Roanna begs me to go to the library with her. I can’t bear the idea of sneaking around at night any longer—I don’t want to see anything like what we saw the other night. I’ve had nightmares about it since then. But as afraid as I am of going, I’m more afraid of Roanna going on her own.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGURW4YXF5Z
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPhcWQRE7zh
We manage to get to the library with Roanna stopping once in the hallway and staring into the distance before murmuring for me to follow her. I know she must have seen something and that she’s keeping quiet in order to prevent me from being scared. I’m grateful because that way I can pretend it’s nothing at all.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiY457Od1Yk
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdBDxmCgCvD
We open the library door just a quarter of a meter—any more and it will creak like a gunshot, loudly enough to alert the nearest security guard. Roanna slips through first, and I follow. Our footsteps echo through the cool darkness of the library. I wish I’d thought to bring my jumper.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Tbqn3RHRa
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWs6MwbUR37
It takes Roanna less than a minute to jimmy the lock to the restricted area. I flip the light switch, but it takes a moment for the bulb to warm and fill the area with light. I sit at the gigantic oak table and rub the goose pimples off my arms. It all feels very Harry Potter.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWcjk88BaJT
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBGgsUQE9gE
Roanna flitters from bookshelf to bookshelf like a butterfly going from flower to flower. She pulls out folders and books, dumping them on the table and dashing back to get more. She mutters to herself as she does so, but she isn’t saying anything I can make sense of. The contents of the folder fan out in front of me, and I reach for them half-heartedly.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX49ttNb8uS
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡweRwIYivbu
Picking up a sepia photograph, I look at it. Four rows of people stand on the Wolverhampton House grounds with the house in the background. Doctors and nurses are at the ends of each row, flanking men all dressed in matching white shirts and black pants and women dressed in matching white shirts and black skirts. Their eyes make my skin prickle even more. I turn the picture over and set it back in the folder.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZOKEuRXBvb
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpTuMRfGeKO
“Ro, can we—”743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNUruQIl3W9
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDEot5gR8ja
“Shhh!” She’s beside me, pressing her hand against my mouth. “You hear that?”743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcJvrj54TK8
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGxjrqWhW0r
I start to shake my head, but then I do hear it: footsteps outside.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt3oxPmwFAq
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkW3tzjYeBc
“We have to put these away,” she whispers.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1KmPx8OFVn
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIkhNKI26fa
I jump to my feet and rush to shove folders and books into random places, not caring where they go as long as they aren’t obviously sitting on the table. Right as the key is in the lock, we slide under the table and press our backs against the wall.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0H0cKVm6Yc
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡECamxFIKQ3
Two pairs of legs come in—a woman and a man.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWwArCMrC0t
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlGkVWKHxFm
“You say you can have it completed tomorrow?” The voice is unmistakably Mr. Kensington’s.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQDa9tAJoHF
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvV5xdrbgqm
“Yes.” The voice now belongs to Madame Pommier. “Tomorrow at the earliest. It will take me at least that long to gather what I need.”“Do you need my help?” Mr. Kensington asks.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBIgrWslVUk
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFNxFfi7948
“Actually, yes. I need to find a particular file. It holds the blueprint of the hospital and the grounds. I need to see it so I can find the strongest point of connection.”743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDpZhIZi11Q
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZlPRYfVV8y
Roanna and I share glances. She mouths, “I told you so.”743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp7KVlNwCwW
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUK9V9I3L6P
They get up and shuffle through the bookcases. I hug myself and wait for them to comment on files being in the wrong places, but they don’t say anything. For a long time, there isn’t any noise but the rustling of papers. Roanna and I huddle together, trying to keep warm.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3d6pVNZRD5
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ847osQOOKw
It feels like hours before Madame Pommier exclaims, jolting me out of my doze. Both of them hurry to the table, unfurling a sheet of paper on the surface. I pull Roanna away from Mr. Kensington’s foot, and we listen as they do something.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDNkQIqLhEc
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡprqg9YBBwD
Roanna mouths something that looks like, “Scrying.”743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6B0yMjSDsI
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtPnxyVsGd9
“Here it is,” Madame Pommier says triumphantly, slapping her palm against the table over our heads. Both of us jump slightly.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD2uHAc6EAL
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuOsxjcgNmb
“I trust you’ll get started as soon as possible,” Mr. Kensington says. “And, ladies, you can come out from under the table now.”743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0y18I2hFk0
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXhvHSodkTh
I crawl out with a sheepish smile and Roanna right at my heels.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2f4AKoWkjq
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9nzVekrMdT
“We should give you both demerits,” Mr. Kensington says sternly. Roanna and I hang our heads. “I won’t, though. I suppose it’s natural to be curious about what’s happening at this school.”743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡegXjjmhozz
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHYYb7yvL7E
“I think I figured it out,” Roanna says hurriedly.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRYXH1L1qCD
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlBCcroymSE
“Please do share,” Mr. Kensington says, leaning back in his chair. His shock of white hair is the brightest thing in the room.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYpkzhht7P
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz5Jnd3aNEw
She opens one of the files on the table and pulls out the same picture I was looking at earlier, handing it to Mr. Kensington.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeEfTNdCQtf
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgodfKSlEZQ
“Before Wolverhampton House was a boarding school, it was a psychiatric hospital,” she says. “The ghosts we’re seeing are spirits of the people from the mental asylum.”743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpN46t4R8ei
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxWhFvQuJaq
“That’s getting close,” Madame Pommier says. “This was a sort of psychiatric hospital, but it was for people who believed themselves to have powers beyond regular humans: psychics and the like.”743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm8Fy3uk01n
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdW77PRdFJ4
Roanna’s face lights up instantly. “This was a hospital for psychics?”743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaD3mWkQifN
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4kKQLExN2M
“People who believed themselves to be psychics,” Madame Pommier corrects. “To everyone else, they were simply lunatics.”743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiXUu0QMqTT
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb2gikfKaIC
“They weren’t though, were they?” Roanna says.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmFqYlF8yf
743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0JwCIK3V74
“No,” Madame Pommier says, causing me to raise my eyebrows. “They’ve somehow created a connection between our time and theirs. We occupy the same space at two different periods of time. So, it isn’t ghosts we’re seeing, but living people.”743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡycKWA4TrB1
Penana
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