As Alice-Miranda and Millie approached the music room on their way to afternoon tea, they heard the most extraordinary sound. A voice, as smooth as honey and just as rich, floated into the hallway.

‘Is that Jacinta?’ Millie asked.

Alice-Miranda shook her head. ‘No, wouldn’t she be at Caledonia Manor with the year sevens?’

Millie nodded. ‘I suppose so, but it doesn’t sound like Sloane either. It must be one of the new girls. What a voice! They’ll definitely hate her, you know.’

‘Who’ll hate her?’ Alice-Miranda asked.

‘Jacinta and Sloane, of course,’ said Millie.

Alice-Miranda grinned. ‘Millie, you know that’s not true. But I think Mr Lipp’s going to want whoever it is in the choir.’

Just as the girls reached the open door, the soloist stopped. Alice-Miranda and Millie peeked into the room.

Mr Trout was sitting at the grand piano clasping his hands together. ‘Bravo, my dear. That was beautiful, absolutely beautiful!’

Miss Reedy was standing beside him. A tall girl had her back to the door. ‘Is that the piece you sang for the National Eisteddfod?’ the English teacher asked.

‘Yes,’ the girl replied with a nod.

Mr Trout beamed. ‘What an accomplishment to win the open category at your age.’

The girl shrugged.

Miss Reedy glanced over at the doorway and spotted Alice-Miranda and Millie. ‘Oh girls, perfect timing. Come and meet Caprice Radford.’

The pair hurried into the room as the willowy girl turned and looked at them. She had a long mane of copper-coloured hair, with a blunt fringe framing sparkling sapphire-blue eyes. Her pale skin was luminous and Alice-Miranda thought she was probably about ten or eleven years old.

Alice-Miranda stepped forward and held out her hand. ‘Hello, my name’s Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones and I’m very pleased to meet you.’

‘I’m Caprice Radford,’ the girl replied. She reached out and gave Alice-Miranda’s hand a shake as limp as a fish.

The group looked expectantly at Millie, who for a moment seemed to have fallen under some sort of hypnotic spell.

‘Oh, me?’ the girl blathered. ‘I’m just Millie.’ She hadn’t meant to stare but the newcomer was ridiculously pretty.

‘Hi,’ Caprice said, looking the flame-haired child up and down.

‘Caprice arrived after lunch and we’ve been having a tour of the school. It was fortunate that we ran into Mr Trout and Caprice told him about her singing. I don’t know if you heard any of it, but she’s marvellous,’ Miss Reedy gasped.

Alice-Miranda and Millie nodded. ‘Yes, we heard,’ Alice-Miranda said.

‘Girls, would you please take Caprice to afternoon tea and then to the boarding house?’ asked Miss Reedy. ‘Mr Trout and I have a meeting to attend.’

‘Of course, Miss Reedy,’ Alice-Miranda replied. She paused, frowning. ‘Oh. I just remembered I have to collect a sports shirt from Miss Wall. Millie, could you take Caprice and I’ll meet you there in a minute?’

‘Sure,’ Millie said as Alice-Miranda shot off.

‘Thanks, girls. We’ll see you later,’ Miss Reedy said.

Caprice followed Millie to the door then turned and smiled at the teachers. ‘I’m really looking forward to singing in the choir, Mr Trout. Please keep me in mind for some of the solos if you think I might be good enough.’ She fluttered her long eyelashes.

‘Oh, absolutely.’ Cornelius Trout felt a tingle run the length of his spine. He couldn’t remember ever hearing such a prodigious talent before.

‘What a charming girl,’ Miss Reedy said loudly.

‘Yes, indeed,’ Mr Trout agreed.

A smug smile settled on Caprice’s face as she joined Millie in the corridor. The two girls walked to the door at the end of the hallway and out into the sunny courtyard.

‘Do you have singing lessons?’ Millie asked.

‘No,’ Caprice replied sharply.

‘Really? Your voice is amazing,’ said Millie.

‘Everyone says that,’ Caprice said matter-of-factly. ‘It gets so boring after a while.’

‘I don’t think it would be boring to be able to sing like you,’ Millie said.

Caprice shot Millie a pitying stare. ‘I guess you’ll never know.’

Millie looked at the girl. What she said was true, but considering Caprice had never heard her sing, it seemed an odd thing to say.

‘The dining room’s over there.’ Millie pointed at the freshly painted blue door.

The place was buzzing with students swapping stories of their holidays and moaning about the amount of work some of their teachers had already set. After all, they’d only arrived back yesterday and today was the first day of lessons. The pair joined the end of the long line at the servery.

‘Where did you go to school before here?’ Millie asked.

‘Lots of places,’ Caprice replied.

Millie wondered what that meant. ‘Did your parents move around a lot?’

‘No,’ Caprice snapped. ‘Why would you think that?’

Millie wondered what she’d said to upset her. The girl’s sunny nature seemed to have turned decidedly dark.

‘Why did you change schools then?’ Millie asked.

‘You ask a lot of questions. If you must know, I won the academic scholarship, and the work at my old schools was always way too easy. Miss Grimm promised that I could do my lessons with the older girls so I don’t get bored, but I probably will.’

‘Alice-Miranda does a lot of extension work,’ Millie said.

‘Does she have a scholarship too?’ Caprice asked.

Millie shook her head.

‘Well, she can’t be that smart then,’ Caprice scoffed.

‘Yes, she is,’ Millie retorted. She was growing wary of this beautiful and ‘brilliant’ new student. ‘Alice-Miranda is the smartest girl in the whole school.’

‘Really? We’ll see about that.’ Caprice folded her arms and turned her back.