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.777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡquWNoIwQan
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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.777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDRPsFsyp7N
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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.777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcoPYEPcg1f
777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBSV5Fy8iHa
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.777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwd3pNpWJDw
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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.777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb9sI1eYQwL
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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.777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCRZRQbHDK1
777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBLXSCLnpUW
“Ro, can we—”777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvIJjM63dMd
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“Shhh!” She’s beside me, pressing her hand against my mouth. “You hear that?”777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Z2NUO6Ns2
777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNns7HsTOHy
I start to shake my head, but then I do hear it: footsteps outside.777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRyBFh8uUrz
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“We have to put these away,” she whispers.777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA7v88WfX9n
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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.777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkwwNRrbuvf
777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA8kCrfvO7k
Two pairs of legs come in—a woman and a man.777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2jgsTcHZx6
777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3nGwJqGCAt
“You say you can have it completed tomorrow?” The voice is unmistakably Mr. Kensington’s.777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVkh629EZ3L
777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQeeCUtOPLl
“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.777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqkeNDIUzVE
777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK87UfxNaFv
“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.”777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHpCGvVlA9J
777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjpcZ5N5CXO
Roanna and I share glances. She mouths, “I told you so.”777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQxl4uJFcIt
777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYtiHgX5T8E
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.777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jqM2SEybP
777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgFd6FGPJOQ
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.777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0E3N8t5MDf
777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSkDsSt3uuf
Roanna mouths something that looks like, “Scrying.”777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZQSasTK2ig
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“Here it is,” Madame Pommier says triumphantly, slapping her palm against the table over our heads. Both of us jump slightly.777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnC4OTZ1S4L
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“I trust you’ll get started as soon as possible,” Mr. Kensington says. “And, ladies, you can come out from under the table now.”777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmtjjRW4NCo
777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDCvfu3eIX9
I crawl out with a sheepish smile and Roanna right at my heels.777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ci6tnNrgw
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“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.”777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMo86ZEcQW5
777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCTcZelU66q
“I think I figured it out,” Roanna says hurriedly.777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvvLtCqJcU
777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYCVoJ492IT
“Please do share,” Mr. Kensington says, leaning back in his chair. His shock of white hair is the brightest thing in the room.777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ18iTxPRb6a
777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm2Q7XofTGA
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.777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKIqKj5fT2
777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt8xxdmr1R8
“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.”777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMbbAFSHaYU
777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7V4zs6YOJl
“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.”777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGHXmO3tEx
777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUdVL5375ZW
Roanna’s face lights up instantly. “This was a hospital for psychics?”777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFKYSUtUJhw
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“People who believed themselves to be psychics,” Madame Pommier corrects. “To everyone else, they were simply lunatics.”777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOa6sOFhkU0
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“They weren’t though, were they?” Roanna says.777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLmw9hY5ojz
777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGbod7jtMF0
“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.”777Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrY5XgZZGoZ
Penana
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