Gabriella Poole - Blood Ties (Darke Academy)

‘Uh, well, I have a free period now, so I thought I could catch up on a bit of unpacking and stuff. And I don’t know about cutting class …’

‘Oh, don’t worry about that. Come on! Come and meet the others. Have a chat. Get to know us all.’

Was she anywhere near ready for this? For small talk with people she might last have seen behind red hoods, chaining her down at the

mercy of Estelle Azzedine? She didn’t even know which ones they were …

‘Go on, Cassie!’ Isabella chimed in, jiggling her arm. ‘It sounds like fun.’

Jake looked thunderous. His silence spoke volumes for Cassie, and she opened her mouth to decline the offer. But just then, three sixth-

form girls swept past towards the atrium. One of them – Sara, was it? – shot her a supercilious glance and muttered something sotto voce

to her friends, prompting a fit of giggling. Cassie couldn’t make out exactly what was said, but she’d distinctly heard the word common, and

she was pretty sure they weren’t talking about the room.

Sara was Few, Cassie knew that. Did her eyes look familiar? Had she seen those cool, grey-blue irises through a slit in a red hood? Rage

rose up in her. There was only one way to find out …

‘You know what?’ Cassie told Ayeesha loudly. ‘Actually, that’d be great. I’ll come along later on this afternoon.’

‘Great! See you then.’

As Ayeesha and Cormac walked off, Cassie’s heart sank. She regretted being so impulsive. She really wasn’t ready to face the common

room. Cassie eyed Jake self-consciously as Ranjit turned to her and took her hand.

‘I’ve got a couple of things I need to take care of too. But I’ll come and meet you after your English class and we can head up there

together.’

Cassie smiled as she watched him stride gracefully away. How did he know exactly the right thing to say? With Ranjit at her side, the

common room suddenly wasn’t such a daunting prospect.

‘Ugh. Socialising with the chosen ones. I can’t wait.’

‘Cassie!What did I tell you about looking on the bright side? Embrace the good things! If I had the chance to skip boring old English lit, I

would have jumped in it!’ Isabella dug her elbow into Cassie’s ribs.

‘Ouch! Jeez, Isabella!’

‘So … you and Singh are making a go of it, huh?’ Jake said, his voice tight. Cassie could tell he was about as keen to ask that question

as she was to answer it. She shuffled along beside them, keeping her eyes on her battered trainers.

‘Uh, yeah. I know it’s a bit awkward, but he’s one of the good guys, Jake. I’m certain of it.’

‘Well, I’m glad you are.’

Isabella glared at Jake. ‘I mean, I guess you’re probably right,’ he hastily qualified.

But he didn’t look at Cassie as he spoke. She knew that he had long suspected Ranjit of having killed his sister. Even Katerina’s

confession that she and Keiko had committed the crime hadn’t been enough to convince Jake that Ranjit wasn’t in some way responsible.

And Cassie had to admit there were still unanswered questions. Ranjit had been due to meet Jess the night she was killed, but Katerina

had sent someone to delay him. Who had that been, and how much did they know about the plot? Cassie wasn’t sure she wanted to find

out – and even if she did, she had a feeling Ranjit wouldn’t say.

Jessica Johnson. The dead girl felt like the elephant in the room in so many of her relationships, sometimes it was almost as though she

was still alive and there at the Academy …

‘Jake—’ Cassie began.

He shook his head and nudged her good-naturedly. ‘Hey, ignore me. I’m sorry. I’ve not quite forgiven or forgotten yet, I guess. But I’m

here, and that’s something. Anyway, we’re under instructions from this beautiful girl here to lighten up. Sorry, baby,’ he said, putting his arm

around Isabella’s shoulders as they made their way down the hall.

‘No problem,’ Isabella said, glowing at his compliment.

Jake cleared his throat, and moved swiftly on to another topic Cassie wasn’t keen to discuss.

‘So anyway, when am I going to find out what happened in Darke’s office, huh? I want to know what he said. What did you do, Cassie?

What did he do?’

‘Um …’

‘You look a hell of a lot better now, that’s for sure. Was it something to do with, uh, feeding?’ Jake’s voice was casual, but it couldn’t

quite hide the urgency behind his question, and Cassie began to worry he’d jumped to the right conclusion. ‘Come on, what happened?

Fess up.’ He attempted a smile.

Cassie glanced at Isabella and noticed the very slight shake of her head. Taking a deep breath, she once again couldn’t quite meet Jake’s

eye. ‘Sir Alric gave me a shot of something. Kind of a drug. But not a drug.’