It was Eloise. And in her hand she held a small silver key.
Eloise’s eyes widened as Allie skidded to a stop a few feet away, and for a moment the two just stared at each other in surprise.
What was Eloise doing in Isabelle’s office? Was she in there all along? Did she just ignore me when I knocked? And why was she messing with the door just now?
Allie knew she needed to say something but her mind wouldn’t seem to function.
‘I… uh…’ she stuttered, ‘just… I was… looking for Isabelle.’
The librarian’s eyes darted from Allie to the hallway beyond her as if she was concerned about being seen.
Up close, Allie noticed her cheeks were flushed and breathless. Her dark hair had begun escaping from the clips that held it, as if she’d been exercising or running.
Confusion and a dawning sense of suspicion made Allie’s stomach tighten. She wrapped her arms around her torso.
Composing herself, Eloise lifted her chin in an imperious imitation of Isabelle’s natural hauteur. ‘She’s away. Can I help you with something?’
Yeah, Allie thought darkly, you could tell me what the hell you were just doing in Isabelle’s office when she’s not here.
But she didn’t say that.
‘No… no, I just need to talk to her,’ she said instead, trying to sound casual. ‘Do you, like, know when she’ll be back?’
‘She went to London for a meeting after her last class.’ Eloise glanced at her watch. ‘She won’t be back until late tonight.’ She studied Allie narrowly. ‘Are you sure there’s nothing I can help you with?’
‘No thanks.’ Allie took a quick step back, banging her head on the tilted underside of the staircase above them. ‘Ouch.’ Never taking her eyes off Eloise, she rubbed her head with one hand. ‘I uh… guess I’ll just come back. You know. Tomorrow.’
Forcing herself to move with deliberate steadiness, she crossed the hall and gathered her books as if nothing was wrong.
The whole time she was conscious of Eloise watching her every move.
ELEVEN
That night Allie made her way down the basement corridor towards Training Room One with slow, heavy steps. She felt weighed down, as if something tugged at her, holding her back.
All she wanted was to tell someone everything, but when she tried explaining it in her head it sounded crazy.
Hey. So anyway, I thought I saw Gabe outside last night but I didn’t, and Eloise is breaking into Isabelle’s office when she’s not there and by the way I’m totally sane. Don’t you worry about a thing. Got a B on my history essay.
Nicole and Zoe were already in Training Room One when she arrived, warming up near the back. She hurried over to them but barely had a chance to say hello before Eloise walked up looking perfectly normal.
‘How are you feeling today,’ the instructor asked with solicitous concern. ‘Any soreness in your knee?’
‘A little.’ Allie couldn’t bring herself to meet Eloise’s gaze.
‘We’ll take it easy today. But if it handled yesterday’s workout that’s great news.’ Eloise’s smile appeared genuinely enthusiastic. ‘You’re making progress.’
As she went through her warm-up routine, Allie kept an eye on her but she seemed utterly normal – laughing at Nicole’s jokes and keeping a close eye on Allie.
If she was the spy who thought she’d just been found out, she was hiding it very well.
This all left Allie conflicted. Maybe Eloise had a perfectly good explanation. It could probably all be explained if she could just talk to Isabelle – but the headmistress had still not returned.
After a brief warm-up, Zelazny stepped into the middle of the room. ‘We will begin tonight with a four-mile competitive run.’
Zoe, who loved running, gave a small hop of excitement.
‘About time,’ she chirped to herself.
Allie, who was feeling particularly non-competitive, wasn’t quite sure how this would work. On competitive runs the last student in was punished, usually with short-term detention or additional exercise. The punishment was mild but the humiliation was intense.
As soon as Zelazny stopped talking, though, Eloise pulled the girls aside. ‘I’m sorry, Zoe,’ she said, smiling at the younger girl, ‘but you’re going to have to take it slow. Allie can’t go fast and she certainly can’t run four miles.’
‘Rats,’ Zoe muttered.
As the other students poured out of the room, Eloise gave them strict instructions that Allie could only do a walk-run combination and go no more than two miles.
‘If you want to run further,’ she told Zoe and Nicole, ‘bring Allie back here first. Under no circumstances are you to leave her unprotected outside.’
Her use of the word ‘unprotected’ took Allie aback – it was the first time she’d realised Zoe and Nicole were essentially her bodyguards. But it made sense. She’d been given two partners instead of one, both of them known for their speed. In addition, Nicole – a senior member of Night School – was highly skilled in defence tactics and martial arts.
The other students were long gone by now, the training room was empty.
They were hurrying for the door when Eloise called out, ‘And, Allie?’ When Allie stopped to look back at her, the instructor’s expression held a warning. ‘Be careful.’
As she hurried to join Zoe and Nicole in the hallway Allie’s mind teemed with doubt. No matter how she tried she simply couldn’t square the way Eloise had acted earlier with the way she was now. It was as if she were two different people.
‘She’s nice, Eloise,’ Nicole said. Allie shot her a surprised look – it was as if she could hear her internal monologue. ‘She looks out for us in a way other teachers don’t.’
‘Mmm…’
‘I think someone like Zelazny would throw you to the wolves, and Jerry would push you too hard, but Eloise is more compassionate,’ Nicole continued as Zoe shot ahead of them.
‘Do you trust her?’ Only when she heard her own voice did Allie realise she’d asked the question aloud. She could have kicked herself.
Nicole cast her a curious look. ‘Of course. Don’t you?’
They followed Zoe up a staircase to a door leading out into the dark night.
Yes, Allie thought. Say yes.
‘I don’t know,’ she said instead, ‘any more. Who to trust, I mean. I used to…’
They walked up a short staircase to an open door; as the icy February air hit her, Allie let her voice trail off.
If she’d expected Nicole to be shocked at the suggestion Eloise might not be trustworthy she was disappointed. The French girl merely shrugged.
‘You’ve been through so much, I’d be surprised if you trusted anyone now.’
Then she pointed to where Zoe waited in the distance, hopping up and down like an enraged elf.
‘Should we run? It would make her happy.’
Her accent changed ‘happy’ to ‘’appy’ and, in spite of everything, Allie found herself smiling.
‘Yeah, if we don’t run I think she’ll explode.’
‘That would be terrible,’ Nicole said cheerfully. ‘Because she’s so young and Zelazny would make us clean up the mess.’
They took off at a slow jog. Zoe stayed ahead of them – zooming forward out of sight, waiting until they’d nearly caught up, then doing it all again. The other students were far ahead of them; they were all alone.
The night was clear and, for a while, the bright moon lit the path ahead. When they moved into the forest, though, it was harder to see where they were going. They hadn’t gone far when Allie stumbled over a root, jarring her knee.