Darke Academy 4: Lost Spirits (16 page)

‘Who else would it be for?’ Richard’s eyes narrowed suspiciously – Cassie wondered if there might even be a hint of jealousy there too. ‘You’d better start from the beginning.’

‘Well,’ Cassie sighed. ‘I think it might be easier if I just showed you …’

‘Cassie, what the hell … ?’

Richard had grown more and more impatient and curious as Cassie led him towards Ranjit’s room, glancing furtively over her shoulder to make sure nobody saw them. She couldn’t help being reminded of the night Sir Alric had made his own big reveal.

‘Where are you taking me?’ Richard said again. ‘I mean, I can’t pretend I’m not hoping you’re finding a secluded spot to have your way with me.’

‘Richard …’

‘You’re not an axe murderer, are you? I knew there was something about you – I thought it was a great personality and stunning good looks, but maybe, just maybe, it’s that you’re a psychopath and—’

‘Richard! Shhh. We’re here, OK?’

They were standing once more outside the ornately carved door. Richard let out a low whistle, clearly intrigued. Cassie cleared her throat nervously, but just as she reached out to turn the door handle, they heard a groan come from inside. Gasping, Cassie wrenched the door wide and rushed inside. The bread roll and cheese tumbled free of the napkin as she dropped it and flew to Ranjit’s side.

‘Ranjit!’

She was aware of Richard standing beside her, struck dumb, but all she could do was hold Ranjit’s face, stroking it with her thumbs, kissing his forehead. ‘Ranjit, wake up! Ranjit!’

‘Jesus, Cassie,’ breathed Richard. ‘Where the hell did you find him?’

‘Well, I’m not surprised you were in trouble with Sir Alric.’

Richard was pacing the room, shaking his head in disbelief. ‘You are one crazy chick, Cassie Bell. You might as well have handed a loaded gun to Katerina. How did you get away?’

‘They were so preoccupied with the artefacts, managed to distract them for long enough for us to get out of there.’ In a shamed murmur she added, ‘I guess once Brigitte and Katerina had those, they didn’t need us any more.’

‘It’s not your fault,’ he consoled her. ‘What were you supposed to do?’

‘Needless to say that’s not how Sir Alric sees it.’ Cassie rubbed her face with both hands. ‘Oh, Richard. What a bloody mess.’

‘Not entirely. You’ve got Sleeping Beauty back, haven’t you?’

True. She turned and gazed at Ranjit again, when he opened his eyes and emitted another low groan. She leaned over him, almost afraid to touch him, watching him closely. She reached down gripping his hand, and was relieved to feel his fingers tighten around hers. It seemed he was finally coming around properly.

‘Cassie … ?’

‘Oh my God,’ she whispered. ‘You’re all right.’ She flung her arms around Ranjit, and without thinking her lips found his. He returned her kiss urgently, and in the same instant she felt her spirit leap to life, flaming passionately, burning for him—

‘Ahem.’

Coming to her senses, Cassie pulled away, flushing with embarrassment as she heard Richard pointedly clear his throat. Looking back towards Ranjit, she noticed he looked as shocked as she did, and she could see his pulse still thrashing in his throat. He put his hands to his head, shaking it slowly.

‘I’m— What happened?’

His eyes were roaming the room, perplexed and still a little dazed, but showing a dawning horror. Ranjit must suspect, she thought, that she’d brought him to the very place he didn’t want to be. And as he suddenly caught sight of the boy behind Cassie, his gaze focused and his eyes widened with certainty.

‘Richard?’ he whispered. With Cassie’s help he pulled himself half up. ‘What are
you
—’

Richard had taken an involuntary step back, his expression nervous, but Ranjit only looked at him, bleary and confused. Then his shoulders sagged.

‘I’m at the Academy, aren’t I?’ he asked, looking up at Cassie. She nodded silently.

Ranjit sighed, and turned back to Richard. ‘And you’re …’ he began hoarsely, then swallowed. ‘You’re OK.’

‘Not for want of you trying,’ Richard replied wryly, remembering the events in Istanbul. Ranjit was still blinking, struggling to get the words out.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—’

‘No, you didn’t,’ Cassie told him firmly. ‘It wasn’t your fault.’

Ranjit slumped back. There was despair in his expression. ‘That isn’t true.’

‘It is.’ She wanted to shake him. ‘It was because of the Pendant. Don’t you understand? It was cursed. Anyone who touched it first would have done what you did.’

A mirthless smile twitched the corner of Ranjit’s mouth. ‘I’d like to think that’s true.’

‘You’re telling me you meant to try and kill me?’ Richard raised his hands in mock horror.

