Sacrifices Read Online Free PDF Page A

Burke said. “They’re going to be longer, too.”
    “But that means the advanced students are going to be in with—” Loch began.
    “People like me,” Spirit said, trying not to sigh. “Hey, if I get killed, maybe it will get me out of Dance Committee,” she joked weakly.
    “Not even death gets you out of Dance Committee,” Addie said. “But they picked you? That’s great! I kept telling Maddie you’d be good for it, but you know what she’s like.”
    Spirit stared at her. “After everything you told me about Dance Committee, you think me being on it is a good thing?”
    “Yes, considering how they’re going to be doing the Spring Fling. There’s going to be a general announcement on Sunday, but the Committee already knows, and Maddie Harris’s incapable of keeping a secret, so I know. She probably already sent you an email about it.”
    “I must have missed it,” Spirit said. “What secret?”
    “This year, the Spring Fling’s going to be a joint dance between Oakhurst and Radial. It’s still going to be held here, but our Dance Committee will be combining with the Macalister High Dance Committee. And half the meetings will happen in Radial. So that means you can spy !” Addie said.
    “On what? Because it’s a little hard to spy if you don’t know what you’re spying about,” Spirit said after a moment.
    “Well,” Loch said thoughtfully, “Leaving aside how hard it’s going to be to escape from this place, running away doesn’t do us any good if Oakhurst just drags us back again.”
    “Right,” Burke said, nodding.
    “So we need ammunition. Leverage. Something to make them back off—or even shut them down. We know the Shadow Knights and the Gatekeepers—Oakhurst’s beloved ‘honor society’—are the same bunch, so no matter what we’ve been told, the Big Bad is centered here, not something we’re being protected from by being here.”
    Addie snorted rudely. “If this is protection, I’d hate to see what danger is like.”
    Loch grimaced in agreement. “So, since the one thing actually in Oakhurst that’s weird … er —weirder —than everything else here is the oak tree in the Entry Hall, that’s what we should be looking at.” Loch went on. “Maybe it’s a clue.”
    “‘Interfering stranger beware! Touch not the Sacred Oak sealed by the Druid Merlinus. Herein is imprisoned the son of the Great Bear, Medraut, Kin-slayer, Parricide, and Most Accursed. Turn you back, and flee,’” Spirit said, quoting Muirin’s translation of the runes burned into the trunk.
    “Right,” Loch said, nodding. “And everybody knows it was Merlin locked up in a tree, not Mordred—so what else do we know that isn’t true? And how do we find out? We know there was a biker gang using Oakhurst as a clubhouse before the school was started here. The newspaper clippings all said ‘local gang,’ and I’m betting at least some of them are still in the area. I’ve thought for a while that if we could talk to them, we might find out something that would help. I just couldn’t figure out a way to do that from here. So that’s where you come in, Spirit.”
    “Me?” Spirit said. “Do I look like Lois Lane? Or Batgirl?” Okay, maybe Batgirl, she thought, remembering what Trinity had said in the Locker Room.
    It was just a few hours ago. And now Trinity was … gone.
    “The Spring Fling’s in three weeks,” Addie said. “And considering what’s happened at all the dances lately…”
    Spirit nodded reluctantly. “We have three weeks to either find a way out of here—or find a way to protect ourselves,” she said.
    “What we really need to make that happen is to know what the Shadow Knights are after,” Burke said. He made a face. “Yeah, I know, they’re evil—but if Oakhurst is a means, what’s the end?”
    “If Elizabeth Walker was right, and the Reincarnates are playing out the Arthurian Mythos over and over again, what Mordred wanted was Arthur’s throne.” Addie