Caroline leaned back against the wall; her eyes wide as new questions bounced around her mind.

  “Whoa. You could be on to something there. I mean, you’re right, we did assume it was a picture of Caroline because it looked like her. But who’s to say it wasn’t actually Tempeste?”

  “How would we find out either way?” Caroline asked.

  “Well, there’s only three people that come to mind who would be able to tell us for sure. One of them is the headmistress; we want to avoid her. The other two, no one seems to know where they are. Your father and Eloise,” Aldrick said.

  “What am I going to do?” Caroline asked.

  “We are going to sort it out,” Nadine reassured her.

  “I think we need to fill the others in,” Aldrick suggested, and Caroline nodded absently, hugging her arms around herself.

  Nadine leaned against the wall beside her, staring out at the cold, dreary day as Aldrick headed back up to the academy to try and find the others.

  “I’m really sorry to drag you into all this,” Caroline said softly.

  “I—we—told you already, you haven’t dragged us into anything. We all decided to help you, and honestly, I think we all want to get to the bottom of this as much as you. You know, when I first heard you were here—being the total nerd that I am—I was super excited to meet a Destine descendent. I’d hoped we’d become friends, but I have to say you definitely set the bar high when it comes to excitement levels.” Nadine replied. The two girls looked at each other before bursting into a fit of giggles. When they finally got themselves under control, Caroline hugged her friend.

  “Thank you.” Caroline looked up as they heard the sound of feet on the bleachers, and within a matter of seconds, Aldrick appeared with Corbin, Tilda, Laurent, and Fleur.

  “Hey! I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Are you okay?” Corbin asked as he walked past Aldrick and pulled Caroline into a hug, placing a kiss on the top of her head. Caroline pulled away as a blush ran up her cheeks, and she met Aldrick’s gaze before he looked away.

  “Yeah, I’m okay, thanks,” Caroline replied, saddened by the pained look in Corbin’s eyes at her thinly veiled attempt at rejection. She knew she was being unfair to him, and she made a mental promise to herself that she would talk to him later when it was just the two of them. She knew they had more pressing matters to attend to right now.

  She quickly filled everyone in on what had happened, acutely aware of their ever-changing expressions. When she’d finished, there was a brief silence, as though no one knew what to say. Caroline shifted, feeling Corbin’s stare on her, making her feel even more uncomfortable. As though sensing her unease, Aldrick cleared his throat.

  “I have an idea…”

  “I’m all ears,” Caroline replied, giving him a grateful smile. He didn’t smile back but instead turned to Fleur.

  “Do you think you could try and get a fix on Eloise? Or even Gaspar Destine?”

  Fleur frowned, “I’ve never done something like that before, but I can try.”

  “That would be amazing, Fleur! We could really use Eloise’s help. What do you need us to do?” Caroline asked.

  “Nothing. Just a little space and some quiet,” Fleur replied, and everyone backed up as best as they could in the confined space. Fleur closed her eyes and slowly tilted her head from side to side, as though stretching out her neck before righting herself again. They all watched; the air thick with anticipation as they intently watched Fleur for any sign of success.

  “I can’t get a sense of Gaspar anywhere…though that’s not to say he’s not around. It could just be because I don’t have a connection with him.” Fleur said quietly, and her eyes remained closed.

  “We’ll find him,” Nadine whispered to Caroline, giving her arm a squeeze.

  Caroline felt a little guilty that she wasn’t more concerned, but she’d spent the past decade thinking her father was dead, and she’d hardly seen him since being at the academy. She sighed and forced herself to push all thoughts of her father away.

  “I don’t think I can find Eloise either,” Fleur whispered, and Caroline closed her eyes, trying to veil her disappointment. Then she recalled her own recent Voyante powers and wondered if she could somehow help. Stepping over to where Fleur stood, she carefully slipped her hands into Fleur’s and squeezed. They didn’t have to wait long.

  “Wait!” Fleur shouted, making them all jump. “I think I have her in the library, but something seems weird.”

