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We plow through the books without talking much. He asks me about something every now and then, and I have to remind him that I don’t know every single historical fact.

Then a face on the left side of the page catches my eye, and I freeze. I think I know the girl in the photo. She has dark eyes and long dark brown hair and looks exactly like the one I saw in a photo my grandma had on her cabinet.

The name written under her photo is Dinah.

Dinah? Wait, my grandma had a sister called Dinah.

I grab my phone and scroll through the photos I took until I get to the one from the cabinet. Two girls on a porch step, squinting into the sun. The older one is my grandma. I hold my phone up next to the yearbook and compare the other girl. It’s the same one. Oh wow! A smile spreads across my lips. Finally!

“Jayden!” I don’t even bother keeping my voice down. “You need to see this!”

He moves in closer, his eyebrows shooting up as he glances between my phone and the page.

“She was my grandma’s sister.” I twist the phone so he can see the porch photo. “Dinah. She got married, so her last name’s different.”

He takes the book out from under my hands, his eyes wide.

“What?” I frown.

“I’ve seen this photo.”

“Where would you even see it?” There’s just no way he could’ve done that.

“In the tunnels.” He looks up at me. “There’s a room with old photos on the wall, and hers is up there.”

“Why would they have a photo of my grandma’s sister there?” Seriously, it doesn’t make any sense.

“Because they have photos of all the past leaders.”

My mouth falls open. “What?!”

What the actual fuck?

Chapter 31

JAYDEN

VERONICA’S FINGERS spread over the corner of the yearbook’s page. So it’s her great-aunt who was here decades before us, and Veronica didn’t even know. But I doubt the society cares how far back it all goes. Actually, further back is probably better for them because it shows how strong the society links are. Legacy, and all that.

But that still doesn’t explain how hard they came after her. They should’ve made the offer and moved on, since there’s never a shortage of students here who’d sign up for anything to get in, but they didn’t do that. Every time she seemed not interested enough, they came back with something worse. Maybe they hoped she’d be super enthusiastic about it, and she wasn’t.

But they’re definitely after new leaders. No one here would take orders from a freshman, so the leaders are either juniors or seniors, which gives them two years at the top at most, or three if they drag their studies out somehow.

Supreme was in charge when I joined last year, and I guess he only just got it then, so this year is the end of it for him and possibly a few other leaders under him. They need replacements ready in advance, so maybe they already have someone planned to take over after this year, but then they could train Veronica in the meantime to take one of the leaders’ spots as a junior.

The orders they gave me were never only about forcing her to become a member. If they were, they’d have given up on her. You don’t pile more onto someone you’re breaking, since a person who’s already broken can’t do anything for you. They wanted to know what it would take to make her give in, and so far, nothing has.

The ones who give in easily and become members are usually just servants, and the ones who fight back are the ones the society grooms for the top, since a person who agrees with everything tends to be useless as a leader.

Veronica has no clue about any of it. She thinks they’ve been trying to destroy her, and they have, except it was for a completely different reason, and I was too busy trying to look successful in front of Supreme to notice what he was actually looking for.

“Are there names under the photos?” Veronica asks, her eyes on the page.

“No.” I shift closer. “All I ever got told is that the people in the photos ran the society a long time ago.”

“And you’re sure it’s her?” She searches my gaze.

“There are barely any women up there, so yeah, I remembered her. It’s all old photos, which is probably on purpose, since no one could go looking for any of those people now since they’re probably dead.”