A Tale of Two Proms (Bard Academy) (26 page)

“So, let me get this straight,” I said. “You wanted to die for Lucie in order to make her miss you for the rest of her life, and by the way, be miserable with the man she chose to marry?”

“Something like that,” Sydney said and then he grinned at the thought of Lucie miserable.

“You have some serious issues,” I said.

Sydney shrugged. “This is not news to me.” He cocked his head to one side. “You know you have the most interesting eyes, not completely unlike Lucie’s…” He drew closer to me. I put a hand on his chest to stop him.

“Whoa,” I said, stopping him with a hard hand to his chest. “What are you doing?”

Sydney shrugged one shoulder, not bothering to look embarrassed. “Not the best time?” he asked me.

“Considering you nearly got me killed, I’d say no, not the best time.”

“Maybe another time then,” Sydney said.

Or maybe never,
I thought. He could try all he wanted but he wasn’t going to get anywhere. He might look like Heathcliff, but he wasn’t anything like him. There was a roughness to Heathcliff, it was true, but he wasn’t heartless. His roughness made him dependable and brave. Sydney’s hardness made him cold and uncaring. Heathcliff would never run me over trying to get to the exit. Sydney, on the other hand, made calculated risks. I was beginning to see that about him. 

He and Heathcliff were nothing alike.

“Would you two quit fooling around?” Lindsay grabbed my elbow and gave me a tug. “Everyone else went
that
way.” She pointed down a dark and narrow alley.

“After you, m’ladies,” Sydney said and did an exaggerated bow. 

I followed Lindsay down a dark and damp cobblestone alley. At the end of the alley we found ourselves staring at a large wooden door, flanked by two massive colored stain-glass windows.

“Look familiar?” Lindsay asked me. I glanced upward, and saw that this was the Bard Academy Chapel. I’d know those awful gargoyles anywhere, plus, one was missing – the one that had nearly crushed me back on the lawn.

“The others are already inside.” Lindsay pushed open the heavy wooden door. Sydney and I followed her through.

Coach H, Blade, Samir, Hana and Ryan were all searching the inside. The only one missing from our group was Headmaster B, but since I’d seen her on the street I was sure she was around somewhere. There were no other Bard students that I could see. Around us, the familiar scenes of the most famous characters from Shakespeare’s works played themselves out in stained glass. I never thought I’d be glad to see Macduff again, but I was. 

“Where’s everyone else?” I asked.

“Not here,” Coach H said. Ryan was standing next to Hana near the south end of the church. Blade and Samir were at the north end. They were looking in closets and behind closed doors, but weren’t finding anything.

 At that moment, Headmaster B materialized through the north wall of the church. It was just a routine demonstration of the fact she was a ghost, but it always threw me.  

“I’ve scouted out a two-square-mile area,” she told us, as her feet met the solid stone tiles of the floor. “It appears Bard has been scattered throughout the city. No doubt the students are all across London.”

“We need a plan,” Coach H said.

“Well, if it’s a plan you need, I can help.” This was from Miss A, who materialized from the shadows of the back of the church. We all jumped a little, surprised to see her. Coach H spoke first.

“Jane! We thought we’d lost you.” 

“Not lost, just misplaced.” Miss A smiled at us all. Her gaze lingered longest on me before it jumped to Sydney.

“This is Sydney Carton,” I said, so she wouldn’t be confused. “We saved him from the guillotine, but he wasn’t too happy about it.”

“Well…” Sydney began.

“I’m sure we can make it up to him,” Miss A said, interrupting. She nodded curtly at Sydney, who didn’t press the issue.

“Do you know where any of the other students are?” Headmaster B was now in front of Miss A.

“I’m afraid not,” Miss A said.

I glanced outside and realized darkness was falling on London. The church was growing darker, too. Miss A waved her hand and all the candles in the place sparked to life. 

“We need to find Catherine and soon,” Miss A said.

“Have you seen her?” If Catherine was nearby, then Heathcliff might be, too, I thought.

“I haven’t seen her, but I suspect she’s here. I’m afraid your plan mostly backfired, Charlotte.”

“How did you know?” Headmaster B was a little bit unsettled by Miss A having guessed her intentions.

