Leaving her chair, she walked around to Allie’s side and leaned back against the desk.
‘Here are your options as I see them. You can run from Nathaniel for the rest of your life. He will never tire of chasing you, I can assure you of that. Or you can live your life, with me at your side, as part of one of the world’s great new secret societies.’ She leaned back in her chair, still holding Allie’s gaze. ‘Only you can decide what’s best for you.’
There was never any question what Allie’s answer would be.
She’d tried running away from her troubles many times. But that’s the thing about trouble: it’s fast. It’s relentless. It always finds you.
She was through running.
She raised her chin. ‘Let’s do it.’
34
She and Isabelle talked for nearly an hour, sorting through the details. Getting the plan in place. The headmistress wanted to have it all figured out before she broached it with the others.
‘Julian will have many questions,’ she said. ‘I have to be ready for that.’
The longer they talked, the more feasible it seemed, and the more hopeful they both became.
How could this not work? Everyone got something they wanted.
It was perfect.
There was one wildcard. And Allie brought it up. ‘What about Nathaniel? How do we get him to agree to it?’
Isabelle considered this. ‘We have to convince him it’s something he’ll benefit from. The only good Nathaniel sees in the world comes from power and profit. I think… if the others agree to this, we have to invite him here. And talk to him together.’
‘What?’ Allie couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
Isabelle was unbending. ‘It’s not the sort of thing you can discuss on the phone, Allie. If we’re going to do this, we have to be brave enough to look him in the eye. We’re going to have to sell this to him. It won’t be easy. We’ll keep it on our home turf, we’ll call in others to back us up. We’ll do it properly. But there’s no getting around it.’
‘How do we keep everyone safe, though?’ Allie demanded. ‘Carter and Zoe – everyone. How do we make sure he doesn’t try something?’
‘We will take care of that,’ Isabelle said. ‘You worry about making your case. You’re going to have to win Nathaniel over.’ She shot Allie a warning look. ‘It won’t be easy. We need him to want to do this. He needs to believe the battle is over.
‘And that he’s won.’
By the time Allie left Isabelle’s office, the sun was bright and high, almost blinding her when she stepped out of the building on to the front lawn. Everyone was taking advantage of the late summer warmth, and the lawn was filled with students. She found the others, standing in a cluster by the wall of the east wing, talking quietly.
At some point, Carter had joined them. Seeing him there – all dark hair and muscles – made her heart leap.
As if he’d felt her gaze, he looked up. Their eyes locked. She felt that look in every part of her body.
The others must have told him what was going on, though, because as she got closer, she could see the worried lines on his forehead.
‘You know?’ she asked him quietly, and he nodded, squeezing her hand lightly.
‘I’ve got the gist of it.’
‘Something’s happening,’ she told him, raising her voice so the others could hear. ‘Isabelle’s got a plan and I think it could work.’
‘What’s going on?’ Rachel asked. ‘You were in there for ages.’
‘We’re going to try…’ Allie stopped as a skinny, dark-haired boy dashed up to them.
‘Come on Zoe,’ he said. ‘We’re going to play football.’
It took Allie a second to recognise Alec, the junior student from Night School. His glasses were crooked and his tie hung loose, and he looked at Zoe with a tenuous mixture of admiration and hope.
She could see the temptation in Zoe’s eyes, as she looked from him to Allie then back again. Finally, she sighed.
‘Allie has to tell us something boring,’ she explained. ‘Then I’ll come. I don’t want to be on your team.’
He looked only slightly crushed. ‘OK.’
‘Zoe,’ Nicole chided her. ‘Remember what we said about too much honesty.’
‘Yes.’ Zoe’s brow lowered stubbornly. ‘Honesty is good.’
Rachel interceded. ‘But you have to balance it with niceness.’
‘No I don’t,’ Zoe said.
‘My God, enough,’ Katie said, raising her voice. ‘I don’t have time for young love. Allie, just tell us what’s going on, for heaven’s sake.’
But there were too many people around. They needed somewhere to argue in private.
‘Let’s go to the summer house,’ she decided. ‘There won’t be anyone there.’
‘Oh good,’ Katie said, her tone heavy with sarcasm. ‘Secrets. We don’t have enough of those around here.’
‘Cimmeria,’ Lucas said, draping an arm across her slim shoulders, ‘is Greek for “Place of Secrets”.’