Gabriella Poole - Blood Ties (Darke Academy)

‘I think the plan is to watch a movie. Fancy it?’

‘Yeah, sure.’

Just as she spoke, one of the older students nearby lifted a remote control and blinds began to slide down the massive windows. With a

click and a hum, a huge screen began to descend from the ceiling and the state-of-the-art projector lit up.

‘OK, definitely cool,’ she said, awed. ‘Maybe this common room thing isn’t so bad after all.’

As the lights dimmed, Cassie relaxed into the soft leather of the sofa, trying to forget the image of Ranjit’s face, eyes narrowed, jealous

and so quick to bridle. She’d never seen that side to him before. They obviously still had a lot to learn about each other. Anyway, wasn’t

she glad he was jealous? In a way it was nice. Reassuring. Had she overreacted? Was she wrong to have bitten his head off? Probably. But

it was only a minor squabble, and he seemed to have forgotten it already.

Sighing, she closed her eyes. The cosy darkness enveloped her, and after a moment, she forgot the film – forgot most things – as she

found herself concentrating only on Ranjit’s closeness. The intoxicating smell of his body through his shirt. The rise and fall of his chest

as he breathed. She felt her fingers clutch his tightly. If she stopped over-analysing everything, she might even forget her worries

altogether …

CHAPTER SEVEN

Cassie swore under her breath and considered for the fifth time whether hurling her monitor through a seventeenth-floor window would

be considered grounds for expulsion.

At the start of term, the new computer science teacher Mr Jackson had seemed a soft touch. But now, a few weeks in, he’d turned into a

monster. Their latest project – designing a new section of the Darke Academy website – could have been fun as well as interesting, had Mr

Jackson not insisted on including such a complex sequence of animations and graphics. Cassie had always been a dab hand at web

design, but she was sick of the sight of Dreamweaver. Her own dreams were trouble enough.

Estelle’s nocturnal visits were getting more frequent – three in the last week – and although there had been no repeat of the melting

photo frame incident, Cassie couldn’t shake the notion that the two events were somehow connected. She had considered asking Ranjit

about them, but she knew that he found it disturbing that Cassie could hear Estelle’s voice, and she didn’t want to make him

uncomfortable.

Cassie sighed, refocusing on the screen in front of her. Perhaps Jake could help – the boy seemed glued to his laptop these days,

whether in or out of class. She’d never had him pegged as a computer geek, but maybe …

She slipped out of her chair and hurried silently across the room, keeping low to avoid the roaming gaze of Mr Jackson.

‘Hey, Jake, can you—’

‘Cassie!’

Jake practically jumped out of his skin. Flushing red, he scrambled to minimise the window on his screen, but not before Cassie’s

astonished eyes had caught the words stamped across the top of the page.

THE DARKE ACADEMY STUDENT RECORDS – CONFIDENTIAL

‘Jake, what was that?’ demanded Cassie.

‘Hell, Cassie,’ Jake replied, trying to laugh it off. ‘You gave me a shock and a half.’

‘You’re supposed to be designing the front page, not hacking into the school records system.’ Cassie sighed in exasperation as she

tugged the mouse from his hands. ‘What are you doing anyway? Trying to fiddle your chemistry grades?’

‘Hey, don’t—’ protested Jake. ‘Aw, Cassie …’ He threw up his hands in disgust as Cassie pulled open the window.

Her stomach turned a backflip. She turned to Jake, but he was staring at the tabletop and wouldn’t meet her eye.

‘Jake, do you have any idea how much trouble you could get into for doing this?’ Cassie demanded. ‘This is Katerina’s personal file!

What the hell are you playing at?’

‘Just leave it, Cassie. It’s none of your business.’

‘None of my business? She tried to kill me, remember?’

Jake’s eyes blazed. ‘Yeah, well she did kill my sister. Remember that? Did you think I was just gonna let that go?’

‘Jake, we’ve been through this—’

‘She admitted it, Cassie! She told us she killed her, and she laughed. And all Darke did was expel her. Is that fair? Well, maybe it is for the

Few, but I don’t subscribe to their idea of justice.’

Cold fear clutched at Cassie’s bowels. ‘You’re not thinking of going looking for her, are you, Jake? Tell me you’re not.’

‘Ask me no questions, Cassie, I’ll tell you no lies.’

‘Jake, listen to me.’ Cassie struggled to keep her voice as reasonable as she could. ‘Promise me that you’ll stop this. Please. We both

know that Katerina killed Jess, but there’s no way of proving it, even if you find her.’