Gabriella Poole - Blood Ties (Darke Academy)

was no further sign of Marat. Almost too easy …

Breathing again, heart racing, she crept back towards the Council meeting room. She was pretty certain she’d lost him, and she doubted

that the porter would rush to tell the Elders that he’d let her give him the slip: what kind of problems would that make for him? Hopefully

he’d bank on her making her own way back to the Academy, since she didn’t have any other option.

Cassie pressed her ear to the door, grateful all over again for the Few spirit and its effect on her hearing. She could clearly make out the

raised voices of the Elders, and she’d made it in time to hear their decision. Only just, but thank God she had.

‘Silence for the decision!’ Brigitte’s voice again, coldly triumphant this time. ‘By a majority of seventeen, the Council decrees that Jake

Johnson will be removed from Federal custody within the next twenty-four hours, and placed in the Confine.’

What? Cassie couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

‘All business being completed and no further matters arising, I declare this Council of Elders closed.’ The sharp blow of that silver gavel

set Cassie’s teeth on edge.

Swiftly, she backed into the shadows, praying none of them would turn as they filed out. Just as well she’d had so much practice in

staying unseen in darkened corridors back at Cranlake Crescent. None of the Elders noticed her pressed against the wall beyond the light

of the sconces. Probably none of them ever imagined anyone would dare to eavesdrop on their fancy Council.

It made her heart sink to her stomach, seeing them up close. Besides the Elders she had already recognised, there were more. People of

power, people of influence. People she’d seen on the cover of news-stand magazines. Jesus, thought Cassie. If they ever turned against

her as one …

They’d turned against Jake. They were placing him in the Confine.

Not a prison, Brigitte had said. Not in the way you understand.

Oh, Cassie reckoned she understood fine.

Not all of them had come out of the room. At least two were missing, and they were the two who really mustn’t see her. As Cassie forced

herself to stay still, barely breathing, she heard Brigitte’s soft, snowflake voice.

‘So, Vaughan, the usual measures are in place?’

‘Everything is arranged. The boy will go to the Confine immediately. As far as the Council is concerned, that will be the end of the matter.’

Cassie stopped breathing altogether. What did that mean, ‘As far as the Council is concerned’?

‘Good,’ said Brigitte. ‘And don’t worry – the system is foolproof. In all the years I have been in charge of the Confine, the Elders have

never once bothered to check on their guests. I’ve taken dozens of them. It will be years before anyone realises the boy isn’t there – if they

ever do.’

‘They’ll still be furious.’ Vaughan didn’t sound too worried; in fact, Cassie detected an undercurrent of laughter.

‘Perhaps. But no more than I am. My daughter’s attacker received a mere slap on the wrist tonight.’ Brigitte’s voice trembled with anger. ‘If

the Singh boy hadn’t meddled, my daughter would have been successful in getting rid of the half-breed bitch herself, and neatly made it

look like an accident to boot.’

Cassie clamped her hand over her mouth to stop the gasp. The ‘accident’ at Grand Central Station. That had been Katerina? And now

Jake’s certainty that it had been Katerina who had tried to abduct Isabella at Coney Island didn’t seem so ridiculous either. Could that have

been Brigitte? The pair looked similar enough to be mistaken for each other at a distance.

‘You’ll bring the boy to the cottage tonight as usual? It’s been rather too long since the Living Soil was fed. Giving it that snitch of a boy

will be some measure of vengeance for what those brats did to my Katerina.’ In a silky murmur she added, ‘Besides, I’ve been so good,

Vaughan. I’m entitled to a treat …’

Chills rippled down Cassie’s spine, so that she had to make an effort to stay absolutely still. The Living What?

The Living Soil, Cassandra!

Estelle’s voice held something strange. Was that disbelief? Excitement?

Terror?

‘What is it, Estelle? What’s the Living Soil?’ Cassie whispered.

Estelle’s voice was a throaty murmur:

There are prisons far, far more evil than the Confine, my dear …

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Cassie didn’t bother with the lift. Bolting across the marble atrium of the Academy, ignoring the stares of other students, she tore off her

gloves and scarf as she ran. Shoving through to the fire escape stairs, she took them two at a time. It was faster. At least, it was at the

speed she could run. And she needed to run, to work off this terrible anger and fear.