Secret Society Girl (23 page)

There was a pattern of three-one-two knocks on the door. Malcolm opened it to reveal Poe, who was scowling and towing along an even more petulant George Harrison Prescott. At once, my heart leapt and sank.

―Seven thousand, one hundred, and twelfth,‖ Poe announced. ―Nice soundproofing, by the way.‖ Poe pushed George into the room. ―Take a seat, kid.‖

George plopped down next to Jenny Santos, who made a face and scooted away from him, and he grinned as if he‘d just gotten away with something particularly naughty.

The seniors had gone back to padding the entrances to the room, and one was now stuffing throw pillows into the air ducts. When they were satisfied that we‘d really blocked out the sound, the one playing ―Uncle Tony,‖ the rotating parliamentary head, started up again.

―In the name of Persephone, Keeper of the Flame of Life and the Shadow of Death…I, um, call to order the Knights….‖ He trailed off, a sheepish shrug in place. ―Sorry. I‘m helpless without the Black Book.‖

Another senior waved his hand in dismissal. ―Whatever.
Omnis vincit mors, nos cedamus
nemini.
Let‘s get on with it.‖

Poe practically growled in disapproval. ―This is precisely the problem. Our club has been entirely too lax with the traditions of the society, and now we‘re paying the price for it.‖

Personally, I couldn‘t see Poe being relaxed about anything. The colonic flexibility required was beyond his bass-ackwards, chauvinistic sensibilities.

―If you want to Tony, have at it,‖ the senior snapped.

Apparently, one didn‘t need to ask Poe twice. He stood, cleared his throat, faced the circle, and started to reach for something on his shoulders, almost by reflex.

His non-existent hood. I met Malcolm‘s eyes and erupted into barely contained giggles. By the time I‘d regained control of myself (which involved a lot of red-faced swallowing and four fake coughs), Poe had completed the calling-to-order ritual, which I will not deign to repeat here. If you‘re looking for the gist, refer to the Initiation chapter of this volume. Suffice it to say that, particularly in the mouth of Poe, it was overlong, needlessly pretentious, relied heavily on Latin-esque gibberish, and possessed far more than its fair share of capital letters. No wonder the rest of the senior knights hadn‘t bothered memorizing it!

―Okay, we all know what we‘re here to talk about,‖ began Malcolm—or, as I suppose I should be calling him now that we were in session, Lancelot.

―Yeah,‖ said my classmate Graverobber, the Greek shipping heir with the unwieldy street handle of Nikolos Dmitri Kandes IV. ―Why you never warned us this might happen.‖

―Basically,‖ said another senior, ―the board of the Tobias Trust said that if we initiated women, they‘d kick us
all
out. By locking the tomb and speaking to us like barbarians, they‘ve made it clear they‘ve followed through.‖

―That‘s outrageous!‖ Thorndike (Demetria) shouted loud enough to be heard through even the soundproofing. Everyone winced, but I thought it was a predictable reaction from her. Wait until she heard the guy standing at the center of the circle was all for it. He‘d be lucky to escape with his genitals intact.

―You bet it is,‖ Graverobber replied. ―It‘s all very well for you, but as I am neither a woman nor a member of the class that tapped them, I am left to question why and whether I should be punished along with the rest.‖

Naturally, all hell proceeded to break loose.

―We stand together or we fall apart!‖ Bond, the Englishman Greg Dorian, stated firmly.

―But does it follow that we stand together
in favor
of the females?‖

Angel (Clarissa), beside me, gasped, but didn‘t tag in, either. (You might be wondering why I, never one to keep my comments to myself, wasn‘t speaking up here. Frankly, I couldn‘t get a word in edgewise. These people are future professional speakers. Editors—even chatty, outspoken ones—don‘t have a chance.)

―These girls are our brothers,‖ Keyser Soze argued. (Yay, Josh!)

