‘Aye aye, Captain.’ Allie followed her gaze. The vivid red of Katie’s lush mane of hair made her easy to spot as she paraded up the stairs at the centre of a group of genetically perfect friends.
‘What have you heard again?’ Allie’s voice was unnecessarily loud.
Rachel waited to answer until Katie had nearly reached them. ‘Half the kids in the school will go. And nobody knows who. It’ll be just like Caroline only times a hundred.’
‘That’s horrible.’ Allie feigned shock. ‘What can we do?’
Katie stopped walking so abruptly the girls with her had to backtrack to rejoin her, but she waved them away with an irritated flutter of her fingers.
‘Go on. I’ll catch you up.’
After a moment’s hesitation they walked on. When they were out of earshot she turned to Rachel. ‘What were you just saying, geek girl?’
Dropping the pretence, Rachel filled her in on what they knew. As she listened, Katie leaned against the wall, letting her head fall back until it thumped against the carved oak panelling.
‘So this is what they’re up to.’ She looked pale. ‘I should have guessed when Caroline left. How could I be so stupid?’
Allie frowned. ‘They? Who?’
‘My parents. Of course they have a plan. And of course it involves dragging me out of Cimmeria and ruining my life.’ Turning to Allie she said, ‘I tried to warn you something was coming. That Lucinda was losing it. But you wouldn’t listen.’
‘Wait,’ Allie said. ‘Your parents are on Nathaniel’s side?’
Katie levelled an exasperated look at her. ‘Of course. Don’t be ridiculous. Haven’t you been paying attention at all?’
Allie ignored the insult. She stepped closer to Katie, looking into her eyes. Challenging her. ‘What about you? Are you on his side?’
Her directness seemed to catch Katie off guard; she shook her head so hard her red hair swished. ‘No. Never.’
Her response was so passionate, so spontaneous. Allie had to believe her.
‘What are you going to do if they send someone for you?’ Rachel asked.
For a second, Katie didn’t reply. When she did speak, her voice sounded strained. ‘I don’t know. But they will have to kill me to get me out of here. I’m not going like Caroline.’
‘You’d really stand up to your parents like that?’ Allie asked, surprised.
Katie’s eyes glittered like chips of ice in the winter sun. ‘I loathe my parents, Allie. I’m not going anywhere with them. And that slimy creep Nathaniel can kiss my perfect arse.’
Her cut-glass accent made even obscenities sound elegant and funny. It reminded Allie painfully of Jo, and she felt that sudden sense of loss that took her by surprise at the strangest moments, like falling into a hole you couldn’t see.
Tilting her head, she studied Katie appraisingly. Maybe she’d misjudged her.
As if aware of Allie’s reconsideration of her, Katie turned her haughty gaze back to Rachel.
‘What can I do to help, geek girl? Say the word. It’s yours.’
NINETEEN
All the next day the gossips did their work with relentless efficiency. By dinner that night, there was no subject of conversation within Cimmeria Academy except the rumour that parents were pulling their children out of school.
Most of the students had known about Nathaniel already – rumours had been rife for ages about a divide among the school’s administrators – but the idea that the division could go this far caused panic.
The elegant dining hall looked the same as it always did – candles glittered on the round tables, crystal sparkled at every place setting, heavy silver cutlery gleamed in the warm glow of the heavy chandeliers – but the mood was ugly.
Once again, none of the senior staff was present. It had been so long since they’d shown up for a formal meal Allie was beginning to wonder if they were starving themselves to death out in the woods. Part of her hoped so.
Across the dining hall two red-faced boys were having a shouting argument, one pounding on a table in rage. Nearby several girls seemed near tears.
Although they’d all expected it to happen, no students had been pulled out of school by their parents that day. This fact only made the sense of dread worse. They were all waiting for something horrible to happen.
‘What do you think he’s doing?’ Carter asked. ‘If he’s really planning to take half the school, why did he just pull one student out and then no more?’
‘Perhaps it was a warning,’ Nicole said.
‘It’s his way of telling Isabelle he’s serious – and he’s giving them a chance to give him what he wants,’ Rachel said. ‘Like blackmail.’
‘He’s wasting his time. They’ll never do that.’ Allie pushed the food around her plate with a desultory fork.
‘Especially since they barely seem to have noticed Caroline is gone at all,’ Zoe said.
Looking up at her, Allie noticed Jules watching them from a nearby table. She was sitting with Katie and a few other friends, as she had the night before. Her eyes looked hurt, and when she caught Allie’s gaze she quickly looked away.
Allie wondered how Carter had explained what was going on. Why he wasn’t sitting with her at meals any more. With all that had happened in the last few days, the two of them must barely be seeing each other at all.
‘So there’s no Night School training tonight…’ Looking across the table at Sylvain, Carter didn’t appear to notice his girlfriend’s expression. He was too focused on the project at hand.
Sylvain seemed to get what Carter was implying – he sat up straighter, his gaze fixed on Carter’s.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘And the weather is clear.’
Some sort of agreement was being made between the two of them.
‘What’s going on?’ Zoe asked.
A knowing smile tugged at Nicole’s full lips. ‘I think the boys are plotting.’
Sylvain and Carter grinned. Allie wasn’t sure she liked this new alliance.
‘OK. Here’s the thing,’ Carter said. ‘We’ve been waiting for the teachers to come back so we can find out what’s going on. Sylvain and I have been thinking it’s time to go to them. And find out for ourselves.’
‘What? We’re going to go and find them?’ Zoe’s face brightened at the idea.
‘We’re going,’ Sylvain said, ‘to talk to Eloise.’
‘Maybe this isn’t such a great idea,’ Allie said.
Perched on a bench in the Night School girls’ dressing room, she loosened a knot in the laces on her trainers. ‘It kind of feels like we’re pushing our luck.’
‘You
‘We will be fine.’ Nicole pulled on thick, black leggings and reached for her socks. Allie had to admire her cool composure – nothing seemed to intimidate her. ‘We will do nothing but look.’
The utilitarian room was painted plain white; the only decoration the shiny brass hooks that lined the walls, each one with a name painted above it in glossy black, and the black clothes beneath. Floor-to-ceiling mirrors lined one wall, making the room seem bigger than it was. It was a familiar place by now to Allie – but she knew Rachel, in all her years at Cimmeria, had never seen it before, because it was Night School only.
When the boys first told them about their idea, they’d all reacted with enthusiasm. If it gave them the
