The Ravens (The Ravens #1) - Kass Morgan Page 0,64

into a smirk. Hell yes.

Vivi glanced at the other people in their row to make sure no one was looking, then closed her eyes and whispered the illusion spell she’d been practicing, keeping her words hidden beneath Professor Barnum’s booming voice.

A moment later, the slide on the wall glamoured into a nude portrait of none other than Professor Barnum himself, sipping wine on the edge of a hot tub with a strategically placed towel over his lap. A couple of people gasped. Barnum whirled around to look at the screen and turned a fiery red. He cursed and grabbed his laptop, frantically clicking through slides, but the glamoured photograph stayed stubbornly on the screen.

Vivi and Sonali traded delighted grins as muffled, shocked laughter filled the room.

“We’re clearly having some technical difficulties. Class is dismissed for today,” Barnum said, then muttered about IT tampering with his computer and about filing a complaint with the administration.

Vivi managed to contain herself until they’d fled the classroom, then she and Sonali fell into each other, laughing so hard, they both began to cry.

“That was amazing,” Sonali said, wiping her eyes.

“You were amazing,” Vivi told her. Her phone buzzed in her bag. She pulled it out, and her giddiness evaporated at the sight of the text on her screen. I need to talk to you immediately. Meet me in the woods in back of Kappa House. Leave now.

Vivi felt her stomach drop into the rich brown ankle boots she’d glamoured that morning to mask her Converse. Whatever this was about, it didn’t sound good. She glanced over to see Sonali staring perplexedly at her own phone. “Did you get one too?” Vivi showed her the message.

Sonali nodded. “Just now, from Mei.” Her forehead pinched with worry. “You don’t think they know about . . .” She glanced pointedly over her shoulder at the classroom.

“I don’t know . . .” Vivi trailed off as a new wave of panic rose up within her. Using their magic out in the open like that had been risky, especially since they weren’t full-fledged sisters yet. Maybe their Bigs had some way to monitor them to ensure they didn’t use their magic inappropriately.

Vivi wasn’t actually sure how the process of failing a pledge worked. Was there an official ceremony where everyone gathered? Or could Scarlett summon Vivi at any time to tell her she hadn’t made the cut? What else could I need to talk to you immediately mean besides “I have bad news for you”? And then what would happen? Would Scarlett wipe her memory so that the best weeks of Vivi’s life became nothing more than a strange twinge in the back of her mind? For the first time, she had friends; she had purpose. Was she about to lose it all?

“We’d better go,” Vivi said with a sigh. “Whatever they want, we’ll only make it worse if we’re late.”

* * *

The sun was setting by the time Vivi and Sonali reached Kappa House. Instead of going inside, they walked around and headed for the thick glade of trees that grew beyond the back garden. The temperature had dropped suddenly, and Vivi rubbed her arms, wishing she could grab a sweater before stepping into the shadowy gloom.

“Do you think we should wait here?” Sonali asked. They’d spent most of the walk from campus in silence, too preoccupied by their own worries to speak.

“They told us to meet them in the woods, so I guess we should keep walking?”

Wordlessly, they stepped into the forest. It was like entering another world—the tangle of thick tree branches blocked most of the setting sun, though every now and then, they’d pass a pool of light on the mossy ground.

“I think we should go that way,” Sonali said, pointing to the right.

“How do you know?”

Sonali laughed and nodded at a flowering vine with pink blossoms growing in a peculiar pattern that formed the words Initiates, this way. The end of the vine had been transformed into an arrow. Despite her nerves, Vivi laughed too. The Ravens could be infuriatingly cryptic, but they certainly did everything with style.

She and Sonali walked on until the trees began to thin out, revealing patches of indigo sky above them. Up ahead, they could hear the murmur of quiet voices; they followed the sound until they stepped into a small clearing. The entire sorority was there, all of them dressed in black robes except for Dahlia, who was in blood red. They were standing in a large circle,