The Complete Private Collection: Private; Invitation Only; Untouchable; Confessions; Inner Circle; Legacy; Ambition; Revelation; Last Christmas; Paradise ... The Book of Spells; Ominous; Vengeance (122 page)

“We’ll do it,” Amberly said. She didn’t even need to consult the others. “Whatever you need.”

Noelle smiled at me mischievously and I instantly knew what she was thinking. A distraction. Amberly’s dorm was clear on the other side of campus from Gwendolyn Hall. If she could somehow summon Cromwell and the security guards to her dorm, we would all be free and clear. But the timing would have to be perfect, and the distraction would have to be realistic. There could be no chance of Cromwell seeing through it.

But of course, if there was one person capable of devising such a plan, it was Noelle.

“Good. That’s exactly what we wanted to hear,” Noelle said to the unsuspecting freshmen. “Now, here’s the plan. . . .”

Halloween night was frigidly cold. Our breath made steam clouds in the air as the sixteen Billings Girls stood, backs to the west wall of our house, and watched in silence as security guards flooded in from all corners of campus, racing toward Bradwell. I clutched the plastic bag that held my couture gown, my shoes, and my sparkling silver mask, chosen from a boxful of Legacy accessories Noelle had collected over the years. Aside from a few shouts, there was nothing but the sound of my friends’ breathing.

“There goes Cromwell,” Noelle whispered. Sure enough, the tall, hulking figure was slipping through the back door of the freshman and sophomore dorm. “Now’s our chance.”

I turned to the group, my pulse pounding through my temples, my wrists, my chest. “The first eight go now. The rest wait exactly three minutes, then run.”

Everyone nodded.

“Okay. Let’s go.”

Sabine reached out and clutched my hand. We turned as a group and rushed toward the back of the dorm, then behind the trees toward Gwendolyn Hall, its crumbling edifice rising up against the starry sky like a haunted mansion. As we sprinted toward the back of the building, every footstep sounded like a cannon shot, every breath like a whoosh of howling wind.

There was no way we could do this without getting caught. No way in hell.

I was the first to get to the back door, which was partially obscured by a century’s worthy of ivy and weeds. I released Sabine’s hand, said a silent prayer, and pushed at the door. It swung open with a creak that could have raised the dead.

“Let’s go!” I whispered, ushering everyone inside.

As soon as the seven of them were through—Noelle, Sabine, London, Vienna, Tiffany, Rose, and Constance—a group of boys from Ketlar appeared, already dressed in their tuxedos. Josh gave me a quick kiss as he slipped by, and I ducked in after them, leaving the door open for the next wave.

“I don’t like this,” Sabine said, hovering just inside the entryway. “This feels wrong. It’s spooky down here.”

“It’s okay,” I told her, stepping into the freezing cold stone basement.

The ceiling was low—Tiffany, Noelle, Gage, Josh, and I had to duck—and there was a three-inch layer of dirt and grime on every surface. Dozens of ancient wooden desks were stacked and shoved haphazardly against the walls.

“I gotta go with Sabine on this one,” Josh said. “Maybe we should just bag this idea.”

I said nothing. I was not turning back now. As we stepped deeper into the room, squeaking and scurrying noises caused London and Vienna to yelp and clutch each other.

“Ew! Mice! I hate mice!” Constance cried.

Then she screamed at the top of her lungs. Gage had used his fingers to creepy-crawl across her shoulder.

“Constance! Shhh!” I whisper-shouted.

“Gage! Grow the fuck up,” Noelle snapped.

The rest of the Billings Girls entered at that moment and the basement started to feel claustrophobic.

“What do we do now?” Tiffany asked.

“Directions. Suzel said she’d leave directions,” I said.

Noelle and I and a few others spread out to look in the dim light pouring through high windows. The longer we looked, the harder my heart started to pound. What if she hadn’t been able to get here? What if Cromwell had caught her? What if—

Then a lighter flared on. At that moment, I noticed a sweet, acrid scent filling the air.

“Who the hell is smoking in here?” Noelle blurted.

London and Vienna giggled. Several sophomores came in through the basement door.

Okay. Now I was pissed. Pot? As if breathing in here wasn’t difficult enough already. “You guys! You’re going to get us caught!”

London took a long hit on a skinny joint and passed it to Vienna.
“Sorry, Reed. We’ve smoked in every other building on campus, but we could never get in here.”

