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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡog27jfw1Jb
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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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3wh6vAD2uj
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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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡijqSXDRtrd
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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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUSVLkrrVE
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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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHJrOr5sfNa
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4gcicWKjqh
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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOdH9lAWAyL
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“Ro, can we—”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcIv9xPNjtJ
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“Shhh!” She’s beside me, pressing her hand against my mouth. “You hear that?”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsOffI7Yv5z
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I start to shake my head, but then I do hear it: footsteps outside.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy4KqeXNek6
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“We have to put these away,” she whispers.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMu0LzEJuzY
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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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9n4BadsEiQ
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Two pairs of legs come in—a woman and a man.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGm87BeGT2B
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxkrIJs8fxq
“You say you can have it completed tomorrow?” The voice is unmistakably Mr. Kensington’s.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkc6FTv8mBY
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPrUT0upOKt
“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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Q16pe5uKU
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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.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWmprKGUeWD
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLLIOnDjxDd
Roanna and I share glances. She mouths, “I told you so.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2slVWNukN1
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU7yQpAvwAA
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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3IorLNN9iu
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEUpBtvbNGi
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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFB8k00Koo5
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtYDq0f6R09
Roanna mouths something that looks like, “Scrying.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrZUnX7lJWn
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhMbfYzYi9B
“Here it is,” Madame Pommier says triumphantly, slapping her palm against the table over our heads. Both of us jump slightly.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWlrrkNQFF0
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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.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZkMJfobNb
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I crawl out with a sheepish smile and Roanna right at my heels.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3A10lG9pZt
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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.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMCevLDsQ1F
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5eSTDhNYlL
“I think I figured it out,” Roanna says hurriedly.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfkGLQVwEtS
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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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwoCVpiEqem
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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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNGek4GbFaG
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3LczZTf4T6
“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.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaTBSkEhFw2
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW0ZFglufeg
“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.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8xj1NgevYS
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvEZdIa08zM
Roanna’s face lights up instantly. “This was a hospital for psychics?”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnkiqGzqJMa
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“People who believed themselves to be psychics,” Madame Pommier corrects. “To everyone else, they were simply lunatics.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrjHJKtRcB7
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“They weren’t though, were they?” Roanna says.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjq8pVD8qIC
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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.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTXjCqnSEjA
Penana
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