  “Like what?” Laurent asked.

  Fleur opened her eyes. “I’m not sure how to explain it. It was like getting a sense of Eloise rather than actually feeling it was her.”

  Everyone looked at her with equally blank expressions.

  “See, I told you I didn’t know how to explain it,” Fleur said defensively.

  “You did amazing, Fleur.” Caroline said, releasing her hands, “And I get what you’re trying to say. I saw it too. It was kind of like seeing someone’s reflection and not the actual person. It was like the vision was kind of flat somehow.”

  “Yeah, that’s it, exactly!” Fleur beamed.

  “So what would cause that? Is that normal?” Corbin asked.

  “I’ve never experienced it before, but like I said, I’ve never tried to locate someone that way either. It’s not exactly an encouraged method, you know, with people’s privacy and all that,” Fleur replied.

  “So who’s up for another trip to the library since our last visit was so educational?” Laurent scoffed. Everyone answered enthusiastically, except for Caroline.

  “I think we should go check out Caroline’s room first. I need to see that tunnel entrance for myself.” Tilda suggested.

  “What is it? Are you okay?” Corbin asked, reaching out for her before thinking better of it and letting his hand fall away.

  “I, uh, I don’t know. What if my aunt realizes I got out? Or what if she already knows, and is looking for me?”

  “We’re all here for you,” Nadine said, placing her arm around her shoulders. “She might be the headmistress, but I can’t see her doing anything to you while we’re all together.”

  “Besides, we don’t know that she means you any harm,” Laurent said, quickly raising his hands in defense as they all stared at him. “I’m just saying; we haven’t ruled out that she did what she did, knowing you would find the tunnel.”

  “How does that make any sense, though?” Tilda asked.

  “Well, I don’t know exactly. But it doesn’t really make sense that the headmistress would want to harm her own niece either,” he explained.

  “So basically, nothing makes sense, and we have no idea what we’re doing,” Corbin joked.

  “Glad to see we’re all on the same page,” Aldrick stated. “Let’s start with Caroline’s room and go from there.”

  “What about the afternoon classes?” Nadine blurted out, before quickly covering her mouth. “Sorry. Let’s go.”

  Caroline giggled at her friend as she followed Aldrick and the others out from under the bleachers and back towards the academy, trying to ignore her increasing heartrate with every step.

  Chapter Three

  They made it through the academy without any issue and stood outside Caroline’s room. Taking a deep breath, she held her hand over the glass panel beside the door, expecting it not to work. When they heard a click, and the door opened, she turned to her friends.

  “I swear it wasn’t working before,” she said.

  “We believe you,” Nadine assured her, nudging her friend forward.

  Caroline led them into the bedroom and walked straight to the bathroom door, pushing it open. She sank to the floor, her eyes wide as she felt like she couldn’t breathe.

  “Caroline!” Nadine cried, and they all gathered around her.

  “What the…” Aldrick said as he peered into the bathroom. It was perfect. Nothing was out of place, and there was no broken glass on the tiles. Stepping past them, Aldrick walked over to where the mirror once again hung over the sink. He placed his hands on both sides of the mirror and pulled, but it didn’t budge. Letting his hands fall, he turned back to the group where they still huddled around Caroline in the doorway.

  “I don’t understand. It happened. I…”

  “You don’t have to explain,” Nadine confirmed, rubbing her friends back, “We don’t doubt you for a second. But something is going on here, and we need to get to the bottom of it.”

  “Agreed,” Fleur said, “I’m getting a really eerie vibe in here—I really don’t like it. Can we just close the bathroom door already?”

  Nadine and Tilda helped Caroline to her feet, and they all retreated into the bedroom, Aldrick closing the door to the bathroom tightly behind him.

  “I don’t understand,” Caroline said quietly as she sat on the floor at the foot of the bed. Everyone else made themselves comfortable, each lost in their own thoughts.

  “Let’s just confirm that we’re all in agreement that we believe Caroline,” Laurent said.

