Night School - Endgame (23 page)

A
llie slipped
from Carter’s room just after dawn, leaving him sound asleep.

She hated to leave his side even for a second, but there was no way Isabelle would look favourably on this sort of extracurricular activity.

Even in days like these.

The night before they’d talked for hours. Kissed for hours. Revelled in the glorious unfamiliarity of being together.

He told her more about being held prisoner.

‘The worst part was the isolation,’ he said, running his fingertips down her shoulder. ‘Some days no one talked to me at all. Twenty-four hours of silence. It messes with your head.’

He kept insisting it wasn’t as bad as it sounded. But something about the way he avoided her gaze told her he was protecting her from the reality of it.

He wanted all of her news, too. When she told him about Rachel and Nicole, his eyebrows climbed.

‘Are you seriously telling me you didn’t know? Bloody hell, Allie. They were the most obvious couple I’ve ever seen.’

‘Oh God, you knew, too?’ She couldn’t believe it. ‘And you didn’t mention it?’

‘Tomorrow,’ he’d said, ‘remind me to point out the blue sky and the green grass and some other really obvious things.’

She’d hit him with a pillow.

Sometime later, she told him about Gabe.

They were lying in his bed, side by side. His skin was warm against hers.

He’d been dozing off as she began, but when she got to the part where Gabe appeared on the roof, his eyes snapped open.

She kept her voice steady, as emotionless as possible; still, he watched her closely as she told him how Gabe had threatened her. The icy terror she’d felt.

‘I was so scared,’ she whispered. ‘He’d have killed Zoe, Carter. I know he would have.’

With a gentle touch, he pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes so he could see her face. ‘What happened?’

She swallowed hard. ‘I hit him at just the right angle, I guess. He was watching Zoe so he didn’t see me coming and he just… fell.’

She didn’t describe the look in Gabe’s eyes – the way he reached for her as if she could save him. Or perhaps to take her with him.

She’d never tell anyone that.

But Carter seemed to know there was more than she could say. He folded her in his arms and held her tight.

‘You did the right thing, Allie.’ He whispered the words against her temple. And she hoped it was true.

He’d finally fallen asleep just as the sun rose. But Allie didn’t want to rest.

She was in the dining hall early for breakfast, but the others were already there – Lucas and Katie, sitting next to Zoe, Rachel and Nicole sharing a plate of toast.

‘There you are,’ Katie said. Her green cat’s eyes were knowing. ‘Busy night?’

Lucas snorted a laugh and Allie flushed.

‘Shut up, Katie,’ she said mildly.

‘No classes today,’ Zoe announced, as Allie took a huge bite of eggs.

‘Really?’ she asked, her mouth full. Although, to be honest, actual education seemed to be the thing Cimmeria Academy was least interested in lately.

Nicole nodded. ‘Planning day. So we have the day off. I think we should do something fun.’

‘I think we should fight,’ Zoe said.

‘I think we should sleep.’ Lucas winked at Katie.

Planning Day.
 
Allie swallowed hard. She had a bad feeling she knew what Isabelle meant by that.

Carter was back. Isabelle had said they would wait until then, but once he’d returned they’d need to move fast.

She lost her appetite.

As the others talked and laughed and the sunlight filtered through the towering windows, Allie’s thoughts swirled. She still hadn’t told anyone – not even Carter – that they planned to leave Cimmeria. Now that the moment was here, she didn’t want to go.

‘What’s wrong?’ Rachel nudged her. ‘You look like someone stepped on your grave.’

‘That’s a horrible saying,’ Nicole chided her.

Everyone was looking at Allie now; she had to say something to explain why she looked like she’d just bitten into her own foot.

‘What if…’ She hesitated. ‘What if we couldn’t stay here?’

Zoe frowned. ‘That’s a stupid question.’

But the others were watching her with increasing wariness. It was Katie who got it first.

‘Here it comes,’ she said quietly. Allie saw her take Lucas’ hand.

‘What do you mean?’ Rachel asked. ‘Is something happening?’

‘Something has to happen,’ Katie said, before Allie could speak. ‘We can’t keep going on like this. I’ve been saying that for weeks.’

‘No.’ Lucas shook his head, his jaw suddenly taut. ‘Are you saying what I think you’re saying?’

