Gabriella Poole - Divided Souls (Darke Academy)

‘Lordy, I did wonder.’ Cassie laughed again, shaking her head. ‘You’re a boy of two halves.’

‘And both of them highly attractive. Now come on, Cassie. Let’s party.’

It had been fine. More than fine, in fact. She’d had great fun in the end – who could avoid it with Richard around? Besides, if Ranjit had

turned up, what would she have said to him?

Still, back at her room, she’d had a restless night with little sleep, and it was mostly because of him. Who stood up an ex-girlfriend – one

he was supposedly pining for, according to his roommate – when he was the one who’d suggested they meet? It was for the best really

anyway. They’d only have quarrelled. Yes, they’d have had one of their ear-splitting, animal-scaring rows, and if he’d turned up at the

common room then it would have been right in front of the rest of the Few. She couldn’t have stood that.

Still …

It would have been reassuring just to catch sight of him, but Ranjit stayed resolutely absent from all his classes the next day. There was

no sign of him, but Cassie refused to worry. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t cut lessons before; he made an absolute habit of it. The boy was a law

unto himself.

Still …

The last lesson of the day, and the heat in the classroom was suffocating despite the gently turning fans overhead. Madame Lefevre’s

sonorous but soporific voice wasn’t helping, and Cassie just couldn’t concentrate. A dove had settled on the windowsill by the latticed

shutters, and at least its cooing was soothing. She tried to focus on the bird instead, but her eyes kept drifting beyond it to the leafy

gardens. Was he out there?

She was relieved when the interminable day was over, and glad too for the cool of the evening. Returning to her room and throwing her

bag down on to her bed, she almost jumped when Isabella stuck her head round the bathroom door and cheerfully called out.

‘Cassie! Hey! How was your afternoon?’

Cassie did a double take, and then smiled. ‘Hi! You’re in a good mood.’ An unusually good mood for Isabella, these days …

Isabella looked almost shifty for a moment, but then she grinned. Ducking back into the bathroom, she reappeared clutching a bottle that

looked sculpted out of crystal. The amber liquid within had an almost nuclear glow. ‘New shampoo. So expensive, and who knows what it

does for my hair, but it makes me very, very happy.’

‘Just the price tag makes you happy?’ Cassie tilted an eyebrow, nevertheless ridiculously pleased as her friend beamed back.

‘You know nothing makes me happier than spending my inheritance on supporting the economy, Cassie.’ Isabella winked. ‘Listen, how

do you fancy hanging out this weekend? We haven’t really spent any time together properly this term. It could be like old times, no? Just

like old times …’ She muttered the last sentence to herself, but seemed to stop when she caught Cassie’s quizzical look. What had brought

all this on?

‘How about it?’ Isabella continued.

‘Isabella, that sounds wonderful.’ Cassie felt a surge of relief, despite the sudden nature of Isabella’s new-found good mood. She hadn’t

seen her friend this happy since … Well, since last term.

‘It does, doesn’t it?’ Isabella agreed, nodding happily.

Cassie returned her friend’s enthusiastic grin, though she couldn’t shake the feeling it was all a bit odd. First Ranjit, now Isabella acting

bizarrely. Well, all in a day’s work at the Academy, she thought, chuckling to herself. Anyway, so what? All that mattered was that Isabella

was cheerful again, almost back to her normal self, and Cassie wasn’t going to question that too hard.

So long as Isabella was finding her way back, she didn’t care. Cassie had missed her far, far too much to rock the boat now …

CHAPTER TEN

As Isabella dumped her bag on her desk and sat down, Cassie glanced around the history class. There seemed to be more of a buzz than

usual, more furtive whispered comments and suppressed excitement. Even among the Few, in their usual spot at the back of the room,

there was a flicker of nervous energy.

Mr Haswell was calling for quiet, asking them to take their seats, but Cassie was Few, wasn’t she? She didn’t often pull rank, and never

usually around the teachers, but now was perhaps the time to start. She headed straight for the back of the class and leaned down to talk

to Ayeesha.

‘He just never came back,’ Ayeesha’s neighbour Lara was saying. ‘Nobody knows what’s happened.’

Cassie interrupted. ‘There’s no need to panic though, is there? I mean, Ranjit’s been away before.’

Lara blinked and shook her head. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘It’s no big deal,’ muttered Cassie. ‘Why’s everyone making a big thing of it?’