Spotting the bottle at Allie’s feet, Jo took a quick step towards her. Climbing to her feet, Allie picked up the vodka and looked wordlessly at Carter but before they could decide what to do, Jo lunged for it.
Carter reached out for her but it all happened too fast; a loose tile caught her foot, and she lost her balance. Falling out of control, she rolled down the steep slope of roof, and with a piercing cry, disappeared.
The vodka bottle fell from Allie’s nerveless hands, rolled off the roof and hit the ground below with a crystalline crash. In the awful moment that followed Allie could hear a voice screaming far away and realised it was her own.
Carter stared at the space where Jo had been, his face empty. And one second seemed to stretch beyond the limits that physics allow.
Then they both heard a scrabbling sound from the edge of the roof. Before Allie could react, Carter had thrown himself to his stomach and begun inching down the steep roof to the edge. Allie followed suit, and they both saw bloodied hands trying to hold on. They lunged for Jo at the same moment. Carter grabbed Jo’s left wrist, and a few seconds later Allie had her right hand. Over Jo’s shoulder, Allie could see the steep fall down to the ground.
Now she could hear a high-pitched whining sound from below the rooftop, as if Jo were too frightened to cry. The blood on her hands made them slippery and as Allie struggled to hold her Carter shouted tersely, ‘Get her wrist.’
By now, Allie had Jo’s arm in her grip, but because she was facing down the steep slope of the roof she had to use all of her strength to hold onto Jo without falling off herself. Pulling her up was impossible. Carter’s face was purple with effort, but at this angle even he was having difficulty.
‘OK, let’s try something different. Let go of her arm,’ he said, panting. ‘I’m going to try and swing around so that I’m sitting up. Then I can get some traction to pull her up. Grab me around the waist and hold on.’ Catching her eye he added, ‘Don’t let us fall, Allie.’
So frightened she couldn’t breathe, Allie nodded her understanding. Holding Jo’s arm in an iron grip, Carter swung himself into a sitting position with a groan of effort. As soon as he was ready, Allie let go of Jo’s arm and, moving as quickly as she could, scrambled into position behind Carter, bracing her feet hard into the roof tiles. As Allie wrapped her arms around his waist, he shouted, ‘On three, pull me back as hard as you can. One, two …’
At three, Allie dug in her heels and heaved.
Jo’s torso appeared over the edge of the roof.
Carter and Allie scooted back and then, ‘Again!’ Carter shouted. ‘Pull!’
This time, Jo was fully on the roof, and they both reached for her arms to pull her to safety.
Relieved tears burned Allie’s eyes. Panting from the exertion, and she crawled over to Jo. ‘Are you OK?’ She grabbed Jo’s hands to see her injuries, and winced. ‘Oh Jo,’ she said. Several of Jo’s nails had torn clean away, and she had a deep cut to the palm of her left hand that was bleeding freely.
‘Allie? Jo? Are you up there?’ Gabe’s voice came from below them.
Carter and Allie exchanged a look. But it was Jo who answered. ‘Gabe,’ she cried out, sobbing, ‘Gabe, help me!’
‘Jo?’ he shouted, fear in his voice.
Allie could hear him climbing fast up towards them, apparently taking the same path Carter had earlier.
Leaping onto the roof, he stood staring at them for a second, astonished, before rushing over to Jo.
‘What the hell happened? What’s wrong with your hands?’ When she didn’t answer he turned towards Carter. ‘Carter?’
Carter’s voice was dull with exhausted tension. ‘She fell off the roof. I think she hurt herself trying to hold on. We need to take her to the nurse.’
‘Jesus Christ.’ Gabe wrapped his arms around Jo and lifted her up so that she was on her feet with him supporting her. Looking at Carter over her shoulder, he mouthed, ‘Vodka?’
Carter nodded. Although Gabe looked saddened, his voice was calm. ‘I’ve got you, babe. I’m going to get you down. Carter, can you help me?’
Turning to Allie, Carter said, ‘Stay here, OK? Do not move. I’ll come back and show you the safe way down.’
