Page 66 of Coveted

“Who’s going first this time?” asks Juliette. “I vote not me.”

“I’ll go,” says Clara, squeezing into the small doorway.

She slips out of sight.

“Clara?” I ask quietly after a few moments. “Are you okay?”

I hear her yelp and then a clunking sound.

“Clara!” calls Juliette. “Say something.”

“Can you hear us?” I ask.

Squinting into the tunnel, I realize there’s no floor.

Clara’s voice floats up from below. “I’m fine! It’s a short drop. Come on.”

I sit on the edge of the gap in the floor, then hold my breath and jump. My feet land on solid ground.

Clara waits in a brick tunnel lit by a single sputtering candle jammed into a crack in the wall.

“See?” She smiles. “Fine.”

Moving to Clara, I call up to Juliette. “Go ahead.”

Juliette lands lightly, straightening to inspect the tunnel. “Hey, can you guys see that?”

She points into the gloom.

“Oh, you’re right,” whispers Clara. “Someone’s there.”

A large figure stands sentinel in the gray light at the end of the tunnel. My nerves fizz through my veins.

“What if this is a trap?” asks Juliette. “Darkbloom has secret societies. Old, spooky ones. Maybe the late-night feast is a front for like, ritual sacrifice.”

“We probably should’ve thought of that before we delivered ourselves through a trapdoor,” I say quietly.

“The Founder’s Feast is a harmless tradition,” says Clara. “Nothing bad will happen.”

“The Founder’s Run was meant to be a harmless tradition,” says Juliette. “Someone was murdered.”

A shuffling sound comes from above, in the library.

Clara drags us further into the tunnel by our sleeves. “More people are coming. Let’s get out of the way.”

“They can’t kill all of us,” I say. “Right?”

Juliette shrugs. “Right. Probably not.”

The man at the end of the tunnel wears a black hooded cape that covers his face, and he blocks a medieval-looking stone archway.

The walls down here seem alive, like they hum with arcane energy.

“Good evening, Clara, Sadie, Juliette.” His voice is deep. “Welcome to the domain of the Founder’s Table. You are expected.”

This guy knows who I am?

It’s a strange sensation for me, to be part of something.