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.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGVXv2WMat7
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPTrsqO798k
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.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqmgj2E4lJJ
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZWzhuTOXlk
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.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk77CjCoC3s
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1QV352WfU7
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.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRuMr92SmRJ
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnbMs7luHHH
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.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jNhdybuGr
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDyFXGiXFyy
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.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbpyIeMY7I7
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtHgHRetL9f
“Ro, can we—”689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlk5aWIgerB
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPWTKQBehtl
“Shhh!” She’s beside me, pressing her hand against my mouth. “You hear that?”689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCApi2ZmzXI
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡurzCzZGYQ4
I start to shake my head, but then I do hear it: footsteps outside.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpk8IQ5K9DF
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt6hW3Ywezo
“We have to put these away,” she whispers.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwbkDbmF1HZ
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡayfRPG2OEx
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.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgypC6IidSj
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuhcteeHcnB
Two pairs of legs come in—a woman and a man.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzmJSquJaJW
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMTvcaW9xst
“You say you can have it completed tomorrow?” The voice is unmistakably Mr. Kensington’s.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrI88XSK090
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF900upa7kC
“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.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtpX1SsoLXC
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSw3xKvO6yL
“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.”689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK6nLgFQoDr
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzjXO7jTYC4
Roanna and I share glances. She mouths, “I told you so.”689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNw7dTpiGic
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxqUfgYyzuY
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.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNAHHd6X5E3
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZDAEpMSiQr
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.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8m6GHMZffn
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXHuknenoqc
Roanna mouths something that looks like, “Scrying.”689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhBoM5JL8Ha
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc854lG90lT
“Here it is,” Madame Pommier says triumphantly, slapping her palm against the table over our heads. Both of us jump slightly.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vhUUcaiHX
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH0eIAijMMH
“I trust you’ll get started as soon as possible,” Mr. Kensington says. “And, ladies, you can come out from under the table now.”689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUQUASGpf1L
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQHtiEirjAb
I crawl out with a sheepish smile and Roanna right at my heels.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsaFWjJkpfK
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeg645G9HXM
“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.”689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ67cIo4MGON
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ExlWVXE1d
“I think I figured it out,” Roanna says hurriedly.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDe28v4905X
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnuX2OCmNhl
“Please do share,” Mr. Kensington says, leaning back in his chair. His shock of white hair is the brightest thing in the room.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTwcR2Me12o
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAlWyZL0MTj
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.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwcFGPM3qkd
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWiC1hY7D4l
“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.”689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmU7G1ExstI
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ub9RZbetJ
“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.”689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbxS33M2Ddd
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRdFviqvQD6
Roanna’s face lights up instantly. “This was a hospital for psychics?”689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLxFwQPpvph
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeSZ6STMUfJ
“People who believed themselves to be psychics,” Madame Pommier corrects. “To everyone else, they were simply lunatics.”689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9mKMsWgPgh
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmTcxwoVEAj
“They weren’t though, were they?” Roanna says.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE1g3ulGdUs
689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJKVte53h36
“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.”689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdnFUi7Gjka
Penana
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