Author's note:
Just replies to a few reviews-
Guest reviewer: How do you know they're soulfinders? ;) No I understand where you're coming from, that you want them to find out and be all happy. I'm sorry if it feels like I'm dragging this out. But trust me, it's all for a reason- I have the moment they'll find out planned in my mind and it'll be worth the wait.
Looksatbooks: Exactly. I'd had this idea of giving Killian a tough background like that ever since I started planning out the story but I was still undecided whether or not to write it. I didn't want it to be cliché, nor did I want to write it in a way that would portray what he went through incorrectly. So I did think about other possibilities but in the end decided to go with my original idea because it does happen; it was a tough subject to write about but I'm glad you think it turned out well :)
Please read and review this chapter. xo
16th February 2020
One of the school rules was to not go wandering around the school in the middle of the night. But some rules were made to be broken, right? Gracie had been tossing and turning in her bed, able to hear Allie softly snoring and Sam murmuring words in Indian in her sleep, but hadn't been able to fall asleep herself at all. There were too many thoughts whirring around in her mind, thoughts that weren't even important enough to remember but had still been bothering her. It was ridiculous, it really was.
Deciding that going on a walk may be just the thing to tire her out enough that she'd be able to sleep, she got out of bed and put on her green fluffy slippers before quietly slipping out of the room. She would have to be extra careful not to get caught by whichever teachers were on hall monitor duty tonight. If she was caught she would get a detention which would mean she'd have to waste time that she would normally be spending with Killian working with the animals. The fact that they couldn't hang out like normal friends during the weekend or even sit together in the classes they shared, made their time together even more precious. She didn't want to have that taken away from her. Just don't get caught, she thought to herself as she crept along the corridor and past the other bedrooms before slowly making her way down the first flight of stairs.
Maybe going outside for some fresh air would make her feel better, she thought. It was worth a try anyway. The school building was an old one so the stairs tended to creak loudly in certain places. Thankfully, she knew her way around enough now to know which places creaked so she managed to move silently. It took her an age to descend the first flight of stairs and she predicted it would take her longer with the second considering there were more creaks and groans possible with this flight.
It made her think of her house at home in Wrickenridge. They'd moved into the house shortly after her mother had gotten pregnant with Willow and at first, Gracie had hated the house. With six bedrooms it was far bigger than their old house, but it was older and therefore a lot noisier to live in. Every stair would complain when you stood on it; the walls would groan when the wind outside was especially bad; there were constant drafts running throughout the house. They had even found a family of white rats living in the basement. Granted, the rats turned out to be rather tame and Gracie now kept them as pets in a large cage in her bedroom, but it still hadn't been a nice discovery at the time. Moving into the house had given her a larger bedroom – in fact, the whole top floor of the three-floor house was hers. It consisted of two bedrooms, a small lounge area, and her very own bathroom. She loved it of course, especially after her father and two of her uncles worked extra hard to decorate it perfectly for her, and that had made the house feel a lot more like home to her. She had grown used to all the noises the old house made, just like she had with the school and the dormitories.
As she reached the bottom of the second flight of stairs, she heard voices and stopped. Cautiously, she peered her head around the corner of the wall and saw a group of five teachers huddled together outside one of the bedrooms. She quickly pressed herself against the wall to hide from them, breathing slowly and trying to stay quiet. From this position, their voices travelled over to her mid-conversation.
"- and now her roommate is in complete hysterics!" She heard Mr Rupert, her English teacher, hiss in a whispered voice. "I can't believe this."
"This has certainly become out of control now," Danielle replied to him. "It's simply gone too far-" The sound of footsteps rushing along the corridor was evident. "Ah, Mrs Burn. Finally you're here."
"What's happened?" The headteacher asked.
"What do you think?" Miss Petreley, a strict and unattractive maths teacher snapped. "The Illusionists have taken another child! Noelle Davis, a year eight girl. The bedroom window is wide open but surely they couldn't have come in through there and taken her out that way? They couldn't have, it's far too high!"
"Did her roommate see anything?" Mrs Burn asked in a calm voice.
"She says that she saw a man with a blurry face," Gracie heard a teacher that was unfamiliar to her answer. "She won't stop crying, she thinks she's going mad."
"Very well," Burn answered. "I shall go in now and erase her memory. We'll tell her and the rest of the students if they ask that Noelle simply decided that she was ready to leave the school. She's gone home to her parents."
"And what will we tell the girl's family?" Mr Rupert questioned.
"Nothing just yet. Right now, they don't need to know that their daughter is no longer at the school. We don't need this getting out."
"We should tell the net," Danielle said in a shaky voice. "Noelle is the fourth child they've taken, Barbara! We can't let this carry on, we have to protect our students. The net will be able to help-"
"No, Danielle." Burn replied in a strict voice. Gracie could just imagine her beady eyes narrowing at Danielle. "The net is corrupt, there are far too many moles and traitors interwoven in the system. How do we know The Illusionists don't have people working there? It wouldn't surprise me if they do, they seem to be everywhere. We have to figure this out on our own if we truly want to protect the students."
"And what if The Illusionists have somebody working here?" Danielle pointed out just what Gracie had been thinking. "What if one of our own will tell them everything we know?"
"If that is the case... The school is in a lot of danger," Burn sighed loud enough for even Gracie to hear. "You lot go back to your rooms and get some sleep, if we stay here any longer we might wake up some of the girls. I'll erase Noelle's roommate's memory and tell her that Noelle has gone home."
