Night School

Allie could see the shock on Isabelle’s face, but the headmistress kept her voice preternaturally calm.

‘Rachel,’ she said, ‘would you go and get Matthew and August, please?’ She reached out for Jo’s hand, wet with tears and clutching a damp, crumpled tissue. ‘Did he tell you how he did it?’

‘A little. Enough to scare me,’ Jo said. ‘It was during the ball. Everyone was happy and dancing. He only left me alone for a few minutes but when he came back I saw blood on his hand. I thought he’d hurt himself. He said he’d had an accident – a cut – nothing serious. But he didn’t tell me then … about Ruth. He told me a few weeks ago. He didn’t want me hanging out with Allie any more. He told me what happened to Ruth could happen to Allie too. Or any of her friends.’

Remembering Ruth’s body – her face so pale it was almost unrecognisable; her pretty pink dress dark with blood – Allie swallowed hard. Gabe had been threatening her. That could have been her face. Her pretty dress.

She counted her heartbeats. …twelve, thirteen, fourteen …

‘What else did he tell you?’ Isabelle asked.

‘He didn’t want me to tell Allie anything about Night School, or anything about what he was doing.’ Jo’s voice sounded tired. ‘He said Allie was to blame for all the bad things that were happening and that you and Zelazny were weak. He said Nathaniel was right and you should just let him have her …’

Isabelle and Allie exchanged a startled look.

‘How did Gabe know Nathaniel?’ Isabelle asked gently.

‘I don’t know,’ Jo said. ‘But they just … know each other. Like Gabe meets him sometimes. To talk.’

Allie gasped. She saw colour drain from Isabelle’s face.

‘They’re … friends?’ Isabelle’s voice shook, just a little. Jo wouldn’t have heard it, but Allie did.

‘Kind of.’ Jo thought about it. ‘I think Gabe admires him.’

At that moment Zelazny and Matthew walked in and Isabelle rose to her feet and stepped outside to talk with them. She returned to the room alone and sat on the bed next to Jo and Allie.

‘Why didn’t you tell us sooner, darling?’ she asked quietly.

Tears streamed down Jo’s face. ‘I didn’t know what to do,’ she sobbed. ‘I love … loved Gabe. I couldn’t … I didn’t know what to do. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.’

‘It’s OK,’ Isabelle whispered. But Allie could tell she was lying.

After Isabelle led Jo away to her own room, Rachel returned long enough to make Allie eat some melted ice cream and warm yoghurt. She stayed until Allie fell asleep.

When she woke up, Carter was sitting on the foot of the bed watching her, his dark eyes unreadable.

‘Hey,’ she rasped.

‘How’re you doing?’ His voice was gentle.

‘Never better.’ But waking up set off a round of coughing and he handed her a glass of water with a straw.

After she sipped it she felt better and scooted up in the bed until she was sitting up.

‘Did you hear about Gabe?’ she whispered.

He nodded, his muscles tense. ‘I should have seen it, Allie. Why didn’t I see that it was him?’

‘Nobody could see it,’ she said. ‘Don’t blame yourself or we’ll all have to blame ourselves. Have they found him?’

‘No – they’re all looking. Nobody knows where he is. He might have done a runner.’

She digested this information for a minute.

Then she said: ‘Rachel told me that you saved lots of people last night. That’s amazing.’

‘And you saved people, too.’ But he didn’t say it was amazing and she could see the tension in his face.

‘What’s the matter?’ she said.

He shook his head and didn’t speak for a moment, when he did, his voice quivered.

‘Why didn’t you stay in the hiding place, Allie? You would have been OK if you’d listened to me.’

‘I’m sorry, Carter. But I was scared for the girls,’ she said. ‘I had to help. I couldn’t just let them die.’

‘We would have got them out,’ he said.

‘We didn’t know that,’ she said. ‘The fire spread fast.’

‘Whose idea was it to go in? Yours or Jules’?’

Allie thought longingly about lying. ‘Mine,’ she said. ‘Jules wanted to wait a while longer.’

‘And you both nearly died,’ he said angrily.

‘But we saved people, Carter.’ Her hoarse voice was indignant. ‘We did help.’

‘I would sacrifice every single one of them for you.’

She stared at him, aghast. ‘Don’t say that,’ she whispered. ‘That’s horrible.’

‘I know it’s horrible.’ His fingers flicked a tear off his cheek and he avoided her eyes. ‘It’s also true.’

She had no idea what to say, and she studied him worriedly.

‘I’m OK, you know.’

‘I know.’

‘So, let’s not freak out OK? Let’s just be glad that we’re both all right.’ She reached for his hand and held it against her cheek. ‘I’m so glad that you’re OK.’

Saying nothing, he wrapped her in his arms.

‘Carter and Allie save the world,’ she whispered.