As he turned to leave, the dog right by his side, Isabelle shouted after him, ‘Lucinda will know it was you, Nathaniel. She will deal with you.’
He disappeared into the trees without looking back. After a moment, Zelazny and Eloise walked out of the trees to Isabelle. They conferred briefly, and then walked back into the forest. When they reached the trees, two other shadowy figures joined them.
Her back pressed against the tree trunk behind her, Allie sat frozen, her thoughts in turmoil. When Carter looked down at her she could see from his expression that he was as confused about all of this as she was.
‘Let’s get out of here,’ he said.
After climbing down from the tree they made their way through the gate; Carter latched it behind them then held out his hand.
‘Ready?’
She nodded.
They began to run.
TWENTY-FIVE
The teachers had a few minutes’ head start, but Carter took Allie on a different route back to the school. This path passed by a small stone cottage sitting quietly in a garden filled with flowers. The scent of jasmine and roses wafted to them on the breeze.
‘Whose house is that?’ Allie whispered.
‘Bob Ellison’s,’ he said.
It was far behind them when he added, ‘I grew up there.’
Allie stopped. ‘That was your house?’
‘Don’t stop,’ Carter said without looking back. ‘We can talk about this later.’
The trees around them made ghostly shapes in the moonlight, but as they took up the same running pattern they’d used earlier – with Carter running ten feet ahead – Allie felt safe. Things that had frightened her in the past – a rustling in the undergrowth, the sound of a twig snapping in the distance – didn’t bother her at all.
But when she heard Carter’s voice, she skidded to a stop. He wasn’t talking to her.
He’d got well ahead and around a bend in the footpath, so she couldn’t see him or who he was speaking to, but something wasn’t right. Acting on instinct, she ducked off the track and hid behind a tree surrounded by tall ferns. Once there she sank down on one knee and held her breath.
‘… nothing at all,’ Carter was saying.
Then the other voice – Gabe’s voice: ‘So you’re just out patrolling on your own, even though it’s not your shift?’
She could tell that he didn’t believe Carter.
‘Why, what’s wrong with that?’ Carter asked. ‘I do this all the time.’
‘Not tonight,’ Gabe said. ‘Didn’t you hear Zelazny? We’re only to go out on our own shifts after curfew. You better go and talk to him. He’s not going to be happy.’
‘Fine,’ Carter said. ‘See you later.’
Allie heard the sound of his footsteps disappearing in the distance. Then she could hear footsteps and voices heading her way – several people, she thought. She leaned over to peer around the tree. In the moonlight she saw Gabe talking to somebody, but his body hid whoever it was from her view.
‘… such a screw-up sometimes, you know?’ Gabe was complaining. ‘He really needs to get it together. I don’t know why Zelazny puts up with it.’
‘Did you believe him?’ the other person asked – Allie couldn’t see who it was, and she didn’t recognise the voice.
‘I don’t really care,’ Gabe said. ‘If he keeps screwing up it won’t matter whether or not he’s telling the truth.’ He walked down the path. ‘I never understood why Isabelle pushed us to let him in Night School in the first place.’
At that moment a crashing sound in the woods behind Allie made her jump. She ducked down low again, below the fronds of the bracken around her.
‘Who’s there?’ Gabe asked. His voice sounded closer and Allie stayed very still, her heart pounding in her ears. In the moonlight she could see that he was standing on the edge of the path looking directly at her. She could hear him breathing.
She knew Gabe. They’d always been kind of friends. But something was really wrong here. He sounded different. Angry. Even threatening.
All of her instincts told her to stay hidden.
Lucas’ voice came from the woods nearby. ‘It’s me, dude.’
‘Jesus.’ Gabe sounded disgusted. ‘Subtle, man.’
‘Sorry! I tripped over a freakin’ log. It’s dark in the trees.’
‘Whatever.’ Gabe had returned to the path. ‘We’re moving on.’
After waiting until quiet returned and she was certain they were far down the path, Allie made her way cautiously back to the path and then ran at full speed towards the school.
