My heart fluttered as the torchlight played across my chilled arms. My overactive imagination could’ve sworn the subterranean air felt thick—as though it were holding its breath.
Although the passage didn’t appear to slope downward, I had the impression we were walking even deeper underground. The stone walls on either side of us were damp with perspiration, and somewhere in the distance I could hear a dripping noise. Every now and then a torch mounted on the walls lit the dank hallway, giving off a little flickering light.
We stopped in front of a thick wooden door that looked like it led to a dungeon.
The woman turned to me. “There is a white robe in the room. Take off all clothes but your undergarments and put it on. Leave the rest of your items—including your shoes—in the room. I will come back once you’ve changed, and we’ll continue.”
She walked away, along with her torch, throwing me into near darkness.
“Oh, no big deal. I’ll just get naked in this dungeon,” I said under my breath. I walked into the room, which was little more than a fancy closet. Someone had draped a white robe over a red velvet chair. Next to it sat a vanity and an antique mirror. A tiny candelabra and an oil lamp provided the only light.
The door clicked shut behind me. Out of curiosity I tried the handle. Locked.
I shook my head. This was freaking weird.
I quickly changed. The robe was a gossamer, floor-length shift. Gold rope hung from the shoulders. I crisscrossed the rope between my breasts and tied it at my back. Looking in the mirror, my reflection bore an uncanny resemblance to a sacrificial virgin.
The soft glow had turned my skin golden and dilated my pupils. I looked every bit as mystical as the rest of Peel, and for a second time this evening I let myself hope that I might actually belong here.
My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. “Are you ready?”
I gave my reflection one last look.
“Yes.”
The unnamed woman opened the door and once again took me down a maze of halls. The darkness was disorienting, and I couldn’t be sure whether we had walked this passage before.
Then we turned down a hallway I knew we had never passed through. Hundreds of gaping human skulls lined the walls, many warped from moisture and time. Water dripped from their grotesque grins, and I had the distinct impression they were laughing at me.
In the middle of the hall we stopped. “You are now about to enter the most secret of our chambers,” the woman whispered. “Until Awoken, visitors are not allowed to see the last of the passage.”
This didn’t bode well—the most secret room was just beyond the hall of horrors.
She continued. “To keep the chamber secret, and to respect the sacred space, I will have to blindfold you.”
“You’ll have to what?” I did not whisper, and my voice echoed down the corridor.
“I will have to blindfold you,” she repeated, looking annoyed.
I crossed my arms. “Why should I trust you?” I asked. I was literally in death’s alley, about to experience a ritual I knew nothing about with people I knew nothing about, and now they wanted to blindfold me?
The matriarch laid a hand on my shoulder. “No one is forcing you to make this decision. You can leave. We are not a cult, and we do not want you to think you have no choice in the matter. That being said, you must wear the blindfold, or leave.”
What she hadn’t said was that if I left, I’d have to drop out. Only the Awoken attended Peel.
I took a moment to consider her words. I was against this creepy, ritualized activity. But she was wrong. I didn’t have a choice. This school was the only link to my past. Going to school here would bring me closer to figuring out who my parents were and what had happened to them. It would give me closure. I wanted—no, needed—to find that out.
I rubbed my eyes. “Okay,” I relented. “You can blindfold me.”
The blindfold slipped over my eyes. The matriarch then took my hand and led me forward.
It took forever to get to our destination, but at some point we stopped. I heard the woman knock on a door, and, after a moment, the sound of groaning hinges. She led me forward into the room.
I could hear chanting all around me. The beautiful harmony danced along my skin, drawing out goose flesh. Inside myself, I felt something loosen and stir inside, reacting to the pull of the words.
Abruptly, the song ended, and the blindfold was taken off.
The first things I noticed were the candles. There had to be hundreds of them, scattered throughout the cavernous room. I noticed that many of them were clustered around a human shaped alter. I swallowed.