‘Stop fooling, Halton-Jones.’ Ranjit turned his head and stared bleakly at Richard. ‘You know how close I came.’

Richard nodded, sobering. ‘I know it. But it’s like Cassie says: it wasn’t really you.’

Ranjit glared at him, propping himself up once more on his elbows. Cassie put her arm round his shoulders to help him, but he shook her off with a shiver. Cassie’s heart ached at the gesture.

‘Excuses,’ Ranjit growled. ‘I couldn’t have done any of that if there hadn’t been something inside me that wanted to. Part of me must have wanted to kill you, Richard.’

Richard shrugged lightly. ‘Part of you probably still does. Why should you be any different to half the school?’

Ranjit choked a weak laugh, but there was a taint of despair in it. For the first time he allowed himself to gaze directly into Cassie’s eyes. ‘Curse or no curse, I’m a murderer.’

‘No, listen, Ranjit. You—’

‘You can’t put a gloss on it! I killed Yusuf and I killed Mikhail. And … and I killed— Oh, God, you must hate me.’ He put his hands over his face.

‘Ranjit, no—’

‘I can still hardly believe I did what I did in Istanbul, Cassie, but it happened. God … Isabella? She must hate me more than anyone …’

Cassie shook her head, trying to make him stop. ‘No! Ranjit! Listen, you don’t understand—’

‘I killed Jake. Cassie, I killed Jake.’ Tears began to pool in his eyes and he quickly swiped them away, his head in his hands.

‘
Ranjit!
’ Cassie exclaimed, and he looked up. ‘Listen to me! I know this is going to sound crazy … but Jake isn’t dead!’

There was silence, then suddenly, a voice behind them.

‘What?’ exclaimed Richard.

Cassie had almost forgotten he was there. ‘God, Richard. Yes, I’m sorry …’

She looked at him, staring open-mouthed and aghast, then returned her gaze pleadingly to Ranjit as he levered himself with huge effort to a sitting position. He swung his legs down and gripped the edge of the mattress to keep his swaying body straight. His eyes were feverishly brilliant, his skin even paler than before.

‘Jake.’ He began quietly, then cleared his throat and tried again. ‘Jake. Isn’t. Dead?’

‘No. Jake’s very much alive,’ she said urgently.

Richard rubbed his neck, blowing out a disbelieving breath. ‘Anything else you haven’t mentioned, C? Have you got my pet Labrador from when I was eight years old hidden under the bed?’

‘I’m really sorry. I couldn’t tell anyone, Richard, I wasn’t allowed.’ She swallowed hard and clutched Ranjit’s hand, squeezing it. ‘Darke saved him. With the Tears.’

Ranjit didn’t say anything for a long time, but she saw his jaw clenching, his brow furrowed. ‘Good. That’s really good,’ he said at last. ‘I’m so glad. It doesn’t change much. I still killed the others …’ His eyes filmed with tears again, but he gritted his teeth as he held them back.

‘Jesus, Ranjit.’ Cassie sat down beside him and took him in her arms. ‘Look at you. Look how much remorse you have. These were your friends, your classmates – no matter how you felt about them before the Curse, you’d
never
have done something like that unless it was out of your control. Don’t you see how that proves it? How often do we have to tell you? It wasn’t you.’

Ranjit lifted his palms and glared at them as if they were soaked in blood. ‘To hell with it,’ he whispered. ‘I can’t undo it. I don’t want to go in the damned Confine, so I guess I’ll just have to keep running. I can’t stay here. Where exactly is the Academy anyway?’

Cassie bit her lip. ‘Kenya.’

‘Jesus,’ Ranjit sighed. ‘I need to get out of here.’

‘Honestly, Singh,’ Richard pointed out scathingly, ‘Cassie here has just saved your arse, so don’t be an ingrate. Cool your jets for a moment, spend a little time.’

Ranjit got unsteadily to his feet, then, when he had his balance, raked his hands through his hair. He stared down at Cassie, who met his gaze, her heart pounding to feel him standing over her, tall and handsome despite his weakness. He seemed to have to actively tear himself away as he limped over to the French windows and pulled the thin curtain aside.

‘Listen, Ranjit, don’t worry,’ she said, going to stand by his side. ‘You’re safe here. Sir Alric knows what happened, everything. He knew about the Curse to start with; if this is anyone’s fault, it’s his. And he’ll sort things out, I swear he will. He’ll fix everything with the Council. There won’t be any question of the Confine or anything like that, I promise. Besides, nobody else knows you’re here – no one even knows this room exists besides Darke, Isabella, Jake.’

