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.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8p8HNz4z6
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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.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLKoLQ2ygKN
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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.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa4wTNG1pxn
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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.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡucSwBZ9qYc
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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.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡajEayadwkh
692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOgzjKAY9Xs
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.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeALrvyNnVw
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“Ro, can we—”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1VXtFq9l0N
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“Shhh!” She’s beside me, pressing her hand against my mouth. “You hear that?”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmhtje85P4A
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I start to shake my head, but then I do hear it: footsteps outside.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvM0mQwPMK
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“We have to put these away,” she whispers.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlGPHtY0UwP
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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.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuTCGemb3hh
692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXjcN9UMEli
Two pairs of legs come in—a woman and a man.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2jMFEgzXf2
692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVLVUD9YHBn
“You say you can have it completed tomorrow?” The voice is unmistakably Mr. Kensington’s.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB6mUT5G8iQ
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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.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzuDB46qRVS
692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcgS71D3cAa
“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.”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgMV10OlEVC
692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ35xgHWzHyV
Roanna and I share glances. She mouths, “I told you so.”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1tI3czZWQv
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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.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe8h0lndhQZ
692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA3KPIWY78a
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.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSegzpZx8dQ
692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiypRiUgdJv
Roanna mouths something that looks like, “Scrying.”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUbFO5wSr52
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“Here it is,” Madame Pommier says triumphantly, slapping her palm against the table over our heads. Both of us jump slightly.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVHiJQ40SVE
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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.”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcpG3tRqNVF
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I crawl out with a sheepish smile and Roanna right at my heels.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLdGWlSmCYQ
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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.”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAv2WGwm1TQ
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“I think I figured it out,” Roanna says hurriedly.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuosmTKracW
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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.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZqG8BnoxO
692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzsFuRNAwOv
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.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡshDIWR6LoY
692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAlmp3SFnhu
“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.”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzjppk9bazi
692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2MdUyZjxze
“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.”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp44f2oNP01
692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQuN5Wi2Z2
Roanna’s face lights up instantly. “This was a hospital for psychics?”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡezdBk5TD76
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“People who believed themselves to be psychics,” Madame Pommier corrects. “To everyone else, they were simply lunatics.”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA6EPp6pPIY
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“They weren’t though, were they?” Roanna says.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx0XlEh3YeW
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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.”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuiteQpKo9F
Penana
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