The Bonding Ritual (Girls Wearing Black: Book Four) (45 page)

“You will not push me out! I will make sure Nicky wins the Coronation contest!”

Jill sat still for a moment while Ryan’s voice echoed in the bedroom. She didn’t know that she had ever seen him like this.

“Okay, if that’s what you want,” she said quietly. “I think I should go.”

“I’ll pick you up on Monday morning,” Ryan said. “We arrive at school as a couple. We focus on filling in the blanks on that spreadsheet. We will open that safe and Nicky Bloom will win the Coronation contest.”

“Right,” Jill said. “See you Monday
, Ryan.”

The final weeks of February are a time of conflict in Washington
, DC. Virginia is ready to be warm. Maryland still wants to be cold. Washington, trapped in the middle, becomes a mixing pot of stagnant air and low pressure systems. The political gridlock on the Hill gets mirrored in the air surrounding it, with cold and warm fighting for space. Rapid winds begin to swirl, grabbing trash from the gutters and spreading it across the streets and sidewalks, where it inevitably gets soaked in wet, slushy snow.

And sometimes ice.

On the Monday following the paper lantern festival, the eclectic DC weather struck, drenching the Washington-Baltimore corridor in slush during the day, which turned to ice overnight. The nation’s capital became a skating rink. School was cancelled for the first half of the week, and when it resumed, it was in spirit only. Most of the Thorndike student body skipped class, choosing to return to campus on Friday night, when Daciana called eight more people to the front of the chapel to try the safe.

Petra, Anthony, Emma French, Emma Langner, Ben, Riley, Jordan, and Matt went to the altar that night. All of them spun the first dial to number thirteen, unaware that they were falling for
a ruse about Samantha’s number.

None of them got the safe open.

The week following saw more sunshine, more students at school, and eight more people fail to open the safe. For Nicky, it was comforting to watch. The entire school was mixed up about the first number of the combination, and no one seemed close on the second or third numbers either.

Ninety-eight, seventy-seven, nineteen.
Nicky had the numbers in her head, and Jill had them written on her spreadsheet. All they needed was Mary’s number and the safe was theirs to open. Sadly, Mary had done a superb job of keeping her number a secret. No one at school had a clue what it was.

The same went for the most loyal members of Kim’s crew. As winter gave way to spring, there were only eight names left on Jill’s master list that didn’t have numbers attached. Jill, Ryan, and Nicky focused in on those names, dividing them up between the three of them and trying anything and everything to get them to talk. Ryan offered bribes. Jill hacked into their email accounts. Nicky followed them around at school.

None of them had any success.

It was only at the chapel gatherings on Friday nights that they were able to shrink the unknowns on Jill’s spreadsheet. On the first Friday in March, Daciana pulled number sixty-four from the bin and Alex McCombs came to the altar. Jill filled in his number on the spreadsheet, and
eight question marks became seven. On the next Friday, Pauline Wabash was called up, and the seven question marks became six.

Helena and Phillip were growing impatient with the whole process.

“You kids have got to do something more than wait for Daciana to announce the numbers,” Helena said to Nicky. “You’re finding out the numbers at the same time as everyone else.”

“I know,” Nicky said. “But we’ve got a few people who can’t be persuaded to speak, and until they talk to us, we don’t have any other options.”

“Who isn’t talking to you?”

“Kim’s people.”

“But you already have Kim’s number!”

“You know that, and I know that, but Kim doesn’t know that. She and her father are using the good old Renwick powers of persuasion to make Rosalyn, Art, and Andrea keep their mouths shut about their own numbers. Kim has a master list of everyone’s numbers just like we do, and she wants to make it as hard as possible for us to fill
in our list.”

“I don’t understand why people like Art Tremblay aren’t talking to you,” Helena said. “Kim had him under her thumb before, and you worked around it.”

“That was when I was new and interesting,” Nicky said. “I’m not new and interesting anymore. I’m the girl who got used in a scheme to put Samantha over the top.”

“Then Jill and Ryan need to be doing more.”

“They’re doing all they can. This game is a tricky one for us to play. Kim and her father are good at making people keep secrets.”

“Are you sure it’s Kim who is keeping these people quiet?”

Nicky showed Helena the list of names that still had question marks next to them. Mary, Andrea, Rosalyn, Marshall, Dan, and Art.

“Other than Mary, we’re looking at people whose families have been beholden to the Renwicks for years,” Nicky said. “These people have no reason to talk to me. I’ve got nothing to offer them.”

“It seems to me you’d have plenty to offer them. You only need one more number and you win Coronation.”

“They don’t know that, and they wouldn’t believe me if I told them. I’m the odd man out at Thorndike
right now.”

“Your position is no different now than it was at the Homecoming Masquerade,” Helena said. “And somehow you came out of that night okay.”

“Yes, I suppose I did.”

“The only difference between now and then is that you went into the Homecoming Masquerade with an attitude that you would succeed no matter what. Now get your game face on and fill in those missing numbers!”

So it was that Nicky arrived at school one Monday morning determined to get Art Tremblay to talk to her. She changed her route between second and third period so she could pass him in the hall, and smile at him.

He smiled back.

At lunch, she found him eating alone in the courtyard. She sat down next to him.

The way he greeted her suggested it wouldn’t be a productive conversation.

“I can’t give you my number, Nicky.”

“What makes you think I was going to ask you to?”

“For weeks now, people have been extra nice to me,” Art said. “They all want the same thing.”

“Well, I don’t.”

