high riding boots. Their faces were hidden behind the intricate tulle black mourning veils I’d seen Cecilia wear during the summoning. But the embroidery work in their veils was beaded with gold, making the moth pattern glitter like stardust.

When it seemed that all initiates had arrived, Sigma and Theta separated us into their two groups; those in silver on the Sigma side of the campfire, those in gold on the Theta side. Along the perimeter of the campfire, half-empty glass bottles and red Solo cups were scattered. In their last few moments, some of the members downed the rest of their drinks.

Luke gave me a nervous look as he was pulled to the Sigma side. I turned to Vivian, but she was gone.

“Initiates.”

The figure in the vulture mask gestured to the leader of Theta so the two camps could begin the activities in tandem. “We gather here today, at the brink of midnight, to reignite the flames of tradition and weed out those unworthy of our bids.”

Behind the veiled Theta, the sorority members hummed in unison. The louder they hummed, the more her voice boomed in the night. On the other side of the bristling campfire, the leader of Sigma was giving a speech too, and the masked crow members were chanting and drumming their chests in wild abandon. The crescendo of their voices clashed against one another, and in the smoke seething and writhing into the night, figures loomed in the dark, joining the chanting and humming, urging it on.

Pain cut through my forehead, and I stumbled backward, dizzy and nauseous.

The heads of Sigma and Theta spoke in unison.

“Alumni, take your positions. Brothers and Sisters, our forebears call upon you. They beseech you to seek kin of kin to welcome into our society, our dear, great Westfield. And for trespassers who venture where they are not wanted, may you sniff them out by the tithe of the blood debt and spare them a bid. Lest a scourge befalls their kinship ever more.”

The members whooped and hollered, and a chilling wind swept through the encampment.