‘Especially since they barely seem to have noticed Caroline is gone at all,’ Zoe said.
Looking up at her, Allie noticed Jules watching them from a nearby table. She was sitting with Katie and a few other friends, as she had the night before. Her eyes looked hurt, and when she caught Allie’s gaze she quickly looked away.
Allie wondered how Carter had explained what was going on. Why he wasn’t sitting with her at meals any more. With all that had happened in the last few days, the two of them must barely be seeing each other at all.
‘So there’s no Night School training tonight…’ Looking across the table at Sylvain, Carter didn’t appear to notice his girlfriend’s expression. He was too focused on the project at hand.
Sylvain seemed to get what Carter was implying – he sat up straighter, his gaze fixed on Carter’s.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘And the weather is clear.’
Some sort of agreement was being made between the two of them.
‘What’s going on?’ Zoe asked.
A knowing smile tugged at Nicole’s full lips. ‘I think the boys are plotting.’
Sylvain and Carter grinned. Allie wasn’t sure she liked this new alliance.
‘OK. Here’s the thing,’ Carter said. ‘We’ve been waiting for the teachers to come back so we can find out what’s going on. Sylvain and I have been thinking it’s time to go to them. And find out for ourselves.’
‘What? We’re going to go and find them?’ Zoe’s face brightened at the idea.
‘We’re going,’ Sylvain said, ‘to talk to Eloise.’
‘Maybe this isn’t such a great idea,’ Allie said.
Perched on a bench in the Night School girls’ dressing room, she loosened a knot in the laces on her trainers. ‘It kind of feels like we’re pushing our luck.’
‘You think?’ Rachel’s sarcastic voice emerged from a borrowed, thermal top she was struggling to pull over her head. ‘Just a little bit?’
‘We will be fine.’ Nicole pulled on thick, black leggings and reached for her socks. Allie had to admire her cool composure – nothing seemed to intimidate her. ‘We will do nothing but look.’
The utilitarian room was painted plain white; the only decoration the shiny brass hooks that lined the walls, each one with a name painted above it in glossy black, and the black clothes beneath. Floor-to-ceiling mirrors lined one wall, making the room seem bigger than it was. It was a familiar place by now to Allie – but she knew Rachel, in all her years at Cimmeria, had never seen it before, because it was Night School only.
When the boys first told them about their idea, they’d all reacted with enthusiasm. If it gave them the chance to find out more about what was really going on, it was worth taking all the chances.
It was only now that they were in the middle of it that Allie’s doubt gene kicked in.
They knew that by bringing Rachel into the section of the school reserved solely for the group’s secret activities, and dressing her in someone else’s Night School gear, they were breaking several of the school’s inviolable Rules.
‘How can you be so calm about this?’ Allie asked Nicole. ‘Aren’t you worried about getting expelled?’
‘I am sorry but if one of the teachers says to me, “You broke The Rules,” I will say to them, “Well, where the hell is Eloise? Where the hell is Jo? Where is Ruth?”’ Nicole’s French accent grew thicker when she was angry. ‘Where were you when the school fell apart? And I think that will be the end of that conversation.’
Allie had to admit she had a point. The whole situation was so intensely wrong, what did The Rules matter any more? Was anyone keeping score?
As they talked, Zoe stood in one corner of the dressing room, clad fully in her black Night School gear and kickboxing the air, chirping with each move, like a small, angry crow.
Allie worried about bringing her, too. She was fast and smart but… so young. So small.
Before she could think it through, though, Rachel distracted her.
‘This doesn’t fit.’ She stood in front of a mirror, eyeing herself dubiously; the pilfered top ended in the middle of her midriff, revealing a few inches of latte-coloured skin. ‘I’m too tall.’
‘Jules is tall like you,’ Nicole said, pulling her long hair back into a ponytail. ‘Try hers.’
Across the room, Rachel picked up the new black top, weighing it in her hands. Allie, who was wearing one just like it, knew it was light but very warm, made of the kind of material used for ski clothes.
‘This is so weird,’ Rachel said, pulling off the too-small top and trying on the larger size. ‘I can’t believe we’re doing this.’
Zoe stopped kickboxing to look at her. ‘We do this stuff all the time.’
Rachel studied her, a thin line appearing between her brown eyes. ‘I know.’
All her life, Rachel had tried to learn nothing about Night School. She’d absorbed a great deal of information because her father was very involved in it but she’d always been resolute about having as little as possible to do with it.
Allie watched soberly as she pulled on the last of her Night School garb – transforming herself from a brainy student into a fighter. Jules was a couple of inches shorter than her, but her gear fit well enough. Like the others, she was now clad entirely in black, with thick leggings and warm running shoes. Her dark curly hair was tucked under a black knitted cap.
It gets us all in the end.
‘I look like the Hamburglar,’ Rachel grumbled.
‘Can we get going?’ Standing by the door, Zoe hopped on one foot impatiently until they all, at last, lined up behind her.
Then she flipped out the lights and opened the door.
It was midnight. Curfew began an hour ago.
The basement corridor was dark; they crept along it in absolute silence. Sticking close to Rachel, Allie lit the way with a special torch that emitted a pale blue light – enough to show obstacles in front of them but difficult to detect from a distance. The others didn’t need a light – they’d been down this hallway so many times they could do it with their eyes closed.
Raj’s guards weren’t following their usual schedule so they couldn’t be certain when the patrols would pass. But the guards were coming by less frequently than they used to so their chances of getting out unnoticed were good.
The decreasing patrols were worrying: the school leaders must truly believe they’d caught their spy if they were easing back on security.
Just what Nathaniel wanted.
Ahead, Zoe had stopped at the base of a set of stairs, holding up her hand. The others waited as the younger girl darted up to the top. A door swung open without a sound and a wave of cold damp air flowed over them. Steadying herself, Allie inhaled its cool freshness deeply.
She glanced surreptitiously at Rachel; like the others, she stood unmoving, staring at the opening through which Zoe had disappeared. Her nervousness was betrayed only by the fine sheen of sweat on her forehead and the way her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides.
Reaching out, Allie took Rachel’s hand and squeezed it. Without looking at her, Rachel squeezed back.
Then Zoe appeared at the top of the stairs and motioned for them to follow.
Allie let go of Rachel’s hand.
Ducking low and moving stealthily, the girls ran up the stairs and into the night. As they raced across the lawn, the only sound was the squelching of the cold mud under their shoes and the sound of their breathing.
With each step Allie waited for the shout – for someone to spot them and haul them in. Her muscles were tight with tension as they sped across the flat open ground. But the shout didn’t come.
When they made it to the forest, she relaxed a little, falling into line behind Rachel but ahead of Nicole, who brought up the rear. They were safer here, virtually invisible in the dark.