  “What are you doing? Of course we do,” Nadine said angrily.

  “I just think Caroline could benefit from each of saying it and showing our support, that’s all,” Laurent explained, “I believe you.”

  “Me too, one hundred percent,” Nadine confirmed.

  “You know, I do,” Corbin said quietly from where he stood at the window, avoiding looking at her.

  “Absolutely,” said Fleur.

  “What she said,” smiled Tilda.

  Aldrick nodded, his arms folded against his chest, “Yeah. I do, too.”

  “Good. Glad we’ve got that out of the way.” Laurent said and took a seat on the carpet next to Tilda and put his arms around her shoulders. She gave him a kiss on the cheek.

  “Thanks. It means a lot, but I don’t even know if I believe me right now,” Caroline sighed. “I mean, you all saw it—the bathroom looks fine, like nothing even happened. I don’t understand. What if I imagined the whole thing?”

  “Well, we definitely saw the hole in the wall at the other end. You definitely came out of a tunnel. All three of us couldn’t have imagined it.” Nadine confirmed.

  “Well, it’s been, what, at least a couple of hours since it happened, right?” Aldrick said. Caroline nodded.

  “That’s more than enough time for someone to come in here and fix it up—you forget you’re in a school full of supernatural people,” he confirmed.

  “Of course. It had to be my aunt then. She must have come in here to check on me and then saw what happened,” Caroline suggested.

  “It’s a theory, at least,” Aldrick said. “Though I can’t see who else would have done it.”

  “I think we should go and ask Eloise.” Corbin said, “That is if you’re okay to walk back through the academy?” he finally looked at Caroline. She nodded and gave him a smile, but she noticed the smile he gave in return didn’t reach his eyes. It made her feel awful. Part of her wanted to go and give him a hug, but the other part of her didn’t want to give him the wrong idea when she didn’t know what she wanted. It had felt good at breakfast when she’d kissed him, and, at that moment, she could absolutely see them as a couple. Yet so much had happened since then, and therein lied the problem. Everything kept changing so fast that she couldn’t keep up.

  “Are you okay?” Nadine asked as they left the room and entered the hustle and bustle of the academy halls as students moved about from one class to the next. Caroline was grateful for the timing, knowing it would make their little group less obvious as they made their way to the library.

  The group entered through the upstairs entrance, like they had the night before, and spread out along the mezzanine to look for Eloise below.

  “Over there.” Fleur pointed to a row of books to the far left of the library, and they took off towards it. As they entered the row, they found Eloise replacing a book on the shelf.

  “Eloise?” Aldrick said quietly as they entered the row.

  She turned towards them and smiled, which was in itself, strange. “Mr. Vieux. How lovely to see you? How are your exam preparations coming along?” she asked. He looked over his shoulder and exchanged a bewildered look with the group. They watched as Eloise took a couple of steps down the row, pulled another book from the shelf. She opened it, flicked through the pages, and put it back.

  “Uh, they’re fine, thank you.” Aldrick hesitated, as though unsure of what to say next. Caroline stepped forward.

  “We were worried. The headmistress made it sound like she’d banished you or something.”

  Eloise paused, her fingers on the spine of another book, and she turned her head slowly, a frown on her face. “You look familiar…but it can’t be…” she trailed off, staring at Caroline.

  “Eloise, are you okay?” Tilda asked. Eloise’s expression switched as though someone had flicked a switch, and the frown was quickly wiped away by a smile.

  “Yes, of course. How rude of me,” she declared, releasing her hold on the book and walking towards them. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Eloise, personal assistant to the headmistress.” She held out her hand to Caroline, who looked down at it with confusion before accepting the handshake.

  “My apologies, I’m usually well informed about any new students, but I’m afraid your name escapes me?” Eloise continued.

  “I’m Caroline. Caroline Destine,” she replied, releasing herself from the handshake.

  “Ah, yes, of course. I recall the headmistress mentioning your pending arrival. That was a few weeks ago now—I apologize, I really should be more organized…”

  “Do you remember last night?” Corbin asked.

