Truly Devious

Pix meets with all of the students to establish the rules of Minerva House and Ellingham Academy. She reminds them that they have all been issued ID cards, which will be used to access all of the buildings on campus, and she warns them not to partake in drinking or drugs. However, as soon as the meeting ends, Ellie invites Stevie and Janelle to join her in the “Tub room” with the antique claw-foot bathtub, and when they arrive, Ellie gives them champagne “to celebrate [their] arrival” (90). Ellie then gives them her personal version of Pix’s speech: She encourages them to be crafty if they plan on violating the rules about drinking and sneaking off campus, and she even mentions that they can have someone else bring their ID card to the house and trick the system if they want to break curfew. Ellie tells them about how she grew up in a combination of art colonies and communes, and she shows them her saxophone, Roota, which she obtained by “[making] a little art” and “[getting] a little cash” (95). Stevie admits that her parents work for Edward King, a radical-thinking politician with fascist ideas.