‘No it isn’t,’ Nicole murmured to Rachel, who smiled at her.
They struck out across the soft green lawn. Zoe was in the front, as usual. Carter was talking to Lucas and Katie a few steps away. Rachel and Nicole were walking hand in hand.
All around them laughter and excited voices swirled in the summer breeze. From somewhere, Allie could hear the thwack of a racquet against a tennis ball. The cheers of participants in some unseen game.
It felt like the start of summer, not the end.
Suddenly Sylvain appeared at Allie’s side. His gaze swept the group. ‘Something’s happening?’
Guilt coloured Allie’s cheeks with red. She hadn’t even thought about looking for Sylvain to include him in this meeting.
‘Yes. Come with us,’ she said, over-compensating with eagerness. ‘You should hear this, too.’
‘Intriguing,’ he said, and strode away to walk with Rachel and Nicole.
Carter cast a curious glance at Allie, but she kept her gaze straight ahead, tightening her grip on his hand as they left the smooth grass to move into the velvet shadows of the trees.
The sun fought its way through the thick branches, shooting shards of light here and there. Thick emerald ferns covered the forest floor, brushing softly against their knees.
The steep, peaked roof of the summer house rose out of the treetops ahead of them like an elves’ castle – the pale stone, adorned with elaborate, colourful mosaic tiles gave it a fairytale look, especially from a distance.
Up close, there was nothing to it, really, except the roof, and, up a few steps, a circle of stone benches and ledges, where they gathered.
Rachel sat close to Nicole, Katie, as usual, was almost in Lucas’ lap. Zoe sat on the steps, looking out into the trees. Sylvain sat alone in the shadows. Carter sat across from Allie, giving her space.
She took a breath. ‘Nathaniel was elected the new leader of the Orion Group yesterday.’ A murmur swept the group as she continued. ‘That’s why he was away when we went to St John’s Fields to get Carter. He was being “elected”.’ She made air quotes around the last word. ‘This school is the lead institution of the Orion Group. It is funded by the Orion Group, which is now run by Nathaniel. And they don’t want us here.’
She could see the awfulness of this news on their faces.
She had them right where she wanted them.
‘We thought we were going to have to leave,’ she said. ‘But now we have a better idea.’
She told them about the plan, watching as their sadness turned to doubt. Then hope.
Her gaze kept returning to Carter. She needed him to back her on this. This was her school but it was his home.
His face was hard to read. She knew he’d need time to think this all through.
‘You’re really going to let Nathaniel come here?’ Zoe was standing next to Carter now, her gaze fixed on Allie.
‘We’ve got to get him to agree to sell the school to us,’ Allie said. ‘Isabelle says he’ll only do that if we meet him in person.’
‘Will the others support this?’ Sylvain stepped into the light. ‘Has anyone spoken to my group?’
‘It’s all happening now,’ Allie said. ‘Isabelle’s on the phone with Lucinda’s supporters within Orion. If they agree, she’ll take it out to the other groups, including Demeter… your group.’
Sylvain’s father was technically the head of Demeter, the European equivalent of Orion. But he was still in the hospital, recovering from an assassination attempt.
‘What do you think?’ she asked, searching his face. ‘Would your group be willing to support us if we did this?’
He looked into the distance, his brow furrowed. ‘I’d need to talk to my father. After what happened to him – what Nathaniel did… I think he’ll be looking for any way to undermine him. He would support this, I think.’ His gaze flickered off hers. ‘I can speak to him. I’ll be returning to France in a few days.’
Something about the way he said it made it sound permanent.
‘You can’t,’ Zoe argued. ‘Nathaniel’s coming.’
He studied her soberly. ‘I’ll stay for that, Zoe. But then I must go back – my family needs me.’
Katie’s judgemental gaze swung from Sylvain to Allie.
Look what you’ve done, it said.
Allie’s emotions were confused. She hated for him to go – hated the idea that, whatever he said, it might really be her fault. And yet…
It made sense that he should go. He was an exchange student of tremendous wealth. If being here made him unhappy he could literally go anywhere.
After all, he had his own jet.
The others, perhaps not attributing the same permanence to Sylvain’s announcement, had already gone back to talking about the new group.
‘We’re actually going to start our own secret society.’ Rachel marvelled. ‘It seems so strange. New world order.’
‘We just need to not make the same mistakes our parents did,’ Katie said. ‘Otherwise, what’s the point?’