  Eloise rested her finger against her chin, looking up in recollection. “Let’s see. I took the headmistress her dinner around six, as usual. Then I…then I think I wasn’t feeling too well and went to bed early. I woke up feeling better than ever this morning, thankfully! No one has time to get sick with so much to do before graduation and Winter Solstice!” she laughed, and her eyes were wide and slightly maniacal.

  “Uh, okay. Well, we’ll leave you to it,” Aldrick said and turned, gesturing for the others to go back the way they came. Caroline took a final look over her shoulder as Eloise continued her pattern of selecting a book, randomly flipping through it, and then putting it back.

  They waited until they were out of the library before any of them spoke.

  “Okay, what was that?” Fleur asked, her eyes wide.

  “I have no idea,” Nadine replied, “I mean, she acted like she hadn’t met Caroline.”

  “I don’t think she was acting,” Aldrick said, “It genuinely looked like she didn’t know Caroline at all.”

  “What about when she first looked up? It was like she recognized her then,” Laurent said.

  “No, I don’t think so.” Aldrick replied, “I think Eloise initially thought she was looking at someone else.”

  “Tempeste,” Caroline said slowly. Aldrick nodded.

  “This just keeps getting weirder and weirder,” Corbin stated as he began pacing, his hands behind his head.

  “There’s something else Eloise said that didn’t make sense either,” Nadine stated.

  “What?” Caroline asked.

  “Well, she said your aunt mentioned your pending arrival a few weeks ago. Yet it’s only been a couple of weeks since your mother and brother disappeared.” Nadine said.

  Caroline leaned against the wall, suddenly not trusting her ability to stand on her own two feet.

  “Could she just be mistaken?” Fleur asked, “I mean, she didn’t exactly seem with it.”

  “Maybe,” Corbin stated, still pacing, “but I wouldn’t rule it out. Not with everything else that’s happened.”

  Caroline shook her head slowly from side to side, unable to focus on a single thought; her mind was spinning so much. Suddenly she leaned over and braced herself against her knees.

  “Are you okay?” Nadine asked.

  “No. I think I’m going to be sick,” she whispered, closing her eyes as though it could somehow stave off the nausea. Caroline felt as though she might start crying, and she bit her lip to stop it. The last thing she wanted was to lose it in front of everyone.

  “Do you need anything, C?” Corbin asked softly.bit

  “No, thank you. I just need a minute.” Caroline kept her eyes closed. She could hardly let the question form; it was too horrible. Yet, at the same time, as soon as Nadine had said it, she felt some kind of recognition at the thought, like a part of her, had already considered the possibility. She exhaled shakily, wondering if it really could be true—did her aunt have something to do with her family’s disappearance, or was it all a ploy just to get her to the academy? But why?

  “I don’t know what to do from here,” she said, finally standing up. No one said anything, all of them equally stumped.

  “I hate to sound like a total guy here, but dinner will be soon. How about we go and have something to eat while we try and work out what we need to do?” Laurent suggested.

  “Laurent…” Nadine started, but Caroline cut in, “Actually, I think that sounds like a great idea. Maybe with some food in our stomachs, we’ll get some clarity.”

  They headed off towards the dining hall, and Caroline just felt grateful to be moving away from the library—she’d come to dislike the place in a very short space of time. As they walked through the corridor, Caroline began to feel a little dizzy, and she frowned as everyone seemed to slow down around her. She could feel a wave of energy flowing towards her, like a thick, static charge in the air, and she looked around, trying to locate the source. It was then she saw her. Her aunt, Marguerite Destine, walking towards them. Caroline froze, and her breath caught in her throat. Her aunt was looking at her, with an eyebrow raised high and a slight smugness in her expression. Caroline tried to think of something to say, but her mouth wouldn’t open. As her aunt walked past them, Caroline looked after her, frowning. Suddenly, the movements of those around her sped back up, and Nadine and Aldrick ran into the back of her.

 

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