Night School: Legacy

As he spoke, Allie scrabbled at the door behind her, finally finding the doorknob and diving back into the changing room just as he turned around.

Standing behind the closed door, she closed her eyes for a second as she steadied her breathing. Heat rose in her face.

‘What’s the matter?’ Across the room, dressed all in black, Zoe was watching her quizzically. ‘You look strange.’

‘Nothing.’

With a shrug, Zoe turned back to the mirror.

The overheard conversation bothered Allie as she finished getting ready. Carter hadn’t given her a clue that he was worried about what was happening. He’d acted as if he hated her. The fact that he was still trying to protect her made everything harder.

Yanking on a hat, she stared into her sober grey eyes in the mirror as she argued with herself. Because, wasn’t this just another example of his suffocating overprotectiveness? ‘They aren’t trained enough … They shouldn’t be out there on their own.’

Her eyes darkened. He doesn’t believe in me. He never believes in me.

A few minutes later, she and Zoe stood in front of the school building, looking out into the dark night.

‘You ready for this, partner?’ Allie asked.

‘I am so ready.’ Zoe’s reply was fervent.

I hope you’re right, Allie thought. But all she said was, ‘Let’s do it.’

They followed the path assigned to them by the security guards, their feet crunching on the icy ground. Their breath froze in the air like puffs of smoke as they ran into the dark forest, where the moonlight disappeared. It was a still night – no wind stirred the treetops. Their footsteps were the only sound. As their training dictated, they ran in silence.

Their first check was the fence, which they followed to the main gate, looking for signs that anybody had tried to get over, under or through. But everything was just as it should be. The fence seemed solid and impregnable. The gate was locked tight.

From there they ran through the woods to the stream. As they neared the place where Allie had met Christopher, she felt her heart speed up, but the stream ran by them innocently and empty. There were no footprints in the mud – nobody had been down there in a while.

The churchyard gate squawked unhappily as they passed through it on their way to check the chapel – it, too, was closed up tight. No flitting shadows to scare them. No flickering lights inside.

Each hour they met with one of Raj’s security guards near a side door to the school building to check in, and each hour they reported nothing.

They were hurrying back to make their last report when something moved just off the path. ‘Did you see that?’ Allie whispered, pointing.

They skidded to a stop.

At first, all was still. Then the dried bracken began to sway, as if something behind it moved.

‘What is it?’ Zoe spoke so quietly Allie could almost not hear her. She shook her head.

When the thing moved again, she gestured for Zoe to approach from the left. She circled around to come at it from the right.

Lowering themselves to a crouch, they moved as quietly as possible but the brush beside the path was dry and brittle, and it crunched with every step. To Allie, the sound seemed deafening.

The thing must have heard it, too, because it quit moving.

For a long moment Allie and Zoe stood very still, each trying to see what was hidden in the darkness. Then, out of nowhere, a strange snuffling sound – almost a snort – made them both jump. Zoe’s eyes widened. When the sound came again, her lips quirked up in sudden amused recognition.

‘Oh my God,’ she said. ‘I know what it is.’

No longer trying to hide herself, she stalked over to the dried ferns and pushed them aside. Allie hurried to her side, arriving just in time to see a small, spiky creature curl up into a ball and cover its eyes.

‘Oh! A hedgehog,’ she cooed. ‘I’ve never seen one before in person. It’s adorable.’

‘You can touch it,’ Zoe said. ‘It won’t bite.’

Lowering her hand, Allie brushed one finger lightly over the hard shell-like spikes. At her touch, the hedgehog quivered and tightened its curl.

‘It’s scared,’ Allie whispered. ‘We should leave it alone.’

‘Sorry, Mr Hedgehog.’ Zoe moved the dried ferns back into place. ‘We didn’t mean to spook you.’ As they tiptoed away, it snuffled to itself consolingly.

And so their night went.

Whatever he might have expected, Carter’s fears proved to be unfounded. They encountered nothing more frightening than the hedgehog while patrolling.

Each night after that was the same: no Nathaniel, no Christopher.

Nothing at all.