Secret Lives (18 page)

She didn’t speak, refused even to look at him.

‘By the time you come back in the New Year, you’ll be desperate to feed. The spirit will have begun to grow, to create the home it needs. That takes a lot of life force, Cassie, believe me.’

‘So what if I starve it?’ she growled.

‘Believe me, Cassie, you’ll feed.’ He sounded sad. ‘You don’t know how, yet – not without causing harm. It’s my job to teach you.’

‘I’d never hurt anyone!’ she said fiercely.

‘But you will, when you grow hungry enough. When the spirit does, that is. You’ll feed because you can’t help yourself, and you could kill someone. Is that what you want?’

Slowly, Cassie shook her head.

‘You’ll feed. You’ll have to feed your whole life; you’ll feed on strangers, on people you know, on people you love.’

‘No,’ said Cassie desperately.

‘Yes. Your spirit gives you beauty, strength and power. Do you think you get that for nothing?’

Now his voice held an aching melancholy, as if his head was bursting with memories. Cassie found she was trembling.

‘It sucks the very life out of you, Cassie. That’s why you have to suck it out of other people.’

‘Oh.’ Remembering Alice, she shut her eyes tight. ‘Oh, God.’

‘If you don’t feed, the spirit inside you dies, and so do you. But it won’t come to that. Before then, you will kill. You won’t be able to stop yourself. I will teach you to feed without killing.’

‘You’ll teach me? So how are you going to do that? Lab rats? My friends?’

For the first time, he couldn’t meet her gaze. His voice, when he spoke, was clipped and emotionless.

‘That’s the price our students pay, Cassie. It’s the price they pay for being here.’ His mouth twitched, humourlessly. ‘For the … privilege.’

She couldn’t repress a sound of revulsion as she backed away, but he gripped her arm suddenly, turned her to face him.

‘So, Miss Bell. Will you die, or will you kill? Or will you do what’s right, and come back?’

Cassie glared at him, determined to brazen it out, but his eyes terrified her. She thought she’d felt scared before: well, not like this. She nodded.

He breathed a satisfied sigh. ‘Good.
Good
. I’m sorry it’s necessary, Cassie, but it is.’ His voice grew level again. ‘Is there anything else I can tell you?’

Surveying the dance floor, touching Cassandra’s cold marble arm for comfort, Cassie nodded. But she waited till her voice was as cool as his.

‘Where’s Ranjit?’

EPILOGUE

T
he courtyard was in darkness, silent but for the faint rattle of talk and music and laughter, and the underlying throb of a bass beat, and, very distantly, the echo of the city. No night prowlers now. Jake was otherwise occupied.

Will you come back?
she’d asked him.

I don’t know
. He’d chewed on a knuckle, avoiding her gaze.
It’s unfinished business, Cassie. But what do I do?
At last he’d plucked up the nerve to look at her.
If the Darke
Academy goes down, so do you. You’re one of them now
.

Cassie shivered. But she trusted Jake. He wouldn’t hurt
her
to find the truth, and real justice for Jess. They were friends. And Jake would come back to the Darke Academy. He must.
Unfinished business
. Besides, Isabella had wept bitter tears at the mere suggestion of Jake not returning. Cassie didn’t know if she could handle her roommate’s operatic heartbreak if the wretched boy didn’t show up next term.

It wasn’t as cold as it had been. Cassie counted the steps down to the courtyard: thirteen. Just as Estelle had said, on that very first day.

Funny, that. She wasn’t thinking of her as Madame Azzedine any more.

A dark figure sat in moonlight at the edge of the pool. He didn’t raise his head as she approached, but tore intently at something in his hand. As she drew closer, she saw shreds of velvety black drift into the still green water of the pool.

‘Aren’t those rare?’

Ranjit didn’t smile. ‘Very.’

She sat beside him on the curved stone rim of the pool. Leda’s shadow spilled on to the flagstones, made monstrous by the swan on her neck.

At last he said, ‘Your dress is beautiful. You look, um … beautiful.’

‘Thanks.’ She reddened, hoping he wouldn’t see it, certain a blush would clash with the silk.

‘What do you call that colour?’

‘I dunno. Yellow? Pale green?’