“It was easy enough to conjecture,” Miss A said. “And your reaction confirms my suspicions.” Miss A tugged at the gloves covering her hands. Once off, she tucked them into a small pocket in her long skirt.

“What do you mean her plan didn’t work?” I asked. Did she mean Heathcliff and Catherine weren’t getting along?

“It’ll be okay, dear,” Miss A said. “We’ll find them.” She wasn’t going to elaborate, I could tell. But something about her voice gave me hope.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Headmaster B said.  

“Charlotte, honestly, I do wonder whether you’re not
more
like your sister Emily than you realize,” Miss A said.

“Excuse me?” Headmaster’s voice was crisp and sharp.

“Oh, I don’t mean the meddling of course,” Miss A said. “I mean your insistence on keeping people who love each other apart.”

I felt my face grow warm. I wasn’t used to people, especially the faculty, talking so openly about my feelings for Heathcliff. For the past three years, it’s been a Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell policy.

“Do you have another way?” Headmaster B asked coldly.

“But, of course I do,” Miss A said, beaming brightly. “How about a
happy
ending? They are so much more uplifting than sad ones. Don’t you think?” She looked at me. I smiled. I hoped a happy ending wasn’t impossible for me, but I didn’t know if I could hope for one.

“Catherine and Heathcliff
belong
together,” Headmaster B said now, bringing the subject back around.

“Do they?” Miss A challenged. “Maybe your sister made a mistake.” 

“Well, I don’t know much about it, but it sure seems like this Heathcliff fellow has made his choice,” Sydney said.

“We can’t know
why
he made it,” Miss A said quickly. “Motivation here would be the important thing. Maybe he feels this is best.”

“Best? How can
this
be best?” Ryan spread his hands out to encompass the empty chapel.

“Well, he might have thought if he didn’t help Catherine, that maybe she would kill you, Miranda.” Miss A glanced at me.

“The gargoyle,” Hana breathed.

“What gargoyle?” Samir asked.

“The one that Catherine tried to drop on Miranda’s head a few weeks back,” she said.

Miss A nodded.

“Or he just has the hots for Cathy,” Samir said.

“Smooth,” Hana said.

 “Sorry, Miranda,” Samir said and shrugged. “Just saying.”

Sydney took a step closer to me and he put his hand on my shoulder. He may not be my favorite person, but he knew what it meant when someone you loved chose someone else.

And, anyway, whatever the reason for Heathcliff’s choice, the truth was he left me. The simplest explanation was probably the right one. I could try to twist myself into knots to make sense of what Heathcliff was doing, or I could just face facts.

A tremor rippled through the ground beneath our feet and a tiny bit of dust fell on my arm. I wiped it off, and glanced up, and that’s when I saw the large lamps hanging from the ceiling sway.

“Whoa, what was that?” Samir clung to one of the pews as if water might rush in and sweep him away at any moment.

Sydney put his arm protectively around me. His body tensed, and I could feel him swivel, looking for exits.

“Earthquake?” Ryan offered.

“There are no earthquakes in London,” Headmaster B said her voice curt with certainty.

“I don’t think I like this,” Samir said. “Did Cyclops follow us here?”

Another tremor rocked the chapel, this one strong enough to send Lindsay sprawling into me and to crack open the tiled floor near where we were standing. No one-eyed giant could do this. 

“Not Cyclops,” I said. “Something else.”

I glanced up and saw Headmaster B, Coach H and Miss A exchange a look of growing concern.

“What is it?” Lindsay asked them. “What do you think it is?”

The three glanced at each other. They didn’t want to say.

“It might not be what we’re thinking,” Miss A offered, but even I could tell that the normally bright and sunny Jane was actually having trouble being optimistic about our current situation.

“Just
tell
us already.” Lindsay crossed her arms across her chest with an impatient jerk.

Before any of the faculty could speak, another tremor shook the chapel, this one serious enough to break out the Romeo and Juliet window. It came down in big, brightly colored shards, one shooting straight for Hana.

“Look out!” Ryan shouted as he moved. He tackled Hana, pushing her out of the way, as a big shard from Romeo’s leg fell to the stone floor and shattered into a hundred glistening pieces. More sharp, but smaller, glinting shards rained down on them. Ryan covered Hana’s body with his. The faculty ghosts leapt to action. Headmaster B lifted one hand and all the shards simply stopped falling. They hovered in the air, paused in their descent. Miss A quickly helped Ryan and Hana to their feet and scooted us all to the other side of the vestibule. Headmaster B flicked her wrist and the shards of glass came together in a ball that she put gently on the ground.

