Allie froze. He knows?
She fought to keep her expression neutral.
‘I wouldn’t even believe you,’ she said.
‘But surely you want to know who it is …’ Christopher took a step towards her, but now he was far too close and Allie scrambled back, running into the wall. She raised her fists.
‘Don’t come any closer,’ she warned him.
He stopped instantly. Pain flared in his eyes.
‘God,’ he said. ‘You really hate me, don’t you?’
Allie wasn’t about to apologise for that. ‘What did you expect?’
‘But don’t you see?’ He held her gaze. ‘We’re all we have now, you and me. Our parents don’t care. No one else cares …’
His words hit her with the force of a fist, throwing her off-balance.
Was he right? Was he all she had?
For a split second she remembered the wounded girl who first came to Cimmeria Academy. Abandoned by her family. No friends. Alone in the world.
But she wasn’t that girl any more. She’d worked hard not to be that girl. She thought of Rachel and Zoe, Carter and Sylvain.
When she spoke, she was surprised by how strong her voice sounded. ‘Maybe I’m all you have. But you’re not all I have. I am surrounded by people who care about me.’
‘Are you?’ His eyes were cynical. ‘Or are you just surrounded by people who love your grandmother’s power? Tell me this. If Lucinda Meldrum weren’t your grandmother, would you be here? Would one person at Cimmeria Academy be your friend? Would they even know your name?’
Allie hated that there was a kernel of truth in those awful words. Hated that it made her doubt her friends.
‘Get out.’ She hissed the words.
When her brother didn’t move, she advanced on him, her movements slow and deliberate. With each step she was judging the angle. The trajectory. Where to grab him to throw him off balance.
‘Get the hell out of my room or I’ll throw you out.’
‘Allie …’ He took quick steps away from her. ‘Come on. At least let me tell you who—’
But she didn’t want to listen any more.
‘I swear to God, Christopher, I will throw you out that window. And if you don’t believe I can … just try me.’
Deciding she was serious, he turned and ran to her desk, leaping on it in an easy, athletic move. Now she had to crane her neck to look up at him.
She took a careful step back. They both knew he had the advantage.
But all he did was talk. ‘You know I’m right. In your heart, you know. I wouldn’t ever hurt you. Don’t go to the parley, Allie. Don’t trust anyone. Be careful.’
With that, he jumped on to the ledge outside her window, and disappeared.
‘That was all he said?’ Isabelle leaned back in her chair. Her long, dark blonde hair hung loose over the shoulders of her white dressing gown.
When she crossed her legs, the ankles of her pyjamas peeked out beneath the hem of her robe. Something about that made her seem vulnerable.
Allie nodded. ‘The parley is a trap for Lucinda.’
‘I’m most interested in why he felt inclined to tell you this.’ Lucinda’s tinny voice emerged from the telephone propped up on Isabelle’s desk. ‘If what he said was true about Nathaniel, he risked his life to tell you this. Why the sudden change of heart?’
‘I don’t trust him, Grandmother,’ Allie said, looking at the phone as if it could see her.
‘I trust your instincts,’ Lucinda said. ‘But I want to know more. And also, he’s my grandson. If he has left Nathaniel then he’s alone out there. He could need my help. Isabelle, ask Raj to have someone find and follow Christopher for a while. See where he goes, what he does.’
Isabelle made a note on the pad in her lap. ‘I’ll do it first thing, Lucinda.’
‘What about the spy?’ Allie looked at the headmistress. ‘Do you think he was telling the truth? Does he know?’
‘Perhaps. Or Nathaniel could have intentionally planted information with him. It’s a shame he didn’t tell you a name, at any rate.,’ Lucinda said.
Remembering how angry she’d been, how she wouldn’t even allow Christopher to tell her, Allie winced.
‘Still, there’s been some progress on that front from elsewhere,’ Lucinda continued. ‘One of my contacts at MI5 from my old government days has been in touch. She’s no fan of Nathaniel. She’s looking into the situation for us now. I’ll get back to you as soon as I know more.’