He threw the last crumpled sliver of orchid into the pool. ‘Chartreuse, I think.’

‘Nice,’ said Cassie. Trailing a finger in the cold water, weed drifting against her skin, she watched the moon’s reflection shatter and re-form. ‘What’s going to happen to me?’

He opened his mouth, closed it again, then said, ‘I don’t know.’

‘Oh, great. Neither does Sir Alric.’

He gave a low dry laugh. ‘See, it’s never been interrupted before. The ritual.’

She nodded, picked at trailing orchid roots. ‘I’m different. I know that.’

‘Uh-huh. Very.’ Half-smiling, he pulled up another orchid, ripping its trailing root from the stone. ‘They’re not parasites, you know.’

‘What?’

‘Orchids. They’re not parasites, they’re epiphytes. They live on other living things, but they don’t kill their host. The two, they … coexist.’

‘That so?’

He laughed. ‘Yes.’

‘Are you in trouble, Ranjit?’

‘That’s the first time you’ve ever called me by my name, do you know that?’ He shrugged. ‘Some of the others … yes, they’re angry. But what they did was wrong – helping Madame Azzedine, I mean. I don’t have to be scared of them. Other way round, if anything.’ His grin was one Cassie didn’t entirely like. ‘Well, they’re not scared just of
me
, of course. They’re afraid of what’s inside me.’

She shuddered. ‘And what is that, Ranjit?’ Now she’d started using his name, it seemed difficult to stop.

‘One of the worst of the dark spirits. The strongest, the oldest, the …’

‘Baddest,’ suggested Cassie.

‘Uh-huh.’ He smiled tightly. ‘The baddest.’

‘Now, you see,’ she said, ‘I’d have assumed that was Katerina’s.’

‘No. Me and my spirit? We have a personality clash.’

‘Know what? I think I’m –
we’re
– in the same boat.’

‘Know what?’ He laughed dryly. ‘I think you might be right.’

Cassie submerged her fingers in the freezing water until they hurt. ‘Katerina. Did she … Was she always like that? Or was she different? Before she was “chosen”?’

‘Oh, she was always a
bit
like that.’ He shrugged. ‘Bad spirit, nasty person? It’s not a good combination. Cormac, now: he has a good spirit, but you know what? He was always a bit of a rogue, and he still is. Ayeesha – good spirit, nice girl. You see? It’s a synergy.’

‘And you and me?’

‘Two of the worst, Cassandra.’ He seemed sad, but the intensity of his look sent tremors down her spine that were not at all unpleasant. ‘Two bad spirits, two OK people. At least, I don’t think you’re any worse a person than I am.’ He gave her a skewed grin. ‘I don’t know what’ll become of us. I suppose we’ll find out.’

‘Oh.’ Leaning back, Cassie studied Leda, still reaching dreamily for the savage swan. ‘Where will it be next term? The Academy, I mean. I assume you know?’

‘Yes. We’re going to be in New York.’

New York!
She nodded, fighting a grin, struggling to show even a little reluctance. ‘I won’t miss that swan.’

‘You won’t have to. That comes with the Academy, wherever we go. All the statues do. And Sir Alric’s little pets here.’ Savagely, Ranjit tore another orchid from its anchorage. ‘We’re here for the convenience of the gods, Cassie. Or we’re here to prey on mortals and take our fun. Gods and monsters. Depends which way you look at it.’ He smiled without mirth. ‘You see?’

‘I see,’ she said, and winked. ‘I see both ways.’

He seemed bemused for a moment, but then he laughed.

‘So,’ said Cassie. ‘About this
unacceptable
stuff.’

His questioning expression was nervous.

‘Me. Remember? It wasn’t that you didn’t
like
me, but that you couldn’t
accept
me.’

‘Uh-huh …’

‘So how’s about it now, then?’

Ranjit rubbed his temples with his thumbs. ‘
How’s
about it?
What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘For someone with centuries of experience,’ she murmured, ‘you’re not that bright, are you?’

As she pulled him towards her and kissed him, she thought: That’s all boy, that is. Not spirit.
And I like
him
… Yup. Part of Ranjit might be hundreds of years old, but what was a little age gap? This was fine. He wasn’t sucking anything out of her; her heart was racing, but so was his. Her breath was high in her chest, but she could hear his, too: a little fast, a little yearning. And they both tasted kind of the same.

