‘Is that your foot? Or somebody else’s?’ Allie’s whisper was so quiet it seemed to fade into the inky darkness around her.
‘Of course it’s mine,’ Carter whispered. ‘Who else’s foot could it be?’
They were tiptoeing down the grand hallway from the staircase towards Isabelle’s office. Around them the old building was unnaturally quiet – it didn’t creak or settle. It was as if it held its breath.
Carter had explained that, as part of their training, Night School students patrolled the hallways of the school at night, but not constantly. So on the way down, they’d hidden in an alcove on the first floor and waited until a pair of shadows walked by, silent as death.
After that, Carter figured they had more than an hour before the patrol would be back again. So they’d slipped down the stairs, skipping the creaky step near the bottom.
Now they stood outside Isabelle’s nearly invisible office door, waiting until they could be certain that the headmistress wasn’t inside.
‘Why would she be in there?’ Allie whispered. ‘It’s one o’clock in the morning.’
Carter shrugged, but the look on his face told Allie it was possible.
After hearing nothing through the door, he finally decided it was OK to go in. With his hand on the door handle, he held her eyes.
‘Three,’ he whispered, ‘two … one …’ He turned the handle.
The door was locked.
Carter swore under his breath and Allie stifled a giggle. ‘Plan B?’
Reaching in his pocket he pulled out a twisted wire. ‘Two minutes,’ he said. ‘Time me.’
Leaning down he pushed the wire into a lock Allie couldn’t see, and moved it gently with his fingertips until without warning, the door gave way.
‘Whoa. Less than two,’ she said admiringly. ‘Where did you learn to do that?’
He gave her a look. ‘Where do you think?’
‘Church?’
He smiled and pushed the door. It swung open with a sound like a sigh. ‘Yeah, right.’
‘So,’ Allie whispered walking into the office, ‘how does burglary make you a better future prime minister?’
Closing the door behind them, Carter took a cream-coloured cashmere throw off one of the leather chairs and pressed it into the base of the door. ‘I have no idea,’ he said.
Then with a click that seemed to echo in the quiet school, he turned on a small desk lamp. Standing beside the desk, the two of them looked around Isabelle’s office, taking in the tapestry of the unicorn on one wall, the thick Oriental rugs, the shelves crowded with books and magazines, and the many neatly filled mahogany cupboards. An empty teacup with the Cimmeria seal sat on the desk amid stacks of papers. The air smelled faintly of Isabelle’s distinctive citrus perfume.
‘I feel like a criminal,’ Allie whispered, suddenly unsure.
‘Oh no you don’t,’ Carter said. ‘We’re here now. Let’s get this over with.’
She knew he was right. It was too late to turn back now.
‘Where do we start?’
Allie was mostly talking to herself, but Carter answered her immediately.
‘I’ll take the bookshelves. You start with the cupboards.’
For half an hour they worked in hurried silence. Carter started on the left side of the room and moved from shelf to shelf, looking for anything unusual. Allie sat on the floor, looking through the low cabinets.
The first cabinet held mostly maintenance records, phone records, receipts – nothing of interest. The second one held academic records, graded papers, and other bits of schoolwork from years past.
As soon as Allie opened the third cabinet, she knew she was on the right track.
‘Bingo,’ she whispered.
Carter looked up. ‘What is it?’
‘Student records.’
He stopped what he was doing and walked over. Looking for Ruth’s records, Allie started to flip through the Js. Then stopped.
‘It’s not here.’
He looked puzzled. ‘It has to be. Look again.’
‘Jansen,’ Allie muttered under her breath. ‘J-a-n-s-e-n. No. It’s not here.’
‘It could be in the wrong place or something,’ he said. ‘Start at the beginning.’
Impatiently, Allie flipped through the neatly labelled manila folders, passing familiar names, as well as many she’d never heard of, until she reached one that stopped her.
‘Found it?’ Carter asked.
‘No … It’s mine.’
Her fingertips rested on a thick file with her name written on the top in thick black ink.
‘Pull it.’
She could hear the tension in his voice.
‘Do you think?’ she asked.
‘Two things, remember?’ he said. ‘We’re looking for two things.’
