By Midnight

by Mia James

  ‘Um, just soap, I think,’ stuttered April and Davina laughed a tinkling laugh.

  ‘You’re so funny,’ she said as they turned a corner and found themselves walking parallel to the front of the school, passing in front of the gymnasium.

  ‘So tell me, April,’ Davina said in a conspiratorial whisper. ‘Are you single?’

  April giggled nervously.

  ‘We’ll take that as a yes,’ said Layla from behind them.

  ‘We must see what we can do about that,’ said Davina coolly. She stopped and turned towards April, her eyes narrowing as if she were sizing her up. Suddenly April felt horribly self-conscious, knowing she looked dowdy and fat next to this sleeker, better groomed specimen.

  ‘Well, I think we can certainly make a few adjustments that will help,’ said Davina, touching the collar of April’s coat, then pulling her hand away as if it was unclean. ‘I’ve got a beautiful Chloé dress you’d look amazing in and if we gave you smokier eyes …’ Seeing April’s expression, she smiled sweetly and giggled. ‘Sorry, April, I’m doing it again, aren’t I?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Oh, I’m always doing this, getting carried away. Here we are, we’ve only just met and I’m already giving you a makeover. When I decide I like someone, I just jump right in and … silly, isn’t it?’

  ‘No, no, it’s nice,’ said April quickly, nervously pulling her coat around her. ‘Honestly, it’s fine.’

  Davina beamed and squeezed April’s hand. ‘I’m glad,’ she said. ‘Listen, do you want to come over to my …’

  But suddenly April wasn’t listening. Her gaze had been drawn over Davina’s shoulder. It was Gabriel. He was walking fast, his face fixed in a scowl, and he had turned the collar of his jacket up against the cold.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Davina asked.

  ‘Nothing,’ replied April. ‘Just that boy. I saw him last night. I think he lives near me.’

  ‘Gabriel?’ Davina rolled her eyes. ‘Don’t even think about it. I mean, he’s like my brother’s best friend and everything, but he’s so moody,’ she said as they watched his hunched back disappear through the gates and across the road. ‘Rumour has it he’s not that interested.’

  April frowned. ‘What do you mean?’ She heard Layla and Chessy giggle.

  ‘Sex, darling, sex,’ said Layla. ‘Don’t they have that in Scotland?’

  They all turned as they heard a cough behind them. Caro was standing there, swinging her bag back and forth.

  ‘Not interrupting anything, am I?’ she said tonelessly.

  April noticed an unmistakable look of dislike pass between Layla and Caro. She was reminded of two cats meeting on a garden path. They didn’t actually hiss at each other, but the sentiment was the same.

  ‘Caro,’ said Layla coldly, then turned to April. ‘I’ll probably see you tomorrow. I think we’ve got English together.’

  Davina pulled a beeping mobile out of her pocket. ‘My driver is here. I’m off too. Chess - you coming?’

  ‘Made some new friends?’ Caro said sarcastically to April once Davina and her posse had left.

  ‘No. Yes, well, I just met her. I was lost, you see …’

  Caro started striding away and April had to trot to keep up with her.

  ‘Sorry, Caro, is there a problem?’ she asked.

  ‘Hey, it’s no business of mine who you choose to hang out with,’ she said, not looking up.

  ‘I’m hardly hanging out with them. I just bumped into Davina and she collared me.’

  Caro stopped walking and turned to April. ‘Aren’t you the lucky one?’

  ‘What’s your problem?’ asked April, confused. She was beginning to think that everyone at Ravenwood was a bit unhinged.

  Caro looked angry. ‘They’re witches,’ she said. ‘They’ll suck you in, turn you around and then … Oh, never mind!’ She stalked off again.

  ‘Caro! Please!’ cried April, grabbing her arm. ‘Just tell me.’

  Caro looked at April, her green eyes probing April’s. Slowly, her intense expression softened and she let out a deep breath.

  ‘Look, I’m sorry,’ she said, shrugging. ‘It’s not you, it’s her.’

  ‘I get that,’ said April with a slight smile. ‘So what’s the problem between you two?’

  Caro looked as if she was about to say something, then shook her head. ‘Those girls are evil. Pure, black-hearted, evil witches.’

  April blinked at Caro for a second, then burst out laughing. After a second, Caro joined in.

  ‘Sorry.’ She grinned. ‘I get a little carried away when it comes to the Faces. Okay, maybe they’re not actually the spawn of Satan, but seriously, watch out for them.’

  ‘I will.’ April smiled. She paused for a moment, then said, ‘Caro, can I ask you something?’

  ‘Sure, what?’

  ‘Have you read The Da Vinci Code?’

  ‘I have - why?’

  ‘And do you watch 24? Prison Break?’

  They both burst out laughing again.

  ‘Okay, so I like a conspiracy,’ said Caro. ‘But that doesn’t mean they’re not out to get me.’

