Gabriella Poole: Divided Souls (Darke Academy)

CHAPTER TWO

Shopping. She should have guessed. It really was kind of touristy, thought Cassie, but at least a light of sorts was back in Isabella’s eye.

Beneath its elegantly arched and tiled roof, the Grand Bazaar was a tumble of noise and exotic scents: tobacco smoke, roasting nuts,

spices. She’d lost count of the shops selling jewellery and carpets and Iznik pottery. The prices were outrageous, and Cassie wasn’t about

to buy anything except the pistachios they were nibbling as they walked, but Isabella was doing her best to get back to normal, and for her

that meant retail therapy.

Brightening, Isabella strode into a shop and began to bargain over an especially beautiful kilim. She could have afforded it at the tourist

price, of course, but Cassie had a feeling she’d want to haggle for the sheer sport of it – or usually she would. On this occasion Isabella’s

heart just wasn’t in it. After five minutes, with a shrug, the shopkeeper gave up on her. Cassie was beginning to feel seriously terrible about

her friend’s depressed mood.

All my fault, she thought. All my fault …

Pausing in the tumult to flick desultorily through a rack of colourful scarves, Isabella pushed her bag of pistachios into Cassie’s hand

with a sigh.

‘You finish these. I’m not hungry.’

‘Isabella, you haven’t eaten all morning!’

‘I’m fine. I’m just not hungry.’ As if to reassure her, Isabella squeezed her arm and winked. ‘And you always need feeding up.’

Inside her head Cassie heard a disgusted harrumph.

She must keep her strength up for us, my dear. She’s very selfish …

‘Shut up, Estelle,’ she muttered.

Isabella gave her a look in which alarm and concern were equally mingled, but she didn’t have time to question Cassie. Behind her

someone shrieked over the shouts and chatter of the market.

‘Isabella! Cassie!’

Cassie turned towards the direction of the excited voice, and caught sight of a hand waving beyond a knot of German tourists. A familiar

face appeared then disappeared, bouncing up once more to get a clear line of vision, and Cassie grinned.

‘Ayeesha, hey! Cormac!’

The Barbadian girl and the Irish boy wriggled through the crowds, managing not to disengage their hands. Still an item then, Cassie

thought. She felt an unexpected twinge of envy: that could have been her and Ranjit, if he’d had the courage to fight for her. Annoyed, she

shook off the thought. This wasn’t about Ranjit Singh. New start …

‘Hey, guys! It’s so good to see you.’ She accepted a hug from Cormac, and then hugged Ayeesha as Cormac seized Isabella and

embraced her warmly.

Ayeesha gave her a brilliant grin, flicking her long braids over her shoulder. ‘And good to see you too, Cassie. Looking good, girl! You’ve

been feeding properly!’ The Bajan girl drew back and wagged a mocking finger. ‘About time!’

‘Um. Yeah.’ Cassie smiled awkwardly, trying not to meet Isabella’s eyes.

Ayeesha dropped Cormac’s hand to link one arm through Cassie’s and one through Isabella’s. ‘Come and have coffee, huh? There’s a

few of us over in that little café round the corner,’ she said, her soft lilt quickening with excitement.

‘A Few of us, you mean?’ asked Cassie dryly.

Cormac laughed. ‘Sure, but you’ll keep us all in check. And if you won’t, I’m sure Isabella here will. Come on, girls!’

Cassie, to her surprise, found she didn’t need any further encouragement. The elite Few weren’t all her type, not by any means, but

there were some of them she’d be very pleased to see again. And she understood them better, now that she understood their motivations,

their comradeship, and their unnatural hunger that had to be fed. She was, after all, one of them – or at least part of her was.

As Ayeesha led them to the coffee shop, Cassie found herself looking almost eagerly for familiar faces. Mikhail wasn’t there, thank

goodness. Neither was the horrible Sara who’d tipped off the evil Katerina and her mother to Cassie’s movements last term, nearly getting

her, Isabella and Jake killed in the process.

But Vassily and Yusuf were sitting together gossiping, and India and Hamid waved as she approached. In the flurry of air-kisses, whether

they were sincere or not, Cassie found herself relaxing, smiling. She couldn’t help sensing the new-found respect in their greetings – and

she was genuinely glad to see some of them, she thought. Oh, the irony. In fact, considering how she’d first felt about the Few, she was

shocked at how at ease she was. It was almost as if she’d missed them.

Voluntarily or not, she realised this was kind of where she belonged now. So maybe Ranjit had been right. Maybe if she’d embraced

being part-Few sooner, they would still be together? Maybe—