“Are you sure? It’s not like you and I normally eat lunch together.”

“Maybe that could change.”

Art laughed.

“I’m not falling for your hogwash again,” he said. “Look, Nicky, I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I’m not stupid either. You were nice to me last semester because you wanted my money at the Date Auction.”

“It’s not like you gave me any.”

“Yeah, well, you can thank Kim for that. Her dad worked with mine to freeze all my assets until school gets out.”

“What a shitty thing to do.”

“She knew I was going to bid on you at the Date Auction.”

“You did bid on me,” Nicky said. “If I recall, you offered one penny.”

Nicky smiled as she said the words.

“I’m sorry about that,” Art said.

“Coronation makes all of us do things we regret,” said Nicky.

“Well I’m sorry anyway.”

Art was strangely relaxed and sure of himself—a far cry from the Art Tremblay Nicky knew last semester.

“I quit drinking, you know,” he said.

“Good for you.”

“Yeah, over the holiday I did a little soul searching, and decided I was spending a little too much time with a beer bottle in my hand, if you know what I mean.”

“I do know what you mean.”

“It’s funny. I was so angry at Kim when she got my father to freeze my funds, but in a way, it’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“Really? How so?”

“All that money made me a target in the Coronation contest. You and Kim and everybody—man, I felt like everyone wanted a piece of me last semester. It wasn’t good for me.”

“I can imagine,” Nicky said.

“You can imagine! I bet you can do more than imagine! You acted like you cared about me, but you never did.”

“That’s not true, Art.”

“I thought I was in love with you. Did you know that? Did you care? I was such a fool! You came to my house. You kissed me. You made me think you liked me. But it was all a game. You just wanted my money.”

“I got played too, Art. It’s how things work in this town.”

“Cry me a river, Nicky Bloom. This whole thing with Jill and Samantha, the way they used you, if you ask me you had it coming. All of you people are the same. Jill, Ryan, Kim, you.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way. I’ll leave you alone now.”

“Yes, you will. If you want to know my number, you can find out at the same time as everyone else. When Daciana calls me up to try the safe.”

Nicky stood up.

“See you around, Art,” she said.

“Yeah, whatever.”

A few days later, Nicky, Art, and all their classmates gathered again in the Albert and Melba Anderson Memorial chapel, looking on as Daciana called up eight more students to try the safe. Of this group of eight, only two of them (Dan and Marshall) were from the unknown number category on Jill’s spreadsheet. Six question marks became four.

Four unknown numbers on a dial from one to ninety-nine. If they never discovered another number, and Ryan had to guess at the combination, he’d have a one in four chance of getting it right.

After exiting the chapel, Nicky walked alone to her car, which was parked half a block down the road.

She found one of Daciana’s servants waiting there for her.

“My master has asked me to hold you,” the servant said.

“Hold me?”

“You are not to leave until Daciana has had the opportunity to speak with you.”

Daciana arrived a few minutes later.

“You wanted to see me?” Nicky said.

“Let’s go for a drive, Nicky.”

“Am I driving or are you?”

Daciana smiled. “You can drive this time,” she said. “We aren’t going very far.”

With Daciana guiding her at each intersection, Nicky drove to the northwest end of town. With each turn, Nicky grew a little more nervous about where they were going.

“How well did you know Annika Fleming?” Daciana asked.

Nicky spoke her mantra silently to herself.
Breathe in me
. It was crucial that she kept her cool. Not only was Daciana having her drive towards Jill’s neighborhood, but she was asking about Annika.

Nicky feared things were about to get ugly.

“I only met her a few months ago,” Nicky said.

“But she was one of your supporters, was she not?”

“By the end of last semester, most of the students at school thought they were supporting me. Now they aren’t.”

“Ah yes, well, Coronation can be like that,” said Daciana. “The reason I’m asking about Annika is because, as you know, she betrayed the clan.”

“I was sorry to hear about that. What a terrible choice.”

“Sadly, kids your age can be vulnerable,” Daciana said. “Adolescent rebellion can transform into something much worse without proper guidance. Ms. Fleming fell in with the wrong crowd. We know that she was close to another traitor, one who left the school before you arrived. Turn right up here.”

Nicky turned to drive up the hill. She did it without hesitation, even though this was the last place she wanted to go. At the end of this hill, the road forked at the woods. One side of that fork went directly to Jill’s house.

“You’re talking about Shannon Evans,” Nicky said.

“That’s right. Shannon and her parents were the first traitors to leave Thorndike, and we have connected them directly to Falkon Dillinger. That’s why I’m very interested in Annika. She is a direct connection to my enemies. Let me ask you something. Does the name JoBeth Geary mean anything to you?”

“No,” Nicky said.

“It has taken us a few months of digging, but we’re pretty certain now that Annika Fleming left the country using a passport issued to JoBeth Geary.”

“Really?”

“It’s funny, Nicky. When someone like Annika attaches themselves to one of my enemies, they get showered with money and resources. Fake passports, Swiss bank accounts—someone gave Annika the tools to sneak out in a way I couldn’t track her, but in the end, Annika made a mistake.”

“What did she do?”

“Before she left town, she sent money to a hotel in Brazil. A hotel where we knew Shannon Evans was staying.”

“And you used that money to track her?”

“We used that money to uncover the phony name Shannon Evans was using in Brazil. Shannon and Annika thought their fake names were secure, and once we discovered one, it was easy to learn the other. They shared hotel rooms and a bank account, using both names on the paperwork.”

“And that’s how you found JoBeth Geary.”