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.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ7Bd2TcjGP
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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.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNf9etavR8U
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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.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1zbq0bAKyF
597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡis1jW5ent7
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.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxmoA4midf
597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMhN6ZeB9l9
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.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzWQwrzRPWp
597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF5yVea67p3
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.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKjQ54zu2ee
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“Ro, can we—”597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeLcJJFlKia
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“Shhh!” She’s beside me, pressing her hand against my mouth. “You hear that?”597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTWVwfAz18F
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I start to shake my head, but then I do hear it: footsteps outside.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9WyLWE1iUv
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“We have to put these away,” she whispers.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUCOdfCXsHs
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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.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaZ9YafQHBG
597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwLduU3CZma
Two pairs of legs come in—a woman and a man.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeT2PFzs3iG
597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyg2IJeoJga
“You say you can have it completed tomorrow?” The voice is unmistakably Mr. Kensington’s.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfYPMZAN7ye
597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8uF8oaFW3N
“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.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGRHhjFWtl5
597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNBmtzaNx7y
“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.”597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMHocwsg23E
597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJgfmFX7Ch3
Roanna and I share glances. She mouths, “I told you so.”597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLc2mLYgcA
597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4TaFEhW4zk
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.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvWbY5TsKyU
597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6q4j38mo4j
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.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9PVrABFFPl
597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWdT0hNlx1t
Roanna mouths something that looks like, “Scrying.”597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPN05GNswzs
597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCjxScAg8Ct
“Here it is,” Madame Pommier says triumphantly, slapping her palm against the table over our heads. Both of us jump slightly.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPBFsIGskp8
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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.”597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSt3aPC1aQc
597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDQcSGfRzwy
I crawl out with a sheepish smile and Roanna right at my heels.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnLj8VKemjE
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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.”597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFLajUQXMDC
597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTEYy5a2t9y
“I think I figured it out,” Roanna says hurriedly.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBmDYG99hAx
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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.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDESGzdmZJt
597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡltx12KH8H1
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.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXEmmrPmAv1
597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6NAXBe7I04
“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.”597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAJP7Zhqh9T
597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOMfZcs2qRV
“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.”597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnqEtR6wXpP
597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrbysQ9HBAb
Roanna’s face lights up instantly. “This was a hospital for psychics?”597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYzF8sBQ76a
597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv598Qsdx9P
“People who believed themselves to be psychics,” Madame Pommier corrects. “To everyone else, they were simply lunatics.”597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwPlvVgZDfK
597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyvSaVfb8X7
“They weren’t though, were they?” Roanna says.597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6DgarDhBi6
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“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.”597Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6XGaF5meKR
Penana
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