Beyond speech now, Allie nodded, and Carter hurried after Gabe. She listened to them lowering Jo down to the ledge, and then manoeuvring her through the window. There was a low murmur of conversation that she couldn’t make out, and then the sound of Carter returning.
Still sitting on the roof with her arms wrapped tightly around her body, she rocked back and forth, counting every movement. (One hundred and seventeen, one hundred and eighteen, one hundred …)
‘Are you OK?’ He’d crouched down beside her so that his face was even with hers. She could see the worry in his eyes as he wiped a tear from her face with his fingertips.
Straightening, she nodded.
‘Then let’s get off this crazy roof,’ he said.
He helped her to her feet and then led her past the spot where she’d climbed up earlier to a section where the roof sloped more gradually down towards the ledge. It was easy from there to make her way down to a sturdy ledge, and then walk the short distance to her bedroom window.
From the windowsill, she climbed through onto her desk, banging her head hard on the top of the window frame in the process. Inside, she reeled around the room, clutching her head as he slipped gracefully through the window and looked at her in amazement.
Despite what they’d just been through, she saw him try not to smile. ‘Allie, what have you done to yourself now?’
She pointed at her head.
‘Come here.’ He grabbed her arm and pulled her over to him, and examined her head briefly. ‘Seriously, if you survive Cimmeria, you’re going to end up with no brain cells at all.’
He kissed the wounded spot, his lips as light as a wish. ‘There. I think that’s all the medical treatment you need.’
It was probably a coincidence, but her head did feel better.
‘How did you find us?’ she asked.
‘Jules said there might be a problem. I came looking for you. You weren’t here but I saw that.’ He pointed at the note on her desk. ‘Then the open window, and I put two and two together.’
‘Thank you, Carter.’ Her voice was fervent. ‘I think you saved Jo’s life.’
‘I’d rather you two just didn’t get into trouble in the first place,’ he said, but he smiled. ‘Now, should we go and find Gabe and Jo and make sure she’s OK?’
Allie nodded, astonished to find herself smiling back. ‘Thanks.’
‘You’re welcome,’ he said. ‘Now try not to hurt yourself walking down the hall.’ She punched him on the arm as she opened the door, and then jumped back.
Isabelle stood in the hallway outside, her hands on her hips.
NINETEEN
Allie and Carter walked down the hallway with Isabelle and Matthew flanking them. Allie had the feeling they were being marched. There had been no discussion. Isabelle had said, ‘Carter, Allie. Come with us please.’ And off they’d gone.
They walked quickly to Isabelle’s office. She held the door open for them, and then walked in last, before sitting in the chair behind her desk, Matthew next to her, one hand resting on the back of her chair. She did not introduce him.
‘I’ve called you here because I want to know if I’ve made a mistake.’ Isabelle fixed her eyes on Allie.
‘What … what do you mean?’ Allie replied warily.
‘I broke a lot of rules to let you into this school.’ Isabelle’s voice was clipped with anger. ‘Was I wrong?’
As Allie felt fear uncurl in her stomach there was a quick tap at the door.
‘Come.’ Isabelle’s voice was a command.
Sylvain stepped into the room. He glanced around, avoiding Allie’s eyes, then shut the door behind him and leaned his back against it.
Her heart sinking, Allie turned back to the front. ‘I don’t understand,’ she said. ‘What
have I done?’
‘I gave explicit instructions that students were not to go outside, and I find that not only have you been sitting up on the roof drinking with Jo Arringford, you’ve also been to the chapel. I ask you, what am I to think, Allie, except that you are insubordinate?’
Allie stared at her, mouth agape. How did she know about the chapel?
Carter leaned forward. ‘Hang on, Isabelle. She went to the chapel because I asked her to. I was with her all the way. She was safe.’
‘And Jo was very upset,’ Allie said. ‘I was afraid she’d get hurt. I was just trying to help her.’
Isabelle’s glare was icy. ‘A bottle falling off the roof missed a student by inches. If he’d been hit we would have been liable. Glass, and might I add, vodka, are scattered around the front door.’
