Darke Academy 3: Divided Souls

by Gabriella Poole

  The worst of their nature?

  She felt her fingers tense with rage and fear as she started at the details. Of course, it would have to be the first contact; after that it would be rendered safe once more. After all, the Elders would probably want the artefacts back, wouldn’t they? They’d have to be able to touch the artefacts themselves, once the poor unsuspecting thief had lost their marbles …

  Cassie flattened her hands against the page, almost trying not to see the spidery script. There was no way round it. The first person to touch Pendant, Knife or Urn would change – and it definitely didn’t sound like it was for the better.

  It explained everything, of course. Keiko had been no Pollyanna, but the Knife had given her a new, psychopathic hatred and violence. She’d been out of her mind when she tried to kill Cassie. That somehow made her feel even worse about the Japanese girl’s terrible death.

  Hurriedly Cassie turned more pages, handling the heavy vellum with great care. She couldn’t help feeling respectful of the manuscript’s age, even as she wanted to rip the damned thing into tiny pieces.

  And there it was: the Urn’s location. Cassie couldn’t help gulping hard and shoving the chair back, as if she could distance herself physically from what this meant.

  The Yucatán …

  Patrick’s words from all those weeks ago came back to her with a horrible jolt.

  Erik was killed … in a landslide … I always wondered what they were looking for, out there in the Yucatán.

  But Sir Alric never said …

  Of course he didn’t: it was a secret project. A top-secret, mysterious, Few-related project, entrusted only to the reliable, honourable Erik Ragnarsson. Oh Lord. They must have found the Urn. And something terrible had happened to Erik. But then it was entirely possible that Erik had been first to touch their find. Maybe Erik had been cursed in Sir Alric’s place.

  Cassie didn’t want to think about it. What had happened to him? Only he and Sir Alric had been there. Erik was Few. He’d touched the Urn, been struck with the curse … and then what? A landslide, and Erik dead, or so Sir Alric said. What a convenient landslide. Oh God …

  No matter how much Cassie tried not to think about it, she knew one devastating fact was almost certain. That Ranjit had no idea of this. No idea about what might happen if he was the first to touch an artefact.

  He couldn’t have if he hadn’t seen the other half of this manuscript. Ranjit had more than likely gone blindly in search of the Pendant, thinking it could save his relationship with her, without a clue about the consequences. Or at least not the consequences for himself …

  Then Cassie remembered the missing Urn, its sudden disappearance from the very office in which she now sat. There was every chance it was Ranjit who had taken it, but Erik’s sacrifice must mean that the Urn was safe to touch. The Pendant, however, was a different story.

  And now Ranjit had disappeared.

  Could Sir Alric have been using him too? But what about the others – Mikhail, Yusuf? What was he covering up? Was his mention of Jake just a diversion, a way to throw her off the scent?

  Cassie’s breath became ragged as the horror of all the possibilities began to assail her mind. She had to get out of there, and fast. Covering her tracks as best she could, Cassie replaced the manuscript, spun the dial to lock the vault and replaced the books on the shelf, her head spinning.

  We must take great care, my dear … please, please be reasonable … there may be nothing we can do … we shouldn’t continue to pursue this … PLEASE!

  Maybe there is nothing to be done, Cassie thought. But if there was any chance that Ranjit was still alive, she had to find him. She had to try and help him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  As she quietly pulled the office door shut, Cassie was acutely aware that she really did not want to run into anyone on her way back to her room: there was potential for far too many awkward questions, and not many answers she could give. Edging into the next corridor she took a breath, listening for any footstep, preparing to make a dash for it.

  Then her ringtone shrieked, slicing through the silence.

  Swearing, Cassie fumbled in her pocket, almost dropping the phone as she dragged it out.

  ‘Shut up,’ she hissed wildly, silencing it at last. Leaning back against the wall, trying to breathe without a high note of panic, she peered at the illuminated caller ID.

  Richard H-J

  She was goggling at that, wondering what he wanted at this time of night, when something moved at the corner of her eye. Jerking her head round, she went absolutely still, senses pricked.

  At the end of the passageway. Someone, there. They’d retreated into the shadows; maybe even ducked round the corner. Marat?

  No, she decided. The figure was too light on its feet, had moved too fast.

  But not half as fast as she could.

