Night School

Jo nodded. ‘It’s like life concentrated. More happens here in a week than happens outside in a month.’


Curled up on the bench they talked idly as the daylight ebbed away, and the shadows filled the garden. ‘I can see why you like it here,’ Allie said as she stretched. ‘It’s kind of magical. Like that book you read when you’re little – The Secret Garden. Did you read that?’

Jo nodded. ‘I’ve always …’

Her words were interrupted by the sound of something crashing loudly at the far end of the garden. They both jumped.

‘What the hell was that?’ Allie asked, staring into the gloom, noticing for the first time how dark it had become.

‘I don’t know,’ Jo whispered. She peered at her watch. ‘Oh bugger! It’s nearly curfew. We have to get back.’

She stood up, reaching out to Allie, and then they heard the sound again. Then footsteps.

‘What the …’ Jo whispered, then she raised her voice and shouted: ‘Who’s there?’

The footsteps stopped.

They stood frozen, listening to their hearts beat. ‘Jo,’ Allie whispered. ‘Couldn’t it be …’

They both heard the growling sound at the same moment.

Jo grabbed Allie’s arm.

‘Jo, what the hell is that?’ Allie whispered.

‘I don’t know.’

‘Should we …?’

‘Run?’

‘Yeah.’

‘On three. One. Two …’

The quiet was shattered by a crash that now seemed to come from the shadows inches away from them. They screamed and hurtled down the footpath. Jo held Allie’s hand tightly. ‘Stick with me,’ she said breathlessly and raced off the path into the orchard. In the darkness they zigzagged between the trees, and Allie could feel dropped fruit squelching sickeningly under her shoes. She tried to tell if she could hear footsteps aside from their own but they were going too fast – it was impossible to tell.

Then something touched her head and she screamed, batting at the air around her. Jo dragged her to the left, around the tangle of blueberry bushes and into a rose garden. Thorns tore at their hands and clothes. Twigs snapped under their feet.

Suddenly something grabbed Jo and lifted her off her feet, dragging her inside a room built into the wall. Allie could hear her trying to scream but a hand covered her mouth, muffling her.

‘Shhhh.’ Gabe held one finger to his lips and looked into Jo’s eyes. Jo threw her arms around him and buried her face in his neck.

Gabe reached out for Allie, but now somebody was holding her arms too. She looked up wildly to see Sylvain’s blue eyes watching her steadily in the darkness as he pulled her into the dark room.

He mouthed one word: ‘Quiet.’





SIX


Allie froze and tried not to breathe.

Gabe encircled Jo in his arms protectively, and Sylvain pulled Allie behind him. They both stared through the open door, their eyes alert.

Something crashed through the garden and Allie jumped at the sound, but it sounded further away than before. And after a few seconds … silence.

When a few uneventful moments had passed, Gabe and Sylvain exchanged a look, and then as if they’d been given a signal they began walking quickly towards the door. Gabe scanned the area around them, then looked back and nodded, and they all ran silently out into the garden and down the path to the door, and out onto the lawn. Wordlessly, Jo handed Gabe the lock and he secured the door.

For the first time Allie became conscious of the fact that Sylvain still had his arms around her. He had a distinctive scent of pine or juniper and she inhaled deeply, relaxing into his arms. Immediately his grip tightened around her.

Faint streaks of light still glimmered in the sky as Gabe led them in through a back door that took them directly into the central hallway. In the light, Allie saw that Jo looked pale, and that she clung to Gabe tearfully. A trickle of blood ran down her cheek, and Gabe touched it lightly with his finger.

‘You’re hurt,’ he said. ‘We should take you to the nurse.’

She nodded her consent, and he wrapped his arm around her and walked her down the hall. Allie felt again the curious ache of envy. As if he’d sensed it, Sylvain stepped towards her and examined her face, smoothing her hair back.

‘Are you wounded at all?’ The concern in his eyes made her heart flutter. Now that he wasn’t holding her any more she felt an almost irresistible urge to climb back into his arms and breathe in that scent. Everywhere he touched her tingled.

She took a shaky breath. ‘Sylvain, what was out there?’

‘I don’t know.’

Something about his tone didn’t ring true and she looked up at him sharply. She had a feeling he was holding something back – something important.

‘We have to tell Isabelle what happened,’ she announced. Her eyes burned with determination.