Night School - Endgame (7 page)

She stood alone near the gate, arms wrapped tightly across her torso. Looking up at the grey sky.

It’s a perfect day, she found herself thinking, for a funeral.

‘Hello Allie.’

The voice came from behind her. French accent. Familiar.

She spun around to look into a pair of eyes the same clear blue as the sea on a sunny day.

‘Oh, ma belle,’ Sylvain said. ‘I’m so sorry.’

‘
W
here did you come from
?’

‘How’s your dad?’

‘Why didn’t anyone tell us?’

The others surrounded Sylvain, exclaiming, demanding information and hugging him. Even Lucas, who had never been fond of him, pounded his shoulder in a kind of violent guy-hug.

‘Glad you’re back, man,’ he said gruffly.

They clustered near the towering hearth in the great hall talking and laughing, relieved to have something to be happy about.

Allie stood to one side. She’d already had a chance to talk to him. They’d slipped away from the funeral and walked back to the school together before the others had seen him.

‘I flew in as soon as I could get away,’ he’d explained. ‘I had to be here. For you… for Carter.’

‘What about your dad?’ she’d asked. ‘Is he… better?’

His muscles tightened almost imperceptibly at mention of his father, badly injured in an assassination attempt a week ago.

‘He’s out of intensive care. The doctors say he’s going to come through.’

‘Thank God,’ Allie said with genuine relief. ‘I’m so sorry we’re taking you away from him. He needs you.’

Unexpectedly, he’d stopped then, turning to face her. He held both her hands in his.

‘You need me.’ Before she could react, he’d leaned forward, brushing his lips gently against the top of her head.

Allie had shivered at his touch. She’d missed him so much. They’d both been through hell. It was a crappy day. When he wrapped her in his arms, she leaned into his touch.

‘It’s been horrible, Sylvain. Horrible.’

‘I know,’ he’d whispered. His breath stirred strands of her hair.

Now, as she watched the others chatter excitedly to him, he glanced over to check on her. His gaze a lightning flash of vivid blue.

The protectiveness and worry in his expression made Allie’s heart ache.

Oh God,
 
she thought. What am I going to do?

Sylvain had still been her boyfriend when he went away. Now she had to tell him the truth about Carter.

And then she would lose him forever.

Looking at him now, his wavy hair perfectly tousled, his cheekbones high and fine, standing tall and slim as he listened patiently to the others, she felt hollow inside.

She had to let him go. It had already taken her too long to listen to her heart. Too long to realise who she wanted. He’d be right to be angry with her about that.

She shook herself. She couldn’t think about this today.

Turning, she looked around for her parents. People were streaming in from the chapel, but she didn’t see them in the crowd.

The room was set up with tables draped in pristine white linen. Pale yellow flowers topped every table.

Along one wall, buffet tables were piled high with food – charcuterie and sliced cheeses, cold roast chicken and at least a dozen salads. One entire table held just decadent desserts – cheesecake and chocolate puddings, something covered in blood red raspberries and glossy blackberries.

With the sunlight streaming in through the towering windows, it looked more like a wedding than a wake. Allie knew that was intentional. Lucinda would have hated people standing around weeping over her.

Waiters in black suits circulated with trays of red and white wine, and juice. Allie was accepting a glass of iced orange juice when her parents appeared at her side, looking a little red-faced and hot from the walk back from the church.

‘There you are.’ Her mother lifted a glass of white wine from a passing tray with relief in her eyes. ‘You disappeared.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Allie said. ‘Turns out I’m not so great at funerals.’

‘I’m the same,’ her father said, taking a glass of iced water. ‘Maybe you inherited it from me.’

‘I’m not sure bad manners are genetic.’ Her mother’s reply was tart but Allie smiled.

She hated their dysfunctional family relationship, but she’d been away from them both so long it was almost nice to encounter it again. The warm glow of familiar antagonism.

‘I’m glad you guys are here.’

If she’d said ‘I’m thinking of piercing my nipples’ they couldn’t have looked more astonished.