With reluctance, she set her file aside and went through the rest of the records, lingering on the one labelled ‘Carter West’.
‘You want yours?’
Shaking his head, he said curtly, ‘I know what it says.’
‘OK.’ Allie flipped through the last few files. ‘Ruth’s file isn’t here.’
‘They must have pulled it.’ Carter walked over to Isabelle’s desk. ‘It could be in the desk – I’ll start looking. You look through your own file.’
Allie sat on the floor, staring at the blank expanse of the folder cover, her fingers poised to open it. Now that the moment had come, she was scared.
Do I really want to know the truth?
Above her, she could hear the sound of Carter shuffling through pages and opening drawers. He was moving quickly – she knew she didn’t have much time.
She opened the folder.
The first few pages were all the normal things: admission forms with no surprises, transcripts from her last two schools. Looking at her old grades, she winced and quickly flipped the page.
Then things got weirder. A copy of her birth certificate. Photos of her as a young child with her parents. A photo of her as a baby with a woman she didn’t recognise, laughing at the camera.
A letter addressed to Isabelle in her mother’s handwriting hurt her heart, and she held it up into the light to see it better. Then her breath caught. Words and phrases seemed to jump out at her.
‘We need your help, Izzy’ ‘… we don’t know what to do’ ‘Christopher could have been taken …’ ‘We don’t want to involve Lucinda but we think the time has come …’ ‘… danger …’
‘We need your help, Izzy?’ She calls her ‘Izzy’?
She turned the page. This one on thick, expensive paper contained a short note in elegant handwriting she did not recognise. It was dated July this year.
Isabelle.
Admit my granddaughter immediately under Protect
Protocol. I will be in touch.
Lucinda
For just a moment, Allie stopped breathing.
Why is that note in my file? Who is Lucinda?
Increasingly anxious, she turned the page. The next few pages were photocopies of old Cimmeria school records, but they were not her own.
They were her mother’s.
Her hands shaking, Allie flipped through them quickly, scanning each page and then turning it. Scanning and turning. Scanning and turning.
The last page was a note on yellowed card. She recognised the handwriting from the earlier note from Lucinda.
G.
So pleased to hear my daughter is doing well in Night
School. Blood will out, as they say. I’d appreciate weekly
updates on her progress from now on.
L.S.
Allie dropped the file, as if it could bite. But Carter’s voice interrupted her whirling thoughts.
‘Hey. You better come look at this.’
His tone was ominous, and she hurried over to where he stood at the desk holding a paper under the light. Allie peered over his shoulder to see it.
When she’d read the whole thing, she looked up at him, stunned.
‘Oh my God, Carter. What are we going to do?’
After that, they didn’t hang out for long in Isabelle’s office. Allie quickly returned her file to its place in the cabinet, while Carter straightened the desk. He folded the throw back over the arm of the leather chair and then switched off the light.
They both leaned against the door, listening for what seemed to Allie like a very long time, then he opened the door and slipped outside while she waited. When he was sure the hallway was empty he came back for her. They closed the door behind them, standing frozen as the click of the latch sliding into place echoed in the preternatural hush like a shout.
It was half past one in the morning. If they were caught in the hallway now they’d have no excuses at all.
They’d only walked about twelve feet when, without warning, Carter stopped. Holding out his arm just as they rounded a corner towards the staircase, he held Allie back. After looking around, he dashed into the thick darkness under the stairs; he didn’t need to say a word – she was right on his heels.
Pulling her up to him until her body was pressed against his, he whispered almost soundlessly into her ear.
‘Someone’s coming.’
With her head against his shoulder inhaling his scent of coffee and cinnamon, she nodded, then turned so she could see what was happening around them. His arms were wrapped around her protectively.
But now she could hear the footsteps too. Very quietly, someone was padding down the hallway towards them.
Allie held her breath and tried to make her heart beat more softly.
They watched as a shadowy figure walked past them to Isabelle’s office door and tried the handle. Finding it locked, the figure paused for a moment as if considering the options, before walking away.
When Allie looked up at Carter questioningly he pressed his finger lightly against her lips. They did not move for five minutes, then, after he’d stepped out to look around, Carter took her hand and they hurried up the stairs.