  Angry, her senses clicking smoothly into high alert, Cassie sprinted after the shadow.

  Whoever it was, they were a fast mover. When she reached the corner it was already running for the stairs, vaulting over the banisters and halfway down the first flight. Cassie reached the top of the stairs just as it vanished into the next bedroom corridor.

  With a growl she leaped over the banisters in pursuit; no time for using the steps. She dashed into the corridor and caught the shadow’s edge as it bolted round a corner. He wouldn’t get away. He, she, it wouldn’t get away. Cassie put on speed, skidding into the next passageway, then sprang in a single leap down the next flight of stairs. She bounced off the far wall and recovered her footing, just in time to see the figure dodge into a bedroom and close the door – but quietly, as if he thought he’d escaped detection.

  She halted, smiling grimly, then walked to the room where the shadow had vanished. Raising her fist to rap on the wood, she stopped short, breath stuck in her windpipe.

  ALICE PRITCHARD

  Alice. Alice, who hadn’t shared a room since the death of her roommate Keiko in the autumn term. Alice, who was now permitted a room alone for the rest of her school career, unless she wished to share.

  And now she did. Because Isabella had moved in.

  So who was the shadowy prowler? Alice? Isabella? That didn’t make sense.

  Cassie felt suddenly sick. There was one other person she knew who liked to prowl the school corridors. One person who held a grudge that wouldn’t go away. Someone else who’d once been a scholarship student, but not any more. Someone who shouldn’t even be here …

  Anger filling her as the shock drained away, Cassie hammered on the door. In less than two seconds, it was flung open.

  Isabella’s face was stony, her lips compressed. She looked at Cassie with what seemed like all the defiance in her soul, and that was a lot. For a fleeting moment Cassie wondered if she’d even get past the girl; then her eye was caught by a figure behind Isabella, and she glared over her shoulder.

  Tall, rangy, crop-haired, and a good bit colder-eyed than he used to be. He didn’t smile, but nor did he avert his eyes. A war of emotions rattled through Cassie’s mind. It was unexpectedly good to see the American boy, despite it all. But all the deception, the unknown motivations, the resentment in his gaze …

  ‘I knew it,’ she spat. ‘Jake Johnson.’

  Isabella said nothing, but Cassie could her breathing hard, and she still barred the doorway like a bodyguard. There was no point trying to play the Few card and bully her way into the room; that wouldn’t cut any ice with these two.

  Cassie made a big effort to control her dangerous temper. After all, they’d been friends once, and they’d faced a lot together; whatever had come between them, she was glad he was all right. Oddly glad, too, to see him back with Isabella. Breathing out slowly, Cassie shrugged. She didn’t want a fight.

  ‘Look,’ she sighed, ‘just tell me what’s going on, please? Where’s Alice?’

  The charge of tension seemed to leak from the air like grounded electricity. With a confrontation off the cards, Isabell
a looked a little less sure of herself. ‘She’s gone to Ankara for the weekend. Her uncle works there. Cassie, I can’t tell you everything but I can explain what’s—’

  ‘No,’ Jake interrupted, putting his hands on her shoulders and moving her gently aside. ‘I’ll tell her.’

  Cassie eyed him as she stepped into the room. ‘Have you got the Knife, Jake?’

  ‘Who wants to know? You, or Estelle?’

  She kept hold of her temper, sighing deeply. ‘We’re the same, Jake; get used to it. You haven’t answered my question. Have you got the Knife? Has Ranjit been in touch about it?’

  ‘What?’ Isabella looked baffled.

  Jake gave his girlfriend a wary glance and said hastily, ‘I’m here because of Isabella. I’m here because I love her and I couldn’t stay away, OK?’

  Cassie eyed him sceptically. ‘Right. So why have you been following me?’

  ‘Like you used to followed me?’ he retorted. ‘It isn’t any of your business, Cassie. I’m just glad Isabella’s seen the light about you.’

  ‘Jake, no!’ protested Isabella. She looked beseechingly at Cassie. ‘I meant it: this is only a breathing space. Cassie and I both needed time to ourselves, Jake, that’s all. Look, Cassie, I’m sorry I lied to you. I couldn’t tell you, and I needed to be with him. You have to understand.’

  Cassie took a deep breath. It hurt, that was true, but she did understand. Besides, it wasn’t as if she’d had no secrets from Isabella.