Allie was so stunned and angry she had to drop her eyes so Isabelle couldn’t see the rage in her expression. Ruth dies, the school burns, and she’s worried about being sued over broken glass?
Isabelle shifted her attention to Carter. ‘And why, may I ask, were you with her all the way? You know the rules.’
‘After what happened with Ruth and Lisa, Allie was upset. She was thinking of leaving the school,’ Carter explained. ‘I wanted her to be able to talk freely without fear of being overheard.’
Impressed at how smoothly he used truth to, well … lie, Allie shot a glance at Isabelle to see how she was taking it. She didn’t look impressed.
‘I appreciate that Allie was upset, but there are places where that conversation could have happened in this building, Carter,’ she said dryly. ‘And I do not like it when my rules are blatantly ignored, particularly when they have been set out so clearly, and so recently.’
Carter held out his hands, palms up. ‘Well then I should apologise, not Allie. I was the one who suggested the chapel. At first she even refused to go because she didn’t want to break your rules, but I convinced her. If anyone was insubordinate it was me. But I did it for reasons I thought were right.’
Carter’s voice was surprisingly confident, Allie thought. His tone was more like that of a son placating an angry mother than a student addressing a headmistress.
‘May I, Isabelle?’ Sylvain looked at the headmistress enquiringly, and she gave him a brief nod.
‘Carter, you not only disobeyed Isabelle’s instructions, but mine as well,’ he said, his elegant French vowels curling around each word. ‘And in doing that you put Allie in danger, and that is unacceptable.’
For the first time in this conversation Carter looked tense. Allie saw him clench his hands into fists and then very deliberately relax them in his lap. He said nothing.
Isabelle sighed. ‘Enough. Carter and Allie, this was a serious infraction of the rules I set out last night. I understand that you’re both still upset because of what happened on Friday night, otherwise you would both face detention and written warnings. Instead I am telling you now that another such infraction will not be permitted.’
‘What’s going to happen to Jo?’ The question burst from Allie’s lips before she could stop herself.
Isabelle shot her a sharp look. ‘Let’s start with what exactly happened on the roof this morning, Allie, shall we?’
Allie told her about finding the note, noticing the open window, and then climbing up to find Jo on the roof, and of all that transpired.
‘I really didn’t know what else to do, except to help her,’ she explained. ‘Is she OK?’
‘Four of Jo’s fingernails were torn off,’ Isabelle said, ‘and one hand has a deep cut. She’s badly bruised. All of these wounds were presumably incurred when she fell. She is also drunk. As her wounds are largely superficial and drunkenness is temporary, she’s been treated by nurses and sedated. She will remain in the infirmary until we decide her punishment. Her parents will be notified.’
‘Will she be … expelled?’ Allie gripped the arms of her chair so tightly her knuckles paled.
Isabelle looked disapproving. ‘I will not discuss disciplinary actions regarding other students with you, Allie.’
Matthew leaned over to whisper something in her ear. When he finished, Isabelle turned to Allie. ‘You may leave now, Allie. I would like to speak with Carter in private for a moment.’
Allie glanced at Carter, but he was looking straight ahead as she walked from the room. She noticed that Sylvain and Matthew both stayed behind.
Not all that private, then.
Closing the door behind her, she leaned against it trying to listen but could hear nothing through the solid wood.
Turning, she ran up the stairs to the girls’ dorm, stopping at room 335.
She knocked, then jumped back when the door opened almost instantly.
Jules was, as ever, immaculate – her uniform crisp and her hair perfect. ‘Allie. What can I do for you?’
If she was surprised to see her, she didn’t show it.
‘I want to visit Lisa,’ Allie said, ‘but I don’t know where the nursing ward is and I figured you would.’
‘I heard she woke up at last,’ Jules said. ‘Go to the ground floor and all the way through the classroom wing. Then up the staircase at the end. It’s on the first level you’ll come to. You’ll know it when you see it.’
Allie hesitated, wishing she trusted Jules enough to really talk to her. When she didn’t move the blonde prefect raised her perfectly arched eyebrows and asked, ‘Is there something else?’