The chapel shook again, under some invisible force, and this time, chunks of stone began to crack and fall from the tops of the support columns in the church. Another window in the back shattered and fell. Coach H and Headmaster B put all their concentration into holding the pieces of the chapel together, but anyone could see it wouldn’t last. Even the power of their imaginations couldn’t hold this building together. It was falling down around us.  Below our feet, a massive crack opened and sliced through the ground barreling straight toward Sydney.

“Sydney!” I shouted in warning. He looked down and jumped away from the crevice, landing on solid ground. The gap in the ground widened to several feet, the chasm below seemingly bottomless. I was near the edge and was close to losing my footing. For a second, I thought I was going to fall in face-first, but then Miss A had a cool hand on my shoulder and was pulling me back to solid ground. I looked up and saw relief flicker across Sydney’s face as he stood near Ryan and Hana and Lindsay. The side exit door was just behind them. The crack in the floor stood separated me, Blade and Samir from them – and the way out.

Miss A floated away from me, up to the balcony where she worked on holding together one of the massive support columns keeping the chapel upright.

“Get out, now!” Headmaster B said, looking at Ryan. They didn’t move right away, instead, they watched the chasm in front of me widen even further, and another one opened up behind us, swallowing up ten rows of pews with a wood-splintering crunch. It hit me suddenly that Blade, Samir and I were all trapped. As the cracks in the floor grew larger, eventually the floor would be nothing but one giant hole. This was not good.

“We could jump,” Blade suggested.

“Jump… are you crazy?” Samir didn’t even get the last words out before Blade had backed up and taken a running leap. She made it to the other side – barely. Ryan caught her and steadied her on her feet.

Even as Samir and I stood together, the chasm grew, inch by inch.

“You’ve got to!” I told Samir.

“Ladies first,” he said.

“No way. I have to stay here and push you or you won’t go,” I said. I glanced up at my teachers; they were all sweating with concentration, trying to keep the roof from caving in on us. I wasn’t sure they’d be able to help us. We might be on our own.

“I will!” Samir lied. I got the feeling he had no intention of jumping.

“No time!” Ryan shouted.

“Go!” I shouted at Samir.

“Miranda,” called Sydney. I realized he had stayed – instead of running for the exit. He was staring at me.

“Samir, if I have to jump over there and save you, I’m going to be pissed!” cried Blade.

Apparently, that did it, because Samir took a deep breath, backed away from the edge and took a flying leap. For a heart-stopping moment as he soared through the air, I thought he wasn’t going to make it. He flew to the other side, missing the landing with his right foot and skidding down the side of the chasm, catching himself by one hand before tumbling the rest of the way. Ryan and Sydney pulled him up to safety. They all tumbled to safe ground, just as a foot of ground gave way where Samir had landed, and crumbled into the darkness.

It meant that jump had gotten that much bigger. Looking at the distance now, I was certain I wouldn’t be able to make it.

“Miranda!” cried Hana.

I took in the somber faces of my friends. They could all see the truth, too.

I tried on a brave smile, even though I wasn’t feeling so brave. This is usually the spot where Heathcliff shows up out of nowhere and whisks me to safety. But I realized with a pang that Heathcliff wasn’t coming. Not this time. I was on my own.

I wondered if he was having a good time with Catherine right now. And then I had an even more morbid thought—would he even miss me if I were gone? Or would he be glad?

I sunk to my knees. Part of my brain told me to quit being so pathetic. But the fact was my heart had already given up. I closed my eyes and I imagined Heathcliff and Catherine together. But I couldn’t bear that picture, so I changed it. I thought about Heathcliff—against all odds—coming to my rescue. I imagined him picking me up, as he had so many times before, lifting me up like I weighed nothing at all. And then he carried me to the other side.

And then, something really strange happened.

I opened my eyes and I was standing next to Sydney Carton, and he had his arm on my shoulder.

“Miranda?” he asked me, a puzzled expression on his face. I blinked, fast, and looked around at all my friends.