‘What?’ she said innocently. ‘I’m not allowed to like you?’

‘Well, it is a bit unorthodox,’ her father murmured, sipping his water, but he looked pleased.

Her mother recovered quickly.

‘Of course you’re allowed to like us. It’s virtually required.’ She took a gulp of wine and glanced at her husband, who inclined his head in some silent communication. ‘Actually, seeing as we are together… there are some things we need to discuss.’

Something in her voice made Allie’s stomach clench. Her moment of near-contentment evaporated.

‘What’s going on?’

The noise in the room was increasing – everyone was back from the church now.

‘Let’s step outside for a second,’ her mother said.

They walked together up the grand staircase to the landing, where Allie first met Lucinda, the night of the winter ball.

They stood at the banister, looking down over the hallway. A low rumble of voices rose from the grand ballroom below. But they were alone and could talk quietly.

‘So, what’s going on?’ Allie’s gaze skipped from her mother’s face to her father’s.

‘First,’ her mother said, ‘we owe you an apology for the way we handled things. I never told you who Lucinda was. Or about my connections with Cimmeria.’ She rested a hand cautiously on the highly polished oak banister, as if she didn’t quite trust it. ‘That was wrong. We should have told you the truth. But in all honesty, we never suspected things would turn out like this.’

‘It’s fine,’ Allie assured her, without hesitation. ‘I’ve kind of worked that bit through.’

‘There was a time when I thought I’d never see this place again,’ her mother said. ‘Hoped, even.’

‘And now?’ Allie shot her a sideways look.

Her mother’s lips curved into a tight smile. ‘I still don’t like it.’

Downstairs, someone laughed. She saw Zoe dash down the hallway barefoot in her little grey dress, shoes clutched in her hands.

‘And we are very sorry that you had to see… what you saw that night in London.’ Her mother dropped her gaze. ‘What happened to Lucinda was awful. And she wouldn’t have wanted you to see that.’

Allie thought of the look in Lucinda’s eyes as she’d clutched her wrist with bloody hands. A look of trust. Of acceptance.

‘Yes she would.’ Allie didn’t like the turn this conversation was taking. ‘I actually think she had a very good idea something like that might happen. She wanted me there to see it.’

Her father looked taken aback. ‘Why on earth would she have wanted that?’

‘So that I would understand what the stakes are.’ Allie hadn’t thought about this much before now – there hadn’t been time. But as soon as she said it, she knew it was true. ‘She wanted me to understand what I was facing. What I am facing.’

‘You’re not facing the same danger as Lucinda,’ her mother argued. ‘That’s absurd.’

Maybe she didn’t mean to sound as sharp as she did, but Allie’s temper flared with the speed of a match strike.

‘Do you have any idea what the last year of my life has been like?’ Her voice was low and cold. ‘Lucinda is not the only person who’s died. Jo died. And Ruth. Other people were hurt. Including me.’ She held up her hair so they could see the jagged wound at the edge of her scalp. ‘I amcovered in scars.’

Her mother made a small sound, and covered her mouth with her fingertips.

Allie took grim satisfaction from that.

‘I’m lucky to be alive. And I might not be for long if we don’t win this thing. So don’t tell me what Lucinda wanted or didn’t want.’ She took a breath. ‘I think I know better than you.’

Her mother opened her mouth to argue but her father cut her off.

‘Hang on.’ He held out his hands. ‘Let’s just stop there. Fighting won’t get us anywhere. Besides, this is a funeral, remember?’ He turned to Allie. ‘Alyson.’ His voice was steady. ‘We know this is a terrible day, and we don’t want to make it worse. Your mother just wanted you to know that we are aware of what’s happening here, on some level. We’re worried about you. And that… well. We’re here if you ever need us.’

He was talking to her almost like a grownup and, for once, Allie was grateful for his unerring calm.

‘Thanks, Dad,’ she said. ‘I appreciate that. I love you guys, too.’

He gave her a sad smile.

We would hug now,
 
Allie thought, if we were a normal family.

