She tried to answer as clearly as she could – hoping that would get her out of there quicker – but they just kept asking more questions.
When she told them what happened at the police station, Isabelle and Jerry exchanged a dark look.
‘I’ll take care of it, Isabelle,’ Jerry said placatingly. But Isabelle didn’t appear mollified.
‘Find out who they are,’ she said. ‘I want to take care of it myself.’
Still the questions continued. The pain in Allie’s head had worsened, and she was hungry and tired. Her temper grew short.
‘I wish you’d worked this hard to find out who’s helping Nathaniel,’ she snapped.
Jerry glowered at her. ‘How do you know Mark doesn’t work for Nathaniel?’
‘You must be joking.’ Allie scoffed, the very idea making her laugh. That was a mistake.
‘Do you think this is funny?’ He nearly shouted the question.
Before Allie could reply, Isabelle held up her hand. ‘That’s enough. Both of you.’
Allie’s shoulders slumped. She was so tired. The pounding in her temples was growing into a kind of banging. She couldn’t think straight any more.
Isabelle turned back to face Allie. For the first time today, she didn’t look angry. She looked sad. ‘Just answer this one last question, Allie: what did you tell Mark about Cimmeria?’
Allie’s mind unspooled hazy drunken memories of rambling about Night School and Carter. Nathaniel and Isabelle. Security and threats. Jo.
But she didn’t blink. ‘Nothing.’
‘You expect us to believe you ran away from school and spent the night with that boy, but told him nothing?’ Scepticism was clear in Jerry’s voice.
Allie whirled to face him, her anger spilling over. ‘I didn’t run away with Mark to tell him all your amazing secrets. I ran away because I didn’t want to be here any more. Because someone here helped Nathaniel kill Jo and you haven’t done one thing to find him. I’m not safe here. No one is. And I just…’ She pressed her fingertips against her burning eyelids. ‘I wanted to be with my friend.’
‘You may yet get the chance to do that permanently,’ Jerry muttered.
From beneath her hands she shot him an irritated look. ‘If you want to throw me out so badly, why’d you bother bringing me back? You should bloody thank me —’
‘Language.’ Isabelle’s tone was sharp. ‘I will not have you swear at a teacher. All the rules of civilisation have not been cancelled simply because you are having a bad day, Allie.’ Turning, she said, ‘Jerry, if you don’t mind I’d like a few minutes alone with Allie. Could you please leave us?’
When he’d gone, the headmistress leaned back against the door, her shoulders drooping, staring at the floor. She looked uncharacteristically vulnerable and an unwanted bitter rush of guilt stung Allie’s heart.
‘Look, Isabelle,’ she said hesitantly. ‘Maybe I should just go —’
Isabelle raised her head, fixing her with a steely, incriminating gaze. ‘You do not get any say in what happens right now, Allie. You have broken every Rule Cimmeria has. You betrayed my trust. You stole from me.’
Her hurt and anger cut through Allie’s battered defences – her lower lip trembled. There was truth in what the headmistress said. Isabelle had taken care of her, looked out for her – maybe even loved her. And she’d betrayed her.
My reasons were good, she told herself for the thousandth time.
But somehow that wasn’t comforting any more.
As if she could read her thoughts, Isabelle spoke quietly. ‘I don’t know how we will ever trust each other again. Maybe Jerry’s right. Maybe things have gone so far you don’t belong here any longer. Perhaps I should give you what you want.’ Reaching into her pocket she pulled out her phone – Somebody must have found it in the woods, Allie thought – and scrolled through her contacts. Pressing the dial button she said, ‘But that is not my decision to make.’
A voice answered.
‘Would you like to speak with her now?’ Isabelle asked. After a second, the headmistress crossed the small room and held out the phone. Suspicious, Allie made no move to reach for it but Isabelle didn’t back down.
‘Take it,’ she said, her voice icy.
Swallowing hard, Allie took the device, still warm from Isabelle’s hand.
‘Hello…?’ she said hesitantly.
‘Allie,’ a brisk voice replied. ‘This is your grandmother. I understand we need to talk.’
SIX
‘I understand why you don’t feel safe at Cimmeria any more, but you will most certainly not be safe if you leave the school.’ Lucinda spoke in a curiously monotone manner, as if they were in a business meeting and she was listing the facts about a project. ‘Yes, there is someone working against us at Cimmeria and, yes, that person is dangerous and, no, I don’t know who it is. But while you are at school, you are at least surrounded by people who are trying to protect you.’
Allie made an impatient noise – she knew all this already. Lucinda paused. When she spoke again, her tone was more urgent.
‘Allie, so far we’ve failed to keep you safe. We failed your friend Jo most of all. And I am truly sorry about that. But if I promised you nobody else will be hurt, I’d be lying. This is a dangerous situation.’
Her words rang true. Allie’s heart speeded up and she squeezed the phone tight, as if afraid it might escape.
‘I know exactly what Nathaniel’s thugs did to her and to you. If I were you, I’d want to run as far and fast as I could to put all this behind me. But no matter how fast you run, Nathaniel will find you in the end.’ Lucinda’s tone intensified. ‘So don’t run, Allie. Stay. And fight back with me.’
Allie was stunned. Was her grandmother asking for her help?
‘Fight back?’ she asked. ‘How?’
‘Nathaniel is out of control, Allie, and I want to see him suffer. I want his plans crushed. I want his hired guns in prison. I want to find out which of our friends is helping him, and I want to deal with that person myself.’ Lucinda’s words were as cold and precise as an ice-pick. ‘I want everything Nathaniel cares about destroyed. But to do that, I need your help. If you stay at Cimmeria, I promise you, Gabe will suffer for what he did. And so will the person who opened the gates that night and let him in.’
The venom in her tone left Allie with no doubts about whether Lucinda was serious.
Revenge. The idea grew in her mind until it blocked out everything else. She could avenge Jo’s death. Pay her killers back for what they’d done.
But to do that she’d have to trust Lucinda. And could she do that? On what would she base this trust? A word. A feeling. The delicate, twisting strands of DNA that connected them.
It wasn’t enough. She needed to be certain that Lucinda was trustworthy. She needed to know more.
‘Why can’t we just call the police?’ she asked. ‘If we tell them what’s happened they’d arrest him. Wouldn’t they?’
Lucinda’s hesitation was slight, but Allie noticed it. ‘I’m afraid that at the moment the government minister in charge of policing finds Nathaniel very convincing.’
Puzzled, Allie frowned at the phone. Why would a government minister listen to Nathaniel? He was utterly mad. But then she thought about the way the local police officers had acted this morning and her heart went cold.
Her voice was plaintive. ‘But the police should arrest him. How is this even possible?’
‘It’s all about power,’ Lucinda said. ‘And control. I have it. Nathaniel wants it. It is that simple.’