‘Agreed,’ Isabelle said. ‘We should maintain the same level of security until we have better awareness of what Nathaniel is planning.’
And so it went until all the adults had given their reports, and the information had been fully discussed. Allie’s stomach was starting to rumble and she was thinking longingly of breakfast when Isabelle spoke again.
‘I have one final announcement.’ Her gaze lingered on Allie. ‘A funeral will be held for Lucinda tomorrow afternoon at the chapel. Her… body will arrive tonight.’
Allie went cold. She didn’t know what to do – what expression to have on her face. She felt as if everyone was looking at her.
‘The story in the papers,’ the headmistress continued, her face devoid of expression, ‘is that she fell while walking on the heath late at night, and suffered a heart attack.’
Everything involving Orion and Night School was covered up. Orion owned newspapers, TV stations. Its members had huge influence over the police and the courts. As a result, they had control over how things were reported. When Jo was murdered, the papers said it was a car accident. When Ruth died, it was reported as suicide. Allie knew the drill. But she hated the lies.
Hated them.
Resting her hands on the table she stared down at them. Her nails were ragged and uneven. Suddenly this bothered her. Lucinda valued neatness.
The headmistress was still talking. ‘I’ll be handling the arrangements. You’ll all be made aware of the time for the funeral. No one is required to go but all students and staff will, of course, be welcome to attend.’ She paused. ‘Now. On to other business…’
For the rest of the day, Allie tried to pour herself into her work and forget about the fact that her grandmother would be buried the next day.
It wasn’t easy.
Part of the problem was, while everyone else was busy working to find Carter, she really wasn’t. She had no technical skills – nothing to offer that would help right now.
At lunch time the others bubbled with excitement. Dom had set up an action centre in her office.
‘We all have laptops,’ Rachel enthused. ‘And this guard, Shak, he’s an ace hacker. He’s teaching us all how to do it.’
‘It’s amazing,’ Zoe joined in. ‘He taught us how to hack into unprotected systems first. This afternoon we’re going to start on Nathaniel’s system.’
For her part, Katie had spent the morning briefing a detail of guards on the homes of the country’s rich and famous.
‘Basically we sit with a map and a list of my dad’s friends and track down all the houses they hide from the tax man,’ she said, her green eyes glinting in the light like gems. ‘There are loads of them. I had no idea my parents’ friends were such hideous liars.’ She paused to reconsider this statement, pressing one perfectly manicured fingertip against her lips. ‘Well, maybe I did, actually. They’re all perfectly ghastly.’
Their enthusiasm and newfound hope left Allie feeling oddly left out. Yes, she got to go to the strategy meetings now – Isabelle and Raj asked her opinions. But the others were actually doing something.
When classes ended for the day, she couldn’t find any of the others. She searched the library, the common room and the gardens without success. They all had to be up in Dom’s office. Looking for Carter.
Allie made her way back to the common room. The big, windowless room was busy with students doing their homework and chatting, and guards off-duty, still in their black uniforms but sprawled on the deep leather sofas, mugs of coffee clutched in their hands.
Finding a seat in a corner, she pulled out her history book. But her mind wouldn’t focus on medieval Europe in a time of plague. No matter how she tried not to, she kept thinking about Lucinda. And Carter.
And Sylvain.
She hadn’t phoned him once since he’d left for France. She told herself it was because his family needed him right now. But she knew the real reason was because she was afraid he’d hear in her voice that she had chosen Carter. Not him.
The very thought of telling him the truth made her feel like a cheat and a liar. She couldn’t even imagine how much it would hurt him.
Guilt unfolded in her heart like a knife.
Enough.
Allie slammed her book shut with such force, nearby guards snapped around to look at her.
Shoving her books into her bag, she jumped to her feet and ran from the room into the school’s wide hallway. She ran past chatting students and patrolling guards, under the gaze of the elegant nineteenth-century men and women who gazed down at her dubiously from the oil paintings hung high on the walls. When she reached the section where the school’s wings met and the hallway widened to hold marble statues on heavy plinths, she turned into the classroom wing. She pelted up two flights, and down the shadowy corridor, skidding to a stop in front of Dom’s office.