blazing.
âHere, take a look,â he said without looking up.
Bradley handed me a piece of card stock. The texture of the paper was butter soft. Scrawling calligraphy in bright red ink covered the front of the card.
My Brother,
Alistair, your bravery will be tested. You must perform a Factum Virtus , a feat of strength to prove your worthiness. Each act of bravery is a test as our Brothers taught us. Should you decline to participate, another Brother will be sacrificed in accordance with tradition.
Weâll be watching. Tenetur per sanguinem , Bound by blood.
A Friend
âI donât understand,â I said, handing the card back with shaking hands.
Bradley narrowed his eyes at me, which reduced me to three inches tall. âItâs a Sacramentum.â As soon as his eyes began glistening, he turned his head. âThey used to use it back when they first formed the Brotherhood. Whenever a Brother was threatened, you had to be willing to lay down your life for him. You had to be willing to sacrifice yourself. They stopped doing it when some kid died on the railroad tracks trying to save one of his friends from getting kicked out after he was found with a Sister.â
I had no choice but to tell him.
âThe night Alistair died was the night of my initiation.â
âSo youâre one of them now, is that it?â Bradley stuffed the card in his pocket and started back toward the winding hallway.
âNo, God no. Iâm doing this for Grace, to make them pay.â I rushed to keep up with Bradley.
âWhatever, Kate.â His narrowed eyes flashed. âYou really think youâll keep that up? Just ask my sister. No one can resist the call of the Sisterhood. Not for long anyway.â
Chapter 6
âWait!â My lungs burned as I tried to keep up with Bradley, whose pace doubled my own. It was no use. Heâd either have to slow down or shout back directions to wherever it was we were going. I was about to lose him. âBradley. Wait! â I stopped, my toes throbbing where my boots pinched them, my head still cloudy from the dust and the note and the shock of it all. I swallowed hard and choked back ridiculous tears.
Bradley slowed and finally stopped too, his shoulders slouching forward under the weight of Alistairâs death and my confession. I shouldnât have even followed; I should have turned back to school and suffered through my classes the way Iâd planned. If Bradley was anything like me, heâd want to do this alone. But I couldnât just abandon him. Not when I remembered so clearly what losing your best friend felt like. I at least needed to say good-bye.
I finally caught up. âLook, Iâm going back. You need time aloneâ¦â
He cut me off. âIâm sorry.â Oranges and yellows and browns normally swirled in Bradleyâs eyes, but today they were muddied and dull. âDonât. I need, I mean I canât do this alone. I know things have been weird after everything that happened.â He ran his hand over his shaved head.
By everything I had to assume he meant the time he kissed me in the middle of the hall. And the fact that Iâd kissed him back. The thing about Bradley Farrow and his lips was that they really didnât give you much of a choice. Especially when youâd fantasized about those lips since you were a first-year.
I wasnât really sure how to respond. âOkay?â It didnât even make sense, but it was the best I could do under the circumstances. This didnât really seem like the time or place to rehash my crush on Bradley Farrow. Particularly since Iâd spent the past couple of months avoiding him like the plague. âSo, um, where are we going?â I stretched my neck toward the road. It was quiet during the day, everyone settled into work or school or whatever everyone else settled into on Monday morning.
âPorter. We have to find Porter.â
It