Of course you like him! So do I, my dear!

‘
Estelle!
’ Cassie shoved Ranjit’s chest, propelling herself away. ‘Go to hell!’

‘Cassandra?’

‘It’s OK. It’s OK.’ She pulled him back for another kiss. ‘It’s just, there were three of us there, for a moment.’

They laughed, then Ranjit went quiet. ‘You’re coming back?’ He gave her a nervous smile. ‘Next year? You
are
coming back to the Academy, Cassandra?’

‘Course.’ Her quick smile faded. ‘Jake too, I think.’

Ranjit grimaced. ‘He wants to destroy me.’

‘Yes. He thinks he’s got reason.’

‘What about you?’

‘No.’ Cassie shook her head firmly. ‘I believe you. That’s why I’ve got to come back. To stop him whupping your ass.’ She returned Ranjit’s grin, then shrugged. ‘And of course, there’s someone I have to deal with. Hear that, Estelle?’

Silence.

Ranjit curled his fingers round hers and squeezed hard. ‘I wish you well, Cassandra. I wish I could fight mine. But we’re one now. Joined for ever. How can you fight yourself?’

Cassie separated his fingers, thoughtfully, then brought his knuckles to her mouth and kissed them. Grinning, she unpinned her corsage, uncurled his hand and pressed the white orchid into his palm. ‘Nothing ventured, gorgeous.’

This time he didn’t smile back. ‘You didn’t know Estelle very well, did you?’

‘Huh! I’m getting to know her better.’ Cassie gave him another impudent wink. ‘She likes you.’

‘That’s what I’m afraid of.’

He looked so sad and serious, Cassie grew instantly sober too. ‘I don’t want to know what she’s like. Or what she’s done or been.’ She made a face. ‘Do I?’

‘Well not tonight, anyway.’ He touched her lower lip with his thumb. ‘I tell you what …’

‘What?’

Up at the school’s splendid entrance, light and music spilled over the top step. Ranjit pinned the white orchid back on to Cassie’s bodice, then took her hand. ‘I like it when you tell Estelle to go to hell. Tell her again for a couple of hours.’

‘Just for a couple of hours?’

‘Uh-huh. It’s all you’ll get, but it’s long enough for a dance.’ Cheerfully, he pulled her to her feet. ‘You know this one?’

‘Nah,’ said Cassie. ‘But I’ll learn. That’s why I came to a posh school, you know.’

Just for tonight, she thought, burying her face in his shirt to inhale his oh-so-human smell. This was fine, this was good. Just for tonight they were a boy and a girl, and they were nothing and nobody else, and they were dancing under a starry Parisian sky. Devil take tomorrow.

Though she hoped it wouldn’t get the chance.

Read on for an exclusive extract from the second book in the Darke Academy series:
Blood Ties.

BLOOD TIES

‘H
ey, kiddo. Are we keeping you up?’

The voice sounded familiar, but somehow muffled and distant. As if it was coming from the bottom of a well. With an effort, Cassie Bell forced her eyes open and blinked woozily at the sight before her. The table was set with thirteen places. At the centre sat a pasty-looking turkey, clearly only big enough for eight. Cheap supermarket own-brand crackers and a paper tablecloth. Fatty chipolatas and overdone sprouts.

Christmas, Cranlake Crescent-style.

Could it really be only three weeks since she was eating exquisite French cuisine from fine china and crystal in the elegant dining room of the Darke Academy? It seemed a lifetime away.

‘What’s the matter?’

Cassie refocused on the sandy-haired figure across the table. Oh, yeah, Patrick. Her key worker. The only thing that had made coming back to her old care home bearable. She managed a smile.

‘Aren’t you hungry, Cassie?’ piped up Jilly Beaton sweetly from the head of the table. ‘That’s not like you. You’ve been eating us out of house and home for a fortnight.’

Cassie dug her nails into her palms. Jilly’s bitchy remarks had been increasing ever since she had got back from Paris. Normally, Cassie wouldn’t have given her the satisfaction, but her fuse seemed to be getting shorter every day.

