A firm hand gripped my wrist and tugged me into the room, shoving me against the table. Honestly, I was so disoriented, that I didn’t know which professor it had been. The door slammed shut behind me.

Everything screamed danger.

Whatever this was, I wanted out. Now. I was about to bolt for the door, but froze when my jumbled mind went through the steps of what that would mean. Failing these classes was not an option.

I straightened my shoulders.

Professor Edgerton strode towards me. If I blinked fast enough, she morphed into a tall, African warrior queen. I think she’d said one time in class that she’d grown up in Nigeria, but, honestly, I couldn’t tell ya for sure. I heard her husband was super nice, though. She loomed over me, a very slight, West African accent coming through her words. “Anything said in this room will not be discussed with anyone besides those of us here. Understood?” She hooked me with one of those intimidating stare-downs she was famous for. Needless to say, it worked on this particular girl.

I plopped down in my chair, processing her words. A moment later, a light bulb went on in my head. “Ah, I get it. You’re actually gonna let me take those tests. That’s great!” My shoulders relaxed, my thought process reassuring me. “Thanks a lot. This probs isn’t by the books, but hey, I won’t say nothin’ if you don’t.” I gave them the finger guns and wry smile combo.

A confused expression clouded Edgerton’s dark face, but she recovered quickly. “Yes... in a way. But you won’t need to take those tests anymore.”

I sat up straighter and hesitated a second before saying, “‘Kay, now I’m actually confused. I thought I had to take those tests to pass the classes. That had been made abundantly clear twenty minutes ago.”

Takahashi put her hand to my shoulder, and I tried to casually shrug it off. What was with the touching? “You’re going to work for us, Sawyer. Otherwise, you won’t be passing those classes. Think of it as a long-term extra credit assignment.”

“Oh dope!” My iternal cheerleader was pumping her fist into the air. “I can do that. I am so in!”

Score! There I was getting extra credit when I didn’t even ask for it, and I didn’t have to take the tests. I’d just have some lame part-time job sorting papers or something. I could do that.

“So, what do I have to do? When do we start?” I looked around the room expectantly, yet all three remained silent. The muffled voices of people talking in the hallway drifted through the closed door as they passed.

Edgerton locked eyes on me. “This is not something we normally do, Ms. Reyes. But we are quite aware of your athletic and intellectual abilities. Additionally, we understand that doing well in school is a high priority for you. Due to certain circumstances, we have come to the conclusion that you can be of some use to us.”

And... now I was back to being confused. “Of use to you? I don’t think I’m quite following you, Edgerton.”

Her eyes flashed, and I flinched. “Maybe I am not making myself clear, but you will now work for us if you want to have any type of success in your miserable life.”

A weird feeling started swirling in my gut. “Well, gee,” I breathed out nervously. “You don’t have to be so harsh.” Turning up the bravado, I said, “It’s not like failing those tests is gonna ruin my life. Just cut to the chase what this extra credit is.”

She scoffed. Man, she could be cranky. I rolled my eyes.

“You will be watching the movements of Kyle Moore, your housemate,” Edgerton stated. “You will report back to us any information—even the minutest detail. We will deem its importance. And should the time come for confrontation, you will be the first to act. Per performance reviews, you will receive sufficient grades in the three classes you are about to fail, thus guaranteeing your successful graduation from this fine institution.”

Oh-kay. Wow. That was a heck of a lot of instructions to remember. What did they want information about my jerk of a housemate for anyway? This whole thing was hella crazy. But hey, as one of my personal mottos goes: What the hell, might as well.

“Huh. Alright. I’ll do it. But can I ask one question? What’s so important about Kyle anyway? Did he miss some test, too, or what? He wanted for plagiarism or something?” I grinned.

Takahashi smirked up at me from her place at the table where she was leaning over a paper, her pen dancing over it in elegant cursive. “Thank you for agreeing to join the fun, Sawyer.”

Jeez Louise. I wished they’d stop sounding so creepy. It was starting to make me nervous. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. So, answer my question already.”