‘There’s something else you should know,’ he said. ‘Lucinda’s lawyers have been in touch about the will.’

Allie flinched. She didn’t care about money or Lucinda’s belongings. None of that mattered. She’d give every penny to have her grandmother back.

But she knew that wasn’t what her father wanted to hear.

‘Fine.’ She shrugged. ‘Let me know what they say.’

‘That’s the thing,’ he said. ‘They didn’t want to talk to us. They want to talk to you.’

She blinked. ‘Me? Why would they want to talk to me?’

‘We think she must have left something to you. Or at least mentioned you in her papers.’ Her mother’s voice was calmer now. Her anger seemed to have dissipated. ‘We gave them the phone number here and told them to contact Isabelle. But we only received the call this morning and with everything that’s happening today, she probably hasn’t had a chance to speak with them.’

‘We’ll mention it to Isabelle as well,’ her father said. ‘They seemed rather urgently interested in contacting you. I suppose Lucinda owned several companies and was on the boards of numerous corporations. Her affairs will be complicated.’

By now, Allie was eager for this conversation to end. She wondered what the others were doing downstairs. Where Sylvain was.

‘Fine,’ she said shortly. ‘I’m sure Isabelle can handle it. Should we go back down, now?’

‘Alyson.’ Her mother took a step towards her. ‘We want you to be safe. That’s all that matters to us. I don’t like seeing you so caught up in Lucinda’s world. It was this I tried to protect you from.’ She gestured at the building around them – the crystal chandelier, the marble statues, the towering windows. ‘Now I feel as though it’s sucked you in.’

Allie bit back the angry words she wanted to say.

She hated that her instinctive reaction to anything her mother said was to fight.

But she also hated how little her parents knew her.

‘I know,’ she said gently. ‘And thank you for that. But this is where I belong. I’d rather be here than be safe.’

She turned towards the stairs. Then she thought of the one thing she really wanted to say to them.

She stopped and looked back.

‘One more thing. Please don’t call me Alyson anymore. My name is Allie.’

‘I can’t eat another bite.’ Nicole pushed her plate away. ‘I don’t know why I ate so much. I wasn’t hungry to start with.’

Next to her, Zoe had made a ‘cakewich’ of chocolate and Victoria sponge slices stacked together.

‘If I have any more sugar,’ she said hopefully, ‘maybe my pancreas will explode.’

Rachel smiled. ‘It’s good to have goals.’

The party was winding down. Students had begun drifting to the common room. Some of the more famous guests had already departed, their Jaguars and Audis purring down the drive.

Sylvain stood in a corner of the room near the fireplace, talking to Lucas and Katie. Allie’s eyes lingered on him. Despite everything, she was so glad he was here. She felt safer when he was around.

As if he’d felt her gaze, he looked up. Their eyes met across the room.

Allie’s stomach flipped.

She didn’t understand herself. Would there always be this thing between them? It was a kind of electricity. As if their wires were connected in some inexplicable way.

What had happened with Carter – the decision she’d made – it didn’t erase her history with Sylvain. She knew what it was like to be held in those arms. To be kissed by that mouth.

When you’ve been that close to someone, how do you just… forget that? Is there a way to shift gears from tearing each other’s clothes off on the roof to being friends?

If there is,
 
she thought, watching his smooth, dangerous long stride, I haven’t figured it out yet.

At that moment, someone called Allie’s name. She spun around to see Dom in the doorway.

Even today, the tech wasn’t wearing a dress – she wore perfectly creased black trousers, with a white shirt and long, black blazer.

Her face was alight with excitement.

Allie hurried towards her, only vaguely aware that Sylvain had caught up and was walking alongside her.

‘What is it?’ Allie asked.

Dom motioned for her to follow. If she was surprised to see Sylvain it didn’t show on her face.

‘Come with me. We’ve found something.’

D
om moved fast
down the hallway, her long jacket flowing behind her. Sylvain and Allie stayed right on her heels. She stopped only long enough to grab Isabelle and Raj along the way.

