“Katerina, are you coming with us?” Elena and Augusta were headed outside to get fresh air in the courtyard.
“I’ll catch up with you. There is something in the library that I need.”
Elena rolled her eyes. “You and your books! Augusta, come along.”
I hurried alone to the library, not sure what I could actually do. The empress’s spell had rendered me powerless. If there was a ghost, what would I be able to do about it?
Princess Alix was in the library, reading a volume of English poetry. I was not expecting to see anyone there, and I know I looked startled. “Excuse me,” I said. “I’m … just getting a book and I’ll leave you in peace.”
“You’re not bothering me.”
“That’s good.” What else was I supposed to say? I stared at the bookshelves, not sure what to do. Would the ghost come back if there was more than one person here? Had Alix felt its presence already? She seemed so calm. It was unlikely she had noticed anything. The presence I’d felt was not really evil, but it was mean. And it definitely did not want me in the library.
“Is something wrong?” Alix asked. “Why are you staring at me?”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “May I ask you something? The noises at night have not bothered you at all?”
The princess stared at me with her clear blue eyes. “If you are wondering whether the ghost is disturbing me, then no. If you are asking whether the moaning of my roommates is keeping me awake, then yes.”
We stared at each other in silence for a long time. She knew of the ghost, and yet was not afraid of it. Finally, I said, “I felt the presence in here last week.”
Alix closed her eyes and was perfectly still. “Yes, but she is not here now.”
“She? Do you know who she is? She has not tried to harm you?”
But the German princess was not interested in chatting with me anymore. Alix stood up abruptly and gathered her things. “If you will excuse me, I must be somewhere.” She brushed past me, and I wished more than anything that I could see her cold light. She was most definitely a good person, which was probably why she irritated Elena so. There was no evil lingering around her, but there was a sense of grimness in her blue eyes. No sense of joy at all. She was the strangest girl I’d ever met.
I tried to find Erzsebet next. I wanted to know how she was doing after her outburst that morning. She was resting in her room.
“Come sit with me, Katerina,” she said. “Please don’t go.”
“How are you feeling?” I asked, sitting down on the bed beside her.
“Better,” she said with a heavy sigh. “Madame Tomilov was kind. She only gave me a five-page essay to write.”
“Why were you so upset this morning? Was it the lack of sleep or was it something else?”
“I don’t know,” Erzsebet mumbled, staring down at her quilt. She seemed to be debating whether or not to tell me. “Everyone will think I’m crazy.”
“Erzsebet, what are you talking about? You know I wouldn’t think that.”
“I heard voices last night.” She sniffled and shook her head. “Well, one voice, actually. A girl laughing. I thought it was Augusta, but she was sleeping. The girl sounded like she was in the hallway, but when I opened my door, the laughing stopped. It’s like she just vanished.”
I took a deep breath. I couldn’t tell her what Alix had said, but I could tell her what I’d experienced. “I think I’ve heard her too. In the library last week.” Erzsebet gasped and grasped my hand, squeezing it tight. “Who do you think it is?”
The Bavarian princess looked at me like I was insane. “Isn’t it obvious? It’s Marija of Montenegro. Elena’s sister.”
No wonder the girls had been whispering about Elena that morning. “Are you sure?” I asked. “Do you know anyone else who’s actually seen her?”
Erzsebet shook her head. “Madame Tomilov told me not to discuss it with any of the other girls. I shouldn’t have said anything to you, Katerina, but you won’t tell anyone, will you? Especially not Elena. It’s her fault somehow. I’m sure of it.”
“We can’t be certain of that,” I said. “Or even that it’s truly Elena’s dead sister haunting us.”
Erzsebet shrugged. “I don’t know, Katerina, but there has been a lot of gossip around the school that Elena was responsible for the strange illnesses last year. I’ve heard she knows some kind of folk magic from the Black Mountains.”
The glamours of the Light and Dark Courts could only hide so much from everyone. Of course there were always rumors and hints that something more sinister lurked in the shadows. If only I could’ve told her about the empress’s spell, I think she would’ve felt safer. Then again, not many people in St. Petersburg knew the empress was a faerie. “But why would Elena make her sister’s ghost haunt Smolny?” I asked. “And why now and not sooner? She could have appeared years ago.”
“I don’t know, Katerina.” Erzsebet shook her head, her blond curls swinging. She was not quite old enough to wear her hair up. “I’m probably being ridiculous. But you’ve heard the ghost too, right? I’m not going insane?”
“I can’t promise you that you’re not insane,” I said, teasing her gently. “But yes, I’ve heard something that I can’t easily explain. But I don’t know what to do about it.”
“We have to tell Sister Anna. She’ll know what to do.” Erzsebet sat up. “Let me put my uniform back on, and we can speak to her right now.”
I hesitated. “What if she doesn’t believe us? I think we need some kind of proof before we bother any of the staff with this. Otherwise, she might punish us for lying.”
Erzsebet slumped back down against her pillow and sighed unhappily. “What does one do to get rid of a ghost?”
There were a thousand other questions I would have rather asked first, like who she was, and why was she here. After all those years of watching Maman’s séances, I knew how to properly conjure a ghost, and the polite way to dismiss one. But I had a feeling this ghost would not leave politely. And without being able to see cold light, I was stumbling around in the dark.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
A few weeks later, Alix fell ill and was bedridden for several days. She lay pale and damp with sweat, clenching her bed linens in stoic suffering. She was not able to get up from her bed to go to class with us, and at night, I listened to her tossing and turning. She whimpered in her sleep as if in pain. I asked Sister Anna to check on her, but the woman would only agree to say prayers for Alix.
Those prayers were useless. I crawled out of my own bed to check on the German princess several times during the night. She always woke up before I could cross the room. Sitting straight up in bed, she whispered in alarm, “What are you doing?”
“Can I get you some water?” I asked, reaching for the pitcher at Aurora’s bed stand.
“No!” Alix cried, but her voice was strange, as if she weren’t even talking to me. With an anguished moan, she fell back against her pillow again. She was drifting in and out of consciousness and her fever seemed to grow worse as the nights went on. Ignoring her weak protests, I put damp washcloths on her forehead and coaxed her to take sips of water.
Her sister, Grand Duchess Ella, arrived the day of the full moon and insisted upon taking Alix away from Smolny and to her St. Petersburg palace to recuperate. At first our headmistress forbade it, but the grand duchess was adamant. Sister Anna sided with the grand duchess, suggesting that Alix would feel better in her dear sister’s care.