last phone call. I’ve tried ringing her mobile, I’ve sent emails, but have heard nothing from my sister. I’ve tried to contact McCain but he refuses to return my calls. So today, unable to continue with my life until I find out what has happened to my sister, my boyfriend, Harry and I drove the long distance to Wood Hill to visit Ravenwood School. We didn’t get any further than the main gates, which are locked with chains and padlocks. Emily was not exaggerating when she said that Ravenwood had become something close to a prison.
“Eventually, McCain came down to the gates and told me to go away before he called the police. But I could see in his eyes that he had murdered Emily,” Elizabeth said.
“How can you be so sure?” I asked her.
“Because when he saw me standing at the gates, he looked as if he had seen a ghost,” she said. “He hadn’t known that Emily had an identical twin. For a moment, he thought I was her.”
“What did he say?” I asked her.
“After realising his mistake, McCain told us that Emily had left the school some weeks ago, but I knew that was a lie because I’d only spoken to her a few days before,” Elizabeth said. “Knowing that McCain would never tell me the truth, Harry and I headed back into town and paid a visit to the local police station. I spoke to an officer there by the name of Banner, but he didn’t seem interested. It took me over half an hour to get him to agree to file a missing persons report. So, feeling as if I had wasted my time and was still no nearer to the truth, we decided to stay in town, but we soon realised that the place was like, really weird.”
“I know what you mean,” Kayla added. “Isidor and I have been there.”
“We decided to stay out of town in a motel,” Elizabeth
continued. “And it was as we made our way back through town to our car, that I saw your advert in the shop window and that word ‘pushed’ made me think of what Emily had said to me. Do you think you can help?”
Not wanting to give away how much I knew about the world being pushed, I looked across the table at Elizabeth and said, “I think it would be best if you returned straight to Lon…Linden. You can be of little to no help here. And just in case you are wrong about McCain, surely it would be better if you were at home, where your sister knows that she can find you. I will make some enquires at the school and with the local police. Please can you give me your sister’s full name, date of birth, bank details, mobile phone number and car index?”
“Why?” Elizabeth asked me.
“It may help with my enquiries.”
“Do you think you might be able to discover what happened to my sister?” Elizabeth said, writing down the information that I had asked for.
“I don’t know the answer to that question,” I said softly. “But you have my guarantee that I will do my very best to discover the truth for you. But it does seem like a most desperate case where your sister is concerned and it would be wrong of me to give you false hope.”
“It’s not hope that I’m looking for,” Elizabeth said. “It’s the truth that I seek.”
“Then go back to Linden tonight and I shall be in contact with you as soon as I have some news,” I tried to assure her.
Elizabeth stood up and went to the door. Isidor followed her as if to show her out. But at the door, she turned to look back at me.
“Pushed,” she said. “You know what my sister was talking about don’t you, Kiera Hudson?”
I looked straight back at her, and with half a smile I said, “That’s what we do, Miss Clarke. We push back where others can’t. Goodbye.”
Chapter Sixteen
“I’ll do it,” Kayla said as soon as Elizabeth had left the room.
“Do what?” I asked her.
“Go into Ravenwood School,” she said, looking at me straight in the eye. “That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
“Out of the question,” I said, getting up and leaving the room.
“How else are we gonna find out what’s happening in there?” she called out, running down the corridor after me.
I reached the great hall as Isidor was closing the door behind our visitor. “Have a word with your sister,” I said to him as I made my way back to the kitchen.
“Why, what’s she done?” Isidor muttered, sounding lost.
“She thinks she’s one of Charlie’s Angels,” Potter snipped as he followed close behind me.
“I don’t think I’m a Charlie’s Angel!” Kayla shouted as she stormed into the kitchen.
“You’re not doing it,” I told her flatly.
“Why not?” she asked, and I could hear frustration simmering just beneath the surface.
“Who’s this Charlie dude?” Isidor asked as he wandered into the kitchen.
Potter turned on him and said, “At first I thought the whole dumb thing was just an act, but now I’m beginning to wonder if you’re not just a bit thick.”
“All I asked was…” Isidor started.
“Whatever,” Potter growled, sitting on the corner of the kitchen table where he lit another cigarette. “I don’t want to hear it.”
“Your sister thinks it would be a good idea if she went undercover into Ravenwood School,” I explained to Isidor, feeling a little sorry for him.
He stood by the kitchen door and scratched his tuft of a beard. “That’s, like, a really bad idea Kayla,” Isidor said.
“Why is it?” she snapped at him, and he almost seemed to flinch backwards. “I’m not a kid anymore and I wish you would stop treating me like one.”
“No one is treating you like a kid,” I tried to assure her. “It’s just that…”
“It’s too dangerous,” she said, spraying mock laughter. “After everything that we’ve been through together, everything that I’ve seen and done and you still don’t trust me.”
“Steady on,” Potter cut in. “This has nothing to do with trust.”
“And who asked you, Potter?” Kayla ripped back. “You don’t really care about me. I asked you the other day to lend me the money to buy an iPod and you told me to fuck off, so stop pretending that you care.”
“What’s that got to do with anything?” Potter snapped, blowing smoke through his nostrils. “It’s not up to me to provide you with all the must-have gadgets. I’m not your father.”
“So stop trying to act like one!” Kayla roared at him. “When my real father died you told me I had to toughen up, remember? You said there was no place for booing and wooing and the only way to defeat the enemy was by being strong and hitting back.”
“Did I really say that?” Potter asked me.
“Yes,” I nodded, cringing at the thought of how he had broken the news of the death of her father.
“See, I’m not a jerk like so many people believe,” he said with a serious look on his face. “I gave you some good advice back there.”
“That wasn’t good advice,” Isidor said in disbelief. “That was cruel. And you said I looked like Shaggy-Doo. I looked him up on the internet and everything. I don’t look nothing like a Great Dane!”
“I wasn’t talking about the fucking dog!” Potter groaned. “Tell me something, Isidor, have you never watched T.V.?”
“I read,” Isidor told him proudly. “I don’t watch T.V. I like to use my imagination.”
“Don’t we know it,” Potter grumbled.
“Look, can we please stop talking about Scooby-Doo and God knows what else?” I gasped in disbelief. “It’s like living with a bunch of kids.”
“He started it,” Potter said, pointing at Isidor.
“No, I did not,” Isidor shot back. “You said I looked like a cartoon dog.”