  As they left the school grounds and slowly walked back up to the village, Caro explained her hatred of the Faces. She and Davina’s sidekick Layla had once been best friends, hanging out together, obsessing over boys, sleepovers, all the teen clichés. Then Davina had arrived, and taken over. She had instantly become the centre of attention and Layla fell under Davina’s glamorous spell. Layla was invited to join the Osbournes on a break in their summer home by the Black Sea. When she came back, she was transformed: slimmer, super-groomed and equipped with an immaculate wardrobe.

  ‘Which was cool, but she’d changed in other ways as well,’ said Caro, shaking her head. ‘She used to have a wicked sense of humour. Now she’s ultra serious, terribly upright. She just wasn’t … well, she was a different person. A clone. Seriously, April, stay away or they’ll turn you into one of them.’

  ‘Thanks for the warning, but they honestly don’t seem so bad,’ said April carefully. ‘I mean, okay, they’re a bit catty and look down on everyone, and I don’t approve of Davina’s fur coat but—’

  ‘Okay, let’s just leave it,’ said Caro sulkily.

  April’s heart sank. She really hadn’t meant to upset Caro - after all, this was the one girl who seemed to want to be her friend and who had been kind enough to help her through her first day, and yet here she was contradicting her about people she obviously knew nothing about.

  ‘No, I’m sorry,’ said April quickly. ‘I clearly don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ve been here all of five minutes. Ignore me, okay?’

  Caro shrugged. ‘Okay.’

  ‘We can go to my house if you want,’ said April, eager to change the subject.

  ‘Will your dad be there?’

  ‘Doubt it. It’s his first day at work. He’ll probably be late.’

  They walked a little way further. April couldn’t stand the silence.

  ‘So what’s your conspiracy theory?’

  Caro just carried on walking. April puffed out her cheeks. She’d tried, but it seemed her new friend was a whack-job. Finally Caro stopped dead on the pavement and spun around.

  ‘I haven’t quite nailed it, but there’s something going on at school. Something bad. I know you probably don’t want to hear all this on your first day but I’d feel bad if I didn’t tell you and then something happened to you.’

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘Well, for a start, the school’s incredibly private. No one knows who’s behind it. It’s some sort of educational trust set up about ten years ago, but beyond Hawk there seems to be no hierarchy or management.’

  ‘Hawk?’

  Caro smiled. ‘The headmaster, Mr Sheldon. It’s his nickname. You know, the way he looks at you as if he’s deciding whether to swoop down and eat you?’

  ‘Oh, I get it. But how do you know? About the management, I mean.’

&nbs
p; ‘I did a little digging. Well, make that a lot of digging, but I can’t find any information on how the school is funded. And no one seems too bothered by that.’

  ‘That’s not exactly evidence of a cover-up though, is it?’

  ‘I know I sound like a mad conspiracy nut, but I’m convinced of it. I mean, have you seen the staff? The teachers may look like the usual losers with patches on their elbows, but let me tell you, most of them are geniuses. Pick any one and Google them, they’ve all come from Oxbridge or Ivy League professorships, they’re the best in their fields. And they have to be; they’re about the only ones who can keep up with the kids. I asked a few of the teachers why they’re here and they made a joke along the lines of “they made me an offer I couldn’t refuse”. Obviously private schools have a lot of money, but we’re talking a serious wedge here - and that’s before you start getting into the NASA-standard computer and science equipment they have in the basement.’

  April thought it through. ‘But that doesn’t mean there’s a conspiracy, does it? I mean, it could be funded by some eccentric billionaire, like that Microsoft guy, who wants to keep his name out of it.’

  Caro slapped April on the back, making her stumble forwards a few steps.

  ‘Ha! I knew you’d get it!’ She laughed. ‘Yes, I thought of that - maybe it’s even a corporation like Coca-Cola wanting to make money from the science breakthroughs or whatever. What do you think?’

  ‘It’s interesting - odd accounts, supercomputers and all. But I don’t see the scandal.’

  Caro held up a finger. ‘The scandal is in the vanishings.’

  ‘Vanishings?’

  ‘People are disappearing. Not just from the school—although eight kids have vanished in the time I’ve been at Ravenwood.’

  ‘Vanished where?’

  Caro shrugged. ‘The official line is that those kids returned home, Korea, India, Russia or wherever, or moved out of the area. But I knew three of them, and I could never get in contact with them again.’

  ‘So what do you think happened to them?’

  ‘I think they got them.’

  ‘“hey”? Who’s “they”?’

  Caro paused dramatically then leant forward and whispered, ‘The vampires.’

  April laughed, but the smile faded when she realised Caro wasn’t laughing along with her. Is she serious? Surely she’s winding me up? She waited for a moment, hoping there was going to be a big punchline, but Caro just looked at her, her expression completely serious.

  ‘The vamp—’ began April, but her phone rang. She fumbled it out of her bag and looked at the screen. It was Fiona.

  ‘Sorry, Caro, I’ve got to take this.’

  ‘That’s okay. I’ve got to get home anyway and that’s my bus,’ she said, pointing towards the bus stop. ‘Maybe mention it to your dad, eh?’ she shouted as she sprinted across the road. ‘It’d be great to discuss it with him.’