‘What have you found?’ Sylvain asked her as they hurried through the classroom wing to the stairwell.

Allie glanced at him. His face was set, his blue eyes clear and focused. He’d stepped back into Cimmeria’s crisis situation seamlessly. As if he’d never gone away at all.

‘We’ve been tracing their communications, trying to triangulate their location. Looking for any indication of where they’re keeping Carter,’ Dom explained.

‘Nathaniel has no idea we can hear every word his guards say,’ Isabelle added. ‘It’s a useful tool.’

‘Or it should be,’ Raj said. ‘If they’d say something useful.’

‘They just did,’ Dom said, shooting him a look. ‘At last.’

When they reached her office, Shak was at the table typing furiously, headphones perched on his head.

‘Has there been more?’ Dom asked as she hustled across the room.

He nodded without looking up. ‘They’re still talking.’

Sylvain turned around, taking in the room that had become a command hub. Allie tried to see it with his eyes – maps stretched across one wall, tagged with dozens of photos of expensive mansions owned by supporters of Nathaniel, a cluster of laptops dominating the round table, metres of wires snaking across the floor.

Dom hurried to her desk calling over shoulder, ‘Give me a second and I’ll show you what I’m talking about.’

Isabelle and Raj followed her, talking quietly. Allie and Sylvain stayed by the door, waiting.

The room fell quiet, the only sound the machine gun rattle of computer keys as Shak and Dom typed.

Then Dom glanced up. ‘Here we go.’

Crackling male voices filled the air from hidden speakers.

‘He says he wants you to pick up a package.’ Allie recognised the nasal voice as belonging to the guard they knew only as Six. ‘From that place in the village.’

There was a pause than another voice swore. It was Nine. ‘What are we now? His sodding delivery boys? This is ridiculous. Waste of our time. Tell him to pick up his own package.’

The guards engaged in creative criticism of their boss, whose name they never mentioned. But it was clear they were talking about Nathaniel.

‘I’ve had just about enough of this,’ Nine’s voice sounded cold with anger. ‘Someone has to tell One this is over.’

‘Go right ahead.’ Six’s voice was a snarl. ‘But someone’s still got to go down to the Half Moon and pick up the bloody package and it isn’t going to be me.’

Raj took a sharp breath.

Dom pushed a button, cutting off their voices.

‘That was their first mistake,’ she said. ‘There are forty-seven establishments in England called the Half Moon. Fifteen are in the south of England. Only four are within the Home Counties where we believe Nathaniel to be hiding.’

She typed something into her keyboard, and a map flashed up on the widescreen monitor mounted on one wall. A bright red circle had been drawn on it.

Allie’s heart skipped a beat. Suddenly she knew what Dom was going to say.

‘Nathaniel is somewhere in that circle.’ Dom thrust a finger at the screen. ‘I’d bet this building and everyone in it that’s where Carter is, too.’

‘Well, it’s a start.’ Isabelle glanced at Raj, whose expression was set and brooding. ‘But no more than that.’

Raj nodded his agreement.

Allie wanted more. ‘If we know where he is, we should go get him,’ she said. ‘What are we waiting for?’

Raj typed something into Dom’s computer, and brought up a satellite image of green countryside, dotted with houses. He thrust his finger at the monitor.

‘There will be no fewer than five hundred houses in that area, Allie,’ he said. ‘That’s five hundred places to hide.’ He pointed at a long building, a rectangular white blob on the screen. ‘Then there are industrial structures. Farm buildings. Barns. We can’t break into all of them.’

Allie’s heart fell. When he put it that way, it didn’t seem like they knew much at all. Carter was still lost.

Her unhappiness must have shown on her face.

‘A start isn’t nothing,’ Dom chided her gently. ‘It’s a beginning. You have to have a beginning before you can get to the end.’

‘I know,’ Allie mumbled.

But it felt like nothing. Worse than nothing. It felt like someone had held out the answers to all of Allie’s prayers. And then taken them away again.

