Leaning over, he kissed the bare nape of her neck above the collar of her blouse. She quivered at the touch.
Then she turned round until she sat on his lap, legs on either side of his waist. His hands were firm against the small of her back, holding her steady.
She reached up to cup his face in her hands. In the fairy light, his eyes sparkled like sapphires.
She felt a tear trace a soft path down her cheek. ‘It’s the most beautiful thing anyone has ever given to me. I will love it forever. Thank you.’
‘You deserve to have all the jewellery,’ he whispered. ‘Allie, I want you to have everything.’
Then she pulled his lips down to hers.
8
Eight
Walking down to breakfast the next morning, Allie couldn’t stop smiling. The lock and key necklace nestled against the base of her throat, a constant reminder of last night. The memory of the way she’d kissed Sylvain made her cheeks burn.
In the dining hall, the new air of gloom that she’d begun to associate with Cimmeria hung over the room so tangibly she could almost see it. Allie couldn’t face another day like yesterday. Besides, her heart was buoyant. She was filled with joy. Overflowing with love for the universe. So Isabelle had never asked to see her. So she had no idea what was going on, school was depressing and the world was going to hell in a handcart.
Right now she was happy.
The smell of food made her ravenous, and she piled her plate and made a cup of milky tea before going to where Nicole and Zoe were talking quietly with Lucas and Katie.
‘I just want to eat all the food,’ she said, sitting down. ‘Don’t judge me.’
Zoe eyed her with mild interest. ‘You can eat all you want. You’re ectomorphic.’
Her fork already in the air, Allie stopped. ‘Wait, doesn’t that mean I wear my skeleton on the outside?’
Zoe rolled her eyes. ‘That’s exoskeletal. Ectomorphic means you have a metabolism that tends not to gain weight.’
‘Watch me,’ Allie said, diving into her eggs. ‘I will prove you wrong.’
Once she’d devoured her breakfast she looked around the group. ‘So what’s on the agenda today? Anything fun?’
The others exchanged blank looks.
‘There’s nothing to do any more,’ Zoe explained slowly, as if Allie was very stupid. ‘I told you that.’
Allie made a face. ‘That doesn’t mean we can’t have fun, Zoe.’
Zoe opened her mouth to argue but at that moment Isabelle walked up, neatly clad in a blue skirt and white blouse, a pale yellow cardigan draped loosely across her shoulders.
‘Hello, Allie. Could you come with me?’
She’d waited so long for this moment; Allie jumped to her feet and rushed after the headmistress without even saying goodbye to the others.
At last, she thought.
‘I’m so sorry I didn’t have a chance to meet with you yesterday,’ Isabelle said as she walked with brisk steps out of the bright dining hall into the dim coolness of the hallway. ‘It was the most hectic day.’
Allie could not imagine what would keep Isabelle so busy she couldn’t debrief her about an attack that had made Lucinda change her entire security plan. But she kept her expression steady. She needed to find information. Not get in an argument.
‘I wanted to find out how you’re settling in,’ Isabelle continued. ‘Merging back into Cimmeria after time away can be difficult, I know.’
This time Allie couldn’t control her sarcasm.
‘Especially during an apocalypse?’
The comment didn’t seem to bother the headmistress, who pulled a key from her pocket and unlocked a door beautifully hidden in the nineteenth-century carved oak panelling.
‘Well,’ she said. ‘Quite.’
She switched on a light, illuminating the small, windowless office.
Allie looked around hungrily. A large, mahogany desk dominated one side of the room. The wall across from it held a fanciful antique tapestry of a maiden and a knight.
Everything seemed to be right where it had been before she left. At least this room had stayed the same – a familiar oasis amid Cimmeria’s chaos..
‘Yeah, well.’ Allie dropped without ceremony into one of the leather chairs facing the desk. ‘Sucks trying to make friends at the end of the world.’
‘You already have friends,’ Isabelle observed mildly. ‘Tea?’
‘No, thank you,’ Allie said. Isabelle switched on the kettle anyway.
