Gabriella Poole: Divided Souls (Darke Academy)

No. She didn’t want to think about him. Definitely not now. Cassie shook her head to clear it, then smiled and returned Vassily’s formal

handshake. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone else turn and rise to his feet. A good-looking, rakish figure with a distinctly

louche air …

‘Richard. Hey.’

She’d tried to sound a little reticent, but the smile had dawned on her face before she could stop it. Tentatively, almost as if he was afraid

of her reaction, the English boy returned it, but without much trace of his usual carefree arrogance.

Cassie swiftly dampened her smile. New attitude or no new attitude, some things never change. Despite Richard’s constant pleas for

forgiveness last term, and the invaluable information he gave which led Cassie to finding Jake before he was thrown into the Living Soil,

there was one thing she could never quite get over. Richard had been the one to trick her into hosting Estelle’s spirit. She wasn’t sure she

could ever forgive him for that, no matter how much things had moved on since that fateful evening. Tightening her lips as she leaned

forward to greet him, she avoided making contact with his cheek.

‘Cassie.’ He gave her a wary smile. ‘Great to see you.’

‘Yeah. You too.’

He greeted Isabella fondly, but he kept his distance from Cassie as they all sat down, their voices jumbling, eager to gossip and swap

impressions of the new Academy.

‘What do you make of the courtyard? They finally got the hang of having the statues outside!’

‘Too right – but have you seen Sir Alric’s glasshouse? Has to have a special place for his precious bloody orchids, eh!’

‘I’m more worried about the food. I mean, there’s going to be something other than cheese and olives, right?’

‘Cormac, baby, don’t you think of anything other than your stomach?’ Ayeesha patted her boyfriend’s trim midriff teasingly. ‘So anyway,

apparently there’s going to be a huge emphasis on history and archaeology this year. Extra classes.’ She rolled her eyes exaggeratedly.

‘Are you serious? Ancient ruins and dusty digs? No thank you.’

‘It could be fun!’

‘Yeah, right!’

During the mêlée of voices, more than once Cassie found her gaze drifting towards Richard. To her surprise, he seemed to be

concentrating on cheering up Isabella; her detached, gloomy look gradually faded as he joked and chatted. Watching him, Cassie felt a

surge of reluctant admiration.

Admiration for his thoughtfulness, that was all. Not affection.

She told herself that she wouldn’t fall for his charm again. So far, he was acting pretty meek around her, but that was as it should be; he

should feel awkward. OK, so he was being sweet to Isabella right now, but that didn’t cost him anything. Sweetness and charm were

weapons to him, as far as Cassie was concerned. He was the one who tried to play all sides against the middle, even sucking up to the vile

Katerina and her minions when it had suited him.

But it was hard to keep her resentment bubbling. Ever since she’d perceived Richard’s spirit, Cassie had begun to understand him a little

better, in spite of herself. His seemed one of the weakest of all the ancient and immortal Few spirits that had merged with their human

hosts, so it was maybe no wonder that he played the game so carefully. Again she glanced in his direction. Again, he kept his eyes and his

smile averted, wary of her gaze.

Cassie felt another tiny flicker of a softening towards him. Try as she might, she wasn’t as mad at him as she’d expected. Maybe she’d

been wrong – maybe her new attitude would allow her to move on, as far as Richard was concerned. Maybe she wanted to.

‘When did you guys get here?’ asked Cormac.

Cassie glanced at Isabella, but she stayed silent. ‘Just this morning. We, uh … we came on Isabella’s father’s yacht.’

‘Nice! That was a beautiful-looking boat.’ Vassily was smiling at her, though, with only a brief glance at Isabella, which made Cassie a

little uncomfortable.

Again she looked at Isabella, trying to draw her in. ‘Isabella’s parents are incredible. It was really kind of them to let me come along. I’m

sure my friend here didn’t give them much of a choice.’

Isabella gave a small chuckle and smiled at Cassie, but didn’t inject anything further into the conversation. Cassie sighed.

‘Hey, you’re one of us now, or near enough,’ Hamid said, laughing. ‘You need to get used to this lifestyle.’

‘Yeah, I …’ Cassie smiled, with another glance at Isabella. ‘I’m not quite there yet, I don’t think, as I’m sure Isabella would tell you.’

Isabella smiled, and finally opened her mouth to respond, but the conversation had moved on again. Ayeesha set down her tiny cup of

thick coffee dramatically, goggling at it.