Dawn only caught snippets of the three sisters' conversation as they approached. She gathered that they were looking for new members. That, and the fact that they suddenly turned and smiled like maniacs at them as her and Tiffany approached made her question the decision to talk to them.
"You know what, Tiffany. I gotta' do some studying," Dawn stepped back.
"But, but, but, I can't talk to them alone, what'll I say?" Tiffany whispered.
To answer her, the smallest, loudest of the three was at her side, already holding her arm like they were best friends.
"Heeeeey! You wouldn't be looking to find out more about our lovely sorority life over at Kappa Phi Delta Gamma?"
Tiffany was taken aback, but then joined in the girl's excitement.
"Yes, I would!"
The petite blonde yanked Tiffany away to pitch the sorority to her. To Dawn, it sounded too much like something a religious nut handing out pamphlets at an airport would say.
"Later, Tiff," Dawn waved, and walked off wondering if they still had religious nuts handing out pamphlets at airports.
To the library. If Tiffany was joining some weird, cultish group of ultra-thin college girls Dawn wanted to know what they were about. The rumors she heard were vague, referring only to the fact that Kappa house was more secretive than other houses, and that they were definitely into esoteric topics at the higher levels. They certainly didn't seem like nerds of the occult, but appearances weren't everything, even if they were extremely important to the Kappas.
Pulling up news articles from the past hundred years yielded instant results. For one thing, every couple of years since the early 1930s there would be an article about how the Kappas were losing members, dwindling from their glory days in the 20s. Then there was some kind of mysterious incident in 1933. The details were scanty. A girl either disappeared or died tragically, and the Kappas were suspected of accidentally causing this. Maybe through hazing? Maybe a demon ate her? Speculation wasn't Dawn's strong suit. She was training herself to think only of the facts and let the interpretation come from that.
Then by chance she stumbled on some blogs by former Kappa members. Details were vague there, too, perhaps from a nondisclosure agreement they signed when they joined the house. The few blogs she found from Kappas who stayed only rarely mentioned any goings on within their sorority. One thing was clear--these girls who left stayed only briefly and were not happy. Dawn must have skimmed a dozen journals of college girls--did she sound that whiny in her diary, Dawn wondered--and noticed a distinct pattern.
Thin girl joins. Thin girl gains a lot of weight. Thin girl leaves.
The most recent one involved a Japanese exchange student named Keiko who put on eighty pounds while being the sorority for only three months. Dawn sent her an e-mail to ask if she had any information.
It was nearly 8:00 when Tiffany called.
"Where are you?" Tiffany said.
"In the library doing research. About these Kappas--" Dawn began.
"Wanna go to a party?"
"Sure, why not? It's, um, not at the Kappa house, is it?"
"It is! We're invited!" Dawn could picture Tiffany's expression over the phone. So hopeful, joyful, at the very prospect of being near this sorority. Dawn didn't get it. Tiffany was never obsessed with popularity in high school.
Dawn thought about the potential information she could by going to the party. She could question the sisters first hand. She could even explore the building.
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