‘Thank you, Lucinda.’ Isabelle closed her notebook.
‘I presume the guards have checked the grounds thoroughly?’ Lucinda asked. ‘I don’t think Christopher would be foolish enough to come back, but still. I’m not sure I want Allie alone in her room tonight.’
‘We’ve stationed a guard on the roof above her window. Another will be outside her door,’ Isabelle said.
‘Excellent. Then I’ll leave this in your capable hands. Let’s speak again tomorrow.’ Lucinda ended the call without another word.
Allie stared at the silent phone. A guard on the roof and one at the door.
I’m a prisoner now.
24
Twenty-four
The next morning seemed to crawl by. When she was meant to be studying, Allie instead made notes about the things Christopher had said to her. She kept going over it in her mind.
She’d told the others about it at breakfast. The whole time she spoke, Sylvain kept his gaze fixed in the distance. The only sign that he was anything other than calm was a muscle flickering in his jaw.
When she finished, Carter looked furious. ‘So all their security and he just waltzes into your room? What the hell is going on around here?’
‘They can’t secure this place,’ Nicole said. ‘We all know it. It’s too big. Too rambling. If someone tries hard enough …’
‘They’ll get in.’ Rachel finished the sentence. She looked pale. ‘I was in the next room; I didn’t hear a thing. Oh, Allie, I’m so sorry.’
Allie shook her head. ‘It’s not your fault, Rach. I didn’t scream for help. Anyway, there was a guard in the hallway the whole time.’
They all started speaking at once then.
‘They should …’
‘Isabelle …’
‘We should try …’
Sylvain’s voice cut through the chaos. ‘This is too dangerous.’ He turned to Allie. In the light streaming through the huge windows, his eyes were lavender. ‘Isabelle must do something.’
‘There’s a guard on the roof above my room now,’ she said. ‘And outside my door. No one’s getting in. Or out.’ She gave a harsh laugh. ‘I’m being held prisoner for my own safety.’
‘What a mess,’ Rachel murmured.
After breakfast, Sylvain caught up with Allie as she walked up the stairs to chemistry.
His eyes searched her face. ‘Are you really OK?’
‘I’m really fine,’ she said. ‘He didn’t hurt me.’
Sylvain took her hand, and laced his fingers through hers.
‘He could have. You were alone with him.’
His hand was warm against hers. Solid. She squeezed his fingers.
‘I know. But he’s my brother and I guess …’ She sighed. ‘I just don’t think he’d hurt me.’
They’d reached the classroom now and they stood outside the door as the other students hurried to their lessons. A guard stood nearby, his dark uniform crisp and clean. He kept his attention focussed elsewhere, pretending he couldn’t hear what they were saying.
Guards had followed her down to breakfast this morning, too.
Glancing at him, Sylvain pulled her closer and whispered, ‘If anything happened to you ... I don’t know what I would do.’
He looked beautiful in the soft morning light, all tawny skin and aquamarine eyes.
‘Nothing will happen to me,’ she said. ‘I promise.’ Around them, classroom doors had begun to close. The guard moved closer.
Feelin
g his eyes on her, Allie pulled back. ‘We should go in.’
Sylvain didn’t argue.
After taking their usual seats, they talked in whispers about the guards until Jerry Cole walked in, calling for silence in his usual mild fashion.
The science teacher seemed even more disorganised than usual. His papers were crumpled and out of order, his wiry hair needed combing and his glasses were crooked, as if he’d rushed to the room.
‘Today we’re talking about …’ He rifled through his papers as if he had no idea what he wanted to talk about today. Eventually he found the one he wanted and held it up triumphantly. ‘Gauss’s Law of Gravity and …’ Stopping again he searched for another page. ‘Oh dear, where has everything gone?’
