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.981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHkjwIEnWti
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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.981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp1QVIwAAod
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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.981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8DjdwrmrZL
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgwrOH7ExqS
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.981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbawDTl338t
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNiDCq7hoPN
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.981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdnYZ1sQI2o
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP1yakzIpMH
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.981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNaXS96lJ25
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQXZSH3kaXP
“Ro, can we—”981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXXTR9IpcdG
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGf0mxoNakq
“Shhh!” She’s beside me, pressing her hand against my mouth. “You hear that?”981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWdyAz8XonR
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNo2D6Xbips
I start to shake my head, but then I do hear it: footsteps outside.981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQoF1FCF1qu
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“We have to put these away,” she whispers.981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuaCncWKPn6
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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.981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxQrx90AGnY
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSM9GCnvBp9
Two pairs of legs come in—a woman and a man.981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNomS38IAEj
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡetNBR9a6aM
“You say you can have it completed tomorrow?” The voice is unmistakably Mr. Kensington’s.981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOZ7qkh7eVp
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSrvR3GJdA1
“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.981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Y4AZKmyvL
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOyw6tyK0Fn
“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.”981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDkawP6mb6b
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVLyQlV0qSq
Roanna and I share glances. She mouths, “I told you so.”981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoLtshVoSrq
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLQ26gGb4i2
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.981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqBDGbjHvka
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8BWgG0PIyF
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.981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvbryIEZkZ
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4GeV70eump
Roanna mouths something that looks like, “Scrying.”981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaC04u3NIT8
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1lPrl4sV6F
“Here it is,” Madame Pommier says triumphantly, slapping her palm against the table over our heads. Both of us jump slightly.981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ62EqHmBif5
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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.”981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp0u6sf3RK6
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYYp5lGWFFr
I crawl out with a sheepish smile and Roanna right at my heels.981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFWonM3DSbe
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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.”981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc75qqWW3n5
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZSmMmHCAHl
“I think I figured it out,” Roanna says hurriedly.981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2iQdy2JPcP
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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.981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrP4Qy77Xr0
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXxqO8348m
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.981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs3ttez8cgj
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKhPpZDFSqM
“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.”981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtt1TrVeFBG
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlReqG3QLIK
“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.”981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFfHp9Sy16F
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRbiVPjdJaN
Roanna’s face lights up instantly. “This was a hospital for psychics?”981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsr0AHi14EE
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“People who believed themselves to be psychics,” Madame Pommier corrects. “To everyone else, they were simply lunatics.”981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsHcAs17DED
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“They weren’t though, were they?” Roanna says.981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5AGkRCsNDr
981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMiqnYvfJ5n
“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.”981Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNT1tS9osH9
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