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  But Christopher and his family—they got what it meant for Matt to pass up the chance of playing for a top-ranked col ege footbal team.

  “So,” Christopher said, a little too suddenly, as if he’d been trying to think of a way to change the subject, “which bed do you want? I don’t care whether I take top or bottom.” They al looked over at the bunk beds, and that’s when Matt saw it for the first time. It must have arrived while he was downstairs helping with Christopher’s luggage. A cream-colored envelope sat on the bottom bunk, made of a fancy thick paper stock like a wedding invitation. On the front was written in cal igraphy “Matthew Honeycutt.”

  “What’s that, dear?” Christopher’s mom asked curiously.

  Matt shrugged, but he was beginning to feel a thrum of excitement in his chest. He’d heard something about invitations certain people at Dalcrest received, ones that just mysteriously appeared, but he’d always thought they were a myth.

  Flipping the envelope over, he saw a blue wax seal bearing the impression of an ornate letter V.

  Huh. After gazing at the envelope for a second, he folded it and slipped it into his back pocket. If it was what he thought it was, he was supposed to open it alone.

  “I guess that’s fate tel ing us the bottom bunk’s yours,” Christopher said amiably.

  “Yeah,” Matt said distractedly, his heart pounding hard.

  “Excuse me for a minute, okay?”

  He ducked out into the hal , took a deep breath, and opened the envelope. Inside was more thick fancy paper with cal igraphy on it and a narrow piece of black fabric. He read:

  Fortis Aeturnus

  For generations, the best and brightest of Dalcrest College have been chosen to join the Vitale Society. This year, you have been selected.

  Should you wish to accept this honor and become one of us, come tomorrow night at eight o’clock to the main campus gate. You must be blindfolded and dressed as befits a serious occasion.

  Tell no one.

  The little pulse of excitement in Matt’s chest increased until he could hear his heart pounding in his ears. He sank down along the wal and took a deep breath.

  He’d heard stories about the Vitale Society. The handful of wel -known actors, famous writers, and great Civil War general that Dalcrest counted among their alumni were al rumored to have been members. To belong to the legendary society was supposed to ensure your success, to link you to an incredible secret network that would help you throughout your life.

  More than that, there was talk of mysterious deeds, of secrets revealed only to members. And they were supposed to have amazing parties.

  But they were just gossip, the stories of the Vitale Society, and no one ever straight-out admitted to belonging to it. Matt always figured the secret society was a myth. The col ege itself so vehemently denied any knowledge of the Vitale Society that Matt suspected the admissions people might have made the whole thing up, trying to make the col ege seem a little more exclusive and mysterious than it real y was.

  But here—he looked down at the creamy paper clutched in his hands—was evidence that al the stories might be true. It could be a joke, he supposed, a trick someone was playing on a few of the freshmen. It didn’t feel like a joke, though. The seal, the wax, the expensive paper; it seemed like a lot of effort to go to if the invitation wasn’t genuine.

  The most exclusive, most secret society at Dalcrest was real. And they wanted him.

  4

  “Trust Bonnie to meet a cute guy on her first day at col ege,” Elena said. She careful y drew the nail-polish brush over Meredith’s toenail, painting it a tannish pink.

  They’d spent the evening at freshman orientation with the rest of their dormmates, and now al they wanted to do was relax. “Are you sure this is the color it’s supposed to be?” Elena asked Meredith. “It doesn’t look like a summer sunset to me.”

  “I like it,” Meredith said, wiggling her toes.

  “Careful! I don’t want polish on my new bedspread,” Elena warned.

  “Zander is just gorgeous,” Bonnie said, stretching out luxuriously on her own bed on the other side of the room.

  “Wait til you meet him.”

  Meredith smiled at Bonnie. “Isn’t it an amazing feeling?

  When you’ve just met somebody and you feel like there’s something between you, but you’re not quite sure what’s going to happen?” She gave an exaggerated sigh, rol ing her eyes up in a mock swoon. “It’s al about the anticipation, and you get a thril just seeing him. I love that first part.” Her tone was light, but there was something lonely in her face.

