Page 57 of Caged
“Hey, Jace,” I ask before he can shut the door. “Why did Kieren and the alumni go into that back room with that blindfolded girl?”
“You didn’t see that,” he snaps, trying to close the door.
“But I did,” I say, pushing my body into the gap of space. “Are they going to have sex with her?”
“I’m going to say something, Monroe, and I need you to listen carefully. If you value your life, do not ask questions about what happens in that room. Erase whatever you think you saw from your memory.”
I falter at the warning and forget myself. Jace forces the door closed, and I stagger backward. Deadbolts turn, locking me inside with a clang, alone with my own thoughts.
My life? What the fuck is going on in that hidden room?
The rattle of the door slamming shut jostles the room, and Kieren’s laptop screen flickers to life. His email is open. Curious and irritated that I’m locked away, I pad over to his computer. My eyes struggle to focus, and I have to blink several times before I can read the words on the screen.
An email received two days ago with the subject “full moon” catches my eye, and I click on the row.
From: [email protected]
Subject: full moon
Body of the Email:
fine but we will speak on this.
I expand the correspondence to read the full exchange in descending order by date received.
From [email protected]:no.
From [email protected]:a disloyal is not preferred. find another.
From [email protected]:a disloyal.
From [email protected]:what is the Sinner’s status?
From [email protected]:yes.
From [email protected]:has the offering been pledged to The Brotherhood?
From [email protected]:yes.
From [email protected]:have you secured an offering?
“What the fuck?” I whisper. Nauseating anxiety coils in my gut.An offering?
An offering for what? My thoughts jump to the conversation with Jace. Kieren’s ring is the brand?But how? I step toward the mirror and twist my torso to see the design of the brand in my reflection. This doesn’t look anything like the top of Kieren’s ring.
I dart back over to the laptop and do a search for the email address ‘[email protected]’. Hundreds of emails populate the email search results. I click through the pages to understand how far back the correspondence goes until I find the date of the first exchange – June 26thof last year.
I click on the row.
From: [email protected]
Subject: hello
Body of Email:
