BLUE BLOOD

18 | it was just a game

x

"Let's see how long you live, then, Grace."

x

My hands were trembling by the time I left the exam room.

Ella's journal. The five letter lock.

She recorded all our secrets in there. Including hers.

What could they possibly be hiding?

What could she?

Five letter word. If I knew the five letter word... I could unlock it. I could figure it out, after all, everything was in there. Everything.

Leverage.

You have to speak their language...

Secrets.

My head was spinning as I managed to walk in a straight line. I felt the stares as I stepped out of the hall. What was I supposed to do now? Was Avery finished? Was anybody finished with the exams?

It couldn't just be me... could it?

"Identification?" the security guard asked as I approached the checkpoint. "Your fingerprint, please."

I wasn't actually sure if they had my identity in the database but I figured it wouldn't matter. I pressed my thumb to the scanner and waited for an answer. Honestly, I could have waited all day and I would not have noticed.

"Cadre I," he muttered, eyes widening, "Ms. Du Sang. You're to return to your house for the night."

"I can't leave the campus?" I tilted my head, curious.

The security guard stammered, "N-Not until rankings come out by Friday. No student is allowed to leave campus. Rest assured, the academy is meant to act as a boarding school."

The immediate fear shining in his eyes reminded me just how much influence being in the top Cadre gave me. It was ridiculous. With a nod to him, I turned to walk to my locker, feeling the dread.

Avery already handled my initiation to the cadre. Otherwise, how would I be in the database?

I was officially a blue blood now.

I was everything I needed to be but I was also everything I despised in a person.

I had become someone Ella hadn't. Once again. If she were alive, she'd resent me. She'd bottle it in quietly, but she would nevertheless.

Swallowing, I yanked the locker open and invitations tumbled out. I thumbed through them until I saw an invitation from the second most powerful cadre. Cadre II. Just as Clara Jane had promised.

For some odd reason, this was the cadre I wanted to be in.

But what I wanted did not matter.

I placed the envelopes back in the locker after grabbing the formal invitation of Cadre I. No key. I shouldered my backpack and then realized I had two notes for me.

I read the first one and held a metal blue card. Avery. Here's the key to the dorms, love

The second. A phone number. I have a feeling we'll talk again soon, CJ

Clara Jane.

"This is what you wanted, isn't it?"

I slammed my locker shut. "Cole."

He leaned close against the wall, expression frosty. For the first time, I had a clear look of Cole Asto and understood why he was the way he is. And why people fell for him.