The students tittered at his confusion. He smiled at them over the tops of his glasses. ‘I didn’t sleep last night, gang,’ he said. ‘So this may be one of those classes where you explain string theory to me and I grade the inventiveness of your descriptions.’
Allie cast a surreptitious glance at Sylvain from beneath her lashes. His lips were curved into an unselfconscious smile as he watched Jerry try and get it together.
He looked even better when he smiled. She had to love him back.
That evening, the group gathered on the lawn to compare notes. It was July now, and it stayed light until late in the evening.
Two guards stood about ten feet away, keeping watch.
By now, Allie hardly noticed them. They’d followed her all day.
After kicking off their shoes and loosening their ties the students sat in a circle on the soft grass.
The thrill of Christopher’s sudden reappearance had faded by now, and for a change, they weren’t talking about Nathaniel or Christopher at all. They were complaining about their homework.
‘ …then she said, “You can read fifty pages by tomorrow, can’t you?”’ Nicole sounded vexed. ‘And I said, “Of course. Because this is my only class …”’
The others made soothing noises of sympathy.
‘Is it just me?’ Allie said. ‘Or is Zelazny going a little crazy? Look at this.’ With an accusing look, she held up her assignment page so they could see the length of it. ‘If he’s the spy, he’s trying to kill us with coursework.’
‘All the teachers are a little intense,’ Carter said. ‘Like they sense something is … going … on …’
His voice trailed off as he looked past her shoulder. Everyone twisted around to see what had drawn his attention.
The guards who had been standing behind them had taken off running to the school. They were talking into microphones Allie couldn’t see.
From everywhere, guards poured onto the lawn, where they conferred before taking off into the building. In the distance, Allie heard cars roaring up the drive at top speed.
‘What the actual hell …’ Allie said, as nerves began to tighten her muscles.
‘Uh-oh,’ Rachel whispered.
Sylvain, Zoe and Carter leapt to their feet. The others scrambled to do the same.
A guard Allie remembered from Night School training ran across the lawn towards them. He was shouting but they couldn’t understand what he was saying until he neared them.
‘Everyone inside. Now.’
Without pausing to grab their books or shoes they took off across the lawn. Around them, Allie saw other students doing the same. Everyone poured towards the school. Guards stood at the door urging them to move faster. Nobody screamed. There was no panicking. This was Cimmeria, after all. But everyone moved fast.
The grass was soft and cool beneath the soles of their feet. The sky was blue and innocent overhead. They might have been playing a game in other circumstances.
But this was no game.
Allie didn’t know what she was running to or from, but she was alert and focused. She glanced back for Rachel, and found Nicole was already at her side.
Carter and Sylvain flanked Allie, matching her step for step. Ahead, Zoe had already reached the front steps and zipped into the building.
‘Go, go, go!’ the guards by the door kept shouting.
By the time she reached the entrance hall, Allie was moving so fast her bare feet skidded on the stone floor. She steadied herself without breaking stride. Down the hallway, she saw guards and teachers herding students into the common room.
She started to follow but someone called her name. Turning, she saw Raj in the doorway to Isabelle’s office, gesturing to them urgently.
With Carter and Sylvain beside her, she ran over to him.
Raj wore the cool, tense expression she remembered from other disastrous evenings. ‘In here.’
When everyone was in, he shut the door and crossed the room to where Isabelle stood at her desk. The headmistress held her mobile phone loosely in one hand. Allie noticed her hair was dishevelled as if she’d been running. And she thought her hand trembled slightly as she pressed it against her forehead and nodded at something Raj had said.
The small room was crowded with Night School students and guards but the atmosphere was hushed. Nobody said a word.
With so many people in such a small space it was almost instantly hot and stuffy. Allie was squeezed in between the two boys. She could just see Zoe, but there wasn’t room enough for her to turn to look for Rachel and Nicole. She assumed they were behind her.
‘Whatever’s happening,’ Carter whispered, ‘it’s bad.’
She heard Zoe mutter, ‘I can’t see anything.’ Then watched her elbow her way to the front with what looked like unnecessary violence.
