With me, you will finally be safe.
Nathaniel
‘What does it say? Allie? Are you all right?’ Nicole stepped inside the circle of burning candles.
As she turned to her, Allie realised her face was wet with tears of futile rage, although she had no memory of weeping.
Calmly, the French girl reached for the note. ‘May I see it?’
Numb, Allie watched as she quickly scanned the words, her lips tightening. When she finished, she swore a stream of French curse words Allie suspected were stronger than anything she’d ever heard Sylvain say.
‘This man is insane. Are you OK?’ Without waiting for the answer, Nicole put a supportive arm around her. ‘Zoe’s gone to get help.’
‘I just wanted to catch him.’ Allie gripped the hilt of the dagger until her knuckles turned white. ‘Why can’t I ever catch him?’
Minutes later the churchyard was a hive of activity. Security guards, teachers and Night School students bustled between the graves setting up battery-powered lights, shouting orders, and running in and out of the chapel.
Standing in the shadows near the churchyard wall, the three girls were alone. No one had spoken to them after Raj had prised the knife and the note from Allie’s fingers and hustled them out of the building.
‘Don’t move,’ was all he’d said before disappearing into the darkness.
Allie wasn’t sorry to see the note go. She’d read it enough times already to memorise the threatening message written in a neat, angular hand.
With simmering rage, she thought again about those last words.
Come to me…
‘As if, you utter tosser,’ she muttered aloud. Standing nearby, Zoe looked over at her questioningly.
‘Sorry. Not you,’ Allie said. ‘Nathaniel.’ She glanced at her watch with barely contained irritation – it was after midnight. All around them guards and Night School students were doing things. She longed to do something. ‘How long do you suppose they’ll keep us here?’
‘I don’t know but I wish they’d let us help.’ Zoe’s nose was red from the cold and she hopped up and down impatiently. ‘I don’t know why they’re keeping us here.’
‘To talk to us.’ Nicole’s eyes stayed locked on the guards. ‘They are securing the grounds and then they will want to ask us questions. It’s standard.’
Raj’s guards all seemed to be talking to themselves – Allie couldn’t see microphones but she guessed it was some sort of communications equipment. That was a surprise – the school resisted almost all modern technology.
At that moment, someone switched on the lights and the churchyard was suffused with eerie blue-white light – after the heavy darkness that preceded it the effect was blinding.
Two figures approached them. Shielding her eyes with her hands, Allie squinted into the glare. In the fog and the light they looked like shadow-people until they were right in front of her.
It was Raj Patel and Zelazny.
‘We need to get you girls someplace safe,’ Zelazny announced without preamble. ‘We want you inside the school building until the search is completed.’
Allie fixed him with a bitter stare. ‘No place is safe.’
Before he could reply to that, three shadows detached themselves from the darkness and moved close enough for Allie to make out their features. Two were Patel’s guards, Peter and Karen. The third was Carter.
‘They’re going to take you to the school and stay with you until the rest of us get back.’ When he met Allie’s gaze again, Patel’s dark eyes were steely. ‘I’m not taking any chances.’
They took off almost immediately and, within seconds, the churchyard with its bright lights and crowds of protective guards faded into the distance.
Allie’s hackles rose. The woods were too dark. Too quiet.
But the guards moved quickly and, with Allie in the middle of a protective phalanx, they hustled down the footpath at a steady speed. Nobody spoke. They just ran in silent formation.
Allie felt drained. Each step seemed to require all the energy she had left. Then she had to do it again. Her knee throbbed and every other footfall sent a knife-jab of pain through her leg. But she endured it with grim acceptance – the pain helped her focus on what mattered. And honed her rage.
Nicole and Zoe ran at her side. Carter was right beside Nicole. Once, Allie glanced at him out of the corner of her eye but he was staring straight ahead, his expression alert and intense.
They broke out of the woods in half the normal time. As they ran across the lawn the school building towered over them like a fortress. Upstairs, the dorm windows were dark but light poured from the open front door, backlighting Isabelle who stood waiting for them at the top of the steps. Her golden-brown hair flowed down her back in shining waves. With an oversized white coat hanging from her shoulders, she looked like a goddess.
She rested a steadying hand on each of Allie’s shoulders, her expression grave. ‘Are you OK?’