Gabriella Poole - Blood Ties (Darke Academy)

holidays in exotic locales. As she made her way towards Herr Stolz’s classroom, Cassie noticed at least one familiar face of her own. Jake

was standing near a bank of sleek lockers with electronic keypads. He looked slightly nervous as Cassie approached.

‘Hey, Jake! How’s it going?’

‘Uh, hey, Cassie. I’m OK, how are you? Feeling better today?’ He reached over and gave her an awkward hug, and Cassie felt her heart

sink. It had taken months for her and Jake to overcome their mutual wariness. Then, just as they had become real friends, events had

taken over. Now, as well as being a walking reminder of his lost sister, Cassie was also one of the Few – part of the group responsible for

Jessica’s death. No wonder there was tension between them; his feelings towards her must be almost as mixed up as her own. She only

hoped she’d be able to show Jake that he could still trust her – and prove it to herself …

As they made their way into the classroom, Cassie’s attention was drawn to a pale, nervous red-headed girl who had dropped her maths

books outside the glass door. A tall boy appeared slickly at her side. He crouched down to help, touching the redhead’s elbow in a way that

sent a visible shiver through the poor creature. She gazed at him awestruck as he passed her books into her arms, and finally Cassie

caught sight of his face. Foppishly handsome, with a dazzling grin.

Richard Halton-Jones.

Cassie felt cold. Obviously he hadn’t changed: still an incorrigible flirt. Show him someone – anyone – that walked upright on two legs

and he just couldn’t help himself. She’d once thought it was endearing; now the memory of their last encounter felt like a punch in the

stomach. She’d liked him, trusted him, even started to believe that he was interested in her too, and look where that had got her. Richard

was the one who’d lured her to the Arc de Triomphe and a ceremony she’d wanted no part of. She didn’t care that it was at the request of

the elderly Madame Azzedine, who had taken a shine to Cassie, and deemed her the perfect new host. If it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t be

in this mess.

Averting her eyes sharply, she edged past Richard and into the classroom, hoping he wouldn’t take any notice of her. After all, he was

lucky he hadn’t been expelled. Surely even someone that brazen must be ashamed to be around her after what he had done …

Apparently not. A hand squeezed her arm, halting her in her tracks.

‘You have no idea,’ he murmured, ‘how different you look.’

She spun on her heel to glare at him.

Around them, the last students were rushing into class, still loud with gossip and the excitement of a new term, but Herr Stolz was now

standing at the front of the room, clearing his throat, tapping his fingers on the desk.

Richard ignored him. ‘Hello, Cassie.’

‘Class is starting,’ she said crisply.

He ignored that as well. ‘You look … amazing.’

‘Thanks.’ Her voice was arctic.

‘Ah. You sound different, too.’

Was she imagining it, or was that a touch of sadness in his voice? Who cared? Turning away, she saw Isabella breeze into the classroom

and fling herself at Jake, almost toppling his seat over. That raised a smile, though Cassie noticed that Jake, who had been scribbling

furiously in a notebook, still looked a little distracted. Cassie frowned – after all the time it had taken for Isabella to win him over, she’d have

hoped Jake would pay her best friend a little more attention. She slid into a seat next to the pair.

‘Steady on, Isabella! You’ll damage the furniture.’

‘Ah, Cassie! There you are! Fear not, Jake’s manly body is sturdy enough to hold little old me.’ Isabella fluttered her eyelashes at her

boyfriend, who finally put down his pen and swiftly kissed her nose.

Surveying the room properly for the first time, Cassie realised that the sleek, modern desks and chairs were probably too well-made to

give way in any case. They were fantastically stylish compared with the traditional wooden furniture that had filled the Academy back in

Paris. In fact, they looked as if they’d been carved from lumps of blue ice by Phillipe Starck himself.

‘Cassie!’

She turned to see where the call had come from, and found herself staring at a small clique sitting at the back of the classroom, slightly

apart from their fellow students. Some of them seemed to regard her with loathing, some with cautious smiles, but all were, without

exception, stunningly good-looking.

The Few. Her new ‘family’.

Ayeesha and her Irish boyfriend Cormac, two of the more friendly-looking, waved enthusiastically. The Bajan girl called her name again

and beckoned her towards an empty desk next to where they were sitting. Ayeesha looked genuinely welcoming, and didn’t make Cassie’s