Typhon

Chapter 7

Stone~

The electricity in the air had been crackling all day.

Or maybe it'd just been me.

When I'd gotten Rylee's text yesterday, claiming that she'd be ready, I had actually been surprised. Even if I didn't know her that well, I couldn't imagine anyone appreciating being threatened into compliance. So, she was either showing up because she was curious, weak, or wanted to see me in person, so that she could stab me in the neck, and I was hoping that it was the latter.

Still, even if it was the first possibility, curiosity was a form of bravery if you went about it correctly. Sure, curiosity often kill the cat, but it had also led to some great things in history. Imagine what our world would be like if no one had ever been curious enough about the human body or mind? So, I could work with curiosity; I just couldn't work with weakness.

I also wondered if she'd cut and run once the car arrived. Our initiation panel had chosen an old, creepy, debilitated monstrosity as the venue for tonight's festivities, and it was an hour outside Serenity Springs. Plus, as with most secluded mansions, it was out in the middle of nowhere. Upon arrival, the house looked big enough that it could have been a hospital or school, but as we were all gathered in the ballroom, it had obviously been someone's home at one point; hospitals and schools didn't have goddamn ballrooms.

Now, while the outside looked like the makings of a horror film and the inside looked no better, the ballroom had been cleaned, that much was obvious. Of course, who cared how clean the room was if the entire structure came down on our heads, right? But thems the breaks, I was guessing.

The ballroom also came with an honest-to-God stage where our initiation panel were gathered. Of course, there were new chairs arranged for their seating, plus a small table on the right that was stacked with files on each girl, and probably us, too. The only other chairs in the room were the five reserved for the girls, and they were placed directly in front of the stage, approximately five feet apart from each other. As for us, our place was to stand behind the chair that seated our chosen supporter.

I glanced over at the stage to observe our initiation panel. There were only four members this year-three men and one woman-all thirty years of age or nearing it. That was one of the initiation rituals; every member of the organization was only committed until the age of thirty. After that, you were free to do whatever you pleased with your life. The tradition had been born out of the idea that the 'retiring' members should be the ones to initiate the newest members. However, just because you were no longer beholden to the organization as far as the 'dues' were concerned, that didn't mean that you were entirely free from what they'd done for you. Unless you got to where you were going all on your own, you'd always owe someone something.

See, the way that the organization worked was as simple as a spider's web. After graduation, the organization would do whatever it could to help you get to where you needed to be in order to further benefit the organization. Then, depending on your chosen career, you may be asked to 'vote' a certain way or 'donate' monies to a certain group or association. Since my career choice was finance, I might be called upon to open a Swiss bank account for someone one day. Nonetheless, my plans were to come out on top of all this, becoming no one's puppet.

There were also the 'dues' paid to the organization.

The favor of all favors.

From the day of graduation until our thirtieth birthday, we had one favor that we could ask of any member of our initiating class, and the person chosen was obligated to grant it, no matter what. If he refused, then his entire existence would be shattered in an unrecoverable scandal that would include his friends and family; no one would be safe from his betrayal to the organization.