𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐓𝐘- a labyrinth sequel

𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍. Aurelia recognized the number again and hissed under her breath. How could Isabelle Clairmont be so stupid as to call her house phone knowing that there was a chance her parents would answer. She hurried to grab the phone before someone else did and locked herself in her bedroom.

"I told you not to call this number again," she snarled. Just because Isabelle Clairmont did one good thing in her life did not make her a good person.

"Think I'm lying now?" She questioned, and Aurelia wanted to scream. Keeping this secret was hard enough as it was. "You went to visit, didn't you?"

"I did," she admitted. "What do you want me to say?" Liam Lancaster was alive, and he had no memory of who he was. Aurelia had been ashamed to admit that she'd actually liked him. He was intelligent, and he was witty, and she could tell he felt lonely. She liked watching the way his eyes lit up as she sat across from him playing a game of chess.

"I hope you'll understand why I did it. That they'll all understand one day." She was ashamed to admit that in some messed up way, she did understand. Isabelle had such strong hatred for her father, but she'd just gone about it the wrong way. She had tried so hard to protect Rebecca and Liam, that she had stopped protecting the others. She'd grown resentful, and she let herself channel that anger into something evil. Something she couldn't take back. Aurelia had no idea whether she was truly remorseful or not, and she had no interest in peeling back her layers and examining them.

"Look, I really don't think we should be talking anymore-"

"Aren't you going to ask me?" She demanded abruptly. Aurelia paused, frowning. "Ask you what?"

"About The Society," she'd explained. Aurelia's blood ran cold.

"What do you know about that?"

"More than you, clearly," she remarked, the attitude obvious in her tone. "You've been fishing around. I still have connections in there, you know."

So that was it. Someone knew she'd been snooping around. That couldn't be good.

"You're a member?" Aurelia decided to ask.

"I was," she admitted. "But I didn't participate in their more... illicit activities. If that's what you're asking."

"So you draw the line at murdering people for The Society, but not your own father?" Aurelia pointed out dryly.

To her surprise, Isabelle Clairmont chuckled softly, "You've got a fiery side," she stated. "No wonder you want to be a member."

"A member?"

"Well, of course. Someone with your ambition, it makes sense. The need for power," she remarked. Aurelia realized that while Isabelle knew she'd been investigating, she thought it was for a completely different reason. She thought she was interested in becoming a member, and not trying to find out why they tried to kill her father. But maybe if Isabelle thought she was interested...

"What do I need to do, then?" Aurelia asked.

She laughed again, "It's not that simple," she explained. "As I'm sure you've been told, you have to be invited. Right now you're on their radar, but you haven't quite captured their attention yet. They're... hesitant."

Aurelia had half a mind to ask how she knew all of this, but she decided to forego those for now. "Because my father is an FBI agent," she guessed.

"Precisely," she finished. "You remind me so much of him. Liam I mean," she told her, sounding rather sad. Aurelia felt devastated that she spent more time talking about Liam than she ever did her own son. In some way, Aurelia thought it was her own way of coping with the fact that her son wasn't speaking to her. She took care of Liam, pretended like he was her own, because she was so desperate to coddle someone, to care for them. He was her scapegoat. "Before the accident, he was so full of life. So ambitious. He wanted to do great things," she mused. "For him it was all about power, and glory. That was the one thing that separated him from Rebecca. She wanted revenge, but he wanted to be better than them."