They made it unseen down the empty hallway of the girls’ dorm into Allie’s room, where she pushed the door closed behind them, then clicked on the desk lamp.
‘Who was that?’ she whispered.
‘I couldn’t see him,’ Carter said. He wore a school uniform, though. So it’s a student.’
‘Do you think he saw us?’ she asked.
He shook his head. ‘He never looked our way.’
She relaxed a little. ‘I guess we’re not the only ones trying to figure out what’s really going on around here.’
The adrenalin that had propelled her through the night’s activities seemed to flood out of her body all at once, and she yawned hugely.
‘We both need some sleep,’ Carter said. ‘Tomorrow’s a school day after all.’
‘But we need to talk about all of this.’ Allie tried to force herself to feel more awake. ‘My file and that letter …’
‘After classes tomorrow – meet me at the chapel,’ he said. ‘And I’m going to breakfast at seven – go at the same time and I’ll protect you from the gossipers. In the meantime … get some sleep.’
He opened the window, then turned back to her. ‘One more thing. Earlier tonight? In my room?’
She blushed and waited for him to tell her it was a mistake.
‘Was fantastic.’ He smiled that sexy smile of his with his hair falling into his eyes, and climbed through the window.
A flood of warmth spread through her whole body. All the stress of what they’d learned tonight faded away and she smiled at the darkness.
‘Right back at ya,’ she said.
The next morning, Allie walked to breakfast at seven o’clock precisely. Carter stood waiting for her at the dining room hall.
‘Is my lady ready for her escort?’ he asked as she walked up.
‘Your lady could murder a bacon sandwich,’ she said.
‘How ladylike of my lady.’
They walked into the dining room laughing but felt the chill in the room instantly.
‘Whoa,’ Carter murmured.
Intimidated by the sense that everybody was staring at her, Allie moved a little closer to him while they served their plates from the buffet. As they hurried to where Rachel sat with Lucas, Allie could hear the whispers and harsh laughter all around them.
Rachel and Lucas both looked worried.
‘This sucks,’ Lucas said as they sat down. ‘What are we going to do?’
‘I think Isabelle has got to step up,’ Carter said. ‘There’s not much we can do, unless Allie wants us to follow her everywhere.’
‘Isabelle wouldn’t usually let this sort of thing get so out of control,’ Rachel agreed.
‘Maybe she’s trying not to show favouritism,’ Lucas suggested. ‘Everybody knows she has taken a special interest in Allie.’
‘Whatever.’ Allie stacked her bacon onto her bread. ‘All I know is I’m going to kick Katie’s arse if she comes anywhere near me today.’
Taking a gigantic bite she looked up to see Carter shaking his head.
‘What?’ she said with her mouth full.
‘Nothing,’ he said.
‘I think what he’s thinking,’ Rachel said, grinning, ‘is that’s our girl.’
‘Could I have everybody’s attention please.’ Isabelle’s voice rang out over the dining hall rumble. Silence fell.
Standing at the front of the room in a lavender cardigan open over a crisp white skirt and blouse, a silk scarf over her shoulder, she looked sterner than Allie could ever remember seeing her. ‘I would like to remind all students that bullying is grounds for expulsion on a single offence. I trust I won’t have to mention this again.’
As she turned and walked out, her footsteps echoed in the crowded room.
When Allie pointed at herself and mouthed, ‘Is that about me?’ Rachel, Carter and Lucas nodded.
Later, as they walked to class, they were divided over whether or not Isabelle had done enough to put an end to the gossip. Rachel didn’t think so, but Carter and Lucas thought she’d done all she could for now.
Walking into biology class, she saw that Jo, freed from her house arrest, was already at their table – her pixie-ish blonde hair neatly combed, and her expression subdued.
Allie didn’t know how she was going to handle this. She couldn’t really let on what she’d overheard last night, because how could she explain hearing it? And she couldn’t ask to move to a different seat – Jerry would want to know why.
The best thing to do, she decided, was take the high road.
If you can’t say something nice, say nothing at all.
