Chapel Dirt, Dead Rats & a Conspiracy of Girls
Saturday, February 15thDear Diary,
I woke up this morning in a linen closet. Not metaphorically. Literally.Wrapped in a tea-stained tablecloth that smelled like lavender and regret.
Apparently, I crashed Leoni's Roses & Revenge party last night — covered in mud, holding an ancient book, ranting about a secret society beneath the chapel.
Which, in my defense… is all technically true.
Let me explain.
✦ FLASHBACK: Yesterday, 4:00 PM
After double-period physics (where I may have accidentally set someone's bunson burner on fire — again), I slipped away to the chapel.
Not to pray. Please. God knows the last time I attended chapel voluntarily was… never. No. I was looking for the sub-cellar.
Weeks ago, I overheard a teacher whisper about "Ashthorn records being relocated before the flooding". I played dumb. Took notes. Googled "Ashthorn" later.
Nothing.
Not even on Reddit. That's how you know it's secret.
But yesterday… I found a loose tile under the choir pews. It clicked open like a scene from one of those mid-budget teen thrillers Leoni pretends not to watch but absolutely binge-watches. Underneath was a narrow staircase.
I, obviously, went down.
Because I am an idiot.
✦ The Sub-Cellar
It smelled like baptized mildew and old secrets.
There were rotted school files. A giant mural of a blackthorn tree with initials scratched into it. And a crate of very dramatic things: tarnished silver rings with snakes carved into them, faded ribbons embroidered with "Ashthorn," and a tiny, sealed envelope labeled "Cressida B."
Excuse me??
That's when I knew this wasn't just your classic "secret cult of dead headmistresses" thing. This is still active. There is a group of girls in this school — rich, ruthless, and extremely into symbolic jewelry — running something. And Cressida Bellamy? She's either the leader… or the heir to it.
Obviously, I opened the envelope.
Inside was a note written in Latin.I translated it with my phone:
"Initiates must bring offerings: blood, truth, and silence.Only she who walks between light and shadow may lead."
Yeah. Totally normal student council vibes.
Also, there was a rat skull in the envelope.Why? Why must it always be rats.
✦ The Disaster
I came back up to the surface just in time to realize:
I was late for Leoni's party.
I was covered in mud and spiderwebs.
I still had the skull, the book, and probably some kind of Victorian mold clinging to me.
I don't remember much after that. I think I tripped into the common room yelling "The Circle is real!!" and then may or may not have fainted onto the cupcake table.
Leoni says I "ruined the aesthetic."In my defense, the aesthetic needed rats.
✦ Today: Recovery & Regret (sort of)
Leoni has not stopped sighing loudly since breakfast. She keeps calling me "Nancy Drew's less fashionable cousin" and threatening to burn my hoodie. Meanwhile, I've hidden the book inside my mattress, wrapped in a layer of scented dryer sheets so it doesn't stink up my socks.
Because I'm going back down there, Diary.
There are names in that book. Initials. Symbols. Maps of the school from the 1800s. If I can figure out who else is in the Ashthorn Circle — and what they want — I might finally understand what's really going on at this school.
Leoni can have the glitter and drama.But I've got dead societies and Gothic nightmares.We all have our talents.
Yours in mild academic obsession and probable haunting,Leonora Cortzel, amateur historian, accidental party crasher, maybe cursed