‘Yeah, well I just lost my appetite,’ she snapped, pushing her chair back and getting to her feet. ‘Excuse me.’

‘Cassie Bell, you’re not excused—’ began Jilly, but Cassie was already out of the room.

Patrick caught her at the foot of the stairs, his face full of concern. ‘Cassie, what’s up? You’ve been acting funny ever since you got back from Paris.’

Cassie paused for a moment. What was there to say? Could she tell him the truth about the Academy? About the Few and their dark secret? About what had happened to her in that black place beneath the Arc de Triomphe? About their interrupted ritual that had left the spirit of Estelle Azzedine stranded, half-lodged in Cassie’s mind? About the strange hunger that had been growing inside her ever since, and how she knew that turkey and chipolatas just weren’t going to hit the spot?

Impossible.

‘I’m just missing my friends,’ she mumbled. ‘Y’know?’

An expression of relief washed over Patrick’s face. ‘Of course you are. Have you spoken to anyone today?’

‘I had an email from Isabella last night. And one from, um, Ranjit.’

‘Who’s Ranjit?’

‘Just a boy in one of my classes,’ replied Cassie, flustered. ‘Why?’

Patrick’s grin grew wider and his blue eyes glittered. ‘Because you blushed when you said his name.’

‘Oh, give over!’ Cassie gave him a playful shove.

‘He’s not your boyfriend, then?’

‘Not, he’s not,’ she said hurriedly.

‘Uh-
huh
.’

‘No. Really.’ Cassie twisted her fingers into the cashmere sweater that her friend Isabella had sent her for Christmas. ‘It’s … complicated.’

Ha! That was the understatement of the century. Her few snatched moments with Ranjit at the end of term had hardly given them time to define their relationship. All she knew was that her stomach twisted with longing every time he came into her mind, but that he was back home in India. Thousands of miles away. She’d just have to put up with missing him – missing him like she could die of it.

Absorbed in her memories, she jumped at the sound of her ringtone. Pulling her phone from her jeans pocket, Cassie almost dropped it when she saw the name on the display. She felt the blood rushing to her face again.

‘Speak of the devil,’ chuckled Patrick as he went back into the dining room.

Cassie winced inwardly at his choice of words. She still didn’t understand what the Few truly were. Gods and monsters, Ranjit had once joked bitterly. So which was he? Cassie didn’t know. She wasn’t sure that he knew himself.

Pushing her worries out of her mind, she clasped the phone to her ear like a lifeline. ‘Ranjit!’

He must be able to hear the stupid grin she was wearing, even half a world away.

‘Cassandra.’ The soft warmth of his voice made her forget the freezing sleet and even, for a moment, the raging hunger. ‘Happy Christmas.’

‘Same to you.’ Breathless, she sat down on the stairs. It was criminal how much she missed him. Criminal, and deeply inconvenient. ‘Oh, it’s good to hear from you.’

‘Are you OK?’ He sounded concerned.

‘I’m fine. Fine. Just a bit …’

‘The hunger is growing, isn’t it?’

Cassie was quiet for a moment. It was a relief to speak to someone who knew what she was going through. Ranjit had been there before.

‘Yes,’ she said at last, and laughed shakily. ‘You got it.’

‘It won’t be long, Cassandra. A week and a half. Will you be all right?’

‘I’m fine. Honestly. I just …’ She hesitated, then thought, Take a leap of faith, girl. ‘I miss you. A lot.’

‘Oh God, me too.’ The vehemence in his voice was shocking, coming from the normally cool and collected Ranjit Singh. He almost sounded relieved. ‘I miss you and I’m
worried
about you. Have you, ah, heard from Estelle?’

She swallowed. ‘Once or twice. But the old bat’s been quiet lately. I hope she’s curled up and died of hunger.’

‘It isn’t going to hapen, Cassie.’

‘Yeah, I know.’

‘Take care of yourself. Please?’

She smiled, couldn’t help it ‘Course I will. And I’ll see you soon.’

‘Can’t be soon enough.’ He gave a low laugh. ‘Listen, I have to go. I’ll talk to you again when I can.’

Tears stung her eyes as her stomach twisted again. ‘Bye, Ranjit. Happy Christmas.’

