Filled with boisterous students playing games, chatting and studying, the big room was typically noisy. Next to her, a group of six younger students played a raucous game of poker, which seemed to involve rampant accusations of cheating and assertions of doubt about each other’s parentage. But the sound washed over Allie virtually unnoticed.
Curling up in the deep leather chair, she waited. But it was ages before Zoe shot through the door, like a sparrow swooping from the eaves.
Her quick gaze alighted on Allie, who leaped to her feet. Zoe looked relieved.
‘No one knew where you were. Sylvain and Rachel are losing it. Come on.’ She shot down the wide hall with easy speed and Allie hurried after her, fumbling to shove her unread book into her bag.
When she looked up, Zoe was leading her across the building’s grand entrance hall to the front door. For the first time she noticed the younger girl’s jacket and hat.
‘You’re outside?’ she said, surprise making her voice rise.
‘Yeah.’ Zoe wrestled with the complex ancient iron lock. ‘It’s so freaking cold, Sylvain said no one would think to look there.’
The lock gave with a clang. Zoe needed both hands to open the heavy door. The winter air hit them like a fist.
‘See what I mean?’ Zoe said, hopping up and down. ‘Cold.’
‘Exhilarating,’ Allie said dryly. She wondered how long she’d last out there without a coat but she didn’t want to take the time to run all the way upstairs for hers.
‘Like an ice cube in your face,’ Zoe agreed, heading down the front steps and across the muddy lawn.
It was a clear evening; silvery-white stars spread like frost across the black sky as they turned right on to a footpath.
Pulling the sleeves of her jumper down over her icy fingers, Allie ran faster as they entered the forest.
Ahead of them, the top of the summer house rose through the trees like a ghost, its sharply peaked roof seemed to float above the pines until they rounded a bend and could see the rest of the building.
Allie knew it was made of a fanciful mosaic of coloured tiles, set against white stone, but in the dark the colour faded to grey. They could hear voices talking excitedly as they approached, taking the stone steps two at a time.
‘Allie’s here,’ Zoe announced, her breath emerging as a puff of white. ‘She was doing her prep.’
‘I wasn’t prepping,’ Allie objected. ‘I was… thinking. And I did look for you.’
‘We knew no one would think to look here.’ Nicole’s French-accented voice came from the shadow. Allie could see only her slim leg, clad in dark tights, dangling from the stone banister upon which she’d draped herself.
‘I thought someone might have kidnapped you.’ Rachel gave her a significant look before noticing her attire and becoming distracted. ‘Where’s your coat?’
‘Zoe forgot to mention the outside part,’ Allie said. ‘But I feel fine. The run warmed me up.’
In reality, the perspiration had already begun to chill against her skin, but she didn’t want anyone to make her go back.
‘You’re good until the hypothermia sets in,’ Rachel said.
‘Can we get serious here?’ Carter sounded exasperated. ‘I think we’ve got ten minutes before we have to get back for dinner. Allie, what did you learn from Isabelle?’
‘Actually, I wasn’t with Isabelle,’ she said. ‘I was with Lucinda Meldrum.’
At this bombshell, they all fell silent.
‘Blimey.’ Zoe sounded impressed. ‘I didn’t even know she was here.’
‘Did she say anything we need to know?’ Nicole’s leg moved as she shifted her position.
‘Loads but…’ Allie thought about all her grandmother had revealed about her family, her history, Nathaniel, Orion… She didn’t know where to start and they only had a few minutes. ‘I couldn’t even get started in the time we have. I’ll have to tell you later. Did you meet with Katie? Why are you all out here?’
She was shivering so hard now her voice shook a little; the pillar behind her was like a block of ice and she stepped away from it.
‘The meeting was… disturbing.’ As he spoke, Sylvain unbuttoned his jacket and pulled it off. Catching her gaze, he held it out for her.
The gesture reminded her so much of the night of the winter ball that, for a split second, she couldn’t move. She remembered the way he’d taken off his tuxedo jacket that night, and what had happened next.
Goosebumps traced a pattern on her arms.
Then she reached out her hand.
The jacket wasn’t long but it had weight. The warmth of Sylvain’s body and the scent of his cologne lingered in the jacket’s soft fabric. It slipped around her frozen shoulders like a hug.
‘Katie thinks about ninety students will go with Nathaniel. We’ve been talking about how to handle it.’ Rachel’s voice dragged Allie back to reality.
‘Ninety? That’s half the school!’
‘Yeah, it’s way more than we expected,’ Zoe said.
‘I’ve already spoken to my dad,’ Rachel said. ‘Even they weren’t expecting that many to go. They’re having meetings about it now.’
‘But some will stay… right?’ Allie said.