Page 23 of The Bleak Beginning

She chews on her lip a moment before she tugs it from her teeth. “You live in Prescott dormitory, right?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Sooo…do you think that’s a coincidence since you have the same name?”

“I mean, I thought it was a little strange, but nothing to make a fuss over,” I admit.

“Alex.” She tugs me to a stop and our papers crumple together. “You’re a Legacy too. That’s why they don’t like you and want you gone. Each founding family has a building named after them.”

My entire body goes numb. “What are you talking about?” I question, unable to believe what I’m hearing. The idea of being one of them feels completely foreign to me.

She leans in closer, her eyes darting around nervously. “It means your family has a history here. A powerful one. And not everyone is happy about that. Mostly them.” She gives me a sympathetic look. “And the rest of the students don’t want to get on their bad sides, so they follow along.”

A shiver races up my back as I remember the odd looks I’ve been given all day, the whispered conversations that stop when I enter a room. The not-so-hushed insults.

I shake my head, trying to process this information. “But my parents never mentioned anything about—”

“Not even your dad? After what he did?” she interrupts. “Maybe he was trying to protect you,” she decides finally.

We took a left down the hallway, the art building dimly lit this late at night. “So, what, they’re threatened by me because I’m not part of their little club?”

Sutton nods. “That could be part of it…but mostly it’s because you already are.” She tilts her head back in forth, as if in debate. “I mean, technically.”

Technically?

“You are a Prescott by birth. A Legacy, the same as the Ashbournes, Oliveris, and Whitlocks.”

This was all so ridiculous. I wasn’t a Legacy. I didn’t want the title.

“Look, Alex, Altair isn’t just about getting good grades or fitting in. There are forces at work here that go back generations.”

This has my steps halting. Forces at work?

“What do you mean?”

“I mean your family name, as well as the other Legacies, carries weight. Carries power. People outside this university are afraid of them. And with good reason.”

My mind races, trying to process this information. The weight of generations, the power of names—it all sounds so ominous.

“Who’s afraid? And why?” I ask, throat bobbing.

Suttons eyes go wide. “Corporations. Governments. Anyone with something to hide or protect. Altair’s network is vast and influential. Your classmates? In a decade or two, they’ll be running Fortune 500 companies, heading up intelligence agencies, shaping global policy.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “But we’re just students. How can anyone’s family have that kind of reach?”

She chuckles darkly. “Do you not understand how desperate parents are to get their children enrolled here? Altair basically sets them up for life, if they can get in.”

I toss down the papers I carried in the supply closet. Red paint had somehow stained my fingers while I was carrying the rolls, but I managed to wipe a good portion of it off onto my hoodie.

“And you, Alex,” she says, finishing her thought from earlier. “Whether you choose to believe it or not, you are a Legacy too. You carry weight. Power. Students here would literallykillto be in your position right now.”

My mouth presses into a thin line. “I’m pretty sure no one wants to be me right now.”

Sutton heaves a dramatic sigh. “Okay maybe not, right,rightnow. But you know what I mean.”

No, actually I didn’t. How could I possibly understand any of this? It was all so overwhelming, so far removed from the life I thought I knew.

“Look,” she says, her voice softening. “I know this is a lot to take in. But you need to be smart. The other Legacies, they see you as a threat. You’re an outsider with insider status. That makes you dangerous in their eyes.”

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