She’d made it to the treeline when a figure stepped out of the bushes beside the path and into her way. Jumping back, she opened her mouth to scream, but a hand clamped over her lips and an arm wrapped around her as she struggled to free herself.
‘Allie,’ Carter whispered. ‘It’s me. Stop fighting.’
‘Jesus.’ She relaxed in his arms. ‘You scared the crap out of me, Carter.’
‘Did Gabe see you?’ he hissed.
She shook her head. ‘I hid.’
Obviously relieved, he pointed to their right. ‘This way.’
Sticking to the shadows at the edge of the lawn, they looped around to the back door. From there getting back in was easy. They crept through the door, but the stealth wasn’t necessary – the hallways were empty. They could hear raised voices from Isabelle’s office but didn’t linger to listen as they ran up the stairs.
‘What the hell is going on?’
Carter paced back and forth across Allie’s bedroom floor, raking his hands through his dark hair.
Perched on the edge of her desk, she didn’t have any answers for him.
‘Who is Nathaniel?’ Carter muttered to himself. ‘Why is he doing this?’
‘A dog!’ Allie said inanely.
Carter gave her a look and she explained. ‘It was a dog Jo and I heard that night in the walled garden. Nathaniel must have been there.’
‘Makes sense,’ Carter said. ‘But I still don’t understand what’s going on. Who is he?’
‘OK, let’s think about what he said. He talked about the board,’ Allie said. ‘He told Isabelle to go to the board.’
Carter glanced at her enquiringly.
‘Well, why doesn’t he go himself?’ she asked. ‘I mean, if he’s so powerful. And if he can’t go to the board, there has to be a reason.’
‘Yes.’ Recognition dawned on Carter’s face. ‘Because he’s either been in trouble with them or they don’t like him.’
‘Or they don’t know him.’ She twisted up her face in thought. ‘He could be a complete outsider. But I got the feeling he and Isabelle knew each other well. Like old friends gone wrong, or bad family or something.’
‘Yeah. Or ex-lovers,’ Carter said.
Their eyes met.
‘Totally,’ she said.
They thought that through for a minute – Allie swinging her foot, Carter pacing.
‘And Lucinda.’ Allie broke the silence. ‘She said “Lucinda will know”.’
‘I heard.’ He pivoted and paced.
‘Lucinda again …’ she murmured, watching him pace. ‘Did you believe him? Nathaniel, I mean. Do you think he didn’t kill Ruth?’
‘I don’t know.’ His tone betrayed his frustration.
‘I think Isabelle believed him.’
‘Brilliant,’ he muttered. ‘This is just brilliant.’
‘So that would mean …’ Her voice trailed off. She didn’t want to think about what that meant. Pulling her feet up onto the desk, she wrapped her arms around her knees.
‘God this is a nightmare … What do we do now?’
He stopped pacing. ‘I have no idea.’
*
For the rest of that week, Allie felt isolated. All the students were in their normal seats, and the teachers continued the lessons in the usual way, but to her nothing was the same. Something awful was going to happen – Nathaniel was going to do something ?
?? and out of all the students, only she and Carter knew about it.
Worse than that, she was still treated as if she were invisible by many students. She was ignored when she walked with them down hallways, passed them on the stairs, brushed her teeth next to them in the bathroom. And although she refused to admit it to anyone, it was getting to her. It was an oddly disembodying experience to be treated as if she weren’t actually there.
On Wednesday morning a girl she couldn’t remember seeing before dropped a pen near her in French class, and when Allie picked it up and held it out for her, the girl acted as if she couldn’t see it, even when Allie waved it back and forth in front of her. Eventually she let it fall back to the ground.
‘Whatever,’ Allie had muttered, turning back to her notebook.
On Thursday, Jules took her aside and told her she was doing all she could to get Katie to stop the campaign against her.
‘I’m trying, Allie, I really am,’ she said. ‘But she’s stubborn. I’ve tried talking to Isabelle about it but I’ve never known her to be so busy.’
Allie knew perfectly well why Isabelle was busy, but she couldn’t tell Jules that.
