Chapter 87 – A Cult in Revolt – Erica Henson

Ever since I returned from Sofi’s mysterious occult gathering I’ve been collecting information on my own. Zoe invited me to help her search for the identity of the Matriarch. I turned her down on the basis that I was more interested in Sofi’s actions. Holly was helpful enough to explain the details of Alyssa’s situation to me over the phone. Now, more of my suspicions were placed on Sofi as a potential ringleader behind the local murders. While I didn’t believe she killed anyone personally, I genuinely believed that she helped orchestrate the murder.

Ms. Logan had a history of whispering things about Malorie into Sofi’s ears. It was exactly why Sofi was tied up in all this to begin with. It seemed natural that Ms. Logan would invest her final wishes to Sofi. Even Ms. Logan’s death could’ve been a ploy that was planned by the two of them ahead of time. The only thing that gave me pause about that was Ms. Logan’s final words. She truly believed that Malorie had come back in human form. However, I wasn’t ready to believe that the school was truly haunted. If it were, then obviously our problems were greater than I could even begin to imagine.

Zoe was plowing through old year books and old school photo catalogues to search for the identity of the Matriarch. Meanwhile I was on the prowl. My information gathering was a bit more up and personal by comparison. I’d tail Sofi whenever I got the chance to do so without being seen. Zoe warned that this method would likely prove fruitless since Sofi wouldn’t interact with her extended occult group at school. The entire purpose of them wearing masks and whispering at the meeting was to keep a low profile. Why would they blow it now that they had just proved that their first secret meeting was a success?

That being the case, my initial results were as disappointing as could be expected. From the perspective of an outside watcher, Sofi seemed incredibly normal. She usually went to class directly, mingled with a few people here and there, ate lunch alone until a few random people sat at her table, and then when school was over she’d pack up her things and start the walk home. My observation of her was incredibly boring. In fact, I was beginning to feel a tinge of guilt by taking things far enough to spy on her. Was her occultist persona all just some sort of live-action roleplay for her?

Then I got an important clue on the second day that I watched her. The people that seemed to sit down at her table during lunch looked random because of the spread out manner they were sitting in. However, the same exact group of girls sat down in the same exact seats as the day before. It wasn’t like the cafeteria was hurting for seating space recently. More and more people were eating lunch off campus in an attempt to avoid the cafeteria food. What made this feel weird was the fact that they were leaving so much space between each other, keeping their vision locked down at their food even as they were talking, and purposely avoiding direct contact with anyone sitting at their table. This, clearly, was a performance.

This was an incredibly well rehearsed performance to boot. She must’ve given these girls very specific instructions over ChatCat. But then, why even go this far to talk? They did have ChatCat after all. What could cause them to change their rules of engagement? That made these new girls so much more interesting than Sofi herself. Something was going on here but from my safe distance at another cafeteria table I couldn’t tell. That was when I decided that it was time to change targets.

Sofi left the cafeteria in the same typical manner that she did before. It was almost as if she knew she was being watched. Maybe she assumed that I told Jackie something and decided to take precautionary measures. In that case she was far smarter than I gave her credit for. These other girls, on the other hand, were more relaxed the moment that Sofi left the cafeteria. The four of them got up at separate times and casually moved to other tables that had more people at them. This was so strange. Why were they suddenly branching away?

Each girl went to a different table full of people. They went to these other tables and talked to the girls there naturally. Whereas before they were going the extra mile to not draw attention to the fact that they were talking to each other, now they spoke openly. Not only were they speaking openly, they became the center of attention at their respective tables. At first I thought that this might’ve been these girls returning to their individual cliques, but I didn’t believe that was the full picture. There was something orchestrated going on here, but I couldn’t say what.

The lunch bell rang and everyone still remaining in the cafeteria was preparing to leave. That was when I noticed that one of Sofi’s associates went over to the club recruitment bulletin board to stick up a new recruitment poster. I waited until all four of Sofi’s associates left the cafeteria before I went to look at it. This seemingly normal club recruitment poster would be hard to single out amongst the hundred others just like it. That was a stroke of cleverness on their side. The club’s name, however, immediately gave this game away.