The room was growing crowded. Word must be spreading. Zoe, Nicole and Rachel burst in and raced to Allie’s side.

‘Everyone’s saying they found him,’ Rachel said breathlessly. ‘Are they right?’

It was Raj who told the others what had happened.

‘Rats,’ Zoe muttered, disappointment written on her face. ‘I knew it was too good to be true.’

Without sticking around to hear more, she went over to join Shak at the round table. Soon the two of them were deep in code.

Rachel turned to Dom. ‘What can I do?’

Dom walked across the room with her and Nicole, explaining something in a quiet voice. Raj and Isabelle left the room, heads close together as they talked.

Allie looked around. The room was full now. Buzzing with energy.

In the midst of all of the excitement, she’d forgotten about Sylvain. She scanned the room, but he wasn’t there.

He must have slipped away while she wasn’t looking.

Some of the tension left Allie’s shoulders.

She was glad he was gone. She needed some time to think. His arrival had been so unexpected. She’d thought she’d have more time – weeks even – to decide what to do.

She knew she had to break up with him. She just couldn’t bear the idea of telling him what had happened.

Sometimes truth is a weapon.

This time it felt like a loaded gun.

By the time Allie left Dom’s office, the wake was over. The grand hall was empty again, the tables had been stacked away. She looked around for her parents, but they weren’t in the common room, and the dining hall was empty, too.

They must have gone while she was upstairs. Her mother would be cross.

As she walked the shadowy corridor, she let out a sigh. No matter how she tried to fix things with them, something always happened to ensure everyone ended up wounded.

Then she heard a low rumble of voices. It seemed to come from upstairs.

Whirling, she hurried back that way, pausing at the foot of the grand staircase. Only then did she realise the noise was actually coming from under the stairs – Isabelle’s office.

The door was closed, but she could hear the sound of many people talking.

Maybe they’re in there. 

She knocked tentatively, but it was noisy inside – everyone seemed to be talking at once. No one came to the door.

After a second, she turned the handle.

The small office was full of people. Some she recognised from the funeral, others she didn’t. There were too many for the room, which had only two chairs aside from Isabelle’s own. Everyone stood, although some leaned against walls or perched on cabinets.

With so many people, it was too warm. The air felt uncomfortably short of oxygen.

Allie didn’t see her parents anywhere.

She was just thinking of sneaking back out again, when Isabelle spotted her through the crowd.

‘Allie.’ Isabelle motioned for her to join her by her desk. ‘Over here, please.’

The room fell silent. Everyone turned to look at her. The crowd parted, forming a path.

Allie shot Isabelle a questioning look as she made her way to her, but the headmistress wore her best professional blank expression.

Isabelle stretched out her arm to take in the room. ‘These people are from the Orion Group.’

Allie stifled a gasp. Orion was Nathaniel’s group now. He’d wrested control from Lucinda, taking over completely after her death. As far as she was concerned, Orion was part of her grandmother’s murder.

‘What’s going on here?’ Her voice was low and ominous and Isabelle didn’t miss the underlying message. She gave her a reassuring look.

‘Allie, these are the people who stood with Lucinda against Nathaniel. They’ve been through the wars, just as we have.’ She smiled at the group with obvious affection. ‘And they’ve come here today to talk to you.’

‘Oh.’ She looked out at the sea of faces, still suspicious but with increasing curiosity.

A man about her father’s age stepped forward. He was very tall and lanky, with dark hair and eyes, his expensive-looking silk tie perfectly knotted.

‘My name is Julian Bell-Howard.’ His voice was plummy, rich. The kind of voice you’d expect to hear on the news. ‘I think I speak for everyone when I say we were all enormously fond of your grandmother. Lucinda Meldrum was the greatest leader Orion has ever seen – its first female president. We shall miss her terribly. And we are so sorry for your loss.’

A low murmur of agreement swept the room.

Allie was touched. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I miss her very much.’

