Chapter 13

All five girls ran to the end of the room, Madeleine in the lead. When they got to the other side of the desk, glass was strewn around everywhere.

Sophie looked in the corner by the door, and she saw a girl crouched there.

“Hey! What are you doing here? Come out, right now.”

The girl whimpered but came out. Sophie could see that it was Chloe, the girl she had run into days ago.

Chloe, who always seemed to be around.

Chloe.

She was holding her hand, and Sophie could see blood dripping down her wrist, droplets hitting the floor.

And everything clicked into place.

“Hi, Chloe,” she said calmly. “You’re Millicent, aren’t you?”

Without saying a word, Chloe started crying. Ophelia looked outraged. Madeleine stood back and covered her mouth. And Kayley said, “Wha …”

Emma just shook her head sadly. “Yes. This all makes sense now.”

“Wait, she’s a ghost from the 1920s?” Kayley asked.

Ophelia elbowed her. “No, you idiot. She’s just been acting like one.”

“We need to take you to the nurse,” Madeleine said. Chloe spoke through tears, “Please, please, no, I’m fine. Please don’t tell! I didn’t mean to do anything!”

Ophelia stared hard at her. “Are you kidding me? Not only did you threaten our friend, and you set up an exposed wire to try to kill her!”

Chloe’s eyes were desperate. “Please, I didn’t do anything with any wire! I swear! I just … I knew she had set it up. That’s why I said something. I never wanted Emma to get hurt!”

Sophie grabbed Ophelia’s arm. Chloe did look truly terrified, she thought.

“She’s right,” Sophie said. “She did warn me. I think we should take her to the nurse, but not tell Madame.”

Ophelia looked at Sophie like she was crazy.

Emma chimed in: “Yes, I agree.” She looked at Chloe kindly. “You’re new here, aren’t you?”

Chloe nodded her head.

“It’s hard when you first start,” Emma continued. “Let’s just forget this ever happened and move on, OK?”

Chloe’s face collapsed in relief. Sophie stepped up to the girl and stuck her finger in Chloe’s chest. “If you ever, ever, ever try to hurt my sister again—or any of my friends for that matter—you’ll be sorry. Got it?”

Chloe nodded, her eyes huge.

Sophie went on, the hard edge in her voice beginning to soften: “So how did you move the planchette? It really felt like there was a ghost at work. Did you use magnets or something?”

Chloe looked bewildered, but before she replied, Kayley butted in. “I’m glad we’re all done with the threats and all, but we need to get out of here, before Bert or Madame comes in here.”

Madeleine blew out the candle, and Ophelia grabbed the spirit board, both of their faces still white.

On the way out, Sophie grabbed Ophelia’s arm.

“Thank you,” Sophie said. She knew that it had probably been hard for Ophelia to admit she’d been researching ghosts. Ophelia’s tendency was to pretend nothing bad ever happened to her, and the research was definitely a sign that Ophelia was still troubled by the brush with the supernatural she’d had earlier in the term.

Ophelia’s big eyes reached Sophie’s. She seemed as though she was about to say something when the girls heard murmurs of teachers’ voices drifting in from the hall.

Kayley said, “Let’s go!”

They only had seconds to get out of the room and to slip down the stairs without being seen. Emma and Sophie flanked Chloe, helping her hold her hand so it wouldn’t bleed all over. Voices gasped at the bottle wreckage just as the girls hit the stairs.

When they got to the second floor, Sophie said, “Emma and I will take Chloe to the nurse’s station.”

Madeleine nodded, her face pale even after the dash downstairs.

“OK,” Ophelia said, “but come back to my room right away when you’re done. We have something to tell you.”

Sophie nodded and she, Emma, and Chloe began their walk to the nurse’s station, the blood from Chloe’s hand disappearing into the carpet.