‘I need you to stay calm,’ Isabelle said.
The room went deathly silent.
‘The situation is this,’ the headmistress continued. ‘The person among us who has been working for Nathaniel has been identified.’
Allie’s breath caught.
A murmur swept the room and Isabelle waited for it to fade.
‘I can’t tell you how right now but I can assure you our evidence is correct. He is on the run. He knows we are looking for him. We believe he is hiding in the building or very close to it. Raj?’
He, him, Allie thought, feeling slightly dazed. It’s not Eloise.
Raj leaned forward, pressing his hands on the top of his desk. ‘We need you to help the guards sweep the building to find him. Time is of the essence. You will be divided into teams of three.’ His steely gaze moved from face to face, as if he spoke to each of them individually. ‘You are to follow the usual protocols but the person we are looking for is very dangerous. Highly trained. If you find him you are not to try to capture him yourself but wait for the guards. Am I clear?’
The students nodded their agreement.
‘The person you’re looking for is Jerry Cole.’
25
Twenty-five
Everyone shouted at once.
‘Jerry?’
‘What?’
‘No.’
‘It can’t be.’
As the uproar rose, Allie stood in absolute silence. The news was like a wave curling over her head. Poised to draw her under.
It was Jerry? Kindly, jovial, science-loving Jerry?
Her brain wouldn’t accept it.
But then, across the crowded office, Isabelle caught her eye. The pain on her face was so raw the faint hope provided by disbelief evaporated instantly.
Isabelle was careful. And she wouldn’t look so haunted if she wasn’t certain.
Allie’s stomach ached as if someone had punched her.
She thought of Jo, blonde and bright and so alive, pointing at Jerry. ‘Isn’t he just yummy for an old man?’
It was Jerry who opened the gate that night. Jerry who lured Jo to her killer.
We trusted him, she thought. And he helped to kill her.
She needed to sit down. The room was airless. Hot. She felt dizzy.
Her heart was thudding in her ears and it was too loud to be healthy.
‘It won’t kill you …’ Zoe had said of panic, but at that momen
t she almost wished it would.
How could she live in the kind of world where this could happen? Where someone could pretend to be so kind and then do such awful things?
How does anyone live here?
The world is uninhabitable. It is full of monsters.
A tear ran down her cheek and she brushed it away. It was becoming hard to breathe and she knew if she didn’t focus – if she let panic take over – she’d be a burden to the others. She needed to control her pain. Direct it where it would do some good.
At the front of the room, Raj was still talking and she forced herself to listen. He was calling out names and assigning locations. It felt distant, as if it was all happening to someone else. The words blurred together like some unknown language.
Then he’d finished and everyone was moving, and Allie wasn’t sure where she was supposed to go. Someone touched her arm and she looked up to see Sylvain’s blue eyes watching her with concern.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, pulling herself together. ‘Whose team…?’
‘You’re with me and Zoe.’ His French-accented voice was low and preternaturally calm. ‘Are you OK?’
Straightening, she gave a terse nod to show she was fine, although she wasn’t fine at all.
‘We are certain he is in or very near the main building,’ Raj said. ‘But we can’t be certain where. So we need to search floor by floor, room by room. The guards are already doing this, your job is to assist them. Act as additional eyes and ears.’
Someone opened the door, letting in fresh air. Allie tried to take a deep breath but her lungs felt tight.
‘Take a comms device on your way out.’ Raj raised his voice to be heard over the low rumble of conversation. ‘If you see anything at all, report back immediately. Do not engage.’
As the students began to file out, accepting small, hand-held radios from guards at the door, he called after them. ‘And remember: Under no circumstances are you to try and take him alone.’
Later, Allie wouldn’t be able to remember leaving the room. All she knew was that suddenly she was walking down the wide main hallway alongside Sylvain and Zoe, as fury slowly grew inside her.
C J Daugherty - [Night School 04] Page 17
