The Lost Twin

by Sophie Cleverly

  Miss Finch is different from all the other teachers here. She didn’t even reprimand me for running out of class.

  I will try to ignore Penny and Violet, but I’m not sure I can go on much longer. If they do one more thing to me, I’m going to snap. Honestly.

  I crumpled the edges of the paper under my fingers. It was becoming hard for me to read these entries. Poor Scarlet!

  I blinked away stinging tears and checked overleaf, hoping for a clue. I wasn’t disappointed. But this one was just as obscure as the others and hastily scribbled:

  Search on your knees.

  Well, I had done a lot of that already, hadn’t I?

  I wished that I could talk to my twin, just for a moment, just once more. Sitting down on one of the slightly damp benches, I tried to think as loudly as I could, hoping that Scarlet would somehow send me a sign. That she would tell me what had really happened between her and the other girls. That she would unravel this whole mystery for me.

  That she would tell me I wasn’t alone, and she was waiting for me on the other side.

  But there was nothing. Only silence.

  I ran back to my room alone.

  flew through the door of room thirteen and collapsed on to my bed. Ariadne was embroidering a cushion and she almost jumped a mile when I ran in. I buried my face in my pillow, wishing everything would just go away.

  “Ivy?” said Ariadne, keeping her voice low.

  “Go away,” I said, though it came out completely muffled.

  I heard her footsteps as she walked over and then tried to peel the pillow off my face. I pulled it straight back down again.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” I said.

  “But … we have to go down for dinner soon,” she replied, poking me gently in the shoulder. “What’s wrong? Is it about the diary? Did you get a beating again?”

  “Nothing. Yes. No.” I rolled over and stared at the ceiling. “It’s complicated,” I said finally.

  Ariadne sat back down on her bed with a thump. “Can I help?” she asked.

  I sighed and didn’t reply. But a few moments later I began to feel guilty about ignoring my only friend. I propped myself up on one elbow and tried to paste a reassuring expression on my face. “I just need to … gather my thoughts a bit. You go to dinner without me, I’m not hungry.”

  Ariadne’s mouth dropped open. “You can’t miss dinner! You’ll starve!”

  I shrugged, or at least the best I could shrug while lying down. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll see you later on, all right?”

  She didn’t look convinced. “If you say so,” she said, her eyebrows drawn.

  It was only later that I realised Ariadne was probably worried about going to dinner alone.

  I put the latest diary entry on my chest and took a deep breath, trying to sort through the things I knew.

  One. Scarlet was dead. And though I hated to even think it, someone might have killed her.

  Two. Penny and Violet both hated Scarlet, and Violet seemed to have been spying on my sister.

  Three. Violet was missing – or at least not at the school any more.

  But I still had more questions than answers. Why was Violet spying on people? Why would anyone hurt my twin? And why was Miss Fox covering the whole thing up?

  That was probably the part that was hardest to fathom – Miss Fox demanding that I impersonate my twin. And how on earth did Scarlet know that this would happen?

  What worried me further was how easy it was becoming to keep up the charade. Absent-mindedly wringing my sheets through my fingers, I thought long and hard about how I’d been acting recently. I was getting better at being Scarlet. It was coming all too naturally for me.

  I knew deep down that I was still more Ivy than Scarlet, but maybe this was getting to me too much. I just hoped I wasn’t being as reckless as she was.

  My stomach started to grumble. I was being stupid, not eating. I shouldn’t punish myself.

  I got up and hid the diary pages inside the mattress. The hall clock told me I was only twelve minutes late for dinner. Even if I’d missed the main meal, there was still the chance of pudding.

  When I arrived at the dining hall, breathless and panting, there was still one girl left in the dinner queue. I darted through the tables and fell in line behind her.

  Miss Fox’s head snapped around to look at me. Drat! Just because there wasn’t a rule against being late for dinner, it didn’t mean she couldn’t invent one in order to punish me.

  The girl in front looked back and smiled at me – it was Meena Sayani. “Chicken surprise!” she said, holding out her plate.

  I glanced at it. It looked ordinary to me, though perhaps a little too pink. “What’s surprising about it?”