―For forty-eight hours,‖ Graverobber replied. ―And if the alternative is losing my affiliation, I say
they
should do what‘s right for
us,
and hit the road.‖

―Would you kindly desist speaking of me as if I weren‘t sitting on your lap?‖ Lil‘ Demon shot fiery glares at Graverobber from her perch on—well, if not his lap, then damn close.

―It‘s not you, my dear, it‘s your entire sex.‖

Thorndike now visibly trembled with rage, and I figured the Eurotrash Graverobber was lucky she‘d have to get past Lil‘ Demon in order to unleash her fury.

―Look.‖ Soze spread his arms and calm prevailed. (I told you this man could get shit done!) ―I want to get a better understanding of what exactly our rights are as opposed to those of the TTA board. It stands to reason that the current club ought to have a fair bit of control over the day-to-day running of the society. Are there specific bylaws or compacts that prohibit the tapping of women?‖

―It wasn‘t thought necessary by the founders.‖ Poe sounded as if he were chewing each word.

Bet he thought it would have been a good idea! ―And yes, we ought to have sovereignty in our choice of taps, but the Trust holds our purse strings, and by extension, controls everything we do.

They own the land, the tomb…they pay for all of our benefits.‖

―And your class has no representation on the board?‖ Soze asked.

―We do,‖ Poe said. ―It‘s me.‖

Hooray, we‘re screwed.

But Soze, always the strategist, didn‘t miss a beat. ―And, um, other avenues?‖ When Poe understandably failed to respond, he braved on. ―Forgive the questions, but I think all of the juniors here feel like we‘ve been thrown into the deep end.‖

And are drowning in it.

―I want to get a big picture here about what they are trying to do and why they think they have the right to do it. And if they don‘t, then I think it‘s a simple matter of bringing the bylaws up for consideration to—‖

―To what?‖ said Lancelot. ―The courts? Forget it, pal. That‘s why we call it a
secret
society. We won‘t do court cases, where we risk our inner workings becoming public record. We‘re not a fraternity with a Hellenic organization to turn to in the matter of disputes. Private club. Not subject to any anti-discrimination laws. We don‘t really have a case.‖

―You don‘t need one,‖ Lucky said, shocking the hell out of everyone. ―Just the threat of going public might scare your board into backing off.‖

―P-public?‖ a senior spluttered. ―Are you insane? Do you even know who we are?‖

―Better than you think.‖

―Lady‘s a shark!‖ Puck exclaimed, impressed. ―Right for the balls.‖ Lucky shot him a withering glance, folded her arms, and sat back in her seat.

―Before we get into all of that,‖ said a new tap whose real name I didn‘t even know (found out later he was Omar Mathabane, a.k.a. Kismet, the first-ever Diggers tap to hail from the continent of Africa). ―I‘m interested to see where everyone in this room stands on this issue.
Are
we for the inclusion of women?‖

―You‘re asking
us
?‖ Demetria hissed, making a fist with one hand and gesturing wildly at the five women in the room. ―You‘re in the country for what, five seconds? And you‘re all set to join the Establishment!‖

The tall basketball player, Big Demon (Benjamin Edwards, for those of you playing the Who‘s-Who-in-Rose-&-Grave Game), cleared his throat and spoke softly. ―At the risk of offending the women and the seniors, I think Graverobber has a point that should be considered, regardless of everything else. The men in D177 did not commit either offense. We didn‘t tap women, and we‘re not women. So, for the purpose of argument, what is the patriarchs‘ problem with us?‖

―Enough!‖ Lil‘ Demon detached herself from her questionable perch and took the floor. ―Oh, yes, Kismet, let‘s vote.‖ (That Odile managed to keep all the code names straight while I was lucky to remember half of them convinced me once and for all that she deserved that Eli diploma.) ―Let‘s find out where everyone here stands before you all set to talking about my future. I‘ve had about enough of being talked around and talked about by men. I spent five years being ‗handled‘—by my agent, my stupid father, my record label—and I am so done with letting any
man
tell me what to do!‖

That shut up even Thorndike. Puck seemed to look at Lil‘ Demon with newfound appreciation, and I took a deep breath.

