Night School: Resistance (Night School 4)

Tightening her jaw, she squared off against him again.

‘Fine,’ she said through gritted teeth. ‘Let’s go again.’

He slashed the knife towards her abdomen and she jumped back fast – too fast. She tripped over her feet, falling hard on to the mat.

Rage, white hot and blinding, rushed through her veins like fire.

Bounding back up she advanced on him, so furious she could hardly see him. She swung a vicious kick at his neck.

Sylvain stepped between them, blocking the blow with his arm. ‘That’s enough.’ He turned to Allie. ‘Watch your temper.’

Shooting him a resentful look, she ran a tired hand through her sweaty hair.

‘Look. I know why you’re all doing this,’ she said. ‘You can just … stop it. It won’t work.’

‘We’re doing this because we want to help you,’ Nicole said.

Too tired to play games, Allie shot her a withering look. ‘That’s bollocks and you know it. Let’s just be honest now, at least. Raj put you up to this, didn’t he? Because he wants me to change my mind about the parley.’

For a second, no one spoke.

‘We did talk to Raj about this, yes,’ Sylvain said carefully. ‘He thought it would be a good idea if we did the first training without warning. So you could learn to react instinctively.’

As she looked into his cool blue eyes, Allie’s heart seemed to contract in her chest.

‘Sylvain …’ Allie didn’t know what to say. He was almost her boyfriend. She had the necklace he’d given her safely tucked away in her room so nothing could happen to it in practice. He’d told her he loved her. And yet he let her walk into an ambush?

The sense of betrayal made her ache.

‘I can’t believe you …’ She couldn’t seem to find the words. ‘Why didn’t you just come to me?’

‘Would you have listened?’ he asked.

Her shoulders sagged. ‘You could have tried to find out.’

‘Hang on, Allie.’ Ever the peacemaker, Rachel stepped between them. ‘Sylvain did suggest other options but my dad thought it was best this way. He thought it wouldn’t be as effective if we went to you separately. He said this would remind you what it’s like, dealing with Nathaniel. How he always does what you don’t expect. We didn’t like it but …’

‘You did it anyway.’ The words came out as a whisper.

Hopelessness swept over her.

Do I have to fight everyone all the time? She wondered. Even my friends?

Her gaze darted to where Carter stood apart from the group. He’d said very little, and looked unhappy but he wasn’t exactly taking her side, either.

Rachel was still talking. ‘You agreed to the parley without really taking time to think about it. We wanted to kind of … shock you. To make you realise how serious this is.’

‘You think I don’t know this is serious?’ Allie’s voice rose sharply on the last word and Rachel flinched.

Allie wanted to say more but she stopped herself. She needed to look at this rationally. These were her closest friends. She’d obviously made a terrible mistake or they wouldn’t have gone to such extremes to show her how they felt. She’d scared them. Made them feel helpless.

Wrapping her arms across her torso, she looked around the cluster of familiar faces. Everyone in this room had been hurt by Gabe or Nathaniel. Some more than others. Nicole had been beaten up and her leg badly injured; Carter had been knocked unconscious and could have been killed; Rachel beaten and cut, Zoe beaten, Sylvain beaten.

No wonder they were unhappy that she’d just agreed to drag them back into this without consulting them. It must have looked like she didn’t care about how they felt. Like she was putting them all in danger again on a whim.

All her anger seeped away.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said softly. Across the room, Carter’s head shot up and his eyes met hers. ‘I get it … OK? You can tell Raj I get the message. Let’s just … talk this through tomorrow. We’ll prepare properly. We’ll be ready. And I won’t –’ Tears burned the back of her throat. She had to force herself to complete the thought. ‘I won’t do anything you don’t all agree to.’

She needed to get out of here. The room seemed too small all of a sudden. She stumbled towards the door, blinded by a haze of tears.

‘Allie …’ Sylvain reached out towards her but she brushed his hand away.

‘I have to go.’



The next day was grey and steamy. The air felt oppressive; so warm and heavy you got the feeling you could slice it.

After her last class, Allie headed down the main staircase. Her movements were stiff, and each time her book bag thumped against her hip, her muscles objected.

All day, no one had said a word about what had happened. They were all staying clear of her.