Edgerton tapped her fingers on her crossed arms, pacing the length of the room as she spoke, “There is probable evidence that Kyle Moore, your housemate,” she nodded toward me, “is the notorious Syndicate affiliate, Nightmist, and the greatest enemy to us and our organization. However, nothing can be done until his identity is confirmed. Discretion is our greatest weapon.”

“Nightmist? What is that? A stage name at some club?” I asked, snarky. The name did sound vaguely familiar. “And how is he a threat to a college of all things?” I waved a hand flippantly through the air.

Takahashi smiled and turned to me, her dark hair shimmering through the air like a conditioner commercial. Maybe that stuff really does work. “That is where you come in. As a soon to be initiated member of the Red Pathways Syndicate, you are going to help us in our mission. Congratulations.” She slid the paper she’d been drafting over to me. It was a contract of sorts, detailing what they’d asked me to do.

Then my brain registered what she’d just said. My eyes widened, and I rolled my chair backwards a foot. The Red Pathways? Oh. Oh no. Oh boy. Holy cow. That name I recognized. This wasn’t any kind of good. If there was one group of people I shouldn’t get involved with in this town, it was them. With the history my family and the Syndicate groups shared, I’d spent a good chunk of my life avoiding that dangerous underground world. But I’d wound up here anyway. And now my housemate might be a Syndicate yahoo too? Thinking a little deeper on it, it did make a certain amount of sense. The late night encounters. The blood. The irritability. Actually, that one might just be chalked up to a bad personality.

Werner finally spoke from his brooding corner, his rectangular glasses glinting. “Nightmist has been a thorn in our side for three years now. Interfering with missions, high stakes deals, hostage situations. His prowess in our profession is growing. Although he has no direct following, there are undoubtedly some who are beginning to fear him.” He scoffed. “They fear the name more than the man. Soon, more will doubt the power of the Red Pathways, thinking we are too weak to eliminate the threat of a single person. He has evaded every attempt at capture while in the field, leaving us to find him through more unconventional measures.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “We have finally narrowed down the suspects. Your housemate being one of them. You, Ms. Reyes, will be the perfect candidate to catch that insurgent in the act, prove his guilt, and get rid of him for good.”

Hmm, none of that sounded particularly legal. Not that it needed to be. Laws were just guidelines for normal civilians to follow, and these people were far from normal.

“So, you want me to do your dirty work, is that it?” I said with a tilt of my chin and an eyebrow wiggle. I wanted nothing to do with the Syndicate and their bloody rivalries. All they did was cause trouble, and if my housemate was one of them, all the more reason to be annoyed. 

Takahashi’s finely manicured fingers twitched before she strode towards me. With a shove, I was right up against the table again, staring at the contract, the Asian professor’s knife ghosting the skin of my throat. My heart thudded in my chest as she murmured in my ear, “You have no power, no agency, no say. You will do everything we ask. If we see even a hair out of line, you can kiss your dreams of graduation goodbye. Have fun telling your family of your failure, what will be left of them, anyway. Now sign it.”

The tempered breaths I’d been focusing on took a hike as adrenaline and fear twined through my limbs and torso to wind around my beating heart, every pulse a reminder of how quickly it could stop.

With a shaking hand, I took up the pen next to the paper. It was just your basic office pen, cheap, made of plastic, probably cost less than quarter to make. And I was gonna use it to sign my life away. I guess this was it. I inked my name at the bottom, Takahashi’s knife still a cold line on my throat.

“I’m glad that was clear enough for you,” she said, finally removing her blade.

I could neither move nor speak, so I glanced at her and hoped the look in my eyes was enough to convince her of my sincere consent.

She pushed me away, snatching up the contract, apparently satisfied. My chair rolled back slightly, as per Newton’s third law.

I was frozen in my twirly chair, studying each of them as they studied me. What do I do next? Get up and leave? Shake their hands? Start river dancing?

I did know one thing, though, I was now knee deep in a dredge ditch with no visible exit.

Maybe this hadn’t been such a great idea.

As I left, they gifted me with some parting words, “We have employed many in our search for Nightmist. Let’s hope you last longer than the rest of them."