Scandal by Kate Brian Read Free Book Online

was 1915, believe me, you’d fit every one of their qualifications.”
    Ivy narrowed her eyes, letting her hands, which were still clutching the sweaters, fall at her sides. “Fine. Let me see it.”
    Before I could even hand it over, she quickly dropped the clothes, snatched the book, and sat down on her bed with it. She flipped through the first few pages, but then gradually slowed down, taking in the words. I could just feel it washing over her. The ancient handwriting, the musty leather scent, the sophisticated language. It was getting to her, just like it had gotten to me. I saw her pause on the creed, reading it over again and again. She skimmed over the tasks and the initiation, but took some time reading over Elizabeth’s diary entries. When she smiled, I smiled. This was working. It was totally working.
    Finally she flipped back to the beginning and eyed the eleven signatures for a long moment. She frowned with interest, then slapped the book closed and folded her arms over the cover.
    “Okay,” she said, looking up at me. “I’ll do it.”
    I grinned, my heart leaping in my chest. “Just like that?”
    “Nope. On one condition,” Ivy said. She stood up and held the book in both hands.
    I blinked. Why did I not like the sound of this? “What condition?”
    “We have to do everything exactly the way the book says,” Ivy told me, laying her hand flat atop the BLS seal. “Follow every rule, every detail, down to the letter.”
    “But you haven’t even read the whole thing,” I protested, thinking of the entry about the Billings Literary Society and its eleven members. Billings already had fourteen members, including me and Noelle. Even if Noelle was truly out, we’d have too many girls. Especially with Ivy involved. Plus I’d been thinking about opening it up to some of our other friends. Ivy’s roommate, Jillian; my friend Diana Waters … people who might have made it into Billings next year—if it had still been around.
    “Doesn’t matter,” she said, shaking her head. “If we’re going to do this right, we have to honor the original Billings Girls,” Ivy said, cautiously opening the book to the page about the requirements for sisterhood. “These girls were insanely cool, do you realize that?”
    “Uh, yeah!” I said, tucking my long brown hair behind my ear. “That’s why I knew you’d be in.”
    “And they were also clearly way ahead of their time,” Ivy continued. “This is their legacy. We can’t screw with it. Otherwise, what’s the point?” She offered her hand.
    “Well? What do you say? Is it a deal?”
    I held my breath. We could talk about membership numbers later. Right now, all I wanted to do was get started. “Deal.”
    She put the book down on her bed and we shook on it, both of us grinning.
    “Just one question,” she said, turning to grab the gray sweater up off the floor. “Why me?”
    I thought about saying I wanted to help her find that elusive group of Easton friends she’d been looking for, but she would have tossed me out on my butt for pitying her. Besides, that wasn’t the only reason. I lifted my shoulders. “I trust you.”
    “Yeah?” she asked as she yanked the sweater over her head.
    “Is that such a shock? You helped me figure out who was stalking me,” I reminded her. “You basically took a bullet for me. How could I not trust you?”
    Ivy laughed. “I take a bullet for you and all I get is a dusty book?”
    “You get a whole secret society. With a secret whistle and everything,” I said.
    And the love of my life, I thought to myself as Ivy tore through the pages. But who’s counting?

GHOSTS
    Later that night, I sat at a wooden study carrel all the way at the back of the first-floor stacks. The library was so silent that my fingers tapping on my laptop’s keyboard sounded like rapid-fire gunshots. Every now and then I’d hear the distant sound of a book being dragged from a shelf, or the slow flap of a page being turned, but