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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ76rsGNbqwD
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmICJRXmLz5
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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYvrn7m6Fbi
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp2qn2t29O6
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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ93fumW3mYe
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhmO31kSdVW
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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaTSRVSFfec
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGTfcI6b22u
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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfJ5frwLCMo
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdlDgrsJeJZ
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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs9hAmrUBvm
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFGaKJVCXua
“Ro, can we—”618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcrAMcQNfjb
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRcRkgJbbU2
“Shhh!” She’s beside me, pressing her hand against my mouth. “You hear that?”618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYOm6znbHXI
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5Y3wDhWG5
I start to shake my head, but then I do hear it: footsteps outside.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJOo2kmJ7MV
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJQbLf1Gx3v
“We have to put these away,” she whispers.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKSZunBgFSM
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk1xPS2gIWz
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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRvXhPTHVhS
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVSubvuUAw9
Two pairs of legs come in—a woman and a man.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOtTGq7wV67
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSH4c6G6u7R
“You say you can have it completed tomorrow?” The voice is unmistakably Mr. Kensington’s.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMW5mFdghDu
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr7sOpIz8jr
“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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzP3vVQEc7F
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvAzRLBXPwW
“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.”618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoVxBF6tc4C
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl4aKfabdr1
Roanna and I share glances. She mouths, “I told you so.”618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr6ZqYvZLwM
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVKEbTiDLZl
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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGdwSILfhSI
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1cxC5IY1OE
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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvbL61iEHjn
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEM315t8CdU
Roanna mouths something that looks like, “Scrying.”618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUPIMabZXnr
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxbJRYKLD2
“Here it is,” Madame Pommier says triumphantly, slapping her palm against the table over our heads. Both of us jump slightly.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNM66YyjI2f
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP6q3e93e7X
“I trust you’ll get started as soon as possible,” Mr. Kensington says. “And, ladies, you can come out from under the table now.”618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6uS5wa7Lsy
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcfhmsX6hT5
I crawl out with a sheepish smile and Roanna right at my heels.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSxdDO8G9Oq
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡERju1wCuqj
“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.”618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡopqZJxF5it
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcg7f8sIMgB
“I think I figured it out,” Roanna says hurriedly.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP0FPzTLYSZ
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXTG2Yv0eKH
“Please do share,” Mr. Kensington says, leaning back in his chair. His shock of white hair is the brightest thing in the room.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiFe5AZl5MY
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡROjOcEWFqH
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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnTsvcIrfJ0
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAf4JzTVit2
“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.”618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3GoaZvPjQq
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0D29ML8po0
“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.”618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8XT2nmoAAI
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdvqXEmJWPv
Roanna’s face lights up instantly. “This was a hospital for psychics?”618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyMXMFJNqHH
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuqUZeOTONb
“People who believed themselves to be psychics,” Madame Pommier corrects. “To everyone else, they were simply lunatics.”618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcAHQPuMX45
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi20yciy6sk
“They weren’t though, were they?” Roanna says.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm6oNuDzK6P
618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyueuXU0wdj
“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.”618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7vTtTfwQF4
Penana
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