The man turned to the crowd of onlookers and started speaking in English. “As you know, we have to be absolutely sure that the person we are initiating as a member is not only loyal enough to keep every secret divulged to them, but also has the guts to digest all of it. Not everyone can manage that. Hence, the ritual. It exists to test the mettle of our newest recruits, and only those who pass can fully peek behind thecurtain.”
He turned back to me. I blinked rapidly, wishing everything hadn’t gone so fuzzyagain.
“Laney, do you think you have what it takes to pass?” the man asked in a sombertone.
“Yes,” I said. The word seemed to come out of me automatically. I didn’t even want to speak. I just wanted to have a glass of water, go home, and try to soberup.
“Wonderful.” The man retrieved a flower crown from the stone altar and placed it on my head. “Let’s see how well youdo.”
As he adjusted the crown on my head, the crowd whooped and cheered, and the music went on again, filling the air with a hypnotic beat. Camila, Kiri, Paisley, Riley and Hazel ran forward and yanked me off thethrone.
“Time to take what you deserve, Laney,” Camila said excitedly, offering me a chalice from the altar. I peered inside to see the remainder of the pomegranate juice fromearlier.
Now that I suspected it was drugged, I didn’t want it. No fuckingway.
“I’m not thirsty,” I mumbled, shaking myhead.
Camila sighed and thrust it right under my chin. “It’s part of the ritual,” she said. “You haveto.”
“Okay.” I grabbed the chalice and pretended to take a big gulp. Then I ‘accidentally’ dropped it, letting it splash all over the leaves by my feet. “Oops.”
“Shit,” Kirimuttered.
“It’s okay. I’m pretty sure she already had enough earlier. You’ve seen how she’s been acting,” Camila whispered to her, all but confirming that she’d given me a laced drink back in theclubroom.
The other girls started whirling around me again, faces glowing with excitement as their gauzy dresses billowed out around them. “Pick!” they shouted at me between their shrieks and giggles. “Pick!Pick!”
“Pick what?” I asked, peering at Camila through blearyeyes.
“One of them,” she said, pointing at the masked men. They were all standing closer now, lined up next to eachother.
“Forwhat?”
She grinned. “You know what,” she said, playfully elbowing me. “C’mon. You can have any one of them! I think the guy at the end is the cutest,though.”
My stomach plummeted. “You want me to pick one to sleepwith?”
“You won’t be doing much sleeping,” she said with a wink. “But yes, you’ve got the gist ofit.”
“Pick, Laney!” the other girls screeched, still twirling aroundme.
Panic flooded my veins. It felt like the whole world was closing in onme.
As I gulped down several deep breaths, I noticed another masked man on the edge of the clearing, standing by one of the golden serpent torches with a black camcorder in his hands. A lascivious smile curved up his lips as he focused it onme.
“No,” I muttered. “I… I can’t do this. Iwon’t.”
I sucked in a deep breath, pushed my way through the crowd of girls, and dashed toward the other side of the clearing, stumbling over small rocks and piles of leaves as I searched for the path. I finally found it and picked up the pace, heart pounding likecrazy.
“Don’t worry, she’s just having a little freak-out,” I heard Camila call out to someone. “I’ll gether.”
I heard a flurry of footsteps behind me, and then she caught up to me and grabbed my arm. “Stop,” she said, pulling me around to face her. “Come back. Everything’sfine!”
Out here in the cold darkness, I felt much more sober. My mind wasn’t fuzzy anymore, and I could actually thinkrationally.
I folded my arms and narrowed my eyes. “You lied to me,” I said in a hollowvoice.
“What are you talking about?” she asked, smilingsweetly.