  “That it’s not in a stew,” she replied with a wink. I grinned. Meena was certainly preferable company to her sister.

  I took my plate and sat down heavily next to Ariadne. She was prodding her food with a fork and apparently hadn’t noticed I was there until now.

  “Oh, I— Scarlet! You did come!” She looked suddenly relieved.

  “Yes, sorry. Couldn’t miss this lovely … meal,” I said, a bit too sarcastically.

  The chicken came with potatoes, peas and cold gravy. It wasn’t the worst thing I’d ever tasted, but it certainly wasn’t the best.

  Mrs Knight gave me a half-hearted withering look from across the table. “Now, girls,” she said. “Eat up, please. Remember your manners.”

  “Yes, Mrs Knight,” we said in unison.

  “Freaks,” someone whispered.

  I didn’t even bother looking to see who it was. I already knew it would be Penny or one of her gang.

  As I chewed my dinner, the noise of everyone else around me filtering through my ears, I just kept thinking – what had Penny got against my twin? It had to be something to do with what happened with Violet, I decided. But what could it be?

  My train of thought soon derailed, and I began to wonder why Miss Finch never seemed to be in the dining hall. Many of the other teachers ate here, though I assumed that was because they had to supervise us rather than that they enjoyed the culinary delights. But I had never seen her …

  I was barely paying attention when Penny stood up with her plate and walked towards me. Then everything seemed to happen in slow motion.

  First, she tipped the cold sloppy leftovers from her plate into my lap. I heard her say ‘whoops!’, as if she’d forgotten how her own hands worked.

  Ariadne gasped and hid her face.

  Penny’s friends giggled helplessly.

  I stood up, my dress dripping with food, and slapped her as hard as I could.

  Penny screamed and clutched at her cheek. The whole hall went silent. I shook out my stinging hand.

  “Whoops!” I echoed.

  “Well, really!” said Mrs Knight, her mouth gaping.

  Unfortunately, Miss Fox had lightning-fast reactions, and almost instantly I felt one of her claw-like hands clamped around the back of my neck. With the other she had hold of Penny’s arm in a vicious grip.

  “Both of you. My office. Now,” she said, in a voice that could melt steel.

  “Miss, she hit me!” protested Penny.

  Miss Fox’s dark eyes filled with storm clouds. “I said now, Miss Winchester.”

  We were both dead meat.

  As Miss Fox marched us from the hall, a commotion started up. First only whispers, then I heard unmistakable gasps: “She slapped her!”

  Oh my goodness, I slapped Penny. Why did I slap Penny? What was I thinking?

  Penny didn’t say a word, though her face had gone some odd shades of red and purple. I wasn’t sure if it was from where I had hit her or from sheer embarrassment.

  Miss Fox pushed us into her office. I reached for a chair, but she smacked my hand away. “You do not deserve chairs,” she snapped. “If you behave like animals, you will be treated like animals. Sit on the floor.”

  I sat, cross-legged. The sad stuf
fed dogs looked down on me from the walls. I prayed that I wasn’t about to become a piece of taxidermy.

  Penny sniffed. There were red lines raised on her cheek. “I’ll get my dress dirty,” she said in a whiny voice.

  Miss Fox gave her a look, and she dropped to the floor next to me. “Ugh,” she muttered.

  As if you can talk, I thought. The whole front of my dress was damp and sticky.

  “SILENCE!” screamed Miss Fox, so loudly that I swear the Chihuahua on her desk rattled.

  We both sat bolt upright.

  “Now, Miss Winchester,” she said, bending over so that her face was level with Penny’s. “What made you think it was acceptable not only to waste your dinner, but to tip it on to another pupil?”

  “She deserved—” Penny began, but once she’d started she realised what a bad idea this sentence was. “I don’t know, Miss.”

  Miss Fox stared at her, until Penny’s teeth started to chatter and her nose threatened to drip. Then Miss Fox fixed me with the same death glare.

  “And you, Miss Grey. Do you think I tolerate acts of violence in MY school?”