‘Jerry’s spoken to the boys and told them they could all face punishment if they don’t stop – so I think you’ll see the guys getting back to normal soon. Of course, some may be more scared of Katie than they are of Jerry.’ Jules looked uncomfortable. ‘But with time this will all work out. The term ends in a few weeks and next term will be better …’
Or, next term, Katie poisons even more kids against me. And then this whole thing becomes impossible, Allie thought.
Jo was still avoiding her old friends – at mealtimes she either sat with Gabe or with Katie and her legions of minions across the room from her former table.
Allie thought she didn’t look happy. But I’m probably projecting.
By Friday, though, she’d had enough. After her last class ended she stormed down the hall to Jo’s room, knocking perfunctorily before shoving the door open.
Jo sat on the bed reading a fashion magazine. ‘You could knock,’ she snapped.
‘I did. And you could not be a bitch,’ Allie replied.
Sighing heavily, Jo returned her attention to the magazine, flipping the page with a sharp, irritated crack.
‘Look, Jo,’ Allie said, leaning against the desk, ‘we need to talk … Now.’
‘Fine. Talk.’ Jo kept flipping pages.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
‘What can you remember about what happened up on the roof that day?’ Allie asked.
Jo’s normally sunny clear blue eyes were like chips of ice. ‘I can’t remember much, but I know that somehow I ended up nearly dying.’
Involuntarily, Allie glanced at Jo’s hands where plasters still covered the tips of two fingers.
‘It’s the not remembering that’s the problem here,’ Allie said. ‘Because I do remember. I remember everything. And what I can’t figure out is why you never once came to me or Carter to ask what happened.’
Jo closed the magazine with exaggerated patience and looked at her.
‘I didn’t come to you because I don’t trust you, Allie,’ she said. ‘See, the thing is, lying in my bed in pain with my hands wrapped up in bandages for a week, I had plenty of time to think about everything. And I realised that I have no idea who you really are or where you come from. All I know is what you’ve told me. And I also know that ever since we met everything’s just fallen apart.’
Colour flooded Allie’s cheeks and she stared at Jo in disbelief. ‘Are you telling me you think what’s been happening here is my fault?’
‘Think about it, Allie,’ Jo said. ‘Isn’t it your fault, at least a bit? It seems to me bad news just surrounds you. Maybe Katie’s right. Maybe you really are crazy.’
Her tone was venomous and her words stung. For a moment, Allie was speechless.
Jo was supposed to be her friend.
But then she lifted her chin and fixed Jo with a hard stare.
‘You want to know what happened on the roof, Jo? Fine. I’ll tell you. You drank half a bottle of vodka and you danced on the roof. You danced. You threw yourself around like a drunken fairy. You didn’t know where you were and you didn’t care who you took down with you. Both Carter and I risked our arses to save you that day. And right now, I’ve got to say, I’m kind of regretting that.’
Jo tried to speak but Allie talked over her. ‘If you don’t believe me, for God’s sake believe Carter. You’ve known him for years. Or believe Jules, she’s been trying to talk to you. Just don’t believe people who are only using you to get at me. Because that’s kind of pathetic.’
Her face red with anger, Jo threw the magazine at her. As it fluttered across the room Allie caught it easily.
‘What I’m regretting right now is that I ever thought I could be your friend.’ Jo spat the words out at her. ‘Now get out.’
Fighting back tears, Allie stumbled down the hallway towards the sanctuary of her own room.
I will not let them see me cry.
But at that moment, Rachel stepped in front of her with an armful of books. She took one look at Allie’s face and grabbed her hand.
‘With me,’ she said firmly, pulling her back into her room.
Dropping the books on the desk she sat down on the bed beside her. ‘What happened?’
And that was all it took.
Her body shaking with sobs, Allie told her about confronting Jo and how she’d reacted. She added in the things she’d overheard Katie saying (although she left out the bit about being on the window ledge clinging to a wall at the time).
Rachel held her hand and listened, occasionally tutting sympathetically, but mostly just letting her pour out her heart.
