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.749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC8i2OgpVZY
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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.749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsOl6yuXEyN
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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.749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbenyr84nL1
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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.749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvqflCxPLjX
749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxNDa09hAfT
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.749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYZovfwHUeZ
749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAjBcD4GcHW
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.749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvFPSdnWadD
749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIgN6t17D5C
“Ro, can we—”749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUBTNO8NHy
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“Shhh!” She’s beside me, pressing her hand against my mouth. “You hear that?”749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhWbG78yHg
749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6dph2d39dO
I start to shake my head, but then I do hear it: footsteps outside.749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6D1OMWzjLf
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“We have to put these away,” she whispers.749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6xou8XIXTh
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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.749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg4QJuWssUu
749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtM0Yb12D43
Two pairs of legs come in—a woman and a man.749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFRk0mJmyMi
749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7y2OeqQDjR
“You say you can have it completed tomorrow?” The voice is unmistakably Mr. Kensington’s.749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtximn31kiO
749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3IgrgBYqBd
“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.749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZUWyA3K3F7
749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEl5tioyxLF
“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.”749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhUnYMcCNhe
749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9p1csc6AI
Roanna and I share glances. She mouths, “I told you so.”749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB5D3z44AbE
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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.749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKF0kGxnX3B
749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFgkA1ePYjX
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.749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3q11nPrXzy
749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEMmhEFoZ4u
Roanna mouths something that looks like, “Scrying.”749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbH0jDS4vxS
749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3LUZKBxf6m
“Here it is,” Madame Pommier says triumphantly, slapping her palm against the table over our heads. Both of us jump slightly.749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyLNwXknDHo
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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.”749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAoi8q3Ec5x
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I crawl out with a sheepish smile and Roanna right at my heels.749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu5hEmaXqDK
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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.”749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEINlTj4WJP
749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡagLftcPs7q
“I think I figured it out,” Roanna says hurriedly.749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHUlapdY1On
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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.749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMeFyP4OSHQ
749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFducz1RiLT
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.749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTyKIOZxY34
749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy4uxx0Xiwk
“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.”749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡreZaEo0yJW
749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7O8TU73qRf
“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.”749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLdILEUU7Om
749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9HBhV6ayUH
Roanna’s face lights up instantly. “This was a hospital for psychics?”749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGY4gQvWvTe
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“People who believed themselves to be psychics,” Madame Pommier corrects. “To everyone else, they were simply lunatics.”749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK1VlAKNbnt
749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSxBrrPN3u0
“They weren’t though, were they?” Roanna says.749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwlHCVebbJl
749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC9LQoQqMFC
“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.”749Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEYek1JBN25
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