Emmy rolled her eyes and smothered her bun in butter. Leave it to Lola to miss tangling with a dangerous society.
Madam Boyd came up to their table. “I’ve got all the information about last year’s fundraiser in my office,” she said to Lola. “Come see me after supper and we’ll go over it.” She walked away before she could hear Lola complain.
Lola shoved her fork into her pie. “Like I don’t have enough to do.”
“Think of all the extra time you’ll have now that we’re not researching the Order,” Jack said.
“I’d rather sneak around than work on a committee with Brynn.”
Emmy looked at her plate. It was all well and good for Lola to wish she could dig into the Order’s secrets. They’d never gone after her.
When Emmy got back to her room that night, she pulled out the letters her father had sent her the year before. The first one had led her to the box of medallions that he’d hidden in the attic of their Connecticut farmhouse. The second one was older, it talked about a meeting between her dad and Brother Loyola. If he hadn’t sent her that one, she never would have made the connection between her dad and the Order. As for the third letter, she still shuddered when she read Master Barlowe telling her father that the Order was searching for him and he needed to go on the run.
Emmy didn’t read the fourth letter. She knew it by heart.
Forgive my cryptic notes, they could have fallen into the wrong hands.
Forgive me pretending to be a priest, I was desperate to catch a glimpse of you.
I won’t ask you to forgive my absence, even though it haunts me.
She put the letters in their box under her bed and wrapped herself in her blanket. Could she forgive her dad being absent from her life for so long? He had left to protect her and her mom, to keep the Order away from them. So why did he send her all those clues that led her straight to the Order last year?
Emmy flicked off her lamp and shut her eyes as tight as she could. There was no point in thinking about it anymore. She wasn’t going to let the Order—or her father—mess up another year at Wellsworth.
Chapter 5
The Charity Supper
Emmy got her charity binder out of her bag and sat in the corner of the common room. She and Sam had been trying to get donations for the silent auction for two weeks, and it was a relief to be almost done. Sam came down the Edmund stairs and sat across from her. They’d been working together so much that Emmy had gotten used to the stomach fluttering. Every once in a while, if Sam made her laugh or accidentally brushed her hand, she’d feel a giant swoop behind her belly-button. Those swoops seemed to have a direct connection to her ears, making them hot and flushed. Thank goodness she could hide her ears behind her hair.
“Did your mom send those tickets?” Emmy asked as she opened her binder.
Sam counted on his fingers. “She got the London Symphony Orchestra, James Ehnes, and the Doric String Quartet.”
“Nice,” Emmy said, even though she didn’t have a clue who any of those people were.
“Yep,” Sam said with a grin. “I guess having a classical music promoter for a mom has finally paid off.”
“It sounds like such a cool job,” Emmy said. “Getting to meet all those musicians and set up concerts.”
“Yeah, she loves it. The pay’s pretty up and down, though. As soon as the economy takes a hit, nobody wants to go to concerts anymore. She doesn’t like to let on, but I think she’s been a bit worried lately.” He wiped his forehead and pulled the binder closer. “Anyway, we’re getting the restaurant gift certificates emailed to us, right?”
“Right,” Emmy said, “and I already locked up the paintings in the student conference room. That brings us to almost a hundred items. That should be enough, right?”
“Definitely. How’s Lola holding up?”
Emmy groaned. “Don’t ask. She’s determined to raise more money than last year.”
“But that’s good, isn’t it?”
“I wish it was out of the goodness of her heart,” Emmy said, “but I think it’s more about beating the girls from Wit House, ’cause they organized it last year.”
Sam laughed. “Well, at least that’ll mean good money for the White Stone Gate Society.”
Emmy smiled. The White Stone Gate Society was a charity in King’s Lynn that provided food, counseling, and job placements for people who were struggling. The last few years had been hard on Norfolk, and there were a lot of people who needed extra help.
“Brynn said he was collecting a lot of money from ticket sales,” Sam said, “so there should be a lot of people to bid on all the auction items.”
Emmy’s smile slipped, and Sam tipped his head.
“What is it with you guys and Brynn?” he said. “He said you had some kind of rivalry with each other.”
Emmy blinked. She wouldn’t exactly call it a rivalry. Not only had Brynn given Jack a hard time when they were in first year, but when he’d found out Emmy knew about the Order, he shoved her into a wall and demanded she tell him everything she knew. But Brynn wasn’t their rival. He was just a jerk.
Emmy didn’t want to explain all that to Sam, especially all the stuff with Jack. It wasn’t her place. “We don’t exactly get along.”
Sam laughed. “Yeah, that’s pretty obvious.” He stood up. “See you at the committee meeting tomorrow?”
“Sounds good.”
Sam hadn’t been gone more than a minute when someone else came and sat in his seat. “You two sure have been spending a lot of time together.”
Emmy didn’t have to look up. She’d know her old roommate’s voice anywhere. “What do you want, Victoria?”
“Can’t I just come over to catch up?” She smirked and flicked her blond hair behind her shoulder. “We were so close.”
“Oh, please,” Emmy scoffed. “Seriously, what do you want?”
“To give you a warning.”
Emmy shifted in her chair. If the Order was sending messages through Victoria now, it was starting to get ridiculous. “About what?”
“About Sam.”
Emmy laughed. “Are you serious?”
“Yes.” Victoria crossed her arms. “Just because you two are getting cozy in the common room doesn’t mean you actually know him.”
Emmy kept laughing. If this was how Victoria wanted to torture her this year, she’d have to come up with something better.