‘I just don’t understand how she could say these things to me … or about me,’ Allie said finally, as her sobs lessened.
Rachel waited for the tears to stop before responding.
‘Jo has … problems,’ she said diplomatically. ‘She’s fragile. Her home life is not … great. But she’s good at heart. We all know that. She’s being manipulated by Katie and her gaggle of hags to believe this rubbish about you. But that’s not much consolation, I know. It hurts – I just wish there was something more I could do.’
She handed Allie a box of tissues. ‘I think she’ll come around. And when she does she’ll be sorry she said those things.’
‘Is this the reason you never really hung around with Jo and Lisa before?’ Allie asked, drying her eyes. ‘Because Jo’s a little, what did you call it? Fragile?’
Rachel hesitated before replying. ‘I had my own … encounter with Jo’s group a long time ago. Do you remember how I told you once Lucas was the guy friend I could never date?’
Allie nodded.
‘Well, that wasn’t completely true.’ Rachel looked down at her hands. ‘I had a huge crush on Lucas when I first started here two years ago. He kind of took me under his wing. There aren’t many Asians here and I was a bit self-conscious. But he made me feel completely welcome. I was just a kid and, well, you know how it goes. A fun, good-looking guy almost adopts you … I fell completely in love with him.’
Allie looked up at her in surprise, and Rachel shrugged. ‘A few weeks later, a pretty blonde girl arrives late in the term, Lucas takes one look at her and …’ She slapped her hands together and let them fall apart. ‘Lucas became my best guy friend for ever.’
Allie looked at her, puzzled. ‘But … they broke up, right?’
‘Oh yeah,’ Rachel rolled her eyes. ‘They broke up. After she had a complete meltdown.’ She sighed. ‘But I guess some part of me could never forgive him for choosing her over me. And some other part of me could never forgive her for letting him make that choice. Or maybe that was all the same part of me.’
‘That sucks,’ Allie said.
Rachel smiled sadly. ‘Yes, it does.’
For weeks now, Rachel had been Allie’s rock. She seemed so wise and mature bey
ond her years – Allie had longed to tell her what she and Carter had learned. If anybody would know what to do, she reasoned, Rachel would. She had held off because she had promised Carter she’d tell nobody. But keeping all that information to herself was just about impossible. And there was nobody else to tell. And maybe she and Carter could use Rachel’s help.
She looked at Rachel for a long moment as she fought an inner battle.
‘What?’ Rachel asked, puzzled.
Allie wiped the last tears from her eyes. ‘There’s something I have to tell you.’
‘You did what?’
Carter’s incredulous voice echoed in the summerhouse. It was after supper and the sun was dipping low in the sky, gilding the tops of the trees around them. They were sitting on a stone bench in a pool of warm sun.
Allie raised her chin stubbornly. ‘I trust her, Carter. And it can’t be just us dealing with this.’
‘No, but we should both be involved in deciding who to tell, Allie. It’s not going to be a secret for long if we go around telling people we think we can trust without talking about it first,’ he said. ‘I mean, I didn’t just go off and tell Lucas.’
Allie thought about Lucas crashing through the woods.
‘Don’t do that,’ she said quickly.
Carter shot her an exasperated look. ‘Seriously, Allie, how much do you really know about her? Have you, for example, ever wondered if she had anything to do with spreading the gossip about you finding Ruth’s body?’
Allie thought her heart might have stopped.
‘What? Are you saying she did?’ she asked, fighting to stay calm.
‘I’m saying I don’t know and neither do you,’ he said. ‘I’m saying she loves to gossip. I’m saying it’s a bloody big coincidence that you told her about it and suddenly everybody knows.’
‘She wouldn’t …’ Allie faltered. Who could she trust any more, anyway? Why should Rachel be any different from Jo or Sylvain? Both of whom she’d trusted. Both of whom betrayed her trust.
‘You don’t know that, Allie.’ Carter’s voice was more gentle now. ‘I don’t know enough about her to know whether or not we can trust her. She’s always kept to herself.’
‘Like you,’ Allie pointed out.