So she sat down next to Jo silently and turned her chair slightly so it faced away from her. Clearly Jo had decided to take the high road too, though, and they sat, side-by-side, without saying a word for seven long minutes until Jerry stepped up and began his lesson.
After class, Allie shot out of her seat and into the hallway. And she never looked back.
At lunch, Jo and Gabe avoided their usual table, sitting off in a corner of the dining room instead. Allie joined Rachel and Lucas, who, she observed, were sitting together more and more these days.
‘Hey,’ she said, dropping her bag. ‘What’s up with them?’
Rachel and Lucas exchanged a look she couldn’t quite translate.
‘The gossip,’ Rachel said after a second, ‘is that Jo was so drunk she now can’t remember what happened on the roof. And so she has decided that she believes the gossip about what happened on the roof.’
‘Oh brilliant,’ Allie said, plopping down into a seat. ‘So she now thinks I tried to kill her?’
They nodded in sync.
‘This would be funny if it weren’t happening to me.’ Allie sighed.
‘It’s not happening to me and I don’t think it’s funny,’ Rachel offered.
‘You don’t believe her?’ Allie asked hopefully.
‘No way,’ Lucas said.
‘We know her too well,’ Rachel said. ‘Look, I’ll try and talk to her later, see if I can talk some sense to her.’
‘Or at least get her to remember what really happened.’ Carter pulled out the chair next to Allie and sat down. ‘Like how she got so trolleyed she nearly killed us all. If you ask me, it’s pretty convenient that now that everybody knows something crazy happened that day she suddenly can’t recall behaving like a lunatic on day release.’
‘It’s not like her not to remember,’ Lucas said, frowning. ‘When she’s done this before she’s always remembered what happened.’
The doubt in his voice gave Allie an icy stab of worry. What if even Lucas and Rachel start doubting me? Then it would be just Carter and me.
As if he knew what she was thinking, Carter brushed the side of her head with his lips.
‘Don’t let her get you down,’ he whispered, and she found herself smiling at him in spite of everything.
She was aware that Lucas and Rachel were both watching them with dawning recognition, and that the whole school would soon know that they were together.
‘I’m good,’ she said, her voice firm. And she meant it.
For the rest of the day, Allie could not say she was bullied. Instead she was treated like a ghost – as if she wasn’t there at all.
Nobody outside of her immediate group of friends spoke to her. Even when she passed Katie in the hallway, she merely turned her head away and flounced by.
As Allie walked to her room after classes ended, Jules stopped her in the hallway. ‘I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry for how everyone’s behaving,’ the prefect said. ‘I spoke with Isabelle about it yesterday, and she has given Katie and two of her friends written warnings about this.’
‘You think Katie’s behind the rumours, then?’ Allie said.
‘I’ve known Katie all my life, Allie.’ Jules looked frustrated. ‘But I’ve told her we can’t be friends unless she fixes this. It is incredibly unfair to you. And it’s just not going to happen on my watch. She knows how I feel, and I expect her to sort this out.’
‘Thanks, Jules.’ The gratitude in Allie’s tone was genuine. ‘It feels weird to have people say things about you that aren’t true.’
‘If anybody harasses you or bullies you, come to Isabelle or me,’ Jules said. ‘We’ll deal with them. But, look, I know what happened between you and Katie yesterday and I’d rather this didn’t end up in a fist fight.’
Allie flushed guiltily. ‘OK, OK … I’ll try to control myself.’
When Jules had gone, Allie put on her running clothes and headed outside. It was another unusually warm afternoon – the sun felt hot on her shoulders as she jogged out to the chapel, and she decided to go the long way, taking in the summer-house as well. She enjoyed the run so much she was almost sorry when she arrived, but at the same time … there was Carter.
As she opened the gate, she saw him immediately, leaning against the ancient wooden door of the church, watching her.
‘Hey,’ she said, running down the stone path.
‘Hey back,’ he said. ‘Right on time. Look, before we go inside there’s something that we need to get out of the way.’
Reaching for her hand he pulled her to him, and in the shadows of the doorway he lowered his mouth to hers. She smiled against his lips and pulled him closer until she could feel the warmth of his body against her. Spurred on by her response he kissed her more urgently, holding her so tightly her lungs felt compressed. When he stopped a minute later, she was flushed and breathless.