  Elena was sure that, as composed and calm as Meredith was, she was already missing Alaric.

  “Sure,” Bonnie said amiably. “It’s awesome, but I’d like to get to the next stage for once. I want to have a relationship where we know each other real y wel , a serious boyfriend instead of just a crush. Like you guys have. That’s even better, isn’t it?”

  “I think so,” said Meredith. “But you shouldn’t try to hurry through the we-just-met stuff, because you’ve only got a limited time to enjoy it. Right, Elena?” Elena dabbed a cotton bal around the edges of Meredith’s polished toenails and thought about when she had first met Stefan. With al that had happened since then, it was hard to believe it was only a year ago.

  What she remembered most was her own

  determination to have Stefan. No matter what had gotten in her way, she had known with a clear, firm purpose that he would be hers. And then, in those early days, once he was hers, it was glorious. It felt as if the missing piece of herself had slotted into place.

  “Right,” she said final y, answering Meredith. “Afterward, things get more complicated.”

  At first, Stefan had been a prize that Elena wanted to win: sophisticated and mysterious. He was a prize Caroline wanted, too, and Elena would never let Caroline beat her.

  But then Stefan had let Elena see the pain and passion, the integrity and nobility, he held inside him and she had forgotten the competition and loved Stefan with her whole heart.

  And now? She stil loved Stefan with everything she had, and he loved her. But she loved Damon, too, and sometimes she understood him—plotting, manipulative, dangerous Damon—better than she did Stefan. Damon was like her in some ways: he, too, would be relentless in pursuing what he wanted. She and Damon connected, she thought, on some deep core instinctive level that Stefan was too good, too honorable to understand. How could you love two people at the same time?

  “Complicated,” Bonnie scoffed. “More complicated than never being sure if somebody likes you or not? More complicated than having to wait by the phone to see if you have a date for Saturday night or not? I’m ready for complicated. Did you know that forty-nine percent of col ege-educated women meet their future husbands on campus?”

  “You made that statistic up,” Meredith said, rising and picking her way toward her own bed, careful not to smudge her polish.

  Bonnie shrugged. “Okay, maybe I did. But I bet it’s a real y high percentage, anyway. Didn’t your parents meet right here, Elena?”

  “They did,” Elena said. “I think they had a class together sophomore year.”

  “How romantic,” Bonnie said happily.

  “Wel , if you get married, you have to meet your future spouse somewhere,” Meredith said. “And there are a lot of possible future spouses at col ege.” She frowned at the silky cover on her bed. “Do you think I can dry my nails faster if I use the hair dryer, or wil it mess up the polish? I want to go to sleep.”

  She examined the hair dryer as if it were the focal point of some science experiment, her face intent. Bonnie was watching her upside down, her head tipped back off the end of the bed and her red curls brushing the floor, tapping her feet energetical y against the wal . Elena felt a great swel of love for both of them. She remembered the countless sleepovers they’d had al through school, back before their lives had gotten … complicated.

  “I love having the three of
us together,” she said. “I hope the whole year is going to be just like this.” That was when they first heard the sirens.

  Meredith peered through the blinds, col ecting facts, trying to analyze what was going on outside Pruitt House. An ambulance and several police cars were parked across the street, their lights silently blinking red and blue. Floodlights lit the quad a ghastly white, and it was crawling with police officers.

  “I think we should go out there,” she said.

  “Are you kidding me?” Bonnie asked from behind her.

  “Why would we want to do that? I’m in my pajamas.” Meredith glanced back. Bonnie was standing, hands on hips, brown eyes indignant. She was indeed wearing cute ice-cream-cone-printed pajamas.

  “Wel , quick, put on some jeans,” Meredith said.

  “But why?” asked Bonnie plaintively.

  Meredith’s eyes met Elena’s across the room, and they nodded briskly to each other.