‘It’s just …’ Allie twisted the hem of her shirt around one finger, ‘Carter told me you gave him my message last night. And I wanted to thank you for doing it. You didn’t have to.’
Jules crossed her arms loosely. ‘You’re welcome. Although I’d feel better if you’d told me the truth about why you wanted him. And now, with all that’s happened with Jo Arringford I’m wondering if I should regret my decision.’
‘But all I did was try to help Jo!’ Allie burst out in protest. ‘I didn’t give her vodka or take her up on the roof. I just tried to save her life. I don’t see why that’s so awful.’
‘Well, why didn’t you come and get me first?’ Jules asked.
‘Why would I do that?’ Allie replied. ‘You’d only try to get her in trouble.’
Jules looked exasperated but also, Allie thought, a little hurt. ‘You and Jo are my responsibility while you’re on this floor, Allie. You should never put yourself in danger like you did today. And Carter told me about your panic attacks – why didn’t you ever tell me? I’m not here to get you detention or yell at you. I’m here to help you. But no matter what I do you treat me like I’m your enemy.’
This came as such a surprise that for a moment Allie was struck speechless. ‘I just … I thought you hated me,’ she said at last.
‘I’ve never hated you,’ Jules said. ‘You just always seemed intimidated by me and angry, and I didn’t know how to make you see that I’m not the enemy.’
‘But you’re friends with Katie Gilmore, and she really does hate me.’
To her surprise, Jules gave a brief laugh. She held up her hand apologetically.
‘I am friends with Katie and, yes, she does hate you, but she’s just jealous. She likes Sylvain and Sylvain likes you, and that hurts her feelings and makes her mean. She’s used to getting what she wants. But you should know that has nothing to do with me. I tell her all the time she needs to grow up and leave you alone, but,’ she shrugged, ‘she’s her own person.’
Her expression grew more serious. ‘Don’t judge me by her behaviour. Judge me on my own.’
Sheepish now, Allie rubbed the toe of one foot against the other. ‘I’m really sorry, Jules. I’ve been a complete arse.’
‘It’s OK,’ Jules said. ‘I should have sat you down and talked with you before. I’m the prefect, and I should know how to handle this sort of thing. But I’d really like it if we could put that stuff behind us.’
With a challenging look she held out her hand. ‘Friends?’
After a split second of
hesitation, Allie took it. ‘Friends.’
‘All right, now go to Lisa – she’s probably lonely over there by herself,’ Jules said, stepping back into her room, adding in her more normal officious voice: ‘And no more rooftop excursions, please.’
As Allie hurried along the route Jules had described to the nursing ward, she replayed her conversation with Jules in her head.
How could I have been so wrong about her? Was I that wrong, really?
She remembered Carter and Sylvain both laughing at her for not liking Jules – they seemed to think she was great, although Sylvain had agreed she could be difficult.
But difficult isn’t bad.
It used to bug her that they defended her, but maybe if she’d completely misjudged Jules it all made sense.
She tried to remember the things the prefect had said that upset her, and suddenly all she could remember was her baffled expression when Allie got angry or upset.
But still, it seemed odd that Jules suddenly wanted to be her friend. Jo’s drunken words from the rooftop rang in her ears: ‘They don’t like you … They think you’re dangerous.’
The lights were turned off in the classroom wing, and she felt along the wall for a light switch. When she failed to find it, she walked quickly. Her footsteps echoed as she half-ran down the corridor past the doors opening onto vacant classrooms, where empty chairs and desks sat in ghostly rows and circles.
At the end of the hall, an unmarked door had a frosted glass window through which daylight poured.
That looks promising.
She pushed it open.
Behind it a narrow, utilitarian staircase climbed upward, brightly illuminated by windows on every floor. The first level she came to was a mezzanine between the ground and first floors. Stepping off the staircase she immediately entered a corridor where the low ceilings and linoleum floors contrasted with the soaring spaces and polished wood elsewhere in the building. On one side of the corridor a row of closed, white doors each had a frosted glass window subdivided by a neatly painted blue cross. The other wall was lined with windows through which light and fresh air streamed.