Gabriella Poole - Divided Souls (Darke Academy)

irrational as it was, she couldn’t help hoping against hope that she’d see Ranjit’s face – but it was Torvald again.

‘Cassie.’ He eyed her, puzzled, but his overriding expression was one of anxiety.

‘Sorry to disturb you—’ she began, her words tumbling out.

Torvald held up his hand to stop her. ‘Don’t worry about it. Still nothing, I’m afraid. I don’t suppose you’ve …?’

Cassie shook her head, her brow furrowed. Torvald stepped back, gesturing. ‘Look, why don’t you come in? No point standing out here.’

She nodded. As he followed her in and shut the door, Torvald said, ‘He hasn’t been around for ages.’

‘I don’t get it. I mean, he’d tell you if he had to go away, wouldn’t he?’

‘Usually.’ He shrugged.

Cassie swallowed. ‘Well … I mean, of course he’s always kind of been a law unto himself, right? Maybe we’re worrying too much …’

‘Yes, but he’s never been away for so long,’ pointed out Torvald. ‘And he always told me when he’d be back.’

I’ll bet he did, thought Cassie dryly. Hungry after an absence, poor lad.

‘Have you talked to Sir Alric?’

‘I’ve tried. Didn’t get any joy out of him. He’s aware of the situation, that’s all he would say.’

Cassie turned a slow circle, studying the boys’ room, opulent as ever. They even had a flat-screen TV. Torvald certainly got good perks

for feeding Ranjit. She wondered if he knew.

Maybe her nosiness was a bit blatant, because he said rather pointedly, ‘There might be a clue here that I’m missing. Do you want to

check a few things?’

She raised an eyebrow. ‘Have you looked through his stuff?’

‘Course I have. Nothing’s missing, not his passport, no clothes, not even his wallet. He’s just – kind of – evaporated.’

‘His emails? Anything like that?’ Cassie was wandering round the room now, touching things. Something was making her deeply uneasy.

It was as if she could feel his presence … and something else too, fainter though. Something familiar, or someone she knew? That

something or someone had been here and she could feel its former presence like a ghost. A ghost she could smell and touch. What it

reminded her of most was …

The Knife.

That was it. She had a connection to that strange Few artefact, with its bizarre inward life. When it was close, it spoke to her like a voice.

Well, this was the same sort of feeling. It had been in here at some point, she was almost certain of it.

And it wouldn’t have got there all by itself. Could Jake have—?

‘What are you thinking?’ Torvald’s voice broke into her thoughts.

‘Nothing.’ Nothing you’d want to know, anyway . Cassie turned to face him. ‘Where’s Ranjit’s laptop?’

‘There.’ Torvald pulled out a drawer and retrieved it, setting it reverently on the desktop. ‘I don’t know his password, obviously. Same

with the voicemails on the room’s phone system. I can’t access them.’

‘Let me try.’ She booted up the laptop, hesitated with her fingers on the keys.

ranjitsingh

Incorrect password

ranjit1

Incorrect password

darkeacademy

Too obvious, anyway. She tapped her fingernails on the edge of the laptop.

No, it couldn’t be.

Maybe?

cassandra

Welcome Ranjit

Behind her, Torvald coughed. Cassie stepped back, beating back a rush of conflicting emotions, then bent down to the keyboard again.

There was nothing sinister that she could see: nothing, but the fact that no emails had been downloaded in ages. With a horrible sense

of dread, Cassie watched the list of unread emails grow like a black spell, creeping down the screen. Two from his mother. One from his

academic counsellor. Amazon, iTunes, play.com, the usual suspects. Fifteen, twenty … She didn’t know he subscribed to popbitch.com, she

thought with a small reluctant smile. More emails piled in: another from his mother, now one from his father. His brothers, an email from

each.

She pushed back the chair as the list finally stopped. ‘Nothing,’ she said, though she had a feeling it was anything but. ‘I’ll try his

voicemail.’

It was the same story. Luckily, it was the same password: guilt clenched her stomach. Had he really pined for her as much as Torvald

claimed? Unwilling to believe she had found nothing, she sat back down at the laptop and opened a list of his documents in a separate

window.

‘So what do you think?’ Torvald sounded impatient.