Night School: Resistance (Night School 4)

It was oddly comforting to hear an adult verify what Allie had long believed. But it still stung.

‘I know that.’ Allie tried to sound cool. ‘I’m not a complete idiot. But maybe I’m not the pawn you all think I am. If I don’t go, I can’t change anything. If I’m there, I have some control over what happens to us.’

‘Will you?’ Lucinda sounded unconvinced. ‘Even if you come, I’ll still be in control of what happens. You’ll just be there to prove my willingness to cooperate. To convince Nathaniel that I’m really listening to him. That doesn’t seem worth risking your life.’

‘Oh, please.’ Allie couldn’t keep the bitterness from her tone. ‘If I don’t come with you, he won’t talk to you. If you two don’t talk, he’ll attack the school, hurting people I care about.’ She tightened her lips. ‘He’ll never give up. When you look at it that way, I don’t think I actually have a choice. But no one else is dying because of me. I’m going with you.’

When she spoke again Lucinda’s voice was quiet. ‘Isabelle thinks you’re not ready for this. I think she underestimates you.’

The headmistress kept her gaze lowered. Allie felt suddenly protective of her.

‘She doesn’t underestimate me,’ she said. ‘She wants to protect me.’

‘And you don’t want to be protected?’

Allie didn’t hesitate. ‘I want to fight back.’

A long silence fell. Allie stared at the small, plastic phone.

‘Parleys are, by tradition, non-violent. You leave your weapons behind. As you can imagine, I do not expect Nathaniel to honour this noble tradition. Therefore, we are deciding now how best to stay safe. Guards must be with us every step of the way.’

Lucinda’s tone was brisk and business-like. The decision had been made.

Excitement and fear ran through Allie’s veins, heating her blood. She was actually going to do this. She was going to the parley.

‘We will not go in alone and we will have a plan,’ Lucinda continued. ‘Whatever that plan is, I’ll expect you to follow it. Regardless of what happens to anyone else. Regardless of what Nathaniel does. You will be allowed to accompany me only if you give me your word. No matter what happens that night, you follow the plan.’

Allie’s throat tightened. How quickly it all became real.

‘I’ll follow the plan,’ she said. ‘I promise.’

‘Good,’ Lucinda said. ‘Nathaniel will have endless annoying demands and will no doubt choose an utterly inappropriate location. He always does. As soon as a date is set, you will be informed, but I imagine he’ll give us little notice – he likes to catch us off-guard. So be ready. Are you practising?’

Allie blinked. ‘Practising …? What?’

‘Self-defence, of course,’ Lucinda said. ‘Isabelle said you’ve begun training with weapons.’

Allie’s gaze shot up to Isabelle; her returning glance was unapologetic.

‘Yes,’ Allie said with dry understatement, ‘we’re using the weapons.’

This seemed to satisfy Lucinda. ‘Good,’ she said. Then her tone changed. ‘Isabelle, do you have the item we discussed?’

The headmistress bent down and retrieved a package wrapped in brown paper from beneath her desk. ‘I have it here.’

‘Would you be so kind as to hand it to Allie?’

Expressionless, Isabelle held the package out across the desk. Allie rose to receive it.

It was heavy, and perfectly rectangular.

She held it gingerly. ‘Should I … open it?’

‘Of course,’ Lucinda said. ‘How else will you find out what’s inside?’

Carefully, Allie split the seam of the paper with her fingernail. The heavy paper fell open to reveal a battered book, its pages worn from use. The cover bore no lettering. It had the musty smell of age.

Intrigued, she opened it. Inside was a hand-written family tree, which seemed to go back to the twelfth century. Exploring further she discovered each page was topped with a name, faded with age, and a description of when that person lived, who they married, when they died.

‘If you are going to fight with your family, I thought it was time you learned who you are fighting for,’ Lucinda said. ‘This is the book of our family. My great-great-grandfather had it written, and each generation has filled in pages since. My father gave it to me. Now I’m giving it to you.’

Allie, who had only learned Lucinda was her grandmother a few months ago, knew very little about her own family. Her mother had kept her heritage from her until Nathaniel made that impossible. Since then she’d told her only the bare minimum about herself.

Few things meant more to her than finding who she really was and where she came from. But how could Lucinda have known that?

This book was one of a kind. Hand-made. A priceless family heirloom. It might answer all her questions but it was also a huge responsibility. Her grandmother was sending her a message. Telling her she trusted her.

She swallowed hard.