  Replies that Scarlet would make ran through my head.

  It’s not your school, it’s Mr Bartholomew’s. Wherever he is.

  You seem to be fine with violence when you’re the one inflicting it.

  You seem to take pleasure in it, in fact.

  But I didn’t have a death wish. I had to say something …

  There was a whooshing sound and suddenly there was a line of stinging pain blazing across my face. Ouch! Miss Fox had just hit me with her cane. I clutched at my cheek.

  “WELL?” she said.

  “No, Miss Fox,” I said. My teeth were gritted and it came out as a low hiss.

  She stood up straight. “Both of you are despicable. I’ve a good mind to write to your parents and –” she paused as her eyes fell on me and swiftly changed tack – “No, I think we need a more severe punishment in this case.”

  Penny gulped and wiped her nose with her sleeve.

  Miss Fox began to pace up and down. I got the feeling she was stalling while she tried to think of the most horrible thing she could do to us. Either that or she just enjoyed prolonging our suffering, which was incredibly likely.

  After what seemed like several hours, she snapped her fingers and turned to face me. “So,” she said, “there is obviously some quarrel between you two?”

  I wasn’t going to say a word, but Penny took this as a golden opportunity. “Oh yes, Miss. She’s up to no good. I don’t think she’s ever been up to good!”

  Miss Fox nodded and then her face stretched into a grin not unlike the one worn by Wilhelmina.

  “I think, then, you will thoroughly enjoy spending every night this week cleaning the dining hall after dinner, TOGETHER, since you both made such a mess.”

  “Oh no,” I whispered.

  Penny slammed her fists down on the floor. “But Miss …” she started to protest.

  Miss Fox’s cane swished up and stopped just short of Penny’s horrified face. “Don’t you ‘But Miss’ me! You will do as I say. And just for that, you can sit next to each other in every lesson as well.”

  My mouth dropped open.

  “And if I hear ONE SINGLE COMPLAINT from either of you, you will be cleaning up after breakfast and lunch as well. Do I make myself clear?”

  I nodded solemnly. Penny wisely followed suit.

  “I’m sorry, what was that?” Miss Fox cupped a hand to her ear dramatically.

  “Yes, Miss Fox,” we both said.

  “Good,” she replied, and walked back over to her chair. She sat down heavily, took a fountain pen from the mouth of the unfortunate dog on her desk and began to write something down in a notebook.

  Penny turned and glared at me. There were tears in her eyes and her face was a mess.

  You started it, I mouthed at her.

  She gritted her teeth and her nose wrinkled in disgust. But as I watched, her expression began to turn hopeful.

  “Does this mean … we aren’t going to get a beating?” she asked.

  Miss Fox didn’t even look up from her desk. “Oh no,” she said. “You’re still getting a beating. But since you wasted my time, I’m going to waste yours.”

  “What?”

  “I have some paperwork to do for the next hour. You can wait until then.”

  Penny and I glanced at each other in shared horror, momentarily forgetting our mutual hatred.

  “Where should we wait?”

  “Right there. In silence. Or else.”

  y the end of that night I would have sworn I was an expert on every inch of Miss Fox’s office. I’d counted every canine photograph (nineteen) and every stuffed dog (eight of the hideous things). There were seven pens and three pencils on the desk. Thirty books on the shelves. I could go on.

  Penny spent most of the time rocking back and forth and muttering things under her breath. At least I had spent my time productively, or gathering useless knowledge, depending on which way you looked at it. After an hour, she looked like a nervous wreck. I would have guessed that she’d had beatings before, but maybe not. Miss Fox gave her twenty lashes across her knuckles, and she sobbed and whimpered the whole time.

  I told myself that if I could just act like Scarlet, if I could stay strong, I would be all right. So I stood there, fists clenched as the cane bit into my skin. I knew it would sting for days.

  And all I could think was: get through this for Scarlet.

  Afterwards, the Fox waved us out of her office without even a second glance. I was expecting Penny’s usual bile as soon as the door slammed shut, but she was gone in seconds, running towards the stairs in tears.