  ‘Yeah. Yes, course I do, Isabella. But how’s he been coming and going? Jake shouldn’t be able to get into the Academy.’

  ‘I found somebody in the city who’d clone my Academy pass.’ Isabella looked a little sheepish. ‘It was easier than I thought it would be. Someone at the Book Bazaar did it: replaced my photo and my name with Jake’s – not his real name, obviously. He used a fake one. The boatmen aren’t all that interested anyway; so long as they see a pass they don’t check too closely.’

  ‘I pull a hat down over my head when I get on or off the boat,’ added Jake. ‘Nobody takes any notice of me. The other kids probably assume I’m a gardener or a cleaner.’ There was a distinct tinge of old bitterness in his tone.

  Isabella slipped an arm round his waist. ‘Cassie, you must believe Jake has had nothing to do with those … killings,’ she pleaded.

  Cassie was silent for a long moment, her thoughts going in horrible directions.

  ‘She’s right,’ said Jake. ‘It doesn’t matter to me what you think, but for what it’s worth, I had nothing to do with those deaths. Or Ranjit’s disappearance.’

  ‘No,’ Cassie said slowly. ‘I believe you.’

  ‘Have you heard anything from him?’ he asked. ‘Ranjit?’

  Cassie paused, trying to contain the fear and worry at the very mention of him. ‘As you said. It’s none of your business.’

  There was an awkward silence for several seconds, but Cassie didn’t regret snapping. She was thinking too hard, wondering what to do.

  ‘Did it occur to you that Ranjit’s body hasn’t turned up,’ asked Jake softly, ‘because he’s the one doing the killing?’

  ‘What? How dare you!’ She took an abrupt step backwards. Her shock at his suggestion was heightened by the fact that, somewhere very deep down, she may have had the same thought herself …

  ‘He’s evil, Cassie. I know how you feel about him and I’m sorry, but everything points to him. With Jess, and with the others now too. Look, he led you on, got you to trust him, but didn’t he always let you down when it counted?’

  She found she didn’t trust her voice. Not to answer that question, anyway. Resolutely she ignored it.

  ‘Ranjit wanted something from you,’ she told Jake coldly. ‘Are you quite sure he hasn’t been in touch?’

  ‘I haven’t seen him since I got to Istanbul, Cassie. Yeah, he suggested a meeting, some crap about offering me information, but it doesn’t matter because it didn’t happen. He didn’t show. I never really thought he would; who’d trust Ranjit Singh?’ he sneered. ‘I’m here because of Jess, but I’m here for Isabella too.’

  Isabella pressed even closer to him and squeezed his hand.

  ‘I don’t give a shit about Ranjit Singh,’ he went on. ‘And you know what? I wish I had seen him, because I’d love to get my hands on him. Maybe even more than you. But I haven’t, and I’ve got nothing to do with him going missing.’

  I WILL fix this! She couldn’t get Ranjit’s excited voice out of her head. Cassie, I WILL fix this … I know how, now … Break old ties … Break old ties!

  ‘Fine,’ she said softly.

  ‘You believe me?’

  ‘Yes.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Yes. Yes, I do believe you.’

  The beep from her phone made her jump, eyes so wide that Jake frowned in curiosity. ‘What?’

  Blinking, she tugged the phone urgently out of her pocket and stared at it. ‘Damn it,’ she whispered quickly. ‘Richard – I had a call. I totally forgot. He’s left a message.’

  Jake turned away with a show of contempt, but Isabella watched her anxiously as she held the phone to her ear.

  ‘Cassie, what is it? What’s wrong?’

  Cassie held a finger to her lips as she listened to the message, but she knew she must be going pale. She could feel the blood draining from her face, and by the time Richard’s recorded message clicked dead, she was dizzy. She couldn’t press the disconnect button, just lowered her hand to her side so that she could still hear the distant prissy voicemail: ‘… to save, press two. To delete, press three …’

  ‘Cassie?’

  Something was stuck in her throat. She coughed. ‘Richard. He’s … he says he’s heard from Ranjit.’

  Jake spun round, excitement in his eyes. ‘So let’s go find the little bastard! He can take us to Ran—’

  ‘He’s gone to meet him. Wants me to come and meet them.’ Cassie felt like her voice was coming from someone else.

