by April White
“Thank you,” I said, really meaning it, as I handed her the rough wool and made a beeline for the flickering fire. I sat on a footstool practically in the fireplace huddled against the thin fabric of my dress.
Everywhere in the room, floor to ceiling and stacked on every surface, were books. This was my kind of room. Within seconds the cold was forgotten and I was on my feet, scanning titles on the shelves.
Millicent and Miss Simpson entered the room after me. I didn’t know where Jeeves had gone but it was my guess that he was back out at the car. My attention was caught by a book about the underground art scene in 1960s London and I didn’t turn around when the two women sat down.
Millicent spoke first and I pretended not to pay attention. “Saira wishes to learn more about our family, and especially about her mother. I’ve told her you can help her with that information.”
“I can teach her what I know, of course, and I believe Miss Rogers knew your grandmother, Emily, and may have some details I don’t.”
“And as Saira is my ward until her mother returns, I’d like to enroll her here for regular classwork.”
I spun around suddenly. “Hey! I didn’t agree to that!”
“And I didn’t agree to having a teenager foisted on me, running away from the manor and disobeying my direct orders every chance she gets.” Millicent’s voice was tight and angry.
I glared at her with all the venom I could muster. “I came back, didn’t I?”
“Because you had no place else to go.” Her tone was equally fierce.
Miss Simpson’s voice was smooth and calming. “Ladies, please. I’m certain that every bit of anger is justified between you; however, based on that, I believe Lady Elian’s plan is not a bad one. Saira, you are welcome to stay here until your mother returns. You will have access to my library, my knowledge, and the not-inconsiderable knowledge of my staff. And you and Lady Elian will no longer be able to ‘push each other’s buttons’ I believe is the term?”
Miss Simpson smiled and spoke directly to me. “I think you’ll find St. Brigid’s a very interesting place, especially to someone of your family history.” I saw Millicent tense behind Miss Simpson and that basically clinched it for me. Anyone who annoyed Millicent was one of the good guys.
I nodded. “I’ll need my stuff from the manor.”
Millicent sounded superior. “It’s here. Jeeves has had it sent up to your room.”
I spun to her angrily. I was furious but instead of yelling I went very cold and quiet. “Don’t for a minute think you control me, Millicent! Because you don’t!”
Miss Simpson seemed to realize that anything Millicent said back to me was going to set me off so she directed me back to the main hall where a girl stood waiting. “Olivia will see you to your room, Saira. Thank you for choosing to spend your time here with us. I think you’ll find it most enlightening.”
I looked back at Millicent one last time. Her eyes narrowed and never left mine as she spoke to Miss Simpson. “She is to be taught only theory. If I hear she’s learned anything practical I’ll withdraw my Family’s financial support from the school.”
Nice. Dump me at a school, and then tell them not to teach me. From the twitch around Miss Simpson’s eyes, she disliked Millicent as much as I did at that moment. I blanked my expression and nodded at Millicent politely. Indifference seemed like the best antidote to the loathing I felt for the matriarch of my family. Then I turned and followed Olivia from the hall.
Olivia was one of the tiniest people I’d ever seen. By her face and figure I guessed she was around fourteen, but she was like the miniature version of a teenager. She had amber-colored wavy hair, very pale skin, and huge blue eyes. She was pretty in a doll-like way. We were walking up massive stone steps and Miss Simpson had seen Millicent out, so we were basically alone.
“Lady Elian is your grandmother?” Olivia’s voice was surprisingly normal for someone so small.
“You know her?”
“She’s a patroness of this school. And my aunt works for her.”
“Who’s your aunt?”
“Lady Elian’s housekeeper. Sanda.”
“Wow. Being tiny must run in your family.”
Olivia stopped in her tracks and turned to stare at me, hands on her hips and eyes flashing dangerously. She was two steps above me so she looked me in the eye. A good trick for a little person to do.
“Are you making fun of me?”
“I am so sorry, Olivia. I’ve always been so tall I’m just really aware of height.”
