Page 106 of The Prince of Demons

She took a breath, like she wanted to speak, but faltered. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Cordelia said. “I’m going to nap and watch reality television until I feel better.”

“Take Gaksi with you,” I offered. “He loves that stuff.”

Gaksi’s pigeon darted out with Cordelia. She couldn’t hear him talk to her, but hopefully, he would provide some company.

The next day, before class, Aubrey dialed, presumably to discuss our House rankings.

I slid on a face mask from my desk that morning. Gaksi had really outdone himself. It smelled like rose and cotton candy.

“Fae and Angel for me. You?” Damn, Aubrey got straight to business.

I shared my list. She squealed and explained that it’s incredible to get 3/3, when most have 2/3, 1/3, or got dropped entirely. They removed over 100 students from recruitment this round, which meant they wouldn’t get a chance again until next year.

“Nothing is guaranteed in this process,” Aubrey said. “We need to chase our destiny.”

“Agreed.”

“Speaking of…” her voice trailed off. “We should consider our reputation.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, flopping down on my bed. “We erased our social media presence a few days ago.”

We had a wine night to “polish up” our image, but it mostly just comprised of Aubrey deleting questionable nonsense from my digital footprint. Fanfiction, mostly. It wasn’t under my name, but she was paranoid. And it was pretty cringe. But it was fun to reread as an adult.

“Who we associate with is pretty important.” There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “Do you think it’s time you distanced yourself from Cordelia?”

My body stiffened. The mask displaced, and I scrambled to right it.

“I mean, she’s completely nice and all,” Aubrey rushed to clarify, “But like, you won’t spend as much time with her in the future, so it’s better to wean her off now. It’s hard to be around clingy people!” Her voice filled the void of my silence. “She’s got what, just Wolf and Rose, right?”

“How did you know?”

“I mean, we’re besties, right? So can I be honest with you?”

“Yes?” I asked cautiously.

“Well, first off, there’s nothing wrong with either of those houses,” she began, words careful. “I thought Wolf House was so welcoming, and Rose House was so nice during recruitment. They definitely care about attracting kind girls.”

“But they’re… also a little more homely, you know? They don’t party as hard. They don’t finish off their appearance before school every day. They don’t attract the youngest, the fiercest, the best and brightest. This is the last round. We’ve got to shape into the best versions of ourselves. Everything we’ve ever worked for has come to this moment.” Aubrey pressed on. “We have to belong. We have to rise to the occasion.”

Guilt gnawed at my stomach, but… a begrudging part of me knew she was right. I could still maintain a casual relationship with Cordelia. But when I saw the top-tier girls, all their friends were Fae or Angel associated, with the occasional Vamp/Siren. Keeping the right friends was an integral part of cultivating the right image.

I despised myself for even noticing. But, I told myself, this was temporary. Just until recruitment was over. Extreme measures had to be taken sometimes.

“Agreed,” I said quietly.

“Are you going to suicide bid Fae House?” Aubrey’s voice pierced through my emotional turmoil, and, for the first time in the night, I heard a hint of worry in her voice.

Suicide bidding was a common, though frowned upon, practice. In it, you only selected one of the three Houses left for the final round. Considered a form of “social suicide” because if that House rejected you, there were no backups. You had to wait a whole year to try again, but by that time, you were old news. Rejected candidates were unlikely to be desirable as older, traumatized students.

“I don’t think anyone should suicide bid,” I said. “Melody specifically told us that actually hurts our odds with the Antikythera.”

Aether revived the Antikythera after sirens found it in Atlantis decades ago. The machine was perfected for matching potential new members to the right House. It was marketed as a mutual selection process, but gossip insisted the Antikythera had a mind of its own and did not take kindly to being questioned.

“I’m scared of that thing,” Aubrey confessed, “It almost sounds like dark magic.”

“Don’t say that!” I said, voice dropping to a hushed tone. “You never know who could be listening.”

“I know, I know,” Aubrey said. “We have to stay fighting, Luna.”

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