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.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAqhjdDP960
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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.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtILzD2EXrJ
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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.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgzoOqIL12v
620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbDPOS2t1Tf
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.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3W0M1wg5Qb
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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.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN5f1ngX0tw
620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLjqviw6QTx
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.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxIKixQx5e9
620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPCBRxDXmRw
“Ro, can we—”620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGvsummON4D
620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT9kXWIZLrQ
“Shhh!” She’s beside me, pressing her hand against my mouth. “You hear that?”620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡODTOM1Yx5w
620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDCdL7KED1t
I start to shake my head, but then I do hear it: footsteps outside.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBLDDQB1BXW
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“We have to put these away,” she whispers.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDkLyFa4Mu9
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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.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEAUfZYimGb
620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqS83qlkjJg
Two pairs of legs come in—a woman and a man.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY4IKntrX9S
620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEEoAsWozPW
“You say you can have it completed tomorrow?” The voice is unmistakably Mr. Kensington’s.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXjXdq1odMa
620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJXqJVmkibe
“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.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFhsOWes4R8
620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpX63oLwm6h
“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.”620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm4OWA9nbPR
620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4iaQbyWBEi
Roanna and I share glances. She mouths, “I told you so.”620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz9rCUbycQZ
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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.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYYFjM5chY4
620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPhX1ohx4hE
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.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMjOiOnkoer
620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAvwkxBEdJP
Roanna mouths something that looks like, “Scrying.”620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPs9XImSFT1
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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.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlwhsHtTWmc
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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.”620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYsrcPetWRS
620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq4v2tQutfP
I crawl out with a sheepish smile and Roanna right at my heels.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0OfqSOVU4i
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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.”620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0WStXZgXt7
620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFiz22uYpNZ
“I think I figured it out,” Roanna says hurriedly.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8qkG3kD4lN
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“Please do share,” Mr. Kensington says, leaning back in his chair. His shock of white hair is the brightest thing in the room.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpZitmoZkVP
620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAqsqwzzEte
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.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWRpEP2r59g
620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡInlas7PoBU
“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.”620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeXfHNCaRkb
620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKZynRyZKw5
“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.”620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlH60XzJLVl
620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXKUdHi5zVU
Roanna’s face lights up instantly. “This was a hospital for psychics?”620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmKOznEhpZP
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“People who believed themselves to be psychics,” Madame Pommier corrects. “To everyone else, they were simply lunatics.”620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsGwN0iUx0W
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“They weren’t though, were they?” Roanna says.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvjJc4IREqQ
620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpNYC8xafKw
“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.”620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE2hqE2maPQ
Penana
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