Night School - Endgame (13 page)

A
llie felt dazed
. Like she’d stepped into a dream. He looked good – his hair was a little shaggy, but he looked strong. He was casually dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt, Converse trainers on his feet.

The suit he’d worn when he was working with Nathaniel was gone.

‘What… What are you doing here?’ She stumbled over her words.

She’d forgotten about Charlie and Alec. Forgotten what her role was here. All she saw was her brother. Standing where he should not be.

His nervous smile disappeared as quickly as it arrived. ‘Looking for you, Allie-cat,’ he said.

‘How did you get in?’ Allie looked around, as if the dark woods around them might hold the answers. ‘How did you get over the fence?’

‘Um… yeah.’ He stuffed his hands in his pockets, and rocked back on his heels. ‘We should probably talk about that. For now, let’s just say I got in.’

Something about his stance reminded her so strikingly of Nathaniel, it acted like a slap in the face. Allie suddenly realised where she was. What she had to do.

‘You shouldn’t have,’ she said.

She pressed the button on the radio mic connected to the neckline of her top.

‘This is Allie. I’m at the chapel.’

‘Allie, don’t.’ Christopher looked at her pleadingly.

But she couldn’t protect him. Not this time.

‘There’s an intruder.’

Christopher took a nervous step back, glancing around furtively as if he thought SWAT teams might spring from the forest.

‘I don’t understand,’ he said. ‘I’ve left Nathaniel. I saved you in London. I sold everything I had to get here without going on the grid.’ He held out his hands – his wrists bare. ‘The watch dad gave me. It’s gone.’

He seemed genuinely upset, but Allie could no longer say for certain if she knew her brother well enough to know when he was faking an emotion. He’d run away a long time ago. She’d been a child the last time they’d had a real conversation.

She wasn’t a child anymore.

‘If you’re really not working for Nathaniel, we’ll figure that out, and you won’t have any trouble.’

Her voice was cool and dispassionate. Like she was talking to a stranger.

Christopher shot her a look of pure disbelief. ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this to me. I’m your brother. They’ll tear me apart, Allie. They think I’m on Nathaniel’s side.’

In the distance, footsteps pounded towards them out of the darkness. Dozens of them. Allie could see torch beams bobbing and dancing firefly-like through the trees.

Everyone was coming.

She turned back to her brother, who was backing towards the fence as if he might, foolishly, decide to run.

She couldn’t blame him. It sounded like an army was coming for him.

Too late, Allie questioned her decision.

‘I’m sorry, Chris,’ she said, panic fluttering inside her chest. ‘I had to.’

At that moment, the first guards sprang into the courtyard.

‘Get back.’ A muscular, dark-skinned man clad all in black leaped in between Allie and Christopher, pushing her away from her brother.

Around her, voices shouted rapid-fire commands.

‘Down on your knees. Now.’

‘Hands behind your head.’

‘Move.’

As the guards surrounded her brother, Allie backed slowly away.

Holding her gaze with desperate eyes, he did as he was told, lowering himself to the ground and bracing his hands behind his head.

The guard slipped plastic handcuffs on his wrists; another guard searched his pockets, finding only a phone, which he confiscated.

Straightening, one spoke into his radio. ‘Intruder in custody.’

The guards pulled Christopher roughly to his feet. He wasn’t looking at Allie now. He kept his gaze on some indefinable point in the distance.

The whole scene made her uneasy. Christopher’s placid acceptance of everything they were doing. The guards’ aggression.

She hated that it had come to this.

It was over in seconds. They hustled him out of the churchyard gate, and down the footpath towards the school building.

Then the night fell silent again.

Allie inhaled with gasping suddenness. Shaking herself as if waking from a nightmare, she looked around for the others.

Charlie and Alec were huddled together in the shadows by the chapel door, watching her with trepidation. As if she was the intruder.

Straightening her shoulders, she motioned for them to join her.

‘Come on. We need to get going.’

Emerging slowly from the safety of the sheltered doorway, they followed her down the footpath with clear reluctance.

It was a while before anyone spoke.

Charlie broke the silence when they were halfway to the school.

‘Who was that guy?’

‘My brother.’ Allie’s voice was flat.

