The Similars (The Similars #1)(17)

“To the Ten,” Madison answers. “What did you think this was, a tea party?”

I look around at the other Ten members, both new and old, who stand there surrounding me, and I have the distinct sense of being circled by predators.

“Let me guess,” I say, turning back to Madison, my voice hardening. “This was my initiation. Were you trying to kill me?”

“We weren’t going to let you perish, Emmaline.” Madison glances back at her entourage. “Were we?”

Angela opens her mouth to speak, then thinks better of it.

“Prudence’s task was to save you,” Tessa says simply, without further explanation.

I turn to Pru, confused but, once again, immensely grateful. I’m about to thank her for saving my life when Tessa continues. “After she threw you in.”

A chill creeps up my body, starting at my toes and ending at the top of my head. And even though my clothes are soaking, this feeling isn’t a result of the cold.

“After you threw me in?” I turn back to Pru, not believing what I’m hearing.

“We helped, of course,” Tessa adds blandly. “You’re not that light.”

“You tied a brick to my leg!” I protest.

“Kettlebell. But same difference. Pru borrowed it from her crew team.”

“That’s crazy.” I turn back to Pru. “You wouldn’t…” When she doesn’t answer, I scan the circle. Not everyone’s here yet. Not all ten of us. But those who are watch me, especially Madison. She couldn’t look more pleased with herself. And Tessa looks exceptionally smug. Prudence doesn’t defend herself. Which means it’s true. She did this.

“But, Pru. Why would you… How could you—?”

I stop. Her face is pure anguish. I can tell that tossing me into Dark Lake was the last thing she’d ever want to do. But she did it anyway.

“Prudence takes her position in the Ten seriously,” Madison explains. “You’d be wise to do the same.”

“Or what?” I ask, the tremor in my voice nearly betraying me.

“Or suffer the consequences.” Madison’s voice is cold, and I’m not only chilled now. I’m shivering, and sickened at what Pru thought she had to do. Did Madison and the others threaten her? Is that why she was convinced she had to follow their orders? How twisted is this Ten business? The first chance I get, I’ll talk to Pru about this, in private.

Tessa hands me and Pru towels from a tote bag. “You’re dripping,” she says. I take one, still shell-shocked.

“Let’s go, everyone,” Angela says softly. “It’s nearly midnight.”

“We have one more stop to make before we commence the first midnight session of the school year,” Madison says with authority. “Follow me.”

We do, because we’re soaked through, and because now doesn’t feel like the right moment to defy Madison. Not when we’re vulnerable like this. Pru wraps her arm around my waist, and we plod up the grassy hill to school. We keep our distance from Madison, Tessa, and Angela, who walk several feet ahead of us, and Maude and Archer, who follow behind a few paces. Pru grabs my hand and squeezes it. I let her, even though a part of me wants to shout at her and make her explain. How could she bring herself to throw me in the lake? Did she think about saying no?

I check the time on my plum, thankful for its waterproof capabilities up to a thousand feet. There’s a notification waiting for me. Apparently Dash was about to send out an emergency alert after my blood pressure increased dramatically from the adrenaline then dropped dangerously low. But I was rescued before the alert went out.

“Thanks, Dash,” I whisper. “What would I do without you?”

“I would prefer not to find out,” he replies.

“Emma,” Pru says, her voice fierce. “You have to know. I would never have let anything happen to you.”

I’m too overwhelmed to respond. I believe Pru. I do. I know without a shadow of a doubt that she would never hurt me, not if she could help it. She’s always been the one person at this school, besides Oliver, whom I’d trust with my life. And tonight, it came to that. I shiver in my wet clothes, reminding myself how Pru worried about me this summer after Ollie died. How she buzzed me that she’d give her right arm to get him back for one last day. One last hour. One last minute. It was the only thing anyone said to me that gave me comfort. It gives me comfort now.

And yet, it doesn’t stop the feeling of dread that floods my veins like a lethal injection of black-market pharmas.





Midnight Session


“Girls, you’ll be coming with me,” Madison dictates as we reach the front steps of Cypress. “Archer, it’s time for you to retrieve the guys.”

“Roger that, Captain,” Archer jokes, moving off toward one of the dorms.

Madison turns to the rest of us—me, Tessa, Prudence, Maude, and Angela. “Up to the third floor. And be quiet,” she warns. We follow her silently up the stairs and down the hallway, stopping in front of the penultimate door.

“Left side or right?” Tessa asks Madison.

“Left,” Madison replies, but she isn’t looking at Tessa. She’s staring at me. Madison reaches into her coat pocket and pulls out a pair of gleaming metal scissors. She thrusts them toward me.