  ‘What?’ Jake prompted. ‘Where?’

  ‘Hagia Sophia.’ Cassie finally killed the voicemail with her thumb and frantically pressed Richard’s speed-dial button. ‘Answer. Please, please. Answer!’ Her voice was rising close to hysteria.

  If Ranjit was alive, if he was hanging around the Hagia Sophia, then there was every possibility that he could have found the Pendant before Sir Alric. And if he’d found the Pendant before Sir Alric then he could be … dangerous.

  It seemed as if no one was breathing when she finally snapped her phone shut, an awful fear tightening her throat.

  ‘Switched off,’ she whispered. ‘Richard’s switched off his phone. And he’s going to meet Ranjit. Alone.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  ‘He’ll be fine.’ Isabella came to Cassie to console her, resting a hand on her arm, her brows knitted in confusion at Cassie’s reaction. ‘Richard always is. He is a … a survivor, yes?’

  ‘He’s a snake,’ growled Jake.

  ‘I don’t understand! It’s a good thing that Ranjit’s OK, right?’ exclaimed Isabella. ‘Cassie?’

  ‘It’s too complicated to explain.’ Cassie shook her head. ‘Listen, Richard’s in trouble. Serious, serious trouble. You’ve got to help me.’

  Isabella blinked. ‘Since when have you been so worried about Richard? I thought you—’

  ‘I know, I know, never mind all that. I don’t want him to get hurt. Please help?’

  ‘Of course we—’

  ‘I mean, the only way you can.’ Fear made her voice hard. ‘Isabella, I think I’m going to have to fight Ranjit. I need to be strong enough.’

  Isabella took a sharp breath, and a step closer to Jake.

  ‘No friggin’ way,’ he snapped, seizing Isabella’s hand and pulling her back towards him.

  ‘You’d rather see Richard die?’ barked Cassie.

  ‘Do not make me answer that one.’

  ‘Ranjit may be under a curse,’ she said, her teeth clenched, her voice low, dangerous. ‘There’s a … a Pendant.
It’s … special. If he’s found it, he may not be himself, OK? He won’t hold back! I need to be stronger, damn it! I need to feed.’

  Isabella bit her lip, seeming to hesitate, and then took a step forward, but Jake yanked her behind him. ‘No, Isabella!’

  Cassie’s jaw tightened. ‘Stay out of it, Jake!’

  ‘No way. Are you kidding me? Over my dead body!’

  Oh, don’t tempt me … Cassie took deep, slow breaths, trying to stop the room turning red. Fists balled up, she took a pace towards Jake, and saw his hand grab at something in his belt. A knife-hilt. The Knife.

  Her eyes narrowed and her breath hissed through her teeth. He’d lifted his T-shirt slightly and she could see the hilt clearly now, pressed against his hard stomach muscles. Its mythical creatures were dead, unmoving, lifeless: it was nothing but a carving. Violent resentment surged through her.

  ‘That isn’t yours,’ she hissed. ‘You have no right to it. None!’

  ‘Still sharp, though,’ he growled.

  Cassie couldn’t remember when she had last breathed. Now she took a great lungful of air, shaking her head, desperately clearing her vision of its scarlet filter. ‘No,’ she murmured. ‘No …’

  We should take him, my darling! Don’t tell me no!

  No! she snapped back in her mind. Shut up, Estelle!

  Control yourself, Cassie … For all his myriad faults, Sir Alric had been right on that. And she must. She must. This was Jake, for God’s sake!

  She shut her eyes hard. ‘We haven’t got time for this.’

  Jake eyed her warily for a long time before he spoke. ‘Fine. I agree.’ His hand moved a little further from the hilt. He gave Isabella a sidelong, fierce glance. ‘So feed on me.’

  Cassie started. ‘What?’

  ‘Jake, no!’ exclaimed Isabella.

  ‘Why not? You’ve done it, right? You say it’s safe. So what have I got to be scared of? If you’ve been telling me the truth.’ He turned back to Cassie. ‘I get it. You need to be strong. So come on. Feed on me.’

  She nodded, slowly at first, then more vigorously. ‘I haven’t got time to argue. You’ll do.’ She stepped swiftly up to him, seized his arms and turned his wrists up to face her.