‘I’m saying…’ Allie took a deep breath. ‘I’m saying we might not have any legal right to this building.’ She tapped her hand against the heavy wood of the table. ‘Even if we did, we can’t keep putting people’s lives in danger for it.’

Rachel was watching her closely. ‘What’s the plan, Allie?’

‘We have options,’ Allie said, although her voice sounded hopeless even to her own ears. ‘There’s a place in Switzerland – Isabelle says it’s amazing…’

Her voice trailed off as the others exchanged disbelieving looks.

‘Switzerland…’ Lucas said, as if she’d suggested Mars.

Allie wanted to argue with them, but her heart wasn’t in it. She didn’t want to go, either.

‘I guess it doesn’t matter where we go. We just can’t stay here anymore. Not like this,’ she said.

‘It wouldn’t be the same,’ Nicole said, looking at Rachel.

‘Some people couldn’t go,’ Katie pointed out. ‘Their parents won’t want them to leave the country.’

‘We’d be split up,’ Rachel said.

Zoe, who suddenly looked miserable, frowned at her orange juice.

They’d all been so happy just moments before, and now all the joy had left the group. They were huddled together as if the end might happen at any second.

Allie hated this. Why couldn’t they have even a day to be normal kids in a normal school, with their A levels the biggest obstacle ahead of them? There had to be another way. A way to keep the school and end this fight with Nathaniel at the same time.

She thought of Julian Bell-Howard asking her to join Orion and continue the fight. There’d been something about him – something trustworthy. He wanted the same thing she wanted, to end this. To make Cimmeria what it was again.

In the back of her mind, an inkling of an idea began to take shape. It seemed impossible but then everything seemed impossible when you first thought about it. Imagine being the person who first thought up the television.

She stood so abruptly her chair squawked against the floor.

‘I’ve got to talk to Isabelle.’

Isabelle was in her office, reading glasses delicately perched at the end of her nose, laptop open and a stack of papers at her elbow.

‘Oh Allie, good,’ she said, glancing up. ‘I was going to send for you.’

‘I have an idea,’ Allie said without preamble. ‘Or kind of an idea. The beginning of an idea, anyway. And I need your help.’

Isabelle arched one eyebrow and gestured at the chairs facing her desk.

Allie sank into the deep leather chair. Isabelle removed her glasses and reached for the cup of tea at her elbow.

Her office was as familiar to Allie as her own bedroom – maybe more so. She loved Isabelle’s big, antique desk, the romantic tapestry on the wall, the creamy Persian rug that covered the floor, the way it always smelled faintly of Earl Grey tea and Isabelle’s lemony perfume.

In fact, she loved this whole school building. She didn’t have a lifelong connection to it, the way Carter did. He’d been born here. But she’d chosen to make it her home. She couldn’t imagine not waking up and seeing the arched window, with the light flooding through it. The green grounds stretching out to the forest.

The idiosyncratic teachers. The students in their dark blue uniforms.

She loved Cimmeria Academy.

It wasn’t worth dying for. But it was worth saving.

‘I don’t want to go to Switzerland,’ Allie said, choosing her words carefully. ‘I thought about it all night, and I don’t want to do it. The thing is… I might have another idea.’

The headmistress set down her cup and waited for her to continue.

‘The thing we wanted in Switzerland was a fresh start, right?’

Isabelle nodded, but her eyes were cautious.

‘That’s what made me think of it. Julian, when he was here, he was talking about the same thing – fighting Nathaniel for Orion so we could start over. What if we could have a fresh start…’ she tapped the arm of her chair, ‘right here.’

Isabelle was watching her narrowly. ‘I don’t understand what you’re getting at.’

‘I think it’s been in my head ever since the Orion Group came to meet me, but I couldn’t, like… see it,’ Allie said, leaning forward eagerly. ‘This morning I was talking to the others about leaving and it came to me. You remember the papers Nathaniel asked me to sign? The ones that said I would never fight him for control of Orion?’

Isabelle inclined her head, a hint of impatience in the gesture.

Allie tried to get to the point. ‘What if I signed those papers,’ she said. ‘And all I asked in return is that we keep Cimmeria Academy?’

Instantly the headmistress shook her head. ‘There’s no way Nathaniel would agree to that. He is obsessed with the school.’