The stern look on Olivia’s face remained as she narrowed her eyes. “Before you ask, or even if you don’t, I’m not a midget, I’m not a dwarf, I’m not a brownie or a fairy, and I’m fifteen years old, not five.”
I stared at Olivia, open-mouthed, then I couldn’t help it, I busted up laughing. She glared at me. “Oh my God, you have the perfect comeback to every idiotic question anyone could come up with. That’s awesome!”
The corners of Olivia’s mouth twitched and the fierce look in her eyes relaxed. “I’ve had a lot of practice.”
“I bet you have. And I’m sorry if I was offensive. Tact is not my strong suit.”
Olivia’s expression shifted in an instant and her eyes actually twinkled. She didn’t actually say she wasn’t a Pixie, so I didn’t rule it out. “Get under your grandmother’s skin, did you?” Now I could hear the echo of her aunt’s Welsh accent.
I rolled my eyes. “She’s not my grandmother, and I got dumped here, didn’t I?” Olivia laughed and I realized I liked her. She might be prickly and quick to take offense, but she was equally quick to let it go.
We had climbed another set of stairs to the third floor and turned down a hall lined with portraits of stern-faced people. Olivia stopped outside a door.
“Miss Simpson put you in with Raven. Her last roommate just went home… in tears.”
“That’s encouraging.”
Olivia leaned in and dropped her voice. “Consider asking for a new roommate before she picks a fight.” She knocked on the door and a clear voice called from inside. “Come in.”
The door opened and the girl inside regarded me with a bored expression. She was pretty, with long, straight blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, but there was something about her I instantly disliked. In fact, my reaction to her was so strong I had trouble entering the room.
She stood up and extended her hand with a smile. “Hi, I’m Raven. Miss Simpson told me you’d be coming.” I shook her hand and tried to paint a smile over my discomfort, but it made my voice come out too bright. “I’m Saira. Sorry to be a last-minute drop-in.”
“No, don’t worry about it. I happen to have the only free bed in school at the moment.”
“Really? This place seems so big.”
“It’s massive. And it’s kind of like a compass. But they’ve shut down the East and North wings, and the whole third floor, so we’re left with girls in the south wing and boys in the West. And the main floor for classes, of course.”
I realized I was staring at her as she spoke. Raven raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at Olivia. Her tone cooled. “Thank you, Olivia. That will be all.”
That kind of tone shift reminded me of how Millicent spoke to Sanda – like servants were less than people. I was sure it was only a matter of time before Raven turned that superiority against me. I guessed that despite the gleaming blonde hair, Raven was appropriately named.
“Thanks, Olivia. I really appreciate your help.”
“See you around.” Olivia shot Raven a look before she left. Raven got up to close the door.
“Olivia’s here on scholarship and apparently her aunt is a housekeeper or something. Can you imagine?” Raven shrugged. “She’s nice enough, I guess. But she’s sort of like a talking doll, don’t you think?”
This was not a road I wanted to go down with Raven since she was obviously not shy about spilling anyone’s personal information. I noticed my suitcase standing next to a bed on
one side of the room. Raven saw my glance.
“Your driver delivered it himself.” She indicated the window. “My family has a Rolls Phantom, so I recognized the sound of yours right away.” Somehow I had the feeling my reception from her would have been different if I’d arrived in a Honda. I went to look out the window and realized it had a view out toward the woods just past the front drive.
Something white flashed behind a tree, and then someone stepped out into the dim moonlight. Archer! I gasped.
“Are you okay?” Raven was coming up behind me so I quickly turned and covered my reaction with a yawn. “Sorry, it’s been a really long day.” I hoped Archer had gotten the hint and was blending back into the trees.
“Oh, well lights out is in ten minutes anyway. We’re allowed to stay up reading if we want, but we can’t be out of bed.”
I pulled my suitcase up on the bed and unzipped it to get out sweats, a T-shirt and my spare toothbrush. I looked around to find Raven watching me closely. “Where’s the bathroom?”