The other teachers murmured their assent and Gracie heard their soft footsteps walking away from her. Before Burn realised she was there, Gracie quickly hurried up the stairs, making sure to be careful where she put her feet and got back to her bedroom in record time.
She slid under the covers, her mind busy thinking about what she had overheard whilst eavesdropping on her teachers. Who were 'The Illusionists'? From what she had gathered, they obviously weren't on the side of the net nor were they friends of the school. So, they were rogue savants against the net. But what did they want? What was their objective? And why were they taking students?
This was something that Gracie shouldn't know, she knew that. But now that she did know about it she desperately wanted to know what it all meant. But no matter how hard she thought about it, no matter how long she spent trying to figure it all out, it was no use. It remained a mystery to her. She contemplated waking Sam and Allie up and telling them what she'd heard but something inside of her stopped her. For some reason, despite them being two of her closest friends here, she felt like she couldn't tell them or trust them with this information.
Killian Ashe was the only person she felt she could trust with this. Maybe he would have some answers or guesses about it. Because all Gracie knew right now was that something was going on at the school that the teachers didn't even trust the net with.
And that meant that something was very dangerous indeed.
17th February 2020
Despite all her wondering thoughts about The Illusionists, Gracie did actually manage to fall asleep that night. She had been so exhausted that she slept through her alarm clock and was woken by Allie; Gracie had only just enough time to get ready before she had to rush out of the bedroom. She had slept in too late and missed her chance to help with the animals but she didn't get a chance to apologize to Killian because she didn't have Power Construction first lesson on Monday's.
She headed off to Maths first lesson and failed to be able to pay attention. Miss Petreley seemed like her normal wound-up self no more than ordinary. If Gracie hadn't overheard the teachers' conversation last night, she wouldn't have guessed that something bad was going on at the school. It was a good façade the teachers were putting on but now that Gracie knew it was all fake she saw straight through them. The worry for the students was clear in the way Miss Petreley's hands shook as she handed out the worksheet and the way she gave out more and more detentions which would keep the students inside and not available to be kidnapped or whatever. In fact, by the end of the lesson she gave the whole class break and lunchtime detentions simply because none of them understood the work and therefore didn't complete the full worksheet.
The whole class were in a grumpy mood as they left the room, including Gracie. It was bad enough that she'd slept in but now she had two detentions and wouldn't be able to help with the animals. After school would be her only chance to talk to Killian but Danielle tended to be around at that time so she wouldn't be able to confide in him about what she'd overheard. If she had to wait until tomorrow to tell him, she thought she might go crazy.
And then in second lesson she received a note from Danielle saying that her and Killian wouldn't be needed after school because some other students were being made to help as a punishment for not turning up to their lessons. Which now meant she wouldn't be able to talk to Killian properly until tomorrow morning. But this was something that Gracie couldn't wait that long to tell him. She needed to tell somebody; she couldn't keep it hidden forever.
Third lesson saw her going to the library for her English class. They were doing detailed book reports so Mr Rupert had told them to choose a book from the library and they would start reading it this lesson; they'd have to read the rest in their free time and work on the book report in class. Sam, Allie and Killian were all in Gracie's English class.
When she entered the library, she saw the girls scanning the bookshelves and looked around at the tables for Killian. Like she had expected, he was sat on his own. He already had a book in his hands; Gracie looked closely and saw that he was reading Insomnia by Stephen King. Feeling her watching him, he looked up at her with a guarded mask of an expression. He let his guard down however when he realised it was her. He smiled a little before quickly looking back down at the book as if remembering that they were supposed to ignore each other in public.
Screw that, Gracie thought to herself. She needed to talk to him and this was the only way to organize something. She strode over to his table and ignored the funny looks a few of her classmates gave her when they spotted where she was going. When she reached his table, Killian looked up at her with alarm in his eyes. "Gracie, what are you doing?" He whispered. "We're not supposed to be friends, remember?"
"Never mind that," she answered as she looked down at him, also whispering so they didn't get told off by the librarian. "This is important."
Killian's eyebrows furrowed together. "OK," he finally said. "As long as it's important. Where were you this morning, anyway? I was worried about you."
Ignoring the butterflies that erupted in her stomach at the knowledge of him caring enough to worry about her, Gracie shook her head. "I slept in, it's nothing to worry about. Look, I couldn't sleep last night so I went for a walk and I overheard something I really shouldn't have."
"I'm not surprised," he said. "Eavesdroppers always end up overhearing something they wish they hadn't. Did you hear one of the guys that sneak into the girls dorms messing around with their girlfriend?" He joked.
Not in the mood for joking around, Gracie was quick to roll her eyes and shake her head exasperatedly. "This is serious, Killian. Look, go to your dorm room straight after classes finish, okay? I'll find some way to get up there without being noticed. I really need to talk to you."
Killian frowned, clearly now understanding that she really did mean this was serious. She could see him trying and failing to figure out what it was. He nodded his head and said, "Fine, I'll-"
"Gracie?" Sam interrupted Killian as she came over to them, looking back and forth between the two in suspicion. "What are you doing? Allie and I saved you a seat over on the other side of the library."
"Oh great. Thanks," she faked a smile. "I was just telling Killian about that note Danielle sent me. She asked me to pass the message on," she lied.
"Right, of course," Sam replied in a tone that strangely sounded like she didn't believe a word Gracie was saying. "Come on, then. I think I found a book for you that you'll love, although you can choose something different if you want."
Gracie smiled gratefully at her friend, shot Killian a look that said 'you better be there', before following Sam towards the table Allie was waiting for them at.
A hint about the next chapter: Kiss.