‘I’m glad we got that over with,’ she said.
‘Me too.’ He held the door for her. ‘So now we can hopefully focus on all the bad, scary stuff without being distracted by the fun romantic stuff.’
His voice echoed off the cool stone walls as he stood aside to let her walk inside. As she passed him, Allie paused to run her fingers tantalisingly down his arm from his shoulder to the tips of his fingers. Goosebumps formed in their path.
‘Uh-huh,’ she said, laughing.
He tried to grab her but she danced just out of reach laughing. ‘Not in church, Carter. We’ll go to hell.’
‘Then lead me not into temptation,’ he said, following a few steps behind her.
‘Fair enough,’ she said, still just too far away from him. ‘As long as you deliver me from evil.’
‘Deal.’
She let him catch her near the pulpit and he pulled her down giggling onto a dark wooden pew beside him, his arm around her shoulders.
‘This place is amazing,’ she said, looking around, as his thumb pulled up the short sleeve of her T-shirt and stroked the warm skin underneath. ‘I’ve never seen anything like these paintings in my life.’
‘I think lots of churches used to look something like this.’ His lips were against her ear now, and she closed her eyes, feeling her body quiver. ‘But they changed.’
‘Sad for them,’ she whispered.
‘Isn’t it?’
Their kiss was more passionate this time, and after a moment he lifted Allie up onto his lap. Pulling the band from her ponytail, he ran his fingers through her hair until it fell around his face in soft waves as she leaned forward to kiss him. Turning his head, he ran his lips lightly between her ear and the corner of her mouth. Her breath came in soft gasps.
After a few minutes, though, she pushed herself away. With a regretful sigh he let her go and she slid off of his lap onto the pew beside him.
‘So much for getting that out of the way,’ she said with a wry smile.
‘I warned you about the leading and the tempting,’ he said.
She laughed. ‘How could I tempt you? I’m sweaty runner girl.’
He tugged a strand of her loose hair. ‘Tempting.’
But after a moment he sighed. ‘Right, so now we must destroy the lovely mood we’ve created and talk about what’s going on.’
All the warmth seemed to leave Allie’s body and she shivered. ‘Yes, let’s do it. You’re sure there’s nobody else here?’
‘We’re safe here,’ he said with confidence. ‘Let’s start with your file.’
She nodded. ‘It was strange. It had all the normal Allie-isn’t-very-good-at-English stuff and then a lot of weird papers that weren’t mine.’
He looked puzzled. ‘Like what?’
‘Like … my mum’s school records.’ She gave him a significant look. ‘From here.’
‘From here … as in, from Cimmeria?’ His voice rose incredulously.
‘Exactly. So, it turns out my mum wasn’t very good at science either when she was my age. Oh, and she attended Cimmeria, a school she pretended she’d never heard of until the week I came here. In fact, she knows the place so well she called Isabelle “Izzy” in a letter.’
‘Iz …?’ Carter stared at her. ‘What the hell is going on?’
‘I have no idea. But there’s more. There was also a note in my file from somebody named Lucinda to Isabelle dated a month ago. It ordered her to admit “my granddaughter” immediately, and “protect her”.’
Carter let his breath out in a low whistle. ‘I don’t suppose you have a grandmother named Lucinda?’
‘One of my grandmothers died before I was born. The other one died two years ago,’ Allie said. ‘Her name was Jane.’
‘So …’ Carter said.
‘Who’s Lucinda?’ Allie finished the thought for him. ‘Good question. There was also a note in Lucinda’s handwriting to somebody with the initial “G”, talking about how well her daughter was doing in Night School. It was very old.’
Carter pushed his hair back out of his eyes as he absorbed all of this information. ‘Allie, did your parents tell you anything that was true, ever?’
She was surprised to feel tears burning her eyes.
‘I don’t know,’ she said, forcing them back.
He squeezed her hand.