But instead of seeming relieved, Ranjit blanched, a light of hideous understanding dawning in his eyes. He reached out and grabbed Cassie’s arm. ‘Oh God.’ He rubbed his face with his free hand. ‘Where is he? Where’s Darke?’

‘He isn’t here,’ Cassie told him. ‘You’ve got time to recover, time to think before we make our next move. He’s gone to get his papers at the Mount Kenya lodge. We, uh, we need to figure out what to do next about …’ She couldn’t say their names.

‘Cassie! I only just remembered. Brigitte. Katerina!’

‘Yes, but we’re going to figure out how to—’

‘Cassie, no. Did you … did you say you …’ He seized her again, shook her. ‘Tell me you didn’t give them the artefacts!’

Her silence must have told him everything.

He went entirely still, searching her face as if even now she could tell him she was kidding. ‘Oh, God, Cassie. No. This is a catastrophe.’

‘Hey,’ interrupted Richard indignantly. ‘She gave them up for you!’

‘I know. I know.’ Ranjit rubbed his temples hard. Impulsively, he reached out and put his hands on her shoulders, then pulled her into a hesitant embrace.

Cassie closed her eyes, leaning the side of her head against his shoulder, revelling in the closeness even as they both stiffened, trying to hold back. Eventually she pulled away.

‘We’re going to get them back,’ she told him, more confidently than she felt.

‘There may not be time for that,’ said Ranjit dully. ‘It may already have happened.’

‘What might have happened?’ She frowned, staring at Ranjit quizzically, but feeling a growing sense of dread. ‘What do you know?’

‘They had the Urn once they’d kidnapped me, of course. But they needed the Knife and the Pendant to complete their plan. They explained it to me, the whole damn thing. Gloating, of course. They assumed I’d be dead by now.’

‘And?’ prompted Richard impatiently.

‘They need to get a spirit out of the Urn.’

Cassie swallowed nervously. ‘So it does still contain a spirit? One the Eldest trapped there?’

‘Worse. Much worse.’ Ranjit leaned both hands against the panes of the French windows and stared bleakly out towards the ocean. ‘The spirit in the Urn?
It’s the Eldest himself
.’

C
assie pulled her hair off her face and took great gulps of oxygen into her lungs, trying to swerve her mind away from the consequences she might already have brought about.

‘I don’t get it. I thought the Eldest was driven away by the Council? And without the artefacts he couldn’t feed on other Few. That’s why they
hid
the Urn, isn’t it, as well as all the other artefacts?’

‘That’s the story they put about,’ said Ranjit darkly. ‘Apparently what really happened was that they lured him to his own Urn and imprisoned him there. They didn’t want the true story to get out, because inevitably the Eldest’s followers would seek him out and try to free him. And now they have found him.’

They’d risked venturing on to the balcony because they all needed air, though Ranjit looked downright dizzy with it. He needed to feed – properly – Cassie thought vaguely, but they hadn’t even got to that yet, with all the revelations that were happening. She, Ranjit and Richard stood watching the glitter and roll of the turquoise waves, listening to the birdsong and the screech of monkeys and the clatter from the dining room far below on the ground floor.

‘But to free the Eldest? Surely even our Katerina isn’t that stupid,’ remarked Richard hopefully.

‘They’re bound to free him, or try to,’ said Cassie dully. ‘The Svenssons are nuts.’

‘And … and if they do it’ll be chaos. Carnage.’ Ranjit put an arm round her shoulders as if that could soften his words. ‘He’ll start with the Few, but he won’t stop there. The whole world will be his feeding trough. But he’ll need a very strong host … I wonder what they’re planning exactly regarding that? Maybe one of them, even?’ He shook his head incredulously. ‘Can you imagine the Eldest in a position of power? Congress, maybe, or even the Presidency?’

‘I can’t. I don’t want to.’ Cassie ground her teeth. ‘We have to stop them.’

‘Listen, you’re not to blame, Cassie. You couldn’t know.’

‘Uh-huh. And remember how you reacted when I told you the same thing? Well, multiply that by a hundred.’

‘Aren’t we rather wasting time with a mutual blame society?’ drawled Richard. ‘Try Sir Alric again.’

Cassie pulled out her phone and thumbed in his number yet again. She glanced from Ranjit to Richard as she held it to her ear. ‘Still going to voicemail. Dammit.’

‘Try the lodge,’ suggested Richard.

‘I didn’t want to bring Isabella and Jake into this, but—’ Reluctantly Cassie pressed the entry for Sir Alric’s safari lodge, then raised her eyebrows. ‘It’s dead.’

‘That doesn’t sound good,’ said Ranjit, frowning with concern.