“Down the corridor on the right. We share it with about ten other girls.” Raven wrinkled her nose delicately to show her distaste. “Do you want me to show you?”
“No, I can find it.” I reached into my suitcase to pull out my hoodie and felt something hard wrapped in it. Hoping I was being casual enough to avoid Raven’s notice, I kept the hoodie folded and added it to the bundle of clothes in my arms. Then I closed the suitcase and zipped it up securely. If Raven was the kind of girl to go through my stuff there was nothing I could do to keep her out. I had the feeling she was already revising her opinion of my worth as she checked out my ratty, non-designer sweats.
I left the room and closed the door behind me with an audible click. Another girl left a room in front of me and headed down the hall. I followed her and she turned to enter the bathroom. I found an empty stall and closed the door behind me to change my clothes. I’m not a prude about dressing in front of people, but I also don’t usually strip down around strangers. My sweats were warm and familiar, and as pretty as the dress was, I’d been cold all night.
I unwrapped my hoodie and found a small flat box inside. It was locked, but with sudden inspiration I dug into the pocket of the silk dress and found the key Jeeves had given me. It fit the lock perfectly, which opened with a snap.
Inside the box was a folded up map of England, with a city map of London on the other side. Weird. I glanced at it briefly and saw nothing but a couple red dots marking it. I didn’t want to study it too carefully right now because the sound of paper crinkling while I was in a bathroom stall was not a message I wanted to send about my personal habits. I replaced the map in the box and put the key back into the pocket of the silk dress.
“I heard your brother’s ex ran off with your cousin. That’s gotta hurt.” The voice outside the stall was snarky and mean, and I held my breath, expecting the slap her tone deserved. Instead, there was the sound of running water, then a soft voice.
“Watch for the water, Kelly.”
“Why? Are you going to splash me with it? Freak.”
I quickly wrapped the box up in the dress and shoved them both into the front pocket of my hoodie, then opened the stall door. There were two girls at the sinks. The blonde, pretty in a watery way, was looking at me in the mirror, and the fake-bake ginger-haired girl was brushing her teeth angrily. The faucet at her sink suddenly exploded off and water sprayed everywhere, soaking through the front of her nightgown. Ginger glared at the blonde.
“You’ll pay for that!” She stalked out of the bathroom.
The blonde reached over and calmly shut the offending faucet off, then smiled at me in the mirror.
“I saw you come in.” The blonde’s voice was soft and almost musical, like she was seconds away from breaking into song.
“I’m Saira.”
“Oh! That’s your name? I only saw the S A I and couldn’t figure it out.”
That was just odd enough that I took a stab in the dark. “Did you make the faucet explode?”
“Kelly thinks I did. And she’s gone to get her friends to threaten me. They won’t touch me though. They all think I’m crazy.”
“Oh. Are you?”
The blonde smiled. “No more than anyone else who can see things before they happen.”
“You’re a Seer?” I tried the word out to see what kind of reaction I would get.
Her eyes widened and then the blonde laughed. “I told Adam it was you. He didn’t believe me.” She started brushing her teeth and watching me in the mirror with twinkling eyes. I brushed my own teeth and wondered what the hell she was talking about.
“Yes, I’m a Seer. I’m Ava.”
I rinsed out my mouth. “Hi Ava. Who, exactly, were you expecting? And who’s Adam?”
“Adam’s my twin – he’s over in the west wing with the other boys. And you’re the girl we’ve been waiting for.” Just then Raven came in. She took in the scene at a glance and her eyes narrowed at Ava. “Kelly said you’re causing problems, and now you’re freaking Saira out with crazy talk. You know how Miss Simpson feels about that, especially around someone who wouldn’t understand.”
Ava looked directly at Raven and smiled prettily. “She understands more than you ever will, Raven.” Ava left the room with another bright smile for me. Raven shook her head, pityingly.
“Her family is one of original donors to the school so Miss Simpson has to let her in. She’s a freak.”
