Night School - Endgame (12 page)

She emulated the history teacher’s gruff bark so perfectly Allie had to laugh, despite everything.

‘Zoe, sometimes you’re actually scary,’ she said, climbing to her feet.

‘Really?’ The younger girl beamed.

Allie and Rachel followed her across the mostly empty library.

‘We’ll talk later, OK?’ Allie said, keeping her voice low. ‘I want to know what you were about to say.’

‘Sure,’ Rachel said. ‘No worries. It’s not important anyway.’

W
hen Allie
and Rachel ran into the training room a few minutes later, shoe laces dangling and still straightening their Night School gear, the room was packed.

‘You’re late,’ Zelazny barked.

‘Sorry Mr Zelazny,’ they chorused.

Allie braced herself for a lecture, but he let it go at that, turning back to the junior students he was training without another insult or complaint.

She and Rachel exchanged surprised looks. The teachers were definitely not themselves right now.

The older students had gathered at the back of the room, where they’d carved out a space from which younger students were banned. They threaded their way across the room to join them.

With the guards, teachers, and all the students, the small, square room was pretty crowded. So it was only when she reached the back section that Allie saw Sylvain.

His head was down and he was listening to something Lucas was saying.

Allie’s chest tightened.

When he raised his head, even though he was still mostly turned away, she could see the high planes of his cheekbones, his finely carved jaw. She searched for signs of pain or imminent collapse, but he looked exactly the same. No scars.

Spotting her, Lucas said something to Sylvain, who glanced up.

For the tiniest fraction of a second their eyes met.

Then he turned away again, shifting his position so she couldn’t see his face.

Blood rose to Allie’s cheeks. For a second, she just stood there, momentarily uncertain of what to do. When she saw Rachel, Nicole and Katie were talking in a corner, she hurried to join them.

‘Hey, so, what’s going on? Anything happening?’ The words came out unbelievably cheery, but none of the others seemed to notice.

‘Apparently we’re patrolling tonight.’ Rachel sounded disapproving.

‘And we get to play teacher.’ Nicole, too, seemed less than happy.

Allie looked back and forth between them. ‘Play teacher?’

‘We’re taking the juniors out,’ Rachel explained. ‘It’s their first patrol.’

No wonder she didn’t seem happy. The junior students were far too young to be put into such danger.

‘Why is all this happening all of a sudden?’ Allie asked. ‘I thought the guards were handling the patrolling now.’

‘Apparently, so many guards are off searching for Nathaniel, they’re spread thin here.’ Rachel’s voice was low. ‘They need us to fill the gaps.’

‘Bollocks,’ Allie whispered, unable to disguise her shock. What a stupid night to be late. If she’d been on time, she could have at least tried to talk Raj and Zelazny out of this.

This was the worst time for the school to be unprotected. Nathaniel had to be watching them like a hawk right now.

‘Listen up, people.’ Zelazny’s voice cut through the buzz of conversation like a chainsaw. ‘Raj Patel will hand out your assignments. He’s overseeing tonight’s activities. I want quiet.’

Raj, who Allie hadn’t even noticed before now, stepped into the pool of light at the centre of the shadowy training room.

He was tall with a commanding presence – powerfully built but not overly muscular, with dark skin and piercing eyes. His ability to command attention without a word and then – five minutes later – disappear into the shadows like a wraith, never ceased to astound her.

‘The rules tonight are simple,’ he began. ‘You’ll be patrolling in teams of three. Senior students are each assigned two juniors to oversee – your teams are here.’ He waved a sheet of paper that crackled in the stillness. ‘Each team is assigned a zone to cover. That is where you will stay. Now, you should be aware my guards are patrolling, too. You’re not alone out there. Each team leader will have radio equipment, connecting them to base.’ His gaze moved from face to face, as if searching for signs of weakness. ‘But this is the real deal, make no mistake. This is what Night School is all about.’

Allie studied the junior students who stood rapt, watching him with wide, fascinated eyes.

She wished she still believed anyone held all the answers. She longed for the old days, when Night School was all weird philosophy questions and nocturnal jogging. Back when she still thought the teachers could keep them safe.

It would all be gone soon, anyway. Once Carter was back.

As Raj talked to the junior students, she found herself wondering what it would be like when they moved. Would the new school have the same kind of massive grounds as Cimmeria? Would they need to patrol it?

