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.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnmQCZiPBHP
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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.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4lK2okT5P0
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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.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhivWhKX7WA
700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡElgI4a8cTP
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.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6nAnDBbYyL
700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFvUQEORdbl
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.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmjAqd5N3VM
700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡldVp6qnObr
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.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPcsMUEyzGQ
700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkZqLSEyMaF
“Ro, can we—”700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmzTL2yde89
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“Shhh!” She’s beside me, pressing her hand against my mouth. “You hear that?”700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuIYhE9WmlY
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I start to shake my head, but then I do hear it: footsteps outside.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡku77bzw8fH
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“We have to put these away,” she whispers.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1XWkyzHTk6
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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.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQG3rbWbSWw
700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsxxjOwGZPi
Two pairs of legs come in—a woman and a man.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcuyMrCzpyZ
700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQN4huCeEok
“You say you can have it completed tomorrow?” The voice is unmistakably Mr. Kensington’s.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMSzYI8aN85
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“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.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ960ZprCm1c
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“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.”700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBUjJ8KyN4c
700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGR7IraIspo
Roanna and I share glances. She mouths, “I told you so.”700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjLOGYQsTp3
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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.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZMDnuIj380
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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.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXncuf1dZyw
700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJujpD6G6q2
Roanna mouths something that looks like, “Scrying.”700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLKxjr2YElV
700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡywQ6YRDUF2
“Here it is,” Madame Pommier says triumphantly, slapping her palm against the table over our heads. Both of us jump slightly.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4o2WgJ7UXC
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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.”700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlxVkeNdGkH
700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOmQmtpmlgY
I crawl out with a sheepish smile and Roanna right at my heels.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmtWEuINGvH
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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.”700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy6iqO7PU1v
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“I think I figured it out,” Roanna says hurriedly.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAVDE05ARUR
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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.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5rK0NAmti
700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYIdrrtj606
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.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKQEzasQOt
700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmUrhPMul7P
“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.”700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcpsyYOp1sB
700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq2b1UW16VY
“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.”700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH5Bp7wXVW5
700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjynmSglmlR
Roanna’s face lights up instantly. “This was a hospital for psychics?”700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwb7LfnGnMv
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“People who believed themselves to be psychics,” Madame Pommier corrects. “To everyone else, they were simply lunatics.”700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Ge2wI3aCh
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“They weren’t though, were they?” Roanna says.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡge4tix035P
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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.”700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhakoiorfPk
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