  As I traipsed back to room thirteen, I contemplated the rest of my punishment. A whole week with Penny – ugh. Making us both suffer the pleasure of one another’s company while at the same time preventing us from getting up to anything individually. Miss Fox was pure evil.

  I opened the door gingerly, my hands feeling like they were on fire. It didn’t help when, a few moments later, Ariadne jumped on me.

  “OH MY GOODNESS! I can’t believe you slapped Penny, oh my goodness, what happened? Did you get punished? Oh, it was BRILLIANT! You should have seen the look on her face!”

  Despite everything, I had to laugh. I gently pushed Ariadne away. “It was pretty good,” I said, croakily.

  Ariadne finally appeared to realise that I was feeling a little fragile. “Did Miss Fox keep you in her office this whole time?”

  “Yes,” I coughed, showing her my hands. Ariadne fetched a glass of water from her bedside table and placed it on mine. I shuffled over to my own bed and sank down on to the mattress. “Thanks.”

  The water tasted like heaven, my mouth was so dry. Ariadne waited patiently until I’d drunk most of the glass and was able to talk again.

  “Miss Fox is a fan of cruel and unusual punishment.”

  Ariadne sat down on her bed and grimaced. “Was it scorpions?”

  I blinked at her. “No.” Then, “Perhaps worse. I’ve been sentenced to spend extra time with Penny.”

  Ariadne’s face summed up exactly how I felt. “Oh, yuck.”

  “Precisely.”

  There was a knocking on the door and the matron peered around it. “Lights out now, girls,” she said, sternly.

  “Yes, Miss!” squeaked Ariadne. I got the feeling she was really keen to avoid any rule breaking, lest she be ordered to follow Penny around too.

  The matron nodded her approval. “Sleep well,” she said, and pulled the door shut.

  Ariadne breathed out. “Phew.” Then, as she climbed into bed, she turned to me. “Wait a minute,” she whispered. “Did you find the next bit of the diary?”

  I got up and opened the door of the wardrobe, obscuring Ariadne from view. “Yes,” I sighed. I pulled out my nightgown and began to get changed for bed.

  “Oh gosh, what did it say?” asked Ariadne from behind the door.

&n
bsp; “I almost forgot about it,” I said quietly, as I got into bed.

  Ariadne was looking at me expectantly. “Go on, then – where did you find the key to the locker?”

  “I figured out what could ‘swallow’ something without being alive.” I cringed a bit as I turned on to my side. “It was in Wilhelmina, the skeleton.”

  “Ooooh,” said Ariadne.

  “I had to stick my hand inside her skull. Then I went to the locker and found the pages.”

  “Yes, and …?” said Ariadne, wide-eyed.

  “Apparently this Violet girl was spying on people. She was always acting suspiciously, going through Scarlet’s things, making notes and being all secretive. And then the next entry was about Violet and Penny drawing a picture of her on the blackboard. It was … it was grotesque.”

  Suddenly Ariadne pointed a finger at me and gasped. “What if it was them? What if they did something terrible to her? You don’t think …?”

  “Hold your horses,” I whispered. “We still don’t know what happened to Scarlet. Or Violet. But I wouldn’t put it past them to do something bad.” Ariadne’s words troubled me.

  “Was there a clue at least?”

  “Something about ‘searching on our knees’.”

  Ariadne sighed. “That could mean a lot of things.”

  I didn’t say much more. My hands were killing me and I was exhausted, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep.

  Scarlet, the diary, Penny, Violet.

  All of it had to be connected, somehow.

  When I woke the next day, it was bright outside the thin curtains and I felt pleasantly warm. Then the events from the day before came crashing over me like a tidal wave. Suddenly I was filled with nausea and dread.

  I got dressed in a daze and followed Ariadne down to breakfast.

  “I hope there will be no trouble today, ladies,” said Mrs Knight, as we sat down in our usual seats.

  “We’ll be on our best behaviour, Miss!” replied Ariadne eagerly.

  Penny walked in, looking a complete state. Her copper hair resembled a birds’ nest, and her face was deathly pale. She didn’t even bother to glare at me as she passed.