Gabriella Poole - Divided Souls (Darke Academy)

‘Listen, I’m … I’m getting pretty worried about Ranjit. Do you know anything, has he had to go away or something?’

Torvald watched her warily. ‘I was going to ask you the same thing.’

Cassie blinked. ‘How would I know?’

‘Well. I thought it might be Few stuff at first. You know? I don’t always hear what’s happening. I thought there might be … an emergency.’

‘Me too. I thought maybe with his family.’ Cassie bit her lip. ‘He hadn’t mentioned anything?’

‘No. He’s just disappeared.’ Torvald inhaled deeply. ‘Look, I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything.’ Cassie nodded, knowing that

Torvald’s expression was just as worried and doubtful as her own.

Cassie sighed as she left the classroom. She was dreading walking the gauntlet of gossiping Few in the corridor – and with good reason,

it seemed.

‘Dear heaven, if it isn’t the Curse of Cassandra. Get out while you can, everyone.’

Sara seemed determined to get in digs at every turn for what had happened at Carnegie Hall, thought Cassie as she tried to push past the

little gang. Funny that Sara was too scared to face her alone – she always had to have a gang around, unsurprisingly – but was she ever

going to get tired of baiting her?

Nope …

‘First Mikhail, now Yusuf. I wonder when she’ll consider her revenge complete? Perhaps she’s saving the best for last.’

Cassie came to a halt. Clutching her books hard, she turned and stared at Sara. ‘What are you talking about?’

Sara didn’t answer her directly. She examined her nails with a bored expression, but her comrades glowered at Cassie like a herd of

malevolent cows.

‘You’d think she’d be grateful, sad little care-home girl. We brought her into the Few, gave her power beyond her wildest imaginings. Or –

let’s face it – ours.’

‘Funny, as I recall, the cowards who so generously initiated me into the Few seemed pretty keen to hide their identities behind some

fetching hoods,’ Cassie hissed.

‘Well, yes. But that’s why you’ve done this, isn’t it?’

‘Yusuf and Mikhail were … they were at the Arc de Triomphe?’ Cassie found she was shaking.

‘Oh don’t play the innocent, it so doesn’t suit you.’ Sara smirked. ‘I’d better watch my own step, hadn’t I, seeing as I was there, too. And,

yes, Yusuf and Mikhail, of course, but it’s too late for those poor sods.’

Blood had drained from Cassie’s face. ‘I didn’t know that! Any of it!’

‘Of course you didn’t. Dear.’

‘How am I supposed to have known which of you were there? That was the whole point, wasn’t it? What do you think, I had X-ray vision

or something?’ she spat. People had begun to back away from the arguing pair, exchanging worried glances, but Cassie barely noticed.

‘Heaven knows how you might have discovered these things,’ Sara retorted. ‘You seem to have all sorts of odd abilities, and I certainly

know all about your temper, you little chavski – or should I say, what happens when you lose it. Oh, by the way! We’re all wondering when

Ranjit’s bloated corpse is going to float ashore. Bet he’s regretting slumming it in the romance department—’

‘BITCH!’ shouted Cassie. She forgot her composure, forgot even her power, simply dropping her books to lunge for Sara with her bare

hands. But as Sara skipped swiftly back, someone shouldered between them, catching Cassie in his arms.

‘Ignore her,’ whispered Richard fiercely in her ear. ‘It’s what she wants.’

Panting for breath, Cassie felt her fingertips biting into his biceps with her rage, but he didn’t flinch. He turned on Sara like a rattlesnake.

‘Back off, you overrated tart,’ he snarled.

Some of the others gasped, shocked, but Sara had already recovered her chilly dignity. She soothed them with a regally waved hand, and

then jerked a thumb in Richard’s direction.

‘Little worm,’ she drawled. ‘He’s turning so fast, he’ll soon be spinning in his grave if he’s not careful.’

Richard took his own advice, ignoring Sara and dragging Cassie away. She was glad of his support for her trembling legs, but less glad

that he was stopping her tearing out Sara’s throat with her teeth.

‘Come on,’ he was murmuring. ‘You can’t rise to it. You mustn’t. Why don’t we get back to your room and rip up some pillows instead, eh,

beautiful?’

She couldn’t help her shaky laugh, but it was perilously close to tears. ‘I didn’t lay a finger on Yusuf or Mikhail, I swear.’

‘Of course you didn’t. Don’t be ridiculous. And don’t let her get to you.’

The walk was a blur of fury and misery. If she’d only remembered to use her power, if she hadn’t just resorted to the old Cranlake

Crescent Cassie, oh, she could have got the better of Sara …