‘And you, again. I miss you, remember.’

Cassie snapped the phone shut before she started to blub. She buried her face in her hands, shocked by the strength of longing. Oh, this was ridiculous. She was supposed to be
tough
. She’d get through this. The hunger to feed, the hunger for Ranjit …

Stop.
Stop
.

The trouble was, she
was
hungry. Overcome with a desperate, intangible hunger for something beyond mere food. But there was nothing she could do except wait it out. If you stayed off chocolate long enough, you lost the taste for it. If you lasted a few weeks without cigarettes, you wouldn’t want them any more.

Yes, and if you give up breathing for a while, you’ll lose the
taste for oxygen!

Cassie stiffened.

Well, really, my dear. You do amuse me!

Ignore her, Cassie told herself. Don’t pay any attention.

Easier said than done. Just the sound of Estelle’s voice in her head was enough to send the hunger sweeping through her with renewed force, so that she almost lost her balance, tipping forward.

She heard a door open and close. Footsteps. A voice …

‘Cassie? Are you OK?’ Patrick’s tone was concerned.

She leaped to her feet, fists clenched.
OK?
What did that mean? Of course she was
OK
! She’d never be less than OK, never less than powerful and beautiful and confident. The stupidity of the man!

No! He’d done so much for her. She didn’t know what she’d have done without him.

Estelle’s whisper was like the caress of a serpent.
And he
could do so much more, my dear
.

Patrick looked nervous under her steady, feverish stare. Yes. Estelle was right. A good friend like Patrick would always give of himself. She could rely on Patrick. He was strong, young, confident. Perfect.

‘Cassie?’

Ah, she was just so damn
hungry
. She stretched her lips into a rictus smile. ‘I’m fine.’

Don’t talk. Let him come closer. I can smell him
…

Patrick took a pace back, and she thought she saw him shiver. ‘Stop fooling around, Cassie. Your dinner’s getting cold.’

You seem warm enough to me
.

‘OK, I’m sorry. I’ll leave you in peace.’ He was turning away. ‘Come back when you’re ready.’

‘
STOP!
’

She launched herself from the step, almost flew after him. Seizing his collar, she yanked him back, spinning him around. Her fingers found his jaw, gripping him, tugging him towards her. He tried to pull away, but he didn’t stand a chance. Not a chance. She laughed out loud.

His eyes were full of terror, and his panicked breath was in her face. She could smell him again: oh, the
life
of him! Her lips were pulled back when she caught sight of a figure beyond the glass panel of the front door. For an instant her heart seemed to stop, and she stiffened and growled. A face snarled back at her, feral and mad, like a rabid animal. And then, with a sickening jolt to her gut, she knew. It wasn’t some monster trying to break into the house. It was her own reflection.

‘Oh, my God!’ She let go of Patrick so fast he crumpled to the floor. She stumbled back and away from him.

His terrified eyes were locked on her, the bright blue dilated almost to black. She expected that. But she didn’t expect the words that fell from his mouth.

‘Oh God, Cassie. Not you. Not you!’

What?

For half a second she stood, hands over her mouth, staring at Patrick. Then she turned on her heel and fled. She didn’t slow down as she took the stairs two at a time, crashed into her room, furiously grabbed a chair and jammed it under the handle. There. That was as safe as it got. As
he
got.

Cassie slumped to the floor, exhausted. It could have been worse, she told herself, as her heartbeat slowed. So much worse.

Ah, who was she trying to kid? She’d lost control. She could have hurt Patrick. Killed him even. Jamming her fists into her mouth, Cassie bit down until she drew blood. A few more days, that was all. A few days and she’d be back at the Academy. Back with its mysterious principal Sir Alric Darke. He must be able to help her fight this. She’d see no one until then.

But Cassandra, my sweet, I’m HUNGRY!

The plaintive, angry voice echoed and bounced around her skull, it felt so light and empty. She was dizzy with hunger. But she’d control it. It was just a few days. Only a matter of time …

That’s right!
In the echo-chamber of her head, Estelle sounded vindictive and ravenous, but triumphant.
Oh
yes, Cassandra, my dearest girl! Only a matter of time
…