Betrayal Read Online Free PDF Page B

the girls near her. I guess she’d been shown the true Wyldcliffe welcome. Not having looks or money or confidence to recommend her, Harriet had already been dumped to fend for herself. The rest of the girls—so rich, so well connected, so attractive—seemed to have been protected from every evil from the moment they were born. And yet Laura had been one of those golden girls and she had fallen victim to Wyldcliffe’s secrets. I suddenly felt that I wanted to root out the sickness at the heart of the Abbey for all our sakes, not just for Sebastian.
    Dinner was over. More prayers, more standing to attention as the staff filed out, followed by the rows of girls. As Sarah turned to leave, I grabbed her arm. “Meet me and Helen after lights-out,” I whispered.
    “Where?”
    I mouthed two words: the grotto .
    Sarah nodded in silent agreement and walked out after the others, heading for her dorm. I turned to Helen.
    “Let’s get this over with as quickly as possible,” I said. As scholarship students, Helen and I both had to do various mindless chores to show our undying gratitude: tidying classrooms, sorting out music books for choir practice, stuff like that. Usually after supper we set trays with china cups and silver spoons, ready for the staff to take their coffee in the mistresses’ common room. I went over to a cupboard at the side of the room where everything was kept and began to arrange the trays, while Helen knocked on the door to the kitchens to ask for some cream. A flustered woman in a rather greasy apron opened the door and peered at us.
    “No, not tonight, she doesn’t want you doing it anymore. She doesn’t want students hanging around, she said.”
    “Who did?” I asked.
    But the woman scuttled back into the hot kitchen. I felt that someone was watching me. When I turned around, I noticed that Miss Raglan was still sitting in her carved chair on the raised platform, slowly twisting her hands together.
    “I gave the orders,” she said, getting up and walkingtoward us. “You are relieved of this duty.”
    “But you said there wouldn’t be any changes,” replied Helen. I was surprised. She usually kept quiet in front of the mistresses. “Mrs. Hartle always asked us to get the coffee trays ready. You said everything would continue just the same.”
    “I was not referring to such trivial matters.”
    “I don’t think Mrs. Hartle’s wishes should be seen as trivial.”
    “What? Are you questioning my authority?”
    “Of course not,” Helen replied. “You’re the High Mistress now, aren’t you?”
    She stared fearlessly into Miss Raglan’s heavy face, holding the older woman’s gaze, until Miss Raglan seemed to stagger and step backward.
    “I…I am the Deputy High Mistress; that is all. Naturally we hope that Mrs. Hartle will return shortly…naturally…. Well, carry on.”
    Miss Raglan stumped away, reminding me of a beaten dog. I looked at Helen in amazement. “What was all that about?”
    “I don’t really know.” She shrugged. “I kind of felt the need to challenge her somehow. Sorry. I guess we shouldn’t draw attention to ourselves.” She looked down and startedpolishing a spoon, then sighed heavily. “Perhaps it’s just me, but I feel so trapped. We’ll have to be careful, Evie. I feel them hovering on every side, watching, waiting….”
    “Waiting for what?”
    Helen sighed again. “Waiting for us to make a mistake.”

Eight
    FROM THE PRIVATE PAPERS OF S EBASTIAN J AMES F AIRFAX
    Waiting—waiting—waiting—
    Waiting for the end.
    I have lost count of the nights since I last saw you. But this night feels different. Something is going to happen. Something has changed.
    This place is as cold as death. My limbs ache and my breath turns to clouds of ice. Winter, it must be, in the outside world where seasons still exist. When I was a boy I would wait for the first snows, as though waiting for a miracle—
    Something is happening. The silence of this place is broken