‘I know Lucinda thought very highly of you,’ Julian continued, taking another step forward. ‘She spoke about you often, especially after you enrolled at Cimmeria. She believed you would one day step into her shoes.’ He glanced around at the people beside him. ‘That’s why we’re here. You see… we’d like to invite you to join us.’

That, Allie hadn’t expected.

‘Join you?’ She stared at him. ‘I don’t understand. How can you even invite me? I thought Nathaniel ran it now.’

Julian’s smile tightened. ‘We are the core group – the real Orion, if you will. It’s our goal to wrest control of the organisation back from Nathaniel. Seize back the leadership that is rightfully ours. Return Orion back to the high standing it has held for centuries. Expel the Neanderthals and close the gates.’

‘Hear hear,’ someone murmured. The group rustled with approval.

Julian smiled. ‘We would very much like it if you were at our side, as Lucinda was for so many years.’

Her frozen expression seemed to deflate some of his enthusiasm. His voice faltered very slightly at the end.

Allie felt as if the handsomely dressed group in front of her had walked in with machine guns and deposited a time bomb in her lap.

She wanted to shout at them about how their stupid battle had cost her grandmother her life. How other people she loved had been caught up in it and paid a horrible price.

But she didn’t. She squared her shoulders and looked out at the group.

‘I’m sorry you wasted your time coming here today.’ Her voice was low but perfectly clear. ‘I’m afraid I cannot accept your invitation.’

If the people in the room had known her better they would have heard the suppressed anger in her tone. But they didn’t know her at all.

‘Perhaps I wasn’t clear —’ Julian seemed befuddled.

Allie didn’t let him finish. ‘You were perfectly clear. Now let me be clear. Lucinda Meldrum died trying to end this thing once and for all. That is all she wanted. This fight ruined her life, Nathaniel’s life, my life, and the lives of all the kids in this building.’ She took a breath, ignoring the stunned expressions on the faces looking back at her. ‘So, I will not join you to fight for control of Orion. I don’t want anything to do with Orion at all.’

No one met Allie’s gaze as she threaded her way through the crowd in Isabelle’s office – all she wanted was out.

But just as she stepped into the corridor, taking a grateful gulp of the cool air, Julian caught up with her.

‘Allie, could I speak to you for a moment?’ He closed the door behind him, so no one could overhear their conversation.

He was very tall – he towered over her. She looked up at him cautiously, expecting him to chide her. But he didn’t do anything like that. Instead, he apologised.

‘My timing was terrible. Please forgive me. I put you in the most appalling position in there.’

His contrition appeared real; Allie was disarmed.

‘I’m sorry, too,’ she said, her cheeks colouring. ‘I lost my temper a little.’

‘Everyone loses their temper.’ His lips twitched mischievously. ‘I’ve seen your grandmother throw a stapler so hard it left a dent in a wall.’

‘No way,’ she said. It was unimaginable. Calm, controlled Lucinda, losing it?

‘Absolute way,’ he said. ‘You don’t get anywhere in life by being placid. Greatness comes from passion. And passion is almost always twinned with anger. You can fight that in yourself or you can accept it, and use it as a force for good. Which is what she chose to do.’

Allie studied him curiously.

He was an interesting-looking man – all angles and elbows, like an overgrown teenager. His hair flopped over his narrow forehead, and he kept shoving it back absently. She liked that his quick smile always reached his eyes.

‘Perhaps I was overly exuberant in my timing, because Lucinda was an inspiration to me,’ he continued. ‘She helped me many times when I was young, and we remained friends and colleagues throughout my life. I named my daughter after her.’ He paused. ‘Lucy’s eight now. I’d always hoped to send her to Cimmeria when she was old enough so she could walk in her godmother’s footsteps. Now I wonder if she’ll ever get that chance.’

It was heartbreaking to think of Cimmeria in Nathaniel’s hands – out of all of their reach. But if that was what it took for there to be peace, Allie would let it happen.

‘I wish there was another way,’ she said. ‘I just don’t think there is one.’

His reply came without a second’s hesitation.

‘Actually, I’m certain there is,’ he said. ‘We just have to find it.’