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.746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRzTFjhjFLj
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS8b8Ro3677
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.746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOOtBhKnLsU
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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.746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRybzYrwsRd
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyZSoicEGJp
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.746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc44GX5I9jk
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ73k5SiaUfG
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.746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIxPZiUshnh
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYVVuF97PP
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.746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQQSQr8Wfyd
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYuFCSEE35i
“Ro, can we—”746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8RgeBgrFRS
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjVc2TfAJ4d
“Shhh!” She’s beside me, pressing her hand against my mouth. “You hear that?”746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhKqBNU8qYO
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTWZxhm0Iyx
I start to shake my head, but then I do hear it: footsteps outside.746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡii5V69tAJ9
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb1xITATQf4
“We have to put these away,” she whispers.746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpXqeDm0w3Q
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7iBlmpzQr6
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.746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBUv34MfEUz
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8BwDXcgQN6
Two pairs of legs come in—a woman and a man.746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdHZIdnunds
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPMvUPRwZse
“You say you can have it completed tomorrow?” The voice is unmistakably Mr. Kensington’s.746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm7WoHT8LmX
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡucXc8vIMn9
“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.746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUqht2qkpaA
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY7KVh67pV6
“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.”746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO8834j9kt3
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO28S3a7IGl
Roanna and I share glances. She mouths, “I told you so.”746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXjlx4dCiW3
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZyX7UzzQvH
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.746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCyIK6k47ja
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrcBKglO58r
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.746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡARcJNv8JWV
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr346xNsVAo
Roanna mouths something that looks like, “Scrying.”746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBHDcJcSnT
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqVvl04Bdyi
“Here it is,” Madame Pommier says triumphantly, slapping her palm against the table over our heads. Both of us jump slightly.746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0LvBkTf0Xh
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa9CKlIGzoA
“I trust you’ll get started as soon as possible,” Mr. Kensington says. “And, ladies, you can come out from under the table now.”746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIYL06O59ti
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuFHEVcAPcA
I crawl out with a sheepish smile and Roanna right at my heels.746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIz3kG45hvT
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6R4AbhIwQT
“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.”746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnwfAUXDffp
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWcDANiJeN7
“I think I figured it out,” Roanna says hurriedly.746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKLSBFkaK7t
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBw6PwerkPH
“Please do share,” Mr. Kensington says, leaning back in his chair. His shock of white hair is the brightest thing in the room.746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0qWjx9bhwy
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3UnlU6M7nw
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.746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq7uzSNzmcK
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC72xHjHUtn
“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.”746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX1Zuc27SIo
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmd3fIRCXii
“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.”746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUG5rOgg1E6
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUIvEn3vJ5v
Roanna’s face lights up instantly. “This was a hospital for psychics?”746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSC0beJhjm6
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYm3BQNt8Y
“People who believed themselves to be psychics,” Madame Pommier corrects. “To everyone else, they were simply lunatics.”746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFhPkqylONU
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrwwDgSpZOu
“They weren’t though, were they?” Roanna says.746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1iWhOCyitJ
746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYPXG7FLmrz
“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.”746Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFzVsdstRny
Penana
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