‘I think so, too,’ Allie said. ‘But what if we not only agreed not to fight him for Orion, but we also agreed to leave Orion forever? Not just me, but you. All of Lucinda’s supporters. Julian. Everyone who was in that room after her funeral. We would all leave. He would have power. He wouldn’t have Cimmeria, but this isn’t the only Orion school. He could have the others. Give them to him. Give him everything.’ She held Isabelle’s gaze. ‘All we would ask in return is to keep Cimmeria and be left alone.’

Her fingers pressed to her lips, Isabelle sat very still. Allie knew she was thinking it through. Looking for flaws.

‘Cimmeria would just be a school, in that case.’ Isabelle spoke slowly. ‘It would lose all of the organisation that once gave it purpose.’

For the first time in this conversation, Allie let herself smile. ‘Not exactly,’ she said. ‘Because here’s the part we wouldn’t tell Nathaniel: we’ll start a new organisation.’

Isabelle looked over at her sharply. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I was thinking about it. All this time, we’ve been fighting Nathaniel for power and control we don’t actually want. Look. Between us, we have a ridiculous amount of money. I’m guessing Julian’s loaded?’

Isabelle gave a bemused nod.

Allie gestured at the door behind them. ‘Out in that school, all those kids have families with money. Sylvain’s family are like freaking kings. If we pooled our money…’ She shrugged. ‘We could be the new Orion. Better than the old one. Without Nathaniel.’

This was what seemed to get through to Isabelle.

‘I see what you mean. Yes…’ she said, excitement dawning in her eyes. ‘We could form an alliance with the European Group through Sylvain’s family. We’d be backed by Demeter.’ She flipped through the papers on her desk. ‘There’s a new group in India and so far Orion hasn’t reached out to them. We could welcome them.’

Grabbing a pen, she began to scribble notes. ‘I have contacts in the Far East, there are people who could help us.’ She glanced up at Allie, fighting a smile. ‘Do you know what? This could really work.’

‘I think so, too,’ Allie said. ‘Although I’m kind of afraid to think it, after everything. I don’t want to be wrong again.’ She sat up straighter, waiting until Isabelle looked up from her papers again. ‘The main thing is, we have to know what we want from it, Isabelle.’

She remembered what Owen Moran had said to her the day before. The look of horror in his eyes when he found out what she knew about him. The control she had because of who she was.

‘I don’t know about you but there are things about Orion that aren’t right. If we do this – if I’m going to be involved – we can’t be like that.’

Isabelle stopped writing. ‘What do you want from the group, Allie? Do you want what Lucinda wanted? A fairer version of the same thing?’

Allie shook her head. ‘It can’t be the same. There’s no reason for a group of one hundred or two hundred people to run the government and the courts. It doesn’t make sense. We can be there, and we can still help and listen, and… I don’t know. But we can’t try to be Orion. We have to be something else. Something new.’

Isabelle tapped her pen against her desk.

‘If you’re going to have a secret society, Allie, there needs to be a reason to do so. Orion’s reason was to preserve the interests of its members against the vagaries of democratic government. If some tyrant was inclined to be elected prime minister, Orion would put a stop to that.’

‘And elect its own tyrant.’ Allie held up her hands. ‘How is that OK? It’s meddling in democracy and it… bothers me.’

‘So, tell me what you want, then. You want to be part of a group that advises and listens…?’ Isabelle’s eyes challenged her.

‘I want to be part of a group,’ Allie said slowly, ‘that advises in areas where it has knowledge, lobbies for what it wants, but doesn’t just take. I’m not saying we can’t run for office, of course we can. Anyone can. But we shouldn’t be organised just to get our people elected. We should be set up to try and make the country better. Not just our bank accounts. Improve education, so it’s not just rich kids going to schools like this.’ She waved an arm at the beautifully appointed room. ‘Most people probably have no idea schools like this are even real, you know? And maybe we could work to stop corrupt politicians from getting elected. Make sure people find out when things are being covered up. There’s a lot we could do that would help other people, while helping ourselves, too. It’s like a balance.’

Isabelle’s expression was enigmatic – Allie couldn’t tell if she hated everything she was saying or not.

Heat rushed to her face. She didn’t think she was presenting this well at all. She felt put on the spot. She hadn’t had any time to really think about it before now.

‘Anyway,’ she said, losing confidence. ‘We could start with that.’