‘Wait.’ Alec panted behind them, struggling with the pace. ‘Your brother just broke into our school?’

‘Yep. He used to work for Nathaniel.’ Allie kept her eyes on the dark woods ahead. ‘Any more questions?’

After that, Charlie dropped back to run with Alec.

When they reached the school building, Allie stopped and pointed towards a side door.

‘Go back down to the training room and let Zelazny know what happened.’

She was breathless, but not from running. With every step she’d grown more anxious. If Christopher had come here, he was either working for Nathaniel or he needed her help.

Which one is it? 

Alec did as she said, but Charlie hung back. Her eyes watched Allie worriedly.

‘What about you?’ she asked. ‘What will you do now?’

Allie was starting to like her. She had potential.

But she didn’t say that. Instead, she turned towards the front door.

‘I’m going to find out what the hell my brother is doing here.’

Her footsteps were all Allie could hear as she sped to Isabelle’s office.

‘Isabelle?’ she called, knocking harder than was entirely necessary. ‘It’s Allie.’

The office door was locked – no light seeped from the crack around the door.

Trying to think, Allie walked slowly back into the corridor, pressing her fingertips against her lips.

Where would they take him? Eloise had been held in an outbuilding, near the pond at the fringes of the school grounds. Jerry had been locked up in a disused wine cellar deep in the school’s foundations.

Would they consider Christopher such a threat that they’d lock him up like that? She just didn’t know.

‘Allie. What’s happened?’ Sylvain appeared on the staircase, heading down towards her. ‘Isabelle said you found an intruder.’

Out of habit, Allie’s heart jumped, then sank again as he stepped into the light. His expression was cool; enigmatic. He stayed a safe distance away.

‘It was my brother.’ Her throat went suddenly tight. ‘It’s Christopher.’

‘What? On the grounds?’

He was shocked and she couldn’t blame him. She couldn’t decide which was worse, that she’d just turned in her own brother, or that somehow he’d managed to get into the school grounds undetected.

She nodded.

‘I don’t know what he’s doing here or how he got in. I didn’t have a chance to talk to him. The security guards took him away so fast.’ She looked at him imploringly. ‘Sylvain, I have to talk to him. I have to know why he’s here.’

‘Allie…’

She could hear the conflict in his voice. The last thing he probably wanted to do right now was help her. She’d told him flatly she didn’t want that from him. And yet, here they were again.

‘He’s worked with Nathaniel for years,’ he said. ‘He was fully immersed in that world. There’s no reason to believe he’s somehow changed his mind.’

‘But in London he saved my life. He risked everything.’ It felt good to defend Chris, and she warmed to the cause. ‘Maybe Christopher really wants to be on our side now. What if he wants to help us? To help me? I can’t let them put him in the dungeon or whatever they’re going to do to him.’ Seeing the doubt in his eyes, she took a tentative step towards him. ‘Sylvain, he’s my brother.’

He raked his fingers through his wavy hair. ‘I know it’s difficult, but you have to think about this rationally,’ he said. ‘Pretend he’s not your brother. Perhaps, instead, he’s my brother. And he’s been on Nathaniel’s side throughout all of this. He was indoctrinated years ago. Then he does one thing to help me. One thing.’ He held up one finger. ‘Do I believe he’s changed all of his beliefs? Or do I suspect that’s what he wants me to think.’

Allie’s shoulders slumped. He had a point. But she wasn’t ready to give up. Not without talking to Christopher first.

‘I know it’s possible this could be a trick. But I still don’t want them to question him without me.’ He opened his mouth to argue and she spoke over him. ‘I know how they work, Sylvain. So do you.’

He held up his hands in tacit acknowledgement.

‘I just want to make sure he’s safe. That’s it.’ She held his gaze. ‘Will you help me?’

He didn’t answer immediately.

Allie wasn’t going to beg him. She was almost certain he’d know where Christopher was being held. He was very close to Raj and Zelazny, always involved in high-level decision making. It was just the sort of information he’d have.

But if he didn’t want to tell her, she’d find out on her own.

She thought she saw a flicker of emotion in the ocean blue of his eyes – a hint of the loss she felt, too. And of the connection that always existed between them. Different from the one she had with Carter. Not a love like that. But no less real.