“Gwendolyn’s our holy grail,” Vienna agreed, holding in her smoke, which made her face all flat and squinty. “We have now completed our toking tour of Easton!”

London and Vienna cheered, blowing smoke at the ceiling.

“Very mature,” Noelle said, as Gage and a few others produced their own stashes from inner pockets. “Like you won’t get enough of whatever you want at the Legacy.”

“I think we’re safe,” Lance said, peeking out one of the low windows. “At least it doesn’t look like anyone’s coming.”

“Guess Amberly’s catfight was really convincing,” Noelle said happily.

“I found something,” Rose said. Suddenly a flashlight blazed in the dark. “It was over by the door.”

At least someone was focused on the task at hand.

“Shine it around,” I directed. She did as she was told, and I saw a flash of white. “There!”

Noelle and I lurched forward. Pinned to a warped wooden door that had been invisible in the darkness was a handwritten note.

Girls,

No one knows about this route other than the board and the school caretakers. And now you. Take the tunnel to the end. I’ll have cars waiting for you there. Be safe.

—Suzel

“Take the tunnel to the end?” Noelle repeated.

I reached for the side of the door and had to dig my nails into the rotting wood to get a grip on it. It took some effort to pry it open, and it kept getting caught on the stone floor. Finally Josh stepped forward to help me, and together we shoved it all the way back to the wall.

Rose shone the flashlight into the opening, revealing an impossibly tiny tunnel with dirt walls and floor. At the entrance were several more flashlights.

“She has got to be kidding,” Noelle said.

Portia put her hand to her chest as she peaked in and grimaced. “L.O.T.I.”

“Huh?”

“Laughing on the inside,” Rose clarified Portia’s abbreviation.

“What the hell is this, the underground railroad?” Gage asked, blowing pot smoke right in my face.

“I’m not going down there,” London added. “No way.”

“You guys, Suzel would not have sent us here if it was dangerous,” I told them, grabbing one of the flashlights. “We have to go before someone notices the lights. If you’re in, follow me. If not, just make sure you’re not seen sneaking back.”

“Wow. That was very authoritative of you, Reed,” Noelle said, without a hint of teasing.

“Thanks,” I replied, ducking through the entryway.

Josh grabbed my wrist, stopping me. “Are you sure about this?”

I glanced over my shoulder at him. My heart was pounding, and my palms were sweating so badly the plastic bag around my gown was
slipping from my grasp. But all those faces were looking to me expectantly. I wasn’t about to back down. Not after all that work. I wouldn’t let everyone down.

“I’m sure,” I said.

I handed him the flashlight and took his free hand in mine. There. That was much better.

“Now let’s go.”

The tunnel let out through the side of a hill, smack in the middle of the woods. Josh and I gulped the fresh air as we emerged. I felt like we’d been feeling our way along the passage for hours, but when I glanced at my watch, I found it had been only a fifteen-minute walk.

“Now what?” Josh asked, as the others crowded out behind us.

We moved the flashlights along the tree line. It was pitch-black.

“There!” I shouted, ecstatic to have spotted a pathway through the trees.

Josh and I forged ahead with Sabine, Constance, Noelle, and Gage at our heels, the others trailing behind. Two minutes later, we found ourselves at the side of a quiet road, where a line of stretch limousines awaited our arrival.

At the sight of the cars, the entire Legacy crowd hooted and hollered. Several people slapped me on the back, hugged me, kissed me.
I think that, until that moment, many of them had their doubts that I was going to pull this off.

“Reed, you are going to go down in Billings history,” Tiffany said, snapping my picture.

“Try Easton history,” Lance added.

“Reed Brennan, you are a goddess among girls,” Gage told me.

“Gage, you just said something to me without insulting me in the process,” I said.

“Must be the pot.” He laughed and strolled toward the cars.

“This is your moment, Reed. Savor it,” Noelle whispered in my ear as she slipped by me. And so I did. All these people were happy and laughing and excited because of me. Because I had refused to give up. I couldn’t have stopped smiling if I even wanted to. It really was my moment.

“You gonna put that on?” Josh asked, looping his arm around my waist as he looked down at my still-bagged gown.

All around us, girls were disrobing right in plain sight and slipping into their dresses.

“I’ll be right back.”

I ducked back into the trees to do my own quick-change. Josh followed after me.

“Why, Mr. Hollis. Think you’re going to sneak a peek?” I joked, glancing at him over my shoulder.

