Roanna begs me to go to the library with her. I can’t bear the idea of sneaking around at night any longer—I don’t want to see anything like what we saw the other night. I’ve had nightmares about it since then. But as afraid as I am of going, I’m more afraid of Roanna going on her own.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW6khRq9hH8
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4vWYVBXizO
We manage to get to the library with Roanna stopping once in the hallway and staring into the distance before murmuring for me to follow her. I know she must have seen something and that she’s keeping quiet in order to prevent me from being scared. I’m grateful because that way I can pretend it’s nothing at all.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEme9fWopBY
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRrQlSZtLfn
We open the library door just a quarter of a meter—any more and it will creak like a gunshot, loudly enough to alert the nearest security guard. Roanna slips through first, and I follow. Our footsteps echo through the cool darkness of the library. I wish I’d thought to bring my jumper.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7b3VW5cK5W
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdMZWwIawHP
It takes Roanna less than a minute to jimmy the lock to the restricted area. I flip the light switch, but it takes a moment for the bulb to warm and fill the area with light. I sit at the gigantic oak table and rub the goose pimples off my arms. It all feels very Harry Potter.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb7P44wfpPc
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxhvA5lvyAd
Roanna flitters from bookshelf to bookshelf like a butterfly going from flower to flower. She pulls out folders and books, dumping them on the table and dashing back to get more. She mutters to herself as she does so, but she isn’t saying anything I can make sense of. The contents of the folder fan out in front of me, and I reach for them half-heartedly.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRdYWinPeOc
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCWcE5kTg8L
Picking up a sepia photograph, I look at it. Four rows of people stand on the Wolverhampton House grounds with the house in the background. Doctors and nurses are at the ends of each row, flanking men all dressed in matching white shirts and black pants and women dressed in matching white shirts and black skirts. Their eyes make my skin prickle even more. I turn the picture over and set it back in the folder.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0deglz3wRg
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL7qqgdNVvm
“Ro, can we—”789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡosGGcdM3up
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyVe311m8WD
“Shhh!” She’s beside me, pressing her hand against my mouth. “You hear that?”789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK8RJu8L2Mi
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNiTlzVymuh
I start to shake my head, but then I do hear it: footsteps outside.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZo2PYDMp6Y
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXxunwB1ttU
“We have to put these away,” she whispers.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkRGh6hFuzT
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB1YY4nuPpM
I jump to my feet and rush to shove folders and books into random places, not caring where they go as long as they aren’t obviously sitting on the table. Right as the key is in the lock, we slide under the table and press our backs against the wall.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZg3YiITpRS
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6rc3howGC1
Two pairs of legs come in—a woman and a man.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHm9hkYDgjE
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYiMtq2HdRv
“You say you can have it completed tomorrow?” The voice is unmistakably Mr. Kensington’s.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxkvc7GBUBr
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUZeZPTgWS
“Yes.” The voice now belongs to Madame Pommier. “Tomorrow at the earliest. It will take me at least that long to gather what I need.”“Do you need my help?” Mr. Kensington asks.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHcS1kTLEPw
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2mKWdrCzxC
“Actually, yes. I need to find a particular file. It holds the blueprint of the hospital and the grounds. I need to see it so I can find the strongest point of connection.”789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnOmUy7ReTX
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd26MGkZzR4
Roanna and I share glances. She mouths, “I told you so.”789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfhyc63N9Q1
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnokm5FnqN7
They get up and shuffle through the bookcases. I hug myself and wait for them to comment on files being in the wrong places, but they don’t say anything. For a long time, there isn’t any noise but the rustling of papers. Roanna and I huddle together, trying to keep warm.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi6AyLMmtRZ
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl4K81zmBaH
It feels like hours before Madame Pommier exclaims, jolting me out of my doze. Both of them hurry to the table, unfurling a sheet of paper on the surface. I pull Roanna away from Mr. Kensington’s foot, and we listen as they do something.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcLoDhL3StM
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcfhLND0879
Roanna mouths something that looks like, “Scrying.”789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYRSKYJXwAZ
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡROzAjh2T4U
“Here it is,” Madame Pommier says triumphantly, slapping her palm against the table over our heads. Both of us jump slightly.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsOjrVUYUsL
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA3EioCri4q
“I trust you’ll get started as soon as possible,” Mr. Kensington says. “And, ladies, you can come out from under the table now.”789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfGTi2wlmV4
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡETpb8aL16l
I crawl out with a sheepish smile and Roanna right at my heels.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeAyjn8KeAV
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQtQfhr1Qq0
“We should give you both demerits,” Mr. Kensington says sternly. Roanna and I hang our heads. “I won’t, though. I suppose it’s natural to be curious about what’s happening at this school.”789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4G0tTrrRkh
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4XlvX9nSdc
“I think I figured it out,” Roanna says hurriedly.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAw6D9do32h
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3fxX2rjZ9Q
“Please do share,” Mr. Kensington says, leaning back in his chair. His shock of white hair is the brightest thing in the room.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOFy97DtWEF
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMczXvpCtjs
She opens one of the files on the table and pulls out the same picture I was looking at earlier, handing it to Mr. Kensington.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIv2aBK3IiZ
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡimghNtIWM3
“Before Wolverhampton House was a boarding school, it was a psychiatric hospital,” she says. “The ghosts we’re seeing are spirits of the people from the mental asylum.”789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbttWHL7NhP
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWhhNCyzqHj
“That’s getting close,” Madame Pommier says. “This was a sort of psychiatric hospital, but it was for people who believed themselves to have powers beyond regular humans: psychics and the like.”789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuoh0ajRFac
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWadNlHvB5t
Roanna’s face lights up instantly. “This was a hospital for psychics?”789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡErdPHOeyEv
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyJ9sL0stzl
“People who believed themselves to be psychics,” Madame Pommier corrects. “To everyone else, they were simply lunatics.”789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPqsyanfecD
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTP2yD7tJcA
“They weren’t though, were they?” Roanna says.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUsGzAlcaFp
789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE7v4l0ufHN
“No,” Madame Pommier says, causing me to raise my eyebrows. “They’ve somehow created a connection between our time and theirs. We occupy the same space at two different periods of time. So, it isn’t ghosts we’re seeing, but living people.”789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJSP684EIs7
Penana
search
Loginarrow_drop_down
Registerarrow_drop_down
