It’s amazing how slowly time goes when you’re waiting for something to happen. I locked myself in my room the second we got home from our ridiculous camping trip. I couldn’t believe that I had failed so many people I cared about so miserably.
Liam was in serious trouble, and it was all my fault.
I had to do something, but there was no way I was getting out of the house tonight. I had heard my father whispering to my mom about my behavior on the bus. They had gone into full lockdown mode. My cell phone was charging on their nightstand, the house alarm was set, my dad was camped out on the couch, and my mom was supposedly working in her bedroom, but I knew the truth. They were watching me. Policing me like a couple of parole officers. Of all the nights for them to take an interest in my safety, I cursed them for choosing this one.
And so I sat up all night staring at my alarm clock. Willing the seconds to pass so I could leave for school. Willing the minutes to speed by so I could figure out a way to get to Liam. Willing the hours to dwindle so I could do something aside from sit here completely worthless.
Not that I had any idea how I was going to fix everything, but I knew where I had to start. The Farrows.
Morning bled into night, and it was finally time for me to leave for school. My parents watched me walk toward the bus stop, all bathrobes and nerves. I waved at them as I turned the corner, finally out of their sight.
I felt the presence of the car before it even got to my side. It was black, more Batmobile than sedan, all tinted windows and fancy finishes. It slowed to a stop, and I heard Ms. D.’s voice.
“We need to talk.”
“Thank God.” I pulled my book bag from my shoulders so I could slide into the car.
Ms. D. had on her usual uniform of all black except for a pair of shocking red pumps. Even her glasses were black-rimmed. An open newspaper rested in her lap and a slash of red lipstick lined the rim of her coffee mug. I searched her face for signs of the security guard who had once been the only adult I trusted at PB, but all traces of her had been wiped away with tasteful makeup and careful styling.
“I’m sure Liam’s arrest must have come as a shock.” Ms. D. did not look up from the newspaper, but did offer a flick of her eyebrows.
I dug my fingernails into the soft leather of the seat beneath me.
“You have the wrong guy. The Farrows…”
Ms. D. cut me off with a wave of her hand.
“The Farrows have nothing to do with this, Kate. We have a witness who saw Liam leave the letter on Porter’s bed. And we found additional letters when we searched his bag from the trip.”
“Who?” But I already knew the answer. It was Bradley or Naomi. It had to be. They were the only ones with a motive.
“No one ever said this would be easy, Kate. You lost your best friend. All around you, life continues on, but she’s still gone. It gets better, but it never gets easy.” Ms. D. finally looked up from the paper but not toward me. Her eyes narrowed a bit as she spoke, fixed on the window and Pemberly Brown’s drifting campus.
“Who’s the witness?” I ignored her poetic summation of my life the same way she’d ignored my question the first time I asked.
She sighed then and folded her newspaper crisply onto her lap. “You know I can’t tell you that, Kate.”
“Then let me out. Now. I’ll figure it out myself.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that either.” The car suddenly grew dark.
“Wait…what’s…” I scooted toward the window to get a closer look. It was morning; the sun was just making its brilliant debut. My heart came to life in my chest, one beat right on top of the next. “Where are we going?” The car felt half its size now, the dark walls closing in against me, the leather suffocating. My eyes barely adjusted enough to make out the tips of Ms. D.’s blood-red toes. This was not good. I considered how long it would take for someone to realize I had been kidnapped.
I no longer had friends, so that eliminated the school day. My parents worked ’til God only knew when, so that eliminated after school, and I often missed my parents all together in the morning, so that eliminated tomorrow. It could be weeks. I felt the car closing in.
“I expect a lot out of you. Everyone does. But it’s only because we know you’re capable of great things, Kate.”
Not if I’m dead, I thought, my heart practically clawing up my esophagus. The car moved slower now, and goose bumps erupted along my arms that no amount of frantic rubbing would squelch. Not only did the sides of the car reduce to the size of a shoebox, but the blackened world outside had split itself in two. We were driving through some sort of tunnel, which was impossible because there were no tunnels where we lived. Not one.
“I wouldn’t choose anyone else.” Ms. D. continued her bizarre diatribe, which only added to my distress. “You are a leader, Kate. Your friends can’t get the job done. They can’t even be trusted. But you’re different. You’re focused. You remind me of…” The car came to a stop, and a faint series of beeps could be made out on the driver’s side.
And then light. Not a lot of it, not natural, normal, I’m-not-going-to-die-after-all sunlight, but a soft glowing light that illuminated Ms. D.’s face. We moved a few more feet until the car stopped, parked inside the weird tunnel that I never knew existed.
“You remind me of me.” Ms. D. pulled on the latch to open the door and stood outside the car waiting for me to do the same. It was as though she were asking me in which place I’d rather die. Inside the car or out. I looked around at the expensive black leather and tinted windows. It didn’t look at all like the kidnapper vans from my imagination. But I wasn’t taking any chances. I slid out after Ms. D.
The space was lined with bricks, and it only took me a second to place it. I did know tunnels. I just didn’t know cars could drive down into them. But of course they could. At least, of course Ms. D.’s could.
“I hope you don’t mind the impromptu meeting. We have a bit of celebrating to do before school.”
The sharp heels of Ms. D.’s pumps clicked along the stone floor, reverberating off the curved walls. The great wooden door loomed ahead, and it struck me how I could still be surprised by Pemberly Brown. Every shock that I swore would be my last was always followed by something even more ridiculous or crazy. I shook my head at the thought, accepting it, embracing it. I was bound to be one of those crazy girls later in life who desperately searched for the excitement of her youth. I was so totally screwed.
“So you accept?” Ms. D. rested her palm beside the intricate carving of the Sisterhood’s seal.
My eyebrows pulled in confusion. Accept my death? Accept the fact that Liam is going to be punished for a crime he didn’t commit? Accept the fact that I’m a complete failure?
Apparently Ms. D. took my confusion as a yes because she pushed open the door. And then came clapping. Dozens of hands pounding together, smiling faces, girls rising up and clapping. Celebrating. I scanned the crowd and saw Taylor and Bethany. Taylor smiling, Bethany scowling. Nothing new there. I searched for Naomi Farrow. I wanted to see if she’d meet my eye. I wanted to find the truth in them.
But she was nowhere to be found.
Ms. D. cocked her head toward mine, her red lips poised beside my ear. “I’ve decided you should be our next leader. Your drive, your passion. You’re unstoppable, Kate.”
Unstoppable. What a joke. I was constantly being stopped, blocked, thwarted.
“This is a new era, Kate,” Ms. D. continued. “And it all starts with you.”