  April smiled and nodded, waving as Caro turned the corner.

  ‘Hi, Fee,’ she said into the phone.

  ‘Hi, hon. How’s things?’

  ‘Okay. I think.’

  ‘I wanted to check on you. I’ve been feeling crappy all day for telling you about the Neil Stevenson and Miranda thing when you have way bigger things going on.’

  For a second April wondered what she was talking about. After today, life in Edinburgh felt so distant and removed.

  ‘Oh, that. Forget about it, life moves on.’

  ‘Okay then. Tell me all about Ravenwood!’

  April watched Caro get on the bus, forcing a smile as she waved from the top deck. ‘You’re never going to believe this, Fee,’ she said. ‘I’m surrounded by loonies.’

  Chapter Five

  Sometimes, thought April, being bad feels pretty good. She grinned as she clanged the front gate closed behind her and skipped across the road, swinging around an old-fashioned streetlamp and across the square. She felt a slight pang of guilt knowing that her parents had banned her from leaving the house after dark, but when she arrived home and found her mother not yet back from her long lunch and her father still at work, she had figured it would do no harm to nip out for a while. It wasn’t as if Highgate was South Central LA, was it? And anyway, she had to admit it was the fact she was sneaking out that made it so much fun. She had spent the last few weeks - the last sixteen years, now she came to think about it - having everyone tell her where to go, what to do, what to think. For once she was free, going where she wanted, no one knowing where she was.

  April crossed the square and passed the Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution: built in 1839, according to the carving under the eaves. April imagined a group of mad professors sitting around smoking pipes and discussing poetry. Dad should join, she thought with a smile, he’d fit right in. She glanced at her watch. It was six-thirty on a clear autumn evening and already April could see a bright, three-quarter moon in the sky. As she walked down Swain’s Lane, retracing her route to school that morning, she wondered if it was the unusually luminous moon that had sent everyone in Highgate a little loopy.

  She mulled over her day as she walked, breath steaming in the cold air in front of her. Okay, so there had been the incident in Philosophy class, but then Mr Sheldon had been pushing them, trying to get them to think about the subject properly and open their minds. And he had said something nice to her at the end, too. Not that Gabriel Swift had done anything to help, barging into her, whatever his problem was. But still, to be honest, her first day at Ravenwood hadn’t been too awful; she had two new friends - acquaintances, at least - and that couldn’t be bad, could it? Better than being the weird new girl no one wants to speak to. Davina was a little over-familiar, but then maybe that was just her way, and April liked Caro, even if she was full-on and kinda crazy. Funny but odd. Fiona had laughed at April’s description of Caro and said, ‘She sounds just like your dad.’

  April peered through a gate to her left where she could see the church roof shining in the bright moonlight. It’s just a church, not a haunted castle, she thought, smiling. It was Ravenwood that looked like Dracula’s house - from the outside, anyway. Inside, it was the other kids rather than the narrow corridors that had unnerved her. They actually seemed to be there to learn; no giggling at the back, no note-passing, everyone fully engaged in the lessons. April had to admit she had been swept up in it too and had actually come away from school feeling inspired and enthused about her subjects, which was something that had rarely happened before. So what’s wrong with that? she scolded herself. They might be geeks with enormous brains, but for a school for the academically gifted, they weren’t too freaky. At least someone there had heard of Alix Graves.

  The dead singer, of course, was the real reason she was out here in the first place. She’d been trying to convince herself she was just taking an early evening stroll, getting some air and checking out the neighbourhood, but the truth was she wanted to see Alix Graves’ house and find out a bit more for Fee. It wasn’t that she wanted to see where he was killed - unless the windows were splashed with blood, she wasn’t going to see much anyway - it was more the fascination of seeing what a real rock star’s house looked like. How big was it? Were there gargoyles on the roof? Stained-glass windows? God, I’ve been watching way too many horror movies, she thought with a wry smile. Dartmouth Park was supposedly full of big, spooky old houses like that, although for all she knew Alix had lived in a super-modern angular glass and steel bachelor pad. Either way, she wanted to take some photos to send to Fiona; might help her get some closure and …

  What the hell was that?

  April stopped and held her breath - she was sure she had heard a cry. It was almost fully dark now and the air felt still and cold and, other than the distant sound of the main road at the bottom of the hill, all was quiet. The ancient brick walls surrounding the cemetery loomed on either side of her. She listened, her head cocked, her ears almost twitching.

  There it is again. What is it? A baby? A cat? />
  She walked back up the lane to the black wrought-iron gates she had just passed - the entrance to the cemetery. April had noticed it earlier in the day because there was a curious little gatehouse just inside, but it was different now: now the gate was open. Was it open a minute ago? she wondered, frowning. But surely I’d have noticed? Or was it the creak of the gate I heard? Certainly from the leaves piled up at the bottom, it looked as if it had been a long time since it was last ajar this way. Edging closer, April strained to see through the uprights of the gate, but the low light was casting crazy shadows and she couldn’t see anything.