Katie made a wry face. ‘Imagine how much fun that was for me – I asked for a bouncy castle and cake. Instead I got caviar and the Orion board of directors.’
Allie was speechless. It had never occurred to her that Katie would know him personally. She always talked about her parents like they were separate entities, rarely encountered. But, as a child, she would have been home more. So of course she would have known Nathaniel and Lucinda – all the people Allie had never heard of until a year ago had been part of Katie’s life all along.
‘What I’m saying is –’ Katie leaned forward, her green eyes clear as sea water – ‘if I can help you prep for this – get you ready so you know what to expect – I’d like to do it.’
Getting over her surprise, Allie found her voice again.
‘Thank you,’ she said with genuine feeling. ‘I’d like that. It would help. He weirds me out. I always think I’m ready for him and then when I actually see him – ’ she remembered facing him in the castle yard; the way her hands had trembled – ‘I just lose it.’
‘Ask me anything,’ Katie said. ‘I’ll tell you all I know.’
Across the room, someone was striking a key on the baby grand piano. Just the same mournful low key over and over again.
‘Will you stop that?’ Allie heard someone say. The sound ceased.
All she knew of Nathaniel was what she’d seen. He looked ordinary – medium height, dark hair, neither very handsome nor ugly. If you passed him on the street you wouldn’t look at him twice.
He didn’t look evil. He looked like someone’s dad.
‘I guess I’d want to know what makes him tick,’ she said. ‘If I knew, like, how his mind works, then I’d know how to get under his skin. How to throw him off balance.’
Katie nodded briskly. ‘He’s very into organisation. Everything always has to be perfect. The crease in his trousers is very straight, if you see what I’m saying.’ She warmed to the topic, looking over Allie’s shoulder as if she could see Nathaniel in the distance. ‘And everything is always the same. If he’s writing something down he has this way of tapping his pen twice on his notepad before writing – always twice. Never more or less. In fact, he does everything the same way each time. Brushing dust off his shoes with the same weird wrist flick, when there’s, like, no dust there to start with.’ Seeing the look on Allie’s face, she gave a self-deprecating shrug. ‘When I was a child I often had very little to do besides study my parents’ friends. I used to make a game out of it. Observing them like a Sherlock Holmes. Pretending I’d be questioned about it later.’
Allie blinked at her. This was a side of Katie she’d never seen. A surprisingly likable side.
‘So, he’s got OCD or something.’
‘Quite,’ Katie said. ‘Like, he does this thing when he’s really cross.’ She held up a milk-pale arm. ‘He twists his cufflinks three times, like this.’ Demonstrating, she twisted her fingers with quick, precise moves.
‘Good. I can look out for that,’ Allie said. ‘Did he ever talk to you much? I mean, directly?’
Katie paused to think about it. ‘There was one moment I’d mostly forgotten until recently. My parents used to have meetings at the London house. There’d be all these boring business people around and, usually, I’d just play upstairs. But sometimes I’d sit on the stairs to watch them and sort of … eavesdrop.’ She made a face. ‘I was an odd child, I know. But seriously, grow up in my family? You learn to make your own fun.
‘Anyway, one time I was sitting on the stairs. I must have been … twelve, I think. It was right before I came to Cimmeria. And Nathaniel saw me. I remember he walked up to me and he called me Katherine – nobody calls me that. It’s my mother’s name. He said, “And how are you, little Katherine?” And I corrected him, you know, like little girls do. I said, “My name is Katie.” He seemed to find that funny. Then he said, “When you get to Cimmeria, I’ll teach you some manners.” And it scared me.’ She paused. ‘I think because of that I kind of expected him to be here when I arrived, but he wasn’t.’
‘Only he kind of was,’ Allie said.
Katie held her gaze. ‘And now he’s teaching us some manners.’
‘Do you know why your parents are on his side?’ Allie asked. Katie’s expression darkened, and she hurried to finish the question. ‘I mean, did Lucinda do something to them to piss them off so much that they’d—’
‘Side with the devil?’ Katie cut her off. She sounded sardonic and angry now. Allie worried she’d gone too far. But then Katie gave a resigned shrug. ‘With my parents it’s always about money and power. My father lost a fortune in bad investments when I was little and he’s been trying to claw his way back ever since. My mother would kill a human being for a title.’ She appraised Allie, her apricot-pink lips curving up. ‘You’ve already got one of those, I hear. Lady Lanarkshire, isn’t it?’
Night School: Resistance (Night School 4)
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