he said cheerfully. “My love of chivalry and public safety makes it physically impossible for me to set these bags down until they’re out of the danger zone. What’s your room number?”
“Three-oh-five. But you really don’t have to do this. I’ll be fine the rest of the way.”
“Don’t give it a second thought,” the boy called back. Vivi followed him as her stomach fluttered with a mixture of guilt and excitement. No boy had ever carried her stuff for her before.
When they reached the third floor, the boy turned right and, with a groan, set her suitcases down in front of a door. “Here you go. Room three-oh-five.”
“Thank you,” Vivi said, feeling even more awkward. Was she supposed to ask him his name? His major? How did normal people make friends?
“My pleasure.” He grinned, and for a moment, Vivi couldn’t focus on anything except the dimple that had just appeared in his left cheek. But before she could think of anything else to say, he turned and started back down the hall. “Try not to kill anyone!” he said over his shoulder, and then disappeared down the stairs.
“I make no guarantees.” She tried to sound playful and sexy, but there was no point. He was already gone.
Vivi opened the door to the room, steeling herself to meet her roommate, but the room was empty. Just two extra-long twin beds, two nicked-up wooden desks, and a full-length mirror on the back of a closet. As far as dorm rooms went, it was nice—spacious, light, and airy. The exact opposite of the cramped, stifling apartment in Reno.
She dragged one of her suitcases to a bed and unzipped it, wondering when her roommate would arrive and what the protocol was for claiming a side of the room. Before she had the chance to take anything out of her bag, a window blew open and a gust of warm, fragrant air filled the space, sending the papers in her orientation folder flying. The window had been latched closed when she walked into the room.
Vivi gathered up the papers with a sigh, reminding herself that a significant temperature difference between the air in the room and the air outside could create enough pressure to push the window open. That phenomenon was just one of many Vivi had memorized over the years to explain the strange things that always seemed to happen around her.
That was when she noticed the single tarot card positioned neatly at the head of her bare mattress, as if placed there by a careful hand.
It was the Death card her mother had given her.
The skeleton leered up at her with a gruesome smile, and for a moment, it almost looked like its eyes glowed red. Vivi shivered, despite knowing that it was a trick of the light. I told you. Westerly isn’t a safe place, not for people like you, Daphne’s voice whispered in Vivi’s ear.
A door slammed down the hall and the sound of laughter from the quad floated up through the window. Vivi shook her head, coming back to herself. Here she was, free of her mother for one day, and she was already looking for signs from the universe. Daphne would have almost been proud.
With a dismissive snort, she shoved the Death card into her desk drawer and shut it tight. Vivi didn’t need signs. She didn’t need magic. She didn’t need her mother’s voice in her ear. She just needed to make a normal life here.
Starting with that rush party.
Chapter Four
Scarlett
Kappa House had transformed. The modern metallic gray wallpaper had faded into the pale pink that had once graced the walls, and the low-slung velvet couch had become a gilded chaise. The room was almost unrecognizable. Only the music blaring from a Bluetooth speaker revealed that they were still in the twenty-first century. The recruitment party was in two hours, and every sister was hard at work—the sophomores were in charge of décor, the juniors were dealing with food and drinks, and the seniors were scurrying around making sure any trace of magic was safely out of sight.
After they finished giving instructions to the catering team, Scarlett and Tiffany went upstairs to change into their dresses. Tiffany’s room was two doors past Scarlett’s and she peeked inside as she passed.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe you still have this,” Tiffany said, coming in and grabbing a decrepit three-legged elephant from Scarlett’s dresser.
Scarlett laughed. “I should probably put that away before the rush party.”
“First impressions are everything,” Tiffany agreed.
The