Midnight Girls Read Online Free PDF Page B

Selina Garrett now had, she must have been lonely too because their visits to the castle became quite frequent. Every few weeks Imogen and her mother would get into the car to make the trip to that strange otherworldly place. And with each visit, Allegra and Imogen grew closer. Allegra would take Imogen to her bedroom and show her her prized collection of Hello Kitty bags and T-shirts, and her sparkly bangles, and they were soon putting each other’s hair into bunches and plaits, talking about whether they preferred Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey. They talked about the boys they were in love with; Allegra liked actors like River Phoenix or else rock stars, the grungier the better. Imogen preferred nice, clean-cut boys like Tom Cruise and Take That.
    ‘How many brothers and sisters have you got?’ Allegra asked one day in her clipped English accent as they lay on the nursery floor doing cat’s cradles with pieces of string.
    ‘Oh, none. I’m an only child,’ Imogen said placidly. Her soft Scottish accent, picked up at school, was shortening into an imitation of the way her new friend talked.
    ‘Really? You’re so lucky. I wish I was an only child. I get forgotten all the time.’
    ‘Where are all your brothers and sisters?’ Imogen had never seen anyone else about and had begun to assume that Allegra was an only child, like herself.
    Allegra shrugged. ‘Dad’s been married three times. He’s really old … much older than your dad, I expect. He’s over sixty.’
    ‘Sixty!’ breathed Imogen, unable to imagine her father at such a great age.
    ‘He’s got two children from his first marriage, Rory and Tristan. Rory’s going to inherit this place when Dad dies, and he’s grown up and married. Then there’s Miranda – she’s my sister from Dad’s second marriage. She’s away at Sherbourne, and in the holidays she goes to stay with her mother most of the time. After that Dad married Mum and had me and my brother Xander who’s at prep school in Oxford. He’s going to Eton next year.’
    ‘Gosh.’ It seemed terribly complicated but also very glamorous. ‘I wish I had all those brothers and sisters.’ Imogen twirled her string into a new arrangement.
    ‘I’d rather be like you,’ Allegra said. ‘At least you get noticed in a good way. I only get noticed when Dad … when he’s angry.’
    But Imogen couldn’t imagine why Allegra would want to be like her. To her, Allegra’s life was bordering on the fairytale and she was irresistibly drawn to the other girl whom she considered perfect in just about every way. And, like a princess stranded in a tower, Allegra also seemed lonely and hungry for friendship. It was a perfect fit. Soon they couldn’t imagine life without each other.
    ‘Selina has a terrible time,’ Mrs Heath said grimly to her husband as they sat at the dinner table back at home. ‘Ivo isn’t easy …’ She cast a glance over at Imogen, who had finished. ‘You can get down, darling. Go and watch telly if you like.’
    Television was rarely allowed, so Imogen guessed that there was something of interest to be heard. She got down obediently and lingered outside the dining-room door, listening to the adult conversation, catching clear snippets among the low buzz of her mother’s voice, like a radio tuning in and out to good reception.
    ‘He drinks! It’s nearly a bottle of whisky a night apparently … his rages are terrible to behold, Selina says …’
    Imogen kept her ear close to the crack in the door.
    ‘The children are terrified too, she says … he’s turned on them once or twice … kicked his boy down the stairs once, can you believe it!’
    ‘Well, why does she stay?’ came her father’s deep, audible voice, in his reasonable lawyer’s tones. ‘He sounds like a monster, Jeannie.’
    ‘It’s not so straightforward, darling. She loves him, I think …’
    ‘Or loves that castle and her title.’
    ‘How can you say that? Selina’s not that type at all! I’ve