No matter how she tried, it was impossible to imagine being at school anywhere except Cimmeria. Whenever she tried to envision a place they might escape to, it looked exactly like this.

Across the room, Raj was wrapping up. ‘Remember your training. Stay with your senior students. Do as they tell you. And be safe.’

Allie heard Katie murmur, ‘God I hope I’m not a senior student…’ to herself as Raj stuck the piece of paper to the wall.

She and the others crowded around the list. Allie found her name midway down the page. ‘Allie Sheridan, Charlotte Reese-Jones, Alec Thomason. Zone 6.’

‘Awesome,’ Zoe said. ‘Minions.’

‘Trainees, Zoe,’ Rachel corrected her.

‘Whatever.’ Zoe dashed across the room shouting, ‘Stephen and Nadja! You are mine.’

Rachel watched her despairingly. Catching her eye, Nicole smiled.

‘Poor minions.’

From the doorway, Zelazny barked, ‘Time is money, people. Get moving. Senior students, your comms devices are here.’

Rachel, Nicole and Allie exchanged a look.

‘Here goes nothing,’ Allie said.

C
harlotte turned
out to be about Allie’s height, with shoulder-length golden-brown hair pulled into a pontytail. Her serious hazel eyes seemed to miss nothing. Alec was loose-limbed and laconic, with dark hair and glasses. Both looked to be about thirteen years old.

They stood just outside the school building, waiting as Allie hooked the comms device to her ear. Even though it was tiny, it was hard to get it into place. While she struggled with it, most of the other groups had moved off, heading to their areas, although a few still lingered, asking questions, going over the rules.

‘Balls,’ Allie muttered, as the earpiece tumbled out again.

‘I think you’ve got it backwards,’ Alec suggested after a while.

Muttering to herself, she tried flipping it around as he demonstrated.

It fit perfectly.

‘Thanks,’ she said, looking at him properly for the first time. Something about him was familiar.

‘I’ve seen you before.’

Spots of colour appeared on his thin cheeks. ‘That night,’ he mumbled. ‘I got lost. You guys brought me back.’

Instantly Allie recalled the boy shoved forward by the guards on the dark night a few days earlier. Glasses crooked. Face pale and terrified.

‘That was you?’

He shrugged, eyes on his feet. ‘Zoe’s too fast.’

‘Can’t argue with that.’ Allie’s tone was dry. ‘Haven’t you been working with Dom, too?’

‘A little.’ He glanced up at her from beneath thick straight brows. ‘When I’m home I like hacking. You know, for fun. Games and stuff.’

Allie tried to imagine herself at his age, hacking for fun. It was inconceivable.

The last group of remaining students struck off into the woods reminding Allie that they needed to get moving.

‘Right,’ she said. ‘We’re Zone Six, which is down by the chapel. We’ll take it slow and steady. Don’t leave my side. Don’t get lost.’ She shot Alec a look. ‘If we’re lucky, we’ll all come back in one piece. We just have to get through the next two hours.’

As inspirational messages went, even she knew it wasn’t brilliant. But, under the circumstances, it would have to do.

They headed out across the broad expanse of lawn at a steady jog.

It was a clear night, and cool. The nearly full moon hung low on the horizon. A silvery dusting of stars shimmered above the trees as they headed across the lawn towards the forest.

‘It’s dark,’ Charlotte said.

‘Your eyes will adjust,’ Allie replied. But she slowed down a little to give them time to get used to the night.

As they ran, she kept an eye on her charges.

Charlotte wasn’t slim – her chubby cheeks made her look even younger than she was – but she handled the pace well. She had a smooth, natural gait as if, like Allie, she was born to run.

It was Alec who got winded easily. He was gasping for air within minutes.

‘Try to breathe from your diaphragm,’ Allie advised him, running alongside him.

‘What does that even mean?’ he groused.

‘It means,’ she said, ‘breathe deep. Use your entire lungs. They have a lot of space. Unless you have asthma. Do you have asthma?’

‘I don’t have asthma.’ He wouldn’t meet her gaze. He seemed embarrassed. Actually, everything seemed to embarrass him. He was hopelessly awkward.

Allie forced herself to be patient. She tried to think about how she ran.

‘Get a rhythm going. Breathe in and then out, every second step. So in, left foot right foot. Then out, left foot right foot.’ She ran alongside him, watching him critically as he tried the method with obvious reluctance.

Even though her own running was going well, Charlotte joined in, breathing rhythmically as Allie had demonstrated. Keeping an eye on Alec.

