Macy.
The air in the catacombs was cold and smelled of damp earth and old stone. It wasn’t a real catacomb with bones, just a series of storage cellars and forgotten tunnels under the oldest part of the school. But the name stuck, and down here, it felt true.
I wasn’t alone. Four other students stood in the flickering lamplight, their faces pale with a mixture of fear and bravado. There was a brawny guy in a letterman jacket, a boy with slicked-back hair who looked like his father owned a bank, another boy who just looked plain terrified, and a girl with sharp, calculating eyes who watched everyone.
“So, this is it?” the jock, whose name I heard someone whisper was Liam, asked no one in particular. “This is the big, bad Viper initiation?”
The boy with the rich-dad haircut scoffed. “Please. My brother told me the first test is always easy. Just to weed out the cowards.”
“Then what are you so nervous about, Jax?” the girl asked, her voice quiet but sharp.
Jax’s face tightened. “I’m not nervous, Anya. I’m bored.”
Steps echoed from the far end of the tunnel. The chatter died instantly. Three figures emerged from the darkness. Nathan, with Luca and a leaner, dark-haired boy I didn’t know flanking him. The air became heavy, suffocating.
Nathan stopped in front of us, his eyes sweeping over the five pledges. They were flat, devoid of any emotion. He was a king inspecting his property.
“Welcome, pledges,” he said, his voice a low murmur that somehow carried in the dead air. “You are here because you were chosen. Because you have potential.”
He paused, letting the silence stretch.
“Potential means nothing without proof. The Vipers are not a club. We are a family. And in our family, loyalty is everything.”
Luca stepped forward, a nasty smirk on his face. “Loyalty is proven by what you’re willing to risk. By how far you’re willing to go when we tell you to.”
Nathan’s gaze settled on me. It was like being pinned by a needle. “Your first test is simple. A demonstration of your skill and your nerve. It is a test of acquisition.”
“Acquisition?” the terrified-looking boy, Mason, squeaked.
Nathan ignored him. “Each of you has been assigned a target. An item to be retrieved and brought back here. You have one hour.”
The third Viper, the silent one, stepped forward and handed each of us a small, folded card. My hands were clammy as I took it.
“Open it,” Nathan commanded.
I unfolded the paper. Inside, in the same elegant script from the invitation, was a single sentence.
*Mr. Harrison’s gold watch. From his office.*
My blood went cold. Mr. Harrison. My ancient history professor. A man famous for his rigid discipline and a near-photographic memory of where every single paperclip on his desk belonged. He gave detention for breathing too loudly.
Jax laughed out loud. “Harrison? Seriously? I got Professor Albright’s signed first edition of Moby Dick. The man is half-blind and falls asleep in his own lectures. This is a joke.”
Anya looked at her card and her expression didn't change, but she tucked it away quickly.
“Is there a problem, Palmer?” Nathan asked, his eyes still locked on me.
“No,” I said, my voice coming out stronger than I expected.
Luca chuckled. “Look at her. The scholarship girl. I bet she’s never broken a rule in her sad little life. She’ll probably go ask him for it politely.”
“The rules are simple,” Nathan continued, cutting off Luca with a look. “You will not get caught. If you are caught, you do not mention the Vipers. You are on your own. We will not help you. You will simply be expelled. Or worse.”
He let that last part hang in the air.
“Vanish,” I whispered to myself.
“The clock starts now,” Nathan said, turning his back on us. “One hour. Don’t disappoint me.”
The three of them retreated back into the shadows, leaving the five of us in the flickering light.
“Well,” Jax said, clapping his hands together. “Time to go shopping. Try not to cry when you get caught, scholarship.”
He swaggered off down the tunnel. Liam followed him, cracking his knuckles. Anya gave me a quick, unreadable glance before disappearing in the same direction.
That left me and the nervous boy, Mason.
“Harrison’s watch?” he whispered, his eyes wide with terror. “That’s impossible. He never takes it off.”
“He does,” I said, thinking back to class that afternoon. “He takes it off when he’s grading papers. He says it distracts him. He sets it on his desk, right next to his pen holder.”
Mason stared at me. “How do you know that?”
“I pay attention,” I said, my mind already racing. It was a long shot. A stupid, insane risk. But what choice did I have?
“You’re really going to do it?” he asked.
“I have to.”
“What if he’s in there?”
“He won’t be,” I said. “He always goes to the faculty lounge for coffee at ten thirty. It’s almost that now.”
“He locks his door,” Mason insisted.
“No, he doesn’t,” I countered. “He just pulls it shut. It never clicks.”
He looked at me with a new kind of awe and fear. “You’re crazy.”
“I can’t afford to fail,” I said, and then I turned and walked away, leaving him trembling in the dark.
The academic building was silent and eerie at night. The only sounds were the hum of the emergency lights and the frantic thumping of my own heart. I crept down the history corridor, my sneakers silent on the polished floor.
I saw him. Mr. Harrison. He was walking out of his office, a mug in his hand, heading for the lounge at the end of the hall, just like I knew he would.
My breath hitched. This was it. The door was slightly ajar, a dark slit in the wall.
I waited. Ten seconds. Thirty. A full minute to make sure he was gone.
I took a deep breath and slipped through the doorway. The room smelled like old books and coffee. It was just as I remembered. And there it was. Sitting on the mahogany desk, gleaming under the light of his desk lamp. A classic, elegant gold watch with a worn leather strap.
My hands were shaking. My mind screamed at me. *Take it. Take it and run.*
I reached out, my fingers hovering over the cool metal. It felt like crossing a line I could never uncross.
This is what it takes to survive here, I told myself.
My fingers closed around the watch. It was heavier than I expected.
I didn’t run. I backed out of the room as silently as I entered, pulling the door to the exact same position it had been in before. I didn’t breathe again until I was at the end of the hall.
I returned to the catacombs with ten minutes to spare. Anya was already there, leaning against a wall, looking bored. Jax and Liam were pacing.
“Where’s Mason?” I asked.
Anya shrugged. “Haven’t seen him. Probably got lost and is crying in a broom closet somewhere.”
Jax stopped pacing and glared at me. “Don’t tell me you actually got it.”
“Did you?” I asked him instead of answering.
“Of course I did,” he snapped, though he didn’t look very convincing. He held up an old, leather-bound book. “Easy.”
Liam just shook his head, looking defeated. “Security guard was making an extra round. I didn’t even get close.”
They both looked at me, waiting.
“What about you, scholarship?” Jax sneered. “Did old man Harrison give you a good scare?”
I didn’t say anything. I just slowly uncurled my fist. The gold watch sat in the center of my palm, its face catching the lamplight.
The silence was absolute. Jax’s jaw dropped. Liam’s eyes went wide. Even Anya looked surprised, a flicker of something, maybe respect, in her cool gaze.
I had done it. I had passed the first test.
And I knew, standing there in the cold, damp dark, that it was only the beginning.