I headed for the bathroom door too. “See you back at the room.” I didn’t wait for an answer. Raven’s attitude was seriously snotty and I didn’t want to stick around long enough to snap at her. Besides, I needed whatever time alone I could steal to look over the map Jeeves had hidden for me.
My suitcase was just where I’d left it, still zipped closed. I went back to the window and looked out toward the woods where I’d seen Archer. No one was there. My imagination? It seemed to be active enough for me to start doubting what I’d seen, but if I couldn’t trust myself, I was well and truly screwed.
The bedroom door handle turned and I shoved the emerald silk dress with both box and key back into my suitcase. Then I pulled out my combat boots and a pair of clean socks and set them by the bed. Someone had slipped a book into my suitcase, Caves and Caverns of England. Weird, but cool. It was my kind of book. I set the book on my nightstand before heaving the suitcase to the floor and pushing it under my bed.
Raven eyed my boots as she came in, but said nothing and went straight to her desk. She pulled out her cell phone and started texting. Within minutes an adult voice called down the hall, “Lights out! Goodnight ladies!”
It was a long time before the sounds of texting in the dark finally stilled.
Night Out
I jolted awake from a dream. I’d been free-running in the woods with Archer and was afraid I had laughed out loud in my sleep. The room was pitch black and silent and I lay still for a long moment, listening for Raven’s breathing. It seemed steady and I hoped she was a deep sleeper.
The creaks of my bed and the floor were unfamiliar to me so I moved like molasses as I got out of bed. I found my boots by touch and after another minute of creeping in slow motion, finally made it to the door.
Raven hadn’t stirred and her breathing hadn’t changed at all. The true test would be the door. It was a lever-type handle and I had the momentary fear that we’d be locked in. The prison lights-out and my recent experience at Millicent’s house had given me a complex.
The door opened and I felt instantly better as I stepped out into the hall. A dim light shone from the bathroom and I realized they couldn’t lock all these doors in case someone had to pee in the middle of the night. So much for my prison theory, at least on the upper floor. The corridor was quiet as I crept down it to the stairs.
I was still carrying my boots and by the time I made my way to the bottom my feet were frozen. But I didn’t know my way around this place so I didn’t know where the floor creaked. I tried the front
doors first. Locked. The windows in the library were next, but they were tall, skinny and made of leaded glass that didn’t open. No good.
At the end of the hall was an archway leading into a huge dining hall filled with long tables. The room had a totally gothic feel to it, complete with gargoyle wall sconces and huge tapestries. The shadows in here were impressive too, with big swathes of darkness reaching out from the corners like tentacles. I hoped the kitchen was close because I was starting to get the creeps.
Fortunately, the next door led to an enormous kitchen, and, just as I’d hoped, there was a door leading outside just past the big fireplace. There were a couple of old farmhouse tables with stools set up around them and I realized I’d much rather eat with the cooks than in the formal dining room.
I grabbed an apple from a bowl on one of the tables and I shoved it in my hoodie pocket. The door wasn’t barred from the inside and I couldn’t see a key in the lock. Not a good sign. I tried the door handle and it, too, was locked. I swept my hand on the doorjamb above in case there was a key hidden there, but no luck. I guessed there must be a housekeeper somewhere with a ring of keys to all the doors. Maybe that was smart with all the girls in the house, but my impression of prison just came back.
Okay, Plan B. Fire escapes.
The back stairs were creakier because they were wood, but as long as I stayed off the middle of each step I was good. There was a small balcony on the third floor with a fire escape. The door was locked, but there was a window next to it with only a catch. I opened the catch and prayed the window wasn’t painted shut like so many apartments my mom and I had lived in. The mark of a cheap landlord was painted-shut windows instead of proper security. Effective, but miserable on hot summer nights.
When I got the window open a blast of cold air hit me in the face. I slipped out quickly and closed the window down to just a crack so the draft wouldn’t bring someone out of their room to investigate.