Allie was starting to like her.

‘Does it help?’ she asked.

The boy shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Maybe.’

But he looked better. Some of the purple tinge seemed to be fading from his skin.

‘Good.’ Allie pretended he’d thanked her. It made it easier not to hit him. ‘Now work on your foot placement. It’s not thump, thump. It’s heel toe, heel toe.’

‘Jesus,’ he muttered.

Allie, who had now used up all her patience, moved until she was running alongside Charlotte.

‘How are you doing, Charlotte?’

‘Everyone calls me Charlie,’ the girl said, apologetically. ‘Only my mum calls me Charlotte.’

Allie, who had said virtually the same thing a million times in her life, smiled.

‘Charlie it is.’

The cool glow of the moon disappeared the second they entered the woods. It was much darker here. The only sound was the thudding of their footsteps, and the harsh burn of Alec’s still imperfect breathing.

Allie ran a little ahead looking out for any sign of danger. They were running much slower than her usual pace and she longed to move faster. But she didn’t want Alec to collapse or Charlie to break an ankle. Because of all that, it took them a good fifteen minutes to reach the chapel wall.

They were well behind schedule now, but Allie tried to keep her tone positive.

‘This is our zone,’ she announced quietly.

The junior students exchanged puzzled looks.

‘Uh… What happens now?’ Alec asked.

‘We move quietly through the zone, looking for anything out of the ordinary.’

‘Like what?’

‘Murder and carnage, Alec. Use your imagination.’

‘God,’ he muttered. ‘Attitude.’

I will never be a teacher,
 
Allie promised herself.

When they reached the chapel gate it was closed and secure, but she decided they should search it anyway. Just in case.

The latch opened with a metallic jangle, and the gate creaked open.

Inside, the churchyard was still. It no longer smelled of fresh cut grass. Allie didn’t let herself look at Lucinda’s grave.

With cool discipline, she scanned the yard for anything amiss, but all was in place.

With the other two right behind her she headed up the path to the front door of the church, and tried the handle. It turned with effort.

Inside, the darkness was complete. There was no electricity out here – no light switch to flip.

Allie pulled a torch from her pocket.

‘Oh my God. You had a torch all this time?’ Alec’s voice was too loud.

Allie motioned urgently for him to shut up.

Stepping into the chapel, Allie squinted into the glow of the flashlight. She could see the wall paintings – the dragon, the Tree of Life. The pews lined up in neat rows, waiting for the next service.

The next death. 

A faint scent of lilies hung in the air. Reminding her of the hundreds of flowers that had filled this room not long ago.

Still. It was empty now.

‘All clear. Let’s go.’ She switched off the light.

They all heard the faint scuttling sound at the same moment.

A chill ran down Allie’s back. She’d seen nothing in there.

She heard Charlie gasp.

Hurriedly switching the torch back on, Allie swung the light at the back of the room. The church was completely empty.

The sound came again. It sounded like hands beating the walls, very softly. Or like nails against stone.

It didn’t sound… human.

Suddenly something shot out of the darkness directly at Allie’s light. She jumped, dropping the light.

Charlotte stifled a scream. Alec grabbed her, pulling her out of the way.

The thing fluttered past Allie’s face, brushing her hair with its webbed wing.

Her heart hammered in her chest – for a split second she couldn’t catch her breath.

Seeing that the other two were terrified, she forced herself to breathe.

‘It’s just a bat, you guys,’ she said.

‘Just a bat?’ Charlie hissed with such disbelief, Allie might as well have said it was just a triceratops.

For some reason this struck Allie as hilarious, and she found herself shaking with silent laughter.

The two junior students stared at her.

‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered, regaining control. ‘We’re safe. I promise.’

Retrieving the torch from the ground, she pulled the door shut behind them. In a straight line, with Allie in the lead, they headed down the path towards the gate, which they’d left open.

There’s something about the aftermath of a frightening moment that makes you let your guard down. That exhilarating sense of survival takes away all fear, just for an instant.

Maybe that was why she didn’t see him until they reached the gate.

He stood just on the other side, in the shadows. The moonlight caught his hair and turned it blond.

‘Allie,’ he said. ‘I can’t believe it’s you.’

Charlie squeaked and scrambled backwards, running hard into Alec who caught her before she could fall.

But Allie didn’t run. She just stared at the man in the gateway.

‘Christopher?’