‘I must be insane.’ Sylvain let out a long breath. ‘Come with me. I think I know where they’ll take him.’

Turning on his heel, he headed down the hallway with long, confident strides.

Allie hurried after him. ‘Are you sure?’

‘No. But if it was me, I’d put him in one of the old storage rooms in the cellar. Secure, private…’ He glanced at her. ‘Soundproof.’

The lights were off in the classroom wing when they reached it, but they both knew it well enough to find their way through it in the dark. Sylvain moved with lithe grace. Allie matched him step for step.

She knew Isabelle wouldn’t be happy to see her, but it didn’t matter.

What she’d told Sylvain was only partially true. Yes, she wanted to protect Christopher, but she also wanted to decide for herself whether or not he was telling the truth. Whether or not she could trust him.

They were nearly to the end of the hallway when Sylvain stopped with such abruptness Allie slammed into him, full force. He grabbed her shoulders to keep her from falling.

Even in the dark, the look he gave her scorched. ‘Careful.’

She took a hurried step back.

‘Sorry,’ she mumbled.

But he’d already turned away. He opened an unmarked door to reveal a staircase going down into complete darkness.

‘This way.’ His voice was devoid of emotion.

The old stone spiral staircase had a musty smell. Unable to see even an inch ahead, Allie clung to the metal banister. She couldn’t see Sylvain anymore – she could hear his feet scuffing on the steps as they descended.

‘What do you think he wants?’ His voice echoed, disembodied.

‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘Maybe he really has given up on Nathaniel. Maybe he’s really on our side.’

‘If not?’

‘Then it’s a trick.’ Her own voice rang back at her mockingly. ‘And Nathaniel sent him to sabotage us. Or to spy.’

The stairs ended abruptly, and Allie suddenly found herself standing in a small, dark room, with corridors branching off in several directions.

The cellars were a tangle of old tunnels and rooms that had been added to over the years. Some were centuries older than the building that stood there now.

They headed into a long, narrow corridor. The ceilings were low, and the only light came from ancient wall sconces. The sconces emitted a flickering, ghostly glow, making shadows that jumped and ducked in an almost human way, setting Allie’s nerves on edge.

After a long, straight stretch, the corridor turned sharply to the right.

Just as they reached the bend, two guards appeared out of the darkness, blocking their path.

‘You’re not supposed to be here,’ one said.

Next to her, Sylvain stiffened but, before he could speak, Allie stepped forward to confront the two guards.

‘My name is Allie Sheridan,’ she announced. ‘I need to speak with Isabelle. Now please. Get out of the way.’

The two guards exchanged a look. Then they stepped back and let them pass.

Allie couldn’t believe it worked. The rules of Cimmeria’s game really had changed now that Lucinda was gone. She wasn’t just a normal student anymore.

If she ever had been.

‘Interesting,’ Sylvain murmured. ‘Would you care to explain what just happened?’

‘Long story.’ Allie pointed to the end of the hallway. ‘I think we found them.’

Raj and Isabelle stood with a group of guards outside a battered door.

It was the same room where they’d kept Jerry Cole.

Allie knew what was inside. Bare, stone walls. And chains.

‘Isabelle.’ The word came out sharper than she’d intended, and the headmistress spun around to face her.

‘Allie? What are you doing here?’ Isabelle frowned. ‘Sylvain? What’s going on?’

‘You have Christopher in there?’ Allie pointed at the door. ‘The same room where you kept Jerry? Why would you do that? What are you doing to him?’

The headmistress held up her hands. ‘Now, just one second, Allie…’

‘He’s not chained.’ Raj stepped up to join them. His expression was serious. ‘We just needed a safe place to keep him while we evaluate the situation.’

When he put it like that it didn’t sound unreasonable, but Allie still didn’t like the symbolism of it.

‘I was planning to come and get you as soon as we knew what we were dealing with,’ Isabelle said.

‘Well it’s good to know that I’m involved in major decisions as long as I can find you.’

‘Your brother is not in any danger,’ the headmistress said evenly. ‘We didn’t even know who he was when the guards first brought him in. He was treated like any other intruder until he told us his name. Now things are different. Obviously.’