Page 78 of Deck of Scarlets
“So, my dagger is only useful until after it is prayed upon?” I questioned.
“It’s not written anywhere in our handbook, but it was passed down from priest to priest. Once the dagger chooses you, it gets a final prayer to activate because it’s tethered to your soul.”
“Should I be with my dagger for that to happen?”
“You already touched it after it recognized your soul.” Josh adjusted himself and stepped off the dais. “Anyways, there’s a party tonight at our frat house to celebrate your… achievement.”
“You? At a frat house?”
“I’ll text you the details.” Without looking back, he exited the room, leaving me standing in a brand new scarlet cape and with a quiet mind.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Walking up the steps to one of the many frats off campus was something I’d never thought I would do, especially after this week’s events, but there I was, dressed and ready to kick someone’s teeth in if they so much as looked at me the wrong way. All I really wanted to do was go back to my dorm and sleep. The Ceremony had already given me a headache, and any more social interaction would send me over the edge.
Josh texted me the details like he said he would, advising me to dress casually and be prepared for a knock at my door.
Of course, he failed to mention the person who did the knocking was Chloe. She barreled in, assessing my clothing only to make a disgusted sound, then raided my closet and shouted at me to change.
Now, I stood in a line outside a two-story house, where music thumped and rattled the windows along with flashing strobe lights from the bottom floor. Screams of students chanting some weird pledge inside were like nails on a chalkboard, and if I weren’t so deep in this line or Chloe wasn’t my unassigned bodyguard, I would’ve bounced.
“I thought this was an Order party? Why are there so many people here?” I asked Chloe.
She sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. “Because Baron, Josh, Kal, and Asher own this house. They are known to be the party kings of this school. Plus, I like the drama.”
Approaching the front doors, I plastered on a tight smile as I was greeted by Asher, one of the Saints from the Order, at the front door. He ushered the hostess at the door away so he could reach us. His hair was disheveled, much like his attire, and he already reeked of some type of vodka. Asher blundered down the front steps, barely making it safely on two feet toward us.
“Remi, my girl! Come on in!” Asher threw his arm over my shoulder and guided me out of the line and inside the crowded house. Chloe snorted and passed us quickly, leaving me attached to the drunken idiot.
An hour ago, Asher stood among the other Saints, poised and mute, watching the scarlet cape drape my shoulders; now he was long gone and stumbling over his feet, wholly sloshed.
I slipped under his hold and escaped, only to look behind and see him lean against the banister, trying to flirt with a group of girls, completely forgetting about little old me.
Chloe returned to my side with two red solo cups. “Josh already yelled at me earlier when I was trying to sober up. It’s soda.”
Taking a sip and enjoying an ice-cold Coke, I looked around the kitchen. Bodies were stuffed in every corner, with a couple of girls on the countertop, either making out with someone or throwing empty beer cans into the sea of people.
“Some party,” I commented dryly.
“Yeah, well, they needed an excuse to throw one.”
Following her through the crowd, we shouldered past a group of guys at a keg stand, hollering like animals.
Music thumped, rattling the chandelier in the hallway; even the photos of the frat boys on the wall shook. Whatever trap beat they played reminded me of my club days with Nickie and Jeremy.
We hadn’t spoken since the night they both trashed my outfit, and I was debating on texting her later when a familiar laugh was heard over the music change. A laugh I knew anywhere, no matter how many people occupied the house.
Nickie.
Her laugh grew louder as I left Chloe behind, following the sound to the center of the living room, where she was perched comfortably on Josh’s lap. Hands intertwined, he nuzzled against her neck like a cat in heat.
Accompanying them were Anna and Baron, sharing a couch on the opposite side. A few other students were scattered in little groups, smoking pot or throwing back shots.
“Remi!” squealed Nickie. She rushed off her spot from Josh and collided with me, my drink hitting the floor before I could register what happened and soaking my shoes.
“Oops!” She giggled, clinging to my neck.
I tried to untangle myself from her, only to step in a giant puddle of beer, almost slipping on my ass.