“The Society of Sisters is now recruiting…” I read quietly to myself. “We’re looking for devoted individuals interested in this school’s culture and history to join us. We’re a group of likeminded girls interested in providing an atmosphere of freedom of speech, openness, transparency, and support amongst our fellow classmates. Our hope is to provide the school with long term change in order to turn our school into a better place.”

The message itself was vague and ambiguous enough to not cause harm or draw negative attention. It was the fact that I knew exactly what this ‘Society of Sisters’ was actually about that made this dangerous. This was a secondary organization for the occult club meant to function like a puppet group. Sofi was talking to those four in the cafeteria because those four were recruiters for their assigned groups. They were like captains, answering to a higher ranking commander. They were starting a grassroots revolution inside the school in the name of the Matriarch.

I took a step away from the club bulletin board.

If that was the case then the Matriarch’s plans were more involved than I imagined. It was unclear how she was going to do away with Jackie through just a handful of students. Now I was seeing more of the bigger picture, at least. Those girls at the secret meeting were just the first seeds that she planted. They were meant to grow in size enough to influence multiple groups throughout the school. With enough influence then maybe they could actually convince everyone that Jackie was the sole person at fault for these murders. Maybe they’d even use public opinion to help get her arrested.

It was a risky plan from the Matriarch’s perspective. It was a desperate plan. This was going quite the distance just to see the students turned against Jackie. It wasn’t like most students liked her to begin with. There were no assurances that swaying student opinion would be enough to get Jackie arrested either, unless the Matriarch had something else planned. That idea gave me a bit of pause. Maybe there was more to this plan than I was currently seeing. Now, with all this new information, it was time for me to talk to someone.

My plan to talk to Zoe about all this could wait. First, I wanted to talk to Holly so that she could communicate all this to Alyssa. I still wasn’t on good enough terms with Alyssa to have a serious conversation about the things Sofi has been up to. The student council was my best bet to get to her. Maybe I could also ask Holly to properly introduce me to Alyssa so that she wouldn’t need to be a middle-man in the future.

Once school was over I made a rush over to the student council room. I suspected that they might be in a meeting and I wanted to be waiting outside their door before Holly began privately counseling people. As expected, I was able to beat out anyone that might’ve been waiting for Holly to finish with the meeting. I was the only one waiting in the library until Alyssa walked in. The moment Alyssa saw me she looked at me with a wide-eyed expression, like she was surprised to see me here. She quickly looked away when she caught me looking back. She sat at another table several tables away from where I was sitting. It was clear that I wouldn’t be able to talk to her alone.

“Good work everyone,” Val said as she came out of the student council room, “We’ll pick up where we left off tomorrow.”

Val noticed me sitting at a table near the student council room’s door when she stepped out. I promptly stood up as she looked me up and down. The expression on her face was unclear. Normally about this time I’d be able to make out her usual mix of anger and resentment, but right now there was nothing. Instead, she just turned away from me, deciding to ignore me completely.

“Val…” I started to say.

She kept moving without paying attention to me calling out to her. She stopped to greet Alyssa, and then continued on out of the library. Jay walked out of the student council room next. I was going to wait until I could get Holly alone but Alyssa had other plans. Alyssa walked into the student council room ahead of me, disregarding the fact that Sam and Lilith were still talking to Holly. I took that as my cue to go in also. My conversation with Holly would concern her anyways.

“Erica, Alyssa, I’m surprised to see you two together,” Holly said and looked at Alyssa. “Has she been helping you with Sofi?”

“No,” Alyssa and I both happened to say at the same time.

Alyssa shrunk back as we looked at each other.

“No,” I said more clearly, “She just happened to come into the library after me. That’s all.”

“I’m here about Sofi.” Alyssa said.

“Actually, so am I…” I said. “I’ve been spying on her.”

Lilith, who had been writing something down in a journal up until now, looked up at me with surprise. Sam raised an eyebrow. Alyssa turned her entire body my direction.

“I watched her too.” Alyssa said. “She isn’t doing anything unusual. I mean… It’s unusual to me, but not to anyone else in the school. She’s acting like a perfectly normal student.”

“That’s just it,” I said, “She’s acting perfectly normal. That’s what she wants people to think.”

“I don’t understand.” Alyssa said softly.

“Is it okay if I sit down?” I asked.