  “Bonnie,” Elena said patiently, “we have a responsibility to check out everything that’s going on around here. We might just want to be normal col ege students, but we know the truth about the world—the truth other people don’t realize, about vampires and werewolves and monsters—

  and we need to make sure that what’s going on out there isn’t part of that truth. If it’s a human problem, the police wil deal with it. But if it’s something else, it’s our responsibility.”

  “Honestly,” grumbled Bonnie, already reaching for her clothes, “you two have a—a saving-people complex or something. After I take psychology, I’m going to diagnose you.”

  “And then we’l be sorry,” Meredith said agreeably.

  On their way out the door, Meredith grabbed the long velvet case that held her fighting stave. The stave was special, designed to fight both human and supernatural adversaries, and was made to specifications handed down through her family for generations. Only a Sulez could have a staff like this. She caressed it through the case, feeling the sharp spikes of different materials that dotted its ends: silver for werewolves, wood for vampires, white ash for Old Ones, iron for al eldritch creatures, tiny hypodermics to fil with poisons. She knew she couldn’t take the stave out of its case on the quad, not surrounded by police officers and innocent bystanders, but she felt stronger when she could feel the weight of it in her hand.

  Outside, the mugginess of the Virginia September day had given way to a chil y night, and the girls walked quickly toward the crowd around the quad.

  “Don’t look like we’re heading straight over there,” Meredith whispered. “Pretend we’re going to one of the buildings. Like the student center.” She angled off slightly, as if she was heading past the quad, and then led them closer, glancing over at the police tape surrounding the grass, pretending to be surprised by the activity next to them. Elena and Bonnie fol owed her lead, looking around wide-eyed.

  “Can I help you ladies?” one of the campus security men asked, stepping forward to block their progress.

  Elena smiled at him appealingly. “We were just on our way to the student center, and we saw everyone out here.

  What’s going on?”

  Meredith craned her head to look past him. Al she could see were groups of police officers talking to one another and more campus security. Some officers were on their hands and knees, searching careful y through the grass. Crime scene analysts, she thought vaguely, wishing she knew more about police procedure than what she’d seen on TV.

  The security officer stepped sideways to block her view.

  “Nothing serious, just a girl who ran into a bit of trouble walking out here alone.” He smiled reassuringly.

  “What kind of trouble?” Meredith asked, trying to see for herself.

  He shifted, blocking her line of sight again. “Nothing to worry about. Everyone’s going to be okay this time.”

  “This time?” Bonnie asked, frowning.

  He cleared his throat. “You girls just stick together at night, okay? Make sure to walk in pairs or groups when you’re out around campus, and you’l be fine. Basic safety stuff, right?”

  “But what happened to the girl? Where is she?” Meredith asked.

  “Nothing to worry about,” he said, more firmly this time.

  His eyes were on the black velvet case in Meredith’s hand.

  “What have you got in there?”

  “Pool cue,” she lied. “We’re going to play pool in the student center.”

  “Have a good time,” he said, in a tone of voice that was clearly a dismissal.

  “We wil ,” Elena said sweetly, her hand on Meredith’s arm. Meredith opened her mouth to ask another question, but Elena was pul ing her away from the officer and toward the student center.

  “Hey,” Meredith objected quietly, when they were out of earshot. “I wasn’t done asking questions.”

  “He wasn’t going to tel us anything,” Elena said. Her mouth was a grim straight line. “I bet a lot more happened than someone getting into a little trouble. Did you see the ambulances?”

  “We’re not real y going to the student center, are we?” Bonnie asked plaintively. “I’m too tired.” Meredith shook her head. “We’d better loop back behind the buildings to our dorm, though. It’l look suspicious if we head right back where we came from.”

  “That was creepy, right?” Bonnie said. “Do you think”—

  she paused, and Meredith could see her swal ow—“do you think something real y bad happened?”

  “I don’t know,” Meredith said. “He said a girl ran into a little bit of trouble. That could mean anything.”