Soon the brewing Earl Grey tea filled the room with a flowery bergamot steam.
‘Is Rachel coming back tomorrow?’ Allie asked.
‘Of course. You both have classes in the morning.’
Relieved, Allie sagged back in her chair. She missed Rachel like a lost appendage.
Isabelle sat at her desk, setting a mug down in front of her. ‘Sylvain and the guards have briefed me on everything that happened in France. The attackers work for Nathaniel, of course, although we are still working out some of the details.’
‘Who else?’ Allie said. ‘The question is, how did he find me?’
‘I’ll get to that in a minute.’ Isabelle sipped her tea and studied Allie as if looking for clues. ‘They shot at you.’
‘Yeah,’ Allie held her gaze. ‘It was not good. Sylvain saved our arses.’
‘And since then?’ Isabelle asked.
Allie looked at her doubtfully. ‘Since then … what?’
‘Are you sleeping? Having nightmares? Panic attacks?’
Allie, who had suffered from all of those problems in the past, flushed. This wasn’t what she wanted to talk about. They had, in the past, had very frank conversations about Allie’s life. But it was hard to just plunge back into that kind of thing.
‘I’m fine.’ Allie’s tone was cool. ‘I’ve been through worse. I just want to know what’s going on with Nathaniel. How he found me. Who the spy is. What we do now.’
‘Yes, I’m going to get to that.’ The headmistress sipped her tea, a worry line deepening between her eyes. ‘But I’m also concerned about what all this is doing to you. You’ve been through a great deal.’
Allie thought about last night. Kissing Sylvain. The confusing but good swirl of emotions that had summoned. And how, for just a little while, she’d forgotten all of this.
‘I’m really OK,’ she said honestly. ‘I don’t know why I’m OK. But I’m OK.’
Isabelle studied her face as if looking for clues, then took a sip of her tea. ‘Good. That’s the most important thing. If you’re fine …’
‘I am,’ Allie insisted.
The headmistress inclined her head. ‘Then we can talk about where we are. What would you like to know?’
Allie didn’t hesitate.
‘I want to know how Nathaniel found us in France. And I really want to know how safe I am at Cimmeria. Because when those guys were shooting at me I decided I don’t want to die.’
A normal headmistress might have found this impertinent. But Isabelle wasn’t normal.
‘We think it was a coincidence. Nathaniel must have been watching Sylvain’s house for some time,’ she said. ‘There is no other way. Certainly it didn’t come from inside this school. It couldn’t have. Not one person aside from myself, Lucinda and Raj has known where you were at any point since you left the school in March.’
‘Not even the teachers?’ Allie asked, surprised. Usually Isabelle’s close cadre of senior teachers were told everything.
Isabelle shook her head. ‘Not one person,’ she repeated.
Allie sat back in her chair.
The idea of Nathaniel just hanging around the Cassels’ house, watching Sylvain’s family, was ominous.
‘Why would he watch them if he didn’t know I was there?’ she asked. ‘What was he looking for?’
‘The Cassels support Lucinda. And they are the single most powerful family within the European organisation.’ Isabelle’s face darkened. ‘It appears Nathaniel is broaden
ing his range.’
This was starting to make Allie nervous. ‘But if he’s watching them he must have a purpose. Are they safe?’
‘You’ve seen the Cassels’ security team,’ Isabelle said. ‘They’re extremely well protected.’
Allie remembered the guards standing on ladders to see over the tall walls that surrounded the Cassels’ compound, binoculars fixed on the surrounding countryside. The cameras atop the tall solid gates. The razor wire and armoured SUVs.
‘Yeah, but …’ Allie left the sentence unfinished.
… Nathaniel still found us.
She may not have said it aloud but Isabelle seemed to know what she was thinking.
‘They are as safe as it is possible to be right now,’ she said gently. ‘That much I can promise you.’
‘And us?’ Allie held her gaze. ‘Are we safe?’
Isabelle didn’t respond immediately. She drummed her fingers very quietly on her desktop as if deciding what to say.
‘I wish I could say yes,’ she said finally. ‘But I’m afraid the answer is no. You’re not. No one here is safe.’