I walked over and started to take the seat across from Holly.

“I wouldn’t sit there.” Lilith said, “If Val comes back and sees you sitting in her spot…”

“Oh…” I said.

“She can have my seat,” Sam said as she got up, “I’ve got some business to take care of anyways. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

I took Sam’s seat as she left the room. Alyssa sat down in Val’s seat without any hesitation. She was on much friendlier terms with Val and would probably be welcome to this by Val herself, unlike me.

“So what did you learn about Sofi that Alyssa hasn’t?” Holly asked.

“She’s being careful, but I’ve unraveled her secret. She and some of those other girls from her secret meeting have started a cover group within the school. I’ll explain their operation to you…”

Lilith, Holly, and Alyssa listened patiently as I explained everything I saw while watching Sofi. Holly’s expression was neutral, like she was trying to maintain a professional outlook. Alyssa’s expression was quite the opposite. I could see her shrinking in her seat and cringing in pain as she heard all this. Lilith had both elbows on the table and was listening with joyful glee. She was the only one that seemed to be enjoying hearing this. She was a lot like Zoe in that regard.

“So what do you think?” I asked.

Alyssa stood up out of her seat with both her hands on the table.

“I think… I think I have to forcefully confront Sofi. I…” She was trying to muster courage in her voice but was wavering as she continued, “…I have to make her see that she’s wrong to get involved in all this.”

“You have to be careful.” Holly said. “We still don’t know what’s going through her mind right now. The last time you spoke to her it didn’t go well and she almost had a panic attack.”

Alyssa shook her head violently.

“I’ll go to her parents…” Alyssa said, “I’ll go to the police. I’ll tell them that an adult is trying to manipulate her. I’ll…”

Alyssa was on the verge of tears. She buried her face into her hands and dropped back down into her seat. Alyssa suddenly pulled her hands away from her face. The expression she had now was pure anger.

“I’ll save her from that woman’s grasps no matter what.” Alyssa said in a low voice.

Holly got up and walked around the table to comfort Alyssa. She put one hand on Alyssa’s shoulder and gripped it tightly in solidarity.

“Please hold off on doing anything rash.” Holly said. “We don’t even know who we’re dealing with, after all. The first order of business is learning this woman’s true identity. Zoe said she had a lead on it. Maybe it’s time we go talk to her?”

“I was planning to go there next. I still need to tell her everything I just finished telling you.” I said. “We can go there together. Maybe we can come up with some sort of idea of how to proceed as a group.”

“Alright, let’s go.” Holly said.

We all got up and started to head for the door. Lilith was the only one that remained in her seat.

“You all go on without me. I think I’m going to stay here for a while before I head home.”

Holly put her hand out towards Lilith.

“Don’t make the same mistake of leaving yourself out like you did before. You’ve got to face these things head on.” Holly said.

“I don’t know…”

“Remember the things you said to me yesterday.” Holly said. “Remember that positive attitude. You’re ready for this. I know you are.”

Lilith exhaled softly and gave Holly a worried look. She took Holly by the hand and stood up.

“Alright, I’ll do this since you’ll be there to help me.”

“Every step of the way,” Holly reassured her.

When we made it to the newspaper club room Michelle was just now walking out to head home. She gave the four of us a curious look as we went up to the door but didn’t stop to ask. I opened the door and Zoe turned back to see who was coming in. Holly, Alyssa and I were in the front. Zoe started to open her mouth to say something, but then flinched back when she saw Lilith coming in behind us. I could see her enthusiasm die down as she gave me a questioning look. With Holly pulling Lilith in by the hand this almost seemed like some sort of intervention.

“You really didn’t need to come to this personally, Lilith.” Zoe said.

“Yes I did.” Lilith said. “There are a few things we need to talk.”

“Well whatever it is, it’ll have to wait.” Zoe said. “I just stumbled onto something massive.”

“What is it?” Holly asked.

Zoe turned back to her computer. She typed into her internet browser’s web address bar to pull up a saved webpage. The page she pulled up was the official district court’s website. She navigated through the staff page and stopped near the bottom. She pointed out a woman with curly long black hair, brown eyes, and a light skin complexion. This was her.

“This is Raven Keyes.” Zoe said. “She’s a judicial assistant for the local county court.”