  “Do you think someone attacked her?” Elena asked.

  Meredith shot her a significant look. “Maybe,” she said.

  “Or maybe something did.”

  “I hope not,” Bonnie said, shivering. “I’ve had enough somethings to last me forever.” They’d crossed behind the science building, down a darker, lonelier path, and circled back toward their dorm, its brightly lit entryway like a beacon before them. Al three sped up, heading for the light.

  “I’ve got my key,” Bonnie said, feeling in her jeans pocket. She opened the door, and she and Elena hurried into the dorm.

  Meredith paused and glanced back toward the busy quad, then, past it, at the dark sky above campus.

  Whatever “trouble” had happened, and whether the cause was human or something else, she knew she needed to be in top condition, ready to fight.

  She could almost hear her father’s voice saying, “Fun time is over, Meredith.” It was time to focus on her training again, time to work toward her destiny as a protector, as a Sulez, to keep innocent people safe from the darkness.

  5

  The sun was way too bright. Bonnie shielded her eyes with one hand and glanced anxiously around as she walked across the quad toward the bookstore. It had taken her a long time to fal asleep after getting back to their room the night before. What if some crazy person was stalking the campus?

  It’s broad daylight, she told herself. There are people everywhere. I have nothing to be afraid of. But bad things could happen during the day, too. Girls got lured into cars by horrible men, or hit over the head and taken to dark places. Monsters didn’t just lurk in the night. After al , she knew several vampires who strol ed around during the day al the time. Damon and Stefan didn’t scare her, not anymore, but there were other daytime monsters. I just want to feel safe for once, she thought wistful y.

  She was coming up on the area the police had been searching the night before, stil blocked off with yel ow tape.

  Students were standing nearby in groups of two or three, talking in low voices. Bonnie spied a reddish-brown stain across the path that she thought might be blood, and she walked faster as she passed it.

  There was a rustling in the bushes. Bonnie sped up even more, picturing a wild-eyed attacker hiding in the undergrowth, and glanced around nervously. No one was looking in her direction. Would they help her if she screamed?

  She risked
another look back at the bush—should she just take off running?—and stopped, embarrassed by the furious thumping of her heart. A cute little squirrel hopped hesitantly from under the branches. It sniffed the air, then dashed across the path and up a tree behind the police tape.

  “Honestly, Bonnie McCul ough, you’re a moron,” Bonnie muttered to herself. A guy passing her in the other direction overheard her and snickered, making Bonnie blush furiously.

  By the time she got to the bookstore, she’d gotten her blushing under control. Having the typical redhead’s complexion was a pain—everything she felt was broadcast by the flush or paleness of her skin. With any luck, though, she’d be able to handle a simple trip to buy books without humiliating herself.

  Bonnie had started getting acquainted with the bookstore when she’d had her shopping spree yesterday, but she hadn’t real y investigated the book side of the store.

  Today, though, she had the book list for the classes she’d registered for, and she needed to stock up for some serious studying. She’d never been a huge fan of school, but maybe col ege would be different. With a resolute squaring of her shoulders, she turned determinedly away from the shiny stuff and toward the textbooks.

  The book lists were awful y long, though. She found the fat Intro to Psychology textbook with a sense of satisfaction: this would definitely give her the terminology to diagnose her friends. The freshman English seminar she was assigned to covered a slew of novels, so she wandered through the fiction section, pul ing The Red and the Black, Oliver Twist, and The Age of Innocence off the shelves as she passed.

  She rounded a corner in search of the rest of the Ws, intent on adding To the Lighthouse to her growing stack of books, and froze.

  Zander. Beautiful, beautiful Zander was draped graceful y next to a bookshelf, his white-blond head bent over a book. He hadn’t seen her yet, so Bonnie immediately ducked back into the previous aisle.

  She leaned against the wal , breathing hard. She could feel her cheeks heating up again, that awful tel tale blush.