This, Allie hadn’t expected.
‘If I’m not safe, why am I here? Why bring me back?’ Allie couldn’t keep the bewilderment out of her voice.
Isabelle gave her a steady look. ‘You’re here because Lucinda wants you here.’
‘Why, though?’ Allie asked, her voice rising. ‘Why does she want me here?’
Again the headmistress hesitated. ‘You’ll have noticed we are more … security-conscious now. Things are very tense between Lucinda and Nathaniel. Allie …’ She leaned forward, her tawny eyes urgent. ‘We’re nearing endgame on this. She needs you close.’
Allie thought of Nicole’s sombre words. ‘I think she is not winning.’
Her stomach tightened.
‘Isabelle,’ she asked quietly, ‘is she losing this thing?’
There was a long pause before the headmistress replied. ‘Perhaps.’
Silence fell. Allie could hear footsteps passing in the hallway outside the door. Someone talking loudly in the distance. A door closing with a hollow thud.
‘What happens if we lose?’ She could hardly bring herself to say the words. Losing was an eventuality she’d only rarely allowed herself to contemplate, much less discuss. ‘What becomes of me and you and’ – she swung out her arm in a gesture that took in the grand gothic building around them – ‘everyone?’
‘That is still to be decided,’ the headmistress said briskly. ‘We have options. There are ways to finesse this situation and we are looking at all of them but, for now, the fight is still under way and we have to keep our focus on that. It is still possible to win.’ She shifted in her seat, leaning forward into the glow of the desk lamp. It highlighted the dark smudges under her eyes. ‘I said you weren’t safe here because that’s the truth, and I never intend to lie to you. You’ve been lied to enough. But it is also true that you would be much less safe out there. Here, at least, we can do more to protect you. And you can help us.’
‘Help with what?’ Allie asked, a hint of suspicion in her tone.
Isabelle held her gaze. ‘We haven’t found the person working for Nathaniel. But we’re close.’ She paused. ‘Very close. We think your presence here could help us … escalate things.’ Her tone was cold. ‘Because we have to find this person. And we have to stop them.’
Finally, Allie understood why she was back.
For months they’d struggled to figure out who was betraying them. Someone among them was feeding Nathaniel a constant stream of damaging information. This person had helped him try to burn the school down. Let in his henchman, Gabe, who’d killed Ruth and Jo. They would all have given anything to identify the spy and destroy him. But for months they’d tried and failed. And it had cost them dearly.
She straightened her spine. ‘What do you need me to do?’
‘First,’ Isabelle held up a cautioning hand, ‘you should know where things stand. While you were away we eliminated all the guards from the list of possibles.’
Stunned, Allie stared at her. ‘How? Are you certain?’
The list of suspects had long included a core group of senior guards and the top Night School instructors. Every time they’d tried to narrow down that list, they’d been stymied. The students had all hoped the spy was a guard – someone they didn’t really know. Because otherwise it meant that one of their mentors had betrayed them. And that thought was unbearable.
‘It was Raj’s plan,’ Isabelle said. ‘He removed all the guards under suspicion from the school while running a thorough background check. At the same time, he planted false information with the senior teachers about your whereabouts. That information made it to Nathaniel, who acted on it, sending a raid party to an empty house in Spain.’
‘So … one of the teachers …’ Allie couldn’t seem to complete the sentence.
‘One of our three most trusted teachers passed the false information to Nathaniel.’ Isabelle’s voice was taut. ‘Yes. Thinking you would be there. Yes. Knowing Nathaniel might kill you.’ She held her gaze. ‘Yes.’
Allie cleared her throat, which had suddenly closed. ‘So … it’s Eloise, Jerry or Zelazny, then.’
‘Yes.’
Allie felt loss. There’d been a time when she would have trusted any of those teachers with her life.
‘What do we do now?’ Her voice was low.
‘Now,’ Isabelle said, ‘we must be very careful. We believe that, with tensions being what they are, your return will mean the spy will need to communicate constantly with Nathaniel. This will make it more likely they make mistakes.’ She leaned back in the shadows; Allie couldn’t see her eyes any more. ‘When they do, we’ll be ready.’
