Gabriella Poole - Divided Souls (Darke Academy)

moment than what was going on with her supposed best friend. Luckily, Cassie’s rather stormy mood brightened when they reached the

cafeteria and she saw the table of Few gesticulating for her to join them.

‘Look, there are the guys,’ she said with a wave, and began to make her way over automatically.

‘Um …’ Isabella began, hesitating.

‘What’s up?’

Isabella glanced over to another table, where Alice and another girl were sitting. ‘It’s just … well if you were going to sit with Ayeesha

and everyone again, then maybe I might go and make sure Alice is OK?’

‘Oh. Right. Yeah if you’d prefer …’ Cassie said, trying not to look hurt. What was it with Isabella lately? She was trying her best to include

her, but she just wouldn’t bite.

‘Well, yeah. But I’ll see you later though, right?’

‘Yeah, see you later.’ Cassie tried to force a smile and what she hoped passed for a jovial wave, ignoring the strange sensation of she

and Isabella walking to opposite sides of the room to be with other friends. Well, they weren’t joined at the hip, were they?

‘Hey, guys,’ Cassie said as she made her way over to the Few table, but she couldn’t inject much enthusiasm into her voice.

‘Cassie! Grab a tray. Seriously, this chef is amazing,’ Ayeesha enthused.

‘Yeah, I’m not really hungry,’ she replied, irritation bubbling up inside her.

Ah, but we will be, my dear. You know I’m all for asserting our position amongst the others, but we must be careful to keep our feeding

source happy …

Cassie frowned at Estelle’s interjection. She was annoyed enough at how the day was going without her putting her two pennies’ worth

in. All she’d done was jump through hoops to keep everyone happy, especially Isabella. But she had to draw the line somewhere,

concentrate on her own happiness. If that meant hanging around with the Few, then Isabella would just have to lump it.

OK, there was the Jake and Jessica thing. OK, so Isabella still felt loyal to Jake and his crazy quest for justice – or his definition of it. But

it wasn’t as if the likes of Ayeesha or India had had anything to do with his sister Jessica’s murder. Of the girls who had actually done it,

one was dead, and one expelled and scarred for life. Katerina and Keiko didn’t represent the whole of the Few, for goodness’ sake. The

Few were so much more than a couple of twisted individuals like them.

Cassie was just shaking herself from her internal rant when a shadow fell over their small group at the table.

‘Ladies.’

‘Sir Alric.’ India raised her eyebrows in surprise. ‘It’s unusual to see you here.’ She smiled tentatively, glancing at the boys animatedly

play fighting at the other end of the table.

He nodded. ‘I thought I might take a sample of the food as we have a guest in the kitchen today.’

‘Yes, indeed. Delicious.’ Ayeesha couldn’t get the puzzled look off her face, and Cassie couldn’t agree more. She didn’t like the way Sir

Alric kept glancing over at her, inquisition burning behind his eyes.

‘How are classes going?’

Funny question in the middle of lunchtime, thought Cassie, though India and Ayeesha seemed eager to take this rare opportunity to

impress their elusive headmaster. If only her own conversations with Sir Alric were so infrequent. She eyed him closely as the girls around

her chattered their responses enthusiastically. He narrowed his eyes once more at her, though he ostensibly addressed all three of them.

‘I see Mr Singh is still not gracing us with his presence.’

‘Maybe one of the boys might know where he is? Better than we do, anyway,’ India said, glancing down to Cormac and his friends.

‘I doubt that. In any case, boys are not as sensitive to things as you are, am I right? I thought some of you ladies might have an instinct

about where he’s been lately.’

Cassie couldn’t help noticing he was once again looking almost exclusively at her. She felt a creeping uneasiness – was he accusing her

of something?

‘You know as well as I— as well as we all do. Ranjit’s a law unto himself. It’s hardly unusual that he’s cutting classes, always has. That’s

not our fault. He comes and goes as he pleases. Stands people up when he feels like it, too,’ she added bitterly.

Even some of the Few girls looked shocked at the way she spoke to Sir Alric, but he wasn’t baited.

‘Well, I’ll keep an eye out,’ he said lightly. ‘No doubt our elusive friend will turn up sooner or later.’ His intense gaze bored into Cassie.

‘But if you do happen to spot him, tell him I would like a brief word.’

As soon as Sir Alric had gone, Cassie made her excuses, said goodbye to the other girls and headed for her room. He’d managed to rile

her, and worse, he’d reawakened all her anxieties. On top of everything else, she was growing more and more alarmed about the state of