He blushed and scratched at the back of his head. “Well, no. Unless, of course, you want to give me a peek.”

Josh had never seen me naked. I had never seen him naked. In a
towel, yes, but not fully naked. But right then, in all the revelry and adrenaline of the moment, I was feeling brazen. Daring. It was Legacy night. The night anything could happen.

And so, there in the middle of the woods with his flashlight shining on me, I stripped slowly down to my underwear, never taking my eyes off his. Josh watched my every move. I felt less self-conscious in front of him than I had felt in front of Noelle and Darla the seamstress. I felt like I wanted him to see me. I thought he would fidget or blush, but he was mesmerized. He looked at me like I was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen.

Then I reached back and unhooked my bra. That woke him up.

“What are you—”

“My dress is strapless,” I told him.

“Don’t.” He stepped forward and picked up my gown, unzipping the bag around it so fast I thought he was going to tear something. He lifted the dress out and held it up to my half-naked body. “Someone could come back here. I don’t want anyone to see you—”

His eyes were pleading and I instantly understood. He didn’t want anyone to see me but him. I loved him so much at that moment, I wanted to cry. So what if he didn’t care about the Legacy? He cared about me. He loved me.

“Okay, not now,” I said. Then I leaned forward, the dress between us, and kissed him. “But soon?”

Josh swallowed hard. I could tell it was taking everything he had to control himself. “Soon. Definitely soon.”

Suddenly, I couldn’t have cared less that Dash was going to be
there tonight. In fact, I now intended to avoid him completely if at all possible. All I wanted was Josh. All I needed was Josh.

“Maybe we should just stay behind tonight,” Josh suggested, his voice thick. “Just you and me.”

There was a second there when I almost said yes. Who wants to turn down a proposition like that? But then someone on the street shouted, and I laughed. “Josh, we can’t. It’s the Legacy.”

Something shifted in his eyes as he looked at me. For a second I thought he was going to start in again. About how unnecessary this whole thing was. How lame. I braced myself. Felt my adrenaline start to rise. My defenses snap into place. But then he smiled.

“You’re right. It’s the Legacy,” he said. “So get dressed already and let’s go.”

Thank God. I wasn’t sure I could deal with another speech right now. But I suddenly felt shaky. Like I’d just come very close to some steep precipice. Like tonight had just been rendered fragile. I shoved my feet into my dress, and tried not to think about it.

Five minutes later we were all settled into our limousines and I was nestled in between Josh and Sabine. Noelle, Constance, Gage, Tiffany, and Rose made up the rest of our party, while everyone else had crowded into the limos behind ours. There were champagne bottles chilling on ice in the bar, but no one had cracked them. No one spoke.

We all stared at my iPhone and waited. And waited. Dead silence.

I looked at Noelle. It was almost seven o’clock. This could not be happening. After everything we’d been through, we could not be foiled because Jenna Korman’s daughter didn’t want to send us a text.

And then the phone beeped.

I grabbed it up, heart in my throat, and elation overcame me. “We have the address!”

“What is it?” Rose asked.

“It’s 2325 Bayshore Drive, Boston.”

Josh, Constance, Tiffany, even Sabine whooped happily. But over it all, Gage and Noelle spoke in unison.

“No effing way.”

My heart dropped at their tones. His angry. Hers incredulous. “What?”

Rose looked like she’d just swallowed a worm.

“What?”

Noelle reached over and grabbed my phone from me, staring down at it.

“That’s Ivy Slade’s address.”

“This place is sick,” Josh said, practically pressing his nose to the window. He hadn’t spoken much on the three-hour drive, so I was gratified to hear him say something so positive. One thing I loved about Josh in general—he was so not jaded. Even with family homes in New York, Berlin, Paris, Maine, Vail, and Hawaii, he was always still able to see the opulence and beauty in his surroundings.

No one else seemed at all fazed by the modern mansion that rose before us as the limousine pulled up the winding drive, but I had never seen anything like it in my life. Set into the side of a rocky cliff overlooking Boston Harbor, the house was white, with at least five floors, each with floor-to-ceiling windows that stretched all the way around the square façade. Outdoor decks circled each level—the lowest being the widest—and they all overflowed with revelers. Up on the roof, more Legacies gazed down, holding drinks and curiously watching the arrivals. The decks had been decorated with colorful flags in orange,
red, and gold, which whipped around in the frenzied breeze. Between the altitude and the wind coming off the water, it seemed like a windswept locale.