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.784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqAHQcZymhd
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCgXz97Fdyz
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.784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5N8MSLVx4X
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡljY9K9bJR9
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.784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5kl0Fm35We
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9SSptwX0kU
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.784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq8zeT076NU
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAA2BtZdeKy
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.784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfzChC2Ltm2
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwsHNIKJsKq
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.784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1YzScGEsP1
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEYnNtUpCLp
“Ro, can we—”784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp7rQrawVno
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbfPYWwbVRy
“Shhh!” She’s beside me, pressing her hand against my mouth. “You hear that?”784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPdvSo2A4DF
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaL7qmNSciT
I start to shake my head, but then I do hear it: footsteps outside.784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv42A8ExuyB
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs0mbR2KY5Z
“We have to put these away,” she whispers.784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeNXsY8vq3l
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD0H3XJq5LB
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.784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUfh5RbDvhw
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUyYSbpjVdg
Two pairs of legs come in—a woman and a man.784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLCQ35btqnp
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzIAiYy17By
“You say you can have it completed tomorrow?” The voice is unmistakably Mr. Kensington’s.784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQMcbkdxlg4
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsyYuDuarHU
“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.784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBH6WApvX1d
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5tray9cPXO
“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.”784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡag2xXhyGD7
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKpjsNoY4a5
Roanna and I share glances. She mouths, “I told you so.”784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5f5dQGEWYU
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFl4xrW8Qno
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.784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbzHrbHcLvT
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEkbgnLp10a
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.784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjvcxvv5WrT
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7b7dGnt2l1
Roanna mouths something that looks like, “Scrying.”784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa8nfts3aZ4
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtznGVmWo6J
“Here it is,” Madame Pommier says triumphantly, slapping her palm against the table over our heads. Both of us jump slightly.784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq3c6jmSero
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEpQphA0O5E
“I trust you’ll get started as soon as possible,” Mr. Kensington says. “And, ladies, you can come out from under the table now.”784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ27zWuyOvv
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXeneMd6ou0
I crawl out with a sheepish smile and Roanna right at my heels.784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPOzEzW75u3
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9V7mDv5igh
“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.”784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiXiwzFveYD
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbXOTRnkYXX
“I think I figured it out,” Roanna says hurriedly.784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0fsuPOhVLG
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzySP7xgzVX
“Please do share,” Mr. Kensington says, leaning back in his chair. His shock of white hair is the brightest thing in the room.784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTVKiJSdr97
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWT8xtPa7ry
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.784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5yevun8x7r
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM8hpjgIxbM
“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.”784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYhpAqEnIKz
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8qoWHwTtOa
“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.”784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUPQucsZz2E
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡndYPiWOA2p
Roanna’s face lights up instantly. “This was a hospital for psychics?”784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR0kx14u6V0
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCa8mRCptUU
“People who believed themselves to be psychics,” Madame Pommier corrects. “To everyone else, they were simply lunatics.”784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH5I5odl4Ci
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjmX6dN0Bmg
“They weren’t though, were they?” Roanna says.784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdUOwuhqbX3
784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPPbYmU8kt
“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.”784Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoXkaw9yBwQ
Penana
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