―The way I see it,‖ I said before I could stop myself, ―we have four distinct issues to solve before we can even get a plan together.‖ I began ticking them off on my fingers:
1)
―Have we broken any of the society bylaws?‖ I looked to Poe for confirmation. ―Apparently not.‖

2)
―Assuming we have not, what are our rights as active members, versus the board‘s control over the financial aspects of the society?‖

3)
―On the off chance that they do have a grievance against us, what can we do to mitigate the situation with the male taps?‖

4)
I took a deep breath. ―And finally, do you guys still want the women around at all?‖

―Yes,‖ Lancelot said without hesitation. Poe just looked at me with clear gray eyes. The other seniors were a mess of nods and thoughtful expressions. Not encouraging.

―Perhaps we should take a vote?‖ Frodo suggested.

―The problem with that is, they already voted.‖ I said. ―They voted the day they agreed to tap us. We‘re tapped. We‘re initiated. It‘s too late. The actions the senior club performed are irrevocable, and that‘s why the patriarchs waited until now to act. They thought the seniors would come to their senses before this.‖

―Since when are you such an expert?‖ Angel asked, finding her tongue at last.

―I‘m a quick study.‖ I looked at Poe, who was doing his best to channel Medusa. ―And one thing I‘ve learned is that your tapping decisions have to be unanimous. Is the same true for your decision to kick someone out?‖

―Yes,‖ Poe grumbled.

―Then I think it‘s safe to assume that the women aren‘t going anywhere.‖

―Woo-hoo!‖ Angel said softly, pumping her fist in the air. I smiled at her. Yes, I really did.

Nothing like a little camaraderie when you learn you have an even bigger enemy out there.

Poe sat back in his seat and folded his arms. ―What Bugaboo said isn‘t entirely accurate.‖

I turned on him, incredulous. ―You told me so, not an hour ago.‖

Again with the deadpan. This man could give lessons to Bob Newhart. ―I did nothing of the sort.‖

I looked to Lancelot for assistance, but he just appeared confused. All at once, I understood. Poe

was so steeped in society mores that the others could afford to be lazy and let him take charge of all the old-fashioned rigmarole. And because they didn‘t know any better, he was free to manipulate the rules to suit his own agenda.

How in the world had they ever gotten women past him in the first place?

Angel, in the meantime, had skulked back off my soapbox. ―Sit down,‖ she whispered, tugging on my sleeve. ―He knows a lot more about what‘s going on in here than you do. You‘ll end up sounding silly.‖

I shook her off. ―Then maybe he should enlighten us. After all, they‘re turning the society over to us in a couple of weeks.‖

―Not you,‖ Poe snapped. ―Never really
you
.‖ He cocked his head toward a few of the junior men. ―
Them
.‖

And that was the moment I witnessed some sort of freaky, sci-fi movie of the week telepathy mind trick miracle, as all five women in the room thought the exact same thing. And that thing was: I‘m
so
outta here.

In unison we gasped, in unison we stood, and in unison the first female members of Rose & Grave in almost two hundred years turned and walked right out the door.

We hit the street fuming.

―I can‘t believe—those—fucking assholes—who do they think they—
when
do they think they are?‖ Demetria was choking on her own indignation.

Odile tossed her head. ―I‘d say about 1831.‖

Jenny snorted. ―Oh, come on, ladies. You really think feminism
won
?‖

Clarissa shushed us. ―Not in the street, guys. Remember what Malcolm said about discretion.‖

―Um, were you in the same meeting as the rest of us,
Angel
?‖ Demetria pointed at the fourth floor. ―We‘re out. If we were ever in.‖

―Which is debatable,‖ I added, feeling that funny constriction in my chest again. How would I ever face Lydia after all our drama if it turned out that my oh-so-special Rose & Grave tap crashed and burned?

―What is the benefit of keeping quiet now?‖ Demetria asked. She raised her voice until it echoed around the stone courtyard of Calvin College. ―I was a Digger and they done me wrong!‖