Page 39 of A Mastery of Monsters

“That sounds more like a budding serial killer thing to do.”

“Whatever,” the first person says. “I wish her parents would clear out her room. It’s been over a month.”

“They’re paying her rent, and besides, can you blame them? How would you feel if you came back and your whole room was empty?”

“Sammie isn’t coming back.” This is said quietly.

“She might…”

“Let’s go. No one is in here. I told you that motion sensor thing is shit. You can’t buy security stuff online for twenty dollars and expect it to work.”

“The reviews said it was legit!”

“We’re gonna be late for the walk. Let’s grab our shirts and go.”

We wait through several more door opening and closing noises until finally they go downstairs. And then we wait some more.

“I think they’re gone,” Riley says.

Me and Virgil shimmy out from under the bed.

“Can we drop this surprise farce now?” Virgil asks, looking between me and Riley. “What is actually going on here, and—” He pauses and squints at the letter still clutched in Riley’s hand. “Why do you have that?”

Riley asks, “You recognize it?”

Corey peers over the girl’s shoulder. For some reason, Riley swallows and looks away.

Maybe worried about catching society cooties.

“It’s a lecture invite,” Corey says. “Um, like, a meeting for our club?” she adds, turning to Riley.

“But we don’t invite people to parks, and definitely not this late at night. ”

Virgil meets my eyes, and I know he’s thinking about the fact that Jules got one of these too.

He reaches for the letter, and Riley holds it away from him.

“Do you want to know if it’s authentic or not?

” he asks. Reluctantly, she hands it over to him.

“It’s real. It has the seal on it and everything.

Why would they send a formal invite like this? ”

“Maybe for legitimacy?” Corey says. “Like, if they know they’re sending it to people who might know about our, um, club—”

Riley rolls her eyes. “You can cut the subterfuge. I know about the society. I’m the QBSS treasurer. Just come out with it.”

To her credit, Corey recovers quickly. “Clearly, they wanted, um”—she checks the name—“Samantha to come. If they sent a random anonymous letter, she may not have bothered. Sending an official society invite, perhaps knowing she would understand the prestige of the society or even want something from them, might tempt her into going.”

“Couldn’t a good fake do the job?” I ask.

Virgil says, “Maybe, but it would be a risk, and obviously this person didn’t want to do anything that might stop her from meeting them.”

And Sammie did go. Near City Park is where Riley said she saw her body.

Virgil looks at me. “And what are you doing with the QBSS treasurer?”

I can’t think of a single way out of this. I glance at Riley, but she’s not offering anything up. “Riley was friends with Sammie, the girl who went missing. Who I think might be connected to my brother. Who I now know is connected to Jules because they got this same invite.”

“I told you that we would help.”

“After the competition. Jules might need me now.”

He pinches the bridge of his nose. “And what are you getting out of this?” he asks Riley.

“I’m trying to figure out what happened to my friend. I know you all are involved. It reeks of society bullshit.” She snatches the invite from Virgil’s fingers. “And now I have more proof that one of your monsters killed her.”

“Why would we randomly murder some girl who isn’t associated with us?”

“I don’t know.” Riley throws her hands up.

“Revenge, maybe. Ever since our order was founded, you’ve hated us.

Hated that Joseph Lawrence chose to create his own group instead of staying under the thumb of a tyrant pretending to be a messiah.

And the only leader you ever had who tried to keep the peace is now six feet under. ”

Joseph Lawrence. The traitor. QBSS was the Black activism and philanthropy group he started?

But that doesn’t even make sense. From my Sammie research, the info on their website said their club started in 2011.

Lawrence would have been long dead by then.

But the society leader who kept the peace must have been Cyrus.

Corey swallows. “I know you have no love for Edward Weiss, but he never pretended to be a god. And Cyrus died after Sammie went to that park meeting. The Learners don’t engage in targeted attacks.”

“What do the Wilds think about that?” Riley asks with a little grin. “Self-sufficient monsters who you slaughtered because they dared to question the status quo when your Masters were desperate to stay in power.”

Virgil rubs at his stubble. “It wasn’t like that. The Wilds were working with the Pro-Libs to orchestrate a concentrated attack on—you know what? I don’t need to explain it to you. It’s complicated.”

Riley scoffs. “Oh, I’m sure it is. What is it that the Wilds do under that little agreement? Oh yes, they monitor your war games and kill the people you don’t like under threat of complete annihilation.”

Excuse me? No one had ever mentioned the Wilds killing people.

“Wilds aren’t used for assassinations. It’s a rumor,” Virgil says, nostrils flaring. “You don’t know anything about us.”

“I know quite a bit, actually. And trust me when I say we’ve tried many more times to be sympathetic to you than you have us.

Joseph Lawrence held out so many olive branches to Edward Weiss.

But he refused. You didn’t want to work in harmony with us.

You wanted your monsters in chains and your Masters holding them.

Now the Doctorate is dead, and while you squabble in your factions, someone among you has killed one of us, right under your noses. ”

Virgil throws me an acidic look. “You don’t know what you’ve done, involving her.”

“Then tell me,” I throw back.

He gnashes his teeth. “This is messy . We have an election coming up.”

“I can’t just wait around doing nothing! Look at that letter. I’ve only done this one thing with Riley, and we’re already making progress.”

“By breaking and entering! What if you got caught? Did you know that acquiring a criminal record automatically disqualifies you from the candidacy?” Before I can speak, he cuts me off.

“No, you didn’t. Because you never think first!

” Virgil storms out of the room, and Corey sighs, following after him.

In the doorway, she turns back to Riley. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about your friend.”

Riley bristles.

Corey turns and leaves.

“Those are the people who you’re choosing to associate with,” Riley says.

“Yeah, and they confirmed that your invite is real. We need them.”

Riley crosses her arms over her chest. “I stand by what I said. They’re involved somehow. With Sammie. And if I were you, I’d be wondering if they’re involved with your brother, too.”

I don’t say so to Riley, but I already am.