‘OK, so let’s sum this up.’ He ticked them each off with a tap on the back of her hand. ‘You’re rubbish at English. Your mum probably went to school here. Lucinda is either your grandmother or thinks she is, and your parents forgot to mention her to you – for your whole life. And whoever Lucinda is, she’s important enough that she can order Isabelle to do things.’ He seemed to be finished but then he added, ‘Oh, and Isabelle has a stupid nickname.’
Allie half-smiled up at him. ‘That’s about it, I think.’
‘So … Not much then.’
‘No,’ she said feebly. ‘Not much.’
‘OK, so let’s just leave that there for a minute, because it seems to me we’ll need time to think about how to handle all of that.’ He looked up at the old painting of the yew tree on the wall. ‘Let’s talk about the letter.’
The letter he’d found on the desk was from Nathaniel to Isabelle dated several days earlier. It had been short and angry. ‘What happened on the night of the summer ball was just a taster of what I have to offer,’ it said. ‘Give me what I deserve or I will destroy Cimmeria with my own hands.’
It listed a date and time for a ‘parley at the usual place’. The night was tomorrow, the time was midnight. But the place was never described.
‘What’s a parley?’ Allie had asked at the time, adding hopefully, ‘It’s just a couple of letters away from party.’
‘Parley – it’s a military term,’ Carter had replied, flipping the paper over. ‘It’s a meeting of enemies to talk terms.’
‘Oh,’ Allie had said. ‘So a really crap party then.’
Now, curled up on the church pew next to Carter she asked the question that had been eating away at her all day. ‘Do we both think Nathaniel killed Ruth?’
He looked serious. ‘I don’t know. He all but said as much in that letter. But the main problem I have with that is, why? Why would he do that? What does he want that Isabelle won’t give him? And why does he want it so desperately that he’d do something like that?’
She twisted a strand of hair around her finger as she stared at the yew tree on the wall. ‘I read somewhere that most people who are murdered are killed by people who know them – like their family or boyfriends.’ She dropped the strand of hair. ‘God, I wish we could have found Ruth’s file. I mean, what if Nathaniel’s, like, her evil stepdad or something?’
Carter shook his head. ‘If it was something like that, why would he be making demands to Isabelle, and acting like they have this long history, and she’s done something bad to him at some point? It doesn’t make sense to me.’
‘None of this makes sense to me,’ Allie said. ‘The thing is, there’s so much going on here that we don’t know about – there’s no way for us to figure out what’s happening here unless somebody tells us.’
Carter stared at her. ‘That’s it, Allie! We’ll get them to tell us.’
‘Um … like … how?’ she asked, dubious.
He leaned forward, his cheeks flushed with excitement. ‘Simple. Isabelle’s meeting Nathaniel tomorrow night. I’ll follow Isabelle to the meeting. Then I can listen to what they say and we can decide what to do next.’
‘That’s a great idea,’ Allie said. ‘I’ll come with you.’
He glared at her. ‘No you most certainly will not.’
‘Yes, I most certainly will.’
‘Allie …’ His eyes warned her to drop it but she ignored it.
‘Why should you go and not me? So much of this involves me and my family, and although I know more now, I still don’t understand what’s really going on.’ He tried to speak but she held up her hand. ‘This is my life, Carter. And I want to find out who’s messing it all up.’
‘It could be dangerous.’ She could hear frustration in his voice. ‘And you could get expelled. Allie, this is not a good idea.’
‘It is dangerous,’ she said. ‘But I’m doing it. Look, there’s one thing in my file I didn’t mention. In the letter from my mother, she mentioned my brother, Christopher. And she says “what if he was taken”.’ She leaned forward intently. ‘Don’t you see, Carter? I could find out what happened to Christopher. I have to go.’
For a long moment his eyes searched her face. She could see the second when he gave in. ‘OK,’ he said, resigned. ‘I don’t like it. But I know if I don’t let you go with me, you’ll just go on your own and get in even more trouble.’
‘Thank you!’ She threw her arms around his neck.
‘But I have one condition,’ he said, holding onto her. ‘We have to do it my way. Agreed?’
‘Agreed!’ Allie said, hugging him tighter.
‘Now, how many hell points will we get if we desecrate this chapel?’ he asked, breathing in the scent of her hair.