‘Sure,’ she said, jutting out her lower lip. ‘I’ll stay here and hide.’
‘All right.’ Sylvain turned to Rachel and Allie. ‘We must divide. I’ll take the boys’ dorm. Rachel, you take the girls’ dorm. Allie, you’re the main building – the library and common room – and try to find Isabelle. We’ll meet back here in twenty minutes precisely.’ He looked from one to another of them, his expression deadly serious. ‘Don’t be late. Don’t make us come and look for you.’
There were several ways into the cellar. Sylvain headed down a narrow corridor to a staircase leading to the main building. Allie and Rachel turned back to the staircase they’d come down earlier – it led straight to the girls’ dorm.
As they headed up the stairs, Nicole called after them. ‘Be careful.’
Her French-accented words echoed off the stone walls around them as they climbed.
Rachel and Allie ran all the way to the top of the dark, dusty staircase – the only sound their harsh breaths, the pounding of their feet on the uneven steps.
They emerged into the girls’ dormitory to find it a scene of utter upheaval. In the corridor girls were hugging each other and crying as male bodyguards and drivers in a variety of uniforms hurried them along with the barely controlled violence of riot police.
‘Get your things,’ one man in a black uniform barked at a twelve-year-old girl who cowered away from him, clinging to a friend’s hand, ‘or we’re leaving without them. It makes no difference to me.’
Tears streaming down her cheeks, the girl – about the same size and build as Zoe – let go of her friend and walked fearfully down the hall in front of him.
Left behind, her friend sobbed brokenly. Meeting Allie’s shocked gaze she held up her hands. ‘I don’t understand… what’s happening?’
‘Bloody hell,’ Allie whispered to Rachel.
The girl’s long blonde hair was tied back with a blue bow – she was skinny, with a light dusting of freckles on the bridge of her nose. She looked somehow familiar, but Allie couldn’t place where it was she’d seen her before.
Crouching down until her gaze was on the girl’s level, she took her by the shoulders, her hands gentle but firm. ‘Listen to me. Do you see that door right there?’ She pointed at the door to her own bedroom. The weeping girl nodded. ‘Go in there and do not come out until the cars are all gone. Not even if someone calls your name. Not even if it’s someone you know.’ Clearly terrified, the girl nodded. She’d stopped crying, and she stared at Allie as if she were a rescuer, descending from a helicopter to pluck her from a flooded house.
Her eyes were the same cornflower blue as Jo’s.
Allie’s throat had gone so tight she could hardly speak. Jo didn’t have a little sister – it must just be a coincidence. But the similarity was so striking…
‘What’s your name?’ she whispered.
‘Emma.’
‘Your last name.’ But Allie’s tone was too insistent and the girl began to cry again.
‘Hammond,’ she said, sobbing.
Rachel had crouched down next to her too, now. She took the girl’s hand. ‘Emma Hammond, how old are you?’
‘T-twelve,’ the girl replied.
Rachel nodded seriously as if twelve was a very good age to be. ‘Will you be OK for a little while by yourself? While we go and try to help some other girls?’
The girl nodded, although it was clear she wasn’t at all sure.
Allie had control of herself now. She wasn’t related to Jo. Her eyes were just blue.
People have blue eyes.
‘There are biscuits in the top right drawer of my desk,’ Allie said. ‘I expect you to eat them all. Now go.’
They watched as the girl ran into the bedroom. Their eyes met for a second as the door began to close and Allie again saw a resemblance to Jo that made her shudder.
Swallowing hard, she nodded at the little girl. The door latched with a sturdy click.
‘I wish those doors had locks,’ Rachel muttered.
‘Me too.’ Allie squeezed her hand.
Rachel caught her gaze. ‘You did the right thing,’ she said, answering the question Allie was afraid to ask.
‘But she’s too young,’ Allie said. ‘Too young for us to include her in our plan. Nobody under sixteen could stay without their parents’ permission, remember?’ She kicked the wall next to her with such force a feather-sized piece of plaster floated down to rest on the floor next to her foot. ‘Why don’t we have a better plan? Why are we so stupid?’
Rachel’s jaw was tight. ‘We did the best we could.’
But at that moment it felt like they’d failed.
Looking at the bizarre scene around them, Allie said, ‘Are you OK to be up here alone? This is worse than I expected.’
Some part of her expected Rachel to tell her not to go – she didn’t really want to be alone right now herself. But, to Allie’s surprise, Rachel just squared her shoulders.