9
Nine
‘I’m back.’ Rachel shoved Allie’s door open without knocking. ‘Did you miss me?’
‘Rach!’ Leaping off the bed, Allie ran to her, nearly knocking her down. It was late Sunday afternoon. All the things that had happened bubbled inside her until she thought she might explode. ‘Never leave me alone again. Swear it.’
‘Can I have loo breaks?’ Rachel laughed.
‘No.’ Allie’s reply was emphatic.
‘Well, that’s going to get awkward.’ Dropping down on Allie’s bed, Rachel looked around the room. ‘Can you believe we’re here? How was it this weekend?’
Allie’s reply was prompt. ‘Horrible. And awesome.’
Rachel grinned. ‘It’s all and nothing with you, Allie. Right. Tell me everything. I’ve been home all weekend eating Mum’s food. I’ve never been fatter or happier so I think I’m strong enough to know it all.’
Sitting in the desk chair, Allie propped her bare feet up on the bed next to Rachel and ticked the weekend’s events off on her fingers. ‘Everyone is totally depressed. The guards are weird. Sylvain gave me cake and we made out. Carter is angry.’
Rachel focused on the big news first.
‘You finally made out with Sylvain? At bloody last.’ She sagged back in mock-relief. ‘I was so tired of you two circling each other like a couple of hungry lions when we were in France. I thought you’d never get on with it.’
Allie threw a pillow at her. ‘You make us sound so obvious.’
‘You were so obvious.’ Rachel grinned, tucking the pillow behind her. ‘Look, I’m really glad for you. I came around to Sylvain, you know, after he saved your life, like, four times. I think he’s a good guy. I also think he’s totally, head-over-heels, crazy in love with you.’
Allie blushed. ‘For my birthday … he gave me this.’ She lifted the pendant up to show her. It caught the light and flashed.
Leaning forward to look at it, Rachel made all the right admiring noises. ‘That is so beautiful. And so you.’
‘I love it.’ Allie ran her thumb gently across the warm metal before letting it drop back against her skin.
‘I can’t believe I wasn’t here for your birthday,’ Rachel said with sudden
contrition. ‘Dad dragged me out of bed at stupid o’clock. He wouldn’t let me wake you. You know what he’s like.’
Allie, who did know what Raj Patel was like, thought about telling her how bad the day had been. But she knew it would only make her feel worse.
‘It’s cool.’ She shrugged. ‘I got through it somehow.’
‘With the help of a certain hot French guy.’ Rachel shot her a knowing look. ‘Now, I might not have blue eyes and a sexy accent but I did get you a present. Belated-style.’ She pulled a box wrapped in pink paper from inside her school blazer and held it out.
Allie grinned at her. ‘I love it already,’ she said. ‘As I love all presents.’
It sloshed as she tore open the paper to reveal a silvery box. It held a heavy crystal perfume bottle that glittered in the light when Allie held it up.
‘Oh my God. Is this that perfume I kept nicking at your house that time I came to visit?’
Rachel nodded. ‘My mum and I went out to get it yesterday.’
Allie was touched.
‘I can’t believe you remembered I liked it.’ She pulled her friend into a rough hug. ‘You old softie. Thank you.’
‘Yeah, well. I was going to give you a book but I knew better,’ Rachel explained.
Allie spritzed perfume on her wrist and inhaled deeply. It smelled like honeysuckle. ‘Yay. I’m safe from words.’
Stretching out her legs, Rachel arranged herself comfortably on Allie’s bed. ‘Tell me everything that happened. Up to and including kissing. Don’t skimp on the dirty details.’
Allie filled her in on her birthday, making it all sound as funny and romantic as possible.
When she finished, Rachel sighed happily. ‘That’s so wonderful. The cake, the candles … Sylvain really knows how to do things right.’ She cocked her head. ‘Not to clash boy topics in an awkward way but … what about Carter? You said something about him being sad?’
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