The Whispers in the Walls

For months I had believed my sister was gone forever. And now she sat beside me, as we rode in a motor car back to a place neither of us wanted to set foot in, and I had to remind myself that she was real. I kept reaching out and taking hold of her arm for reassurance.

Father’s car was comfortable but smelled strongly of pipe tobacco – he insisted on smoking all the way there. He attempted conversation, awkwardly. “How did you get on with your lessons, Ivy? How’s your ballet coming along?” As if that was all there was to talk about.

I felt myself getting more and more nervous the nearer we got to Rookwood. I’d only been gone a few days, but knowing what had really happened made the place even more intimidating and foreboding than it had been before. I had to tell myself it was all right – I had Scarlet, I had Ariadne, and Miss Finch was on our side. Miss Fox was gone and she wasn’t coming back.

The car chugged through the school gates, the stone rooks on the pillars poised to grasp us with their talons. Scarlet squeezed my hand tightly, but when I looked up at her, her expression was as determined as ever. The tall trees bent over us, their crisp leaves peeling away in the late-autumn wind.

When we came to a stop in front of the building, Scarlet pulled away from me and got out of the car without a word. I leant out and watched as she climbed the steps with her suitcase. I didn’t know if she would ever forgive Father for this.

I stayed in the car. If this was my one chance to speak to Father, I had to take it. “Do we have to do this? Do you have to just drive away and leave us here?”

He craned his neck to look at me as I perched on the rear leather seat. “We’ve been through this, Ivy.”

“I know, but there has to be another way. What if we went to stay with Aunt Phoebe? She must be lonely.”

Father got out and pulled open my door with a thunk. Then he crouched down at my feet, looking up at me, a gesture that made me feel like I was a little girl again. “I know you’re worried about things being as bad as they were before.” He looked up at Scarlet, who was staring pointedly at the stonework above the entrance. “But it’s all in the past now. We have to move forward. The headmaster, Mr …”

“Bartholomew.”

“Bartholomew, that’s it. He reassured me and your stepmother that everything will be in order; that it’s all been dealt with. You need an education and this is the best place for it. Your sister can pout all she wants, but one day she’ll realise that we did the right thing.”

I looked down at him, kneeling there on the gravel, greying streaks in his dark hair and wrinkles in his suit. The little girl in me wanted to give him a hug, tell him how much I’d missed him. But I wasn’t that girl any more.

So instead I just said: “You’re wrong.”

I picked up my suitcase and pushed past him. I heard his gasp of shock, but I wasn’t going to back down. Not this time.

“I love you, girls,” he called out from behind me.

I didn’t look back. I climbed the stone steps and took Scarlet’s hand. She pulled me through the entrance, and we left Father far behind.

“HOW DARE HE?” Scarlet yelled, as the door shut behind us. “How dare he act like this is all for the best?”

Rookwood’s worried secretary looked up and shushed her, though it was one of the most timid shushes I’d ever heard.

My twin didn’t pay even the slightest bit of attention. “That old hypocrite! He lets the boys run around doing whatever they like, but we get left here to rot. After everything!” She kicked the wall. “This is so unfair!”

“Ahem …”

I looked round. It was Mrs Knight, the head of Richmond house, standing on the other side of the hall. “Kindly leave the wall alone, Miss Grey. And perhaps save all of our ears by keeping your voice down?”

“Sorry, Miss,” I said. Scarlet just frowned.

“We’ve been expecting you, girls – Mr Bartholomew has been making arrangements. I’m to take you to his office now.” She gave me a smile, but it was an uncertain one. “Miss Carver will arrange for someone to take your suitcases to your room.” She indicated the secretary, who was regarding Scarlet warily.

I shot my twin a look to see if she’d caught that – were we sharing a room? She raised her eyebrows at me.

“This way,” said Mrs Knight, as we deposited our suitcases by the front desk. It was Sunday morning, so the classrooms she led us past were empty, silent as if they were sleeping. In a low voice, she added, “I hope you can put your ordeal behind you, Scarlet, and have a fresh start. We were all so horrified to learn what Miss Fox had done.” Scarlet made a face, but she didn’t reply.

My heart pounded as we neared Miss Fox’s office, and I saw to my surprise that its door was wide open. There were men inside in suits, looking through her files. The hideous stuffed dogs remained, glassy-eyed and grotesque.

Thank goodness Miss Fox was gone. I hoped Father was right, and that Mr Bartholomew would make everything better for us.

Before I had time to think more about it, we’d come to another heavy wooden door with ‘HEADMASTER’ in stern capitals on the nameplate.

Mrs Knight knocked gingerly. Her knock was answered with coughing, and a rasping “come in”. She waved us inside, and I hoped she’d follow, but instead she just quickly pulled the door closed behind us.

This office was big. Twice the size of Miss Fox’s. A huge stone fireplace in one corner sheltered a roaring fire, and dark furniture loomed in front of wood-panelled walls. There were no windows.

An oak desk took up almost all of the floor space, and behind it was a tall leather-backed chair with a man sitting in it, silver-haired and hunched over. A quivering hand pulled a pocket watch on a chain out of his jacket. “You’re late,” he said, and his voice rattled like bones.

Scarlet and I looked at each other in horror.

He gestured for us to sit down on two chairs in front of the desk, and we did so immediately.

He spoke slowly without really looking at us, like he was considering each word. I watched his eyes, sunken and hollow. “Girls, welcome back to Rookwood. I understand there have been … troubling times. But I can assure you that these are now over.”

Then he was silent. I wondered if I should say something. “Thank you, sir?” I whispered.

Almost to himself, he continued, “I always questioned whether I was right to leave a woman in charge of my school. Now I know the answer to that.”

I gripped Scarlet’s hand under the desk, just in case she was going to start shouting at him. But she remained tight-lipped.

“You must understand, the school is the thing. Teachers and pupils come and go, but the school remains. That is what matters.”

We both nodded. Where was he going with this?

“Rookwood needs its reputation intact in order to survive. We are nothing but the image we project to the world.”

Evidently Scarlet had had enough of biting her tongue. “Is there a point to all this, sir?”

Mr Bartholomew unfurled in his chair. I realised as he drew himself up that he was a very large man indeed. His eyes narrowed at my twin. “I don’t remember asking you a question, Miss Grey.”

I shrank back, but Scarlet was undeterred. “You didn’t, sir.”

“THEN WHY ARE YOU TALKING?” he roared.

Scarlet blinked. I felt like my heart had stopped in my chest.

And then the headmaster folded back again, coughing.

When he finally spoke, his voice had returned to its previous volume. “Rookwood prides itself on our education system, our high standards of teaching and the safety of our pupils. You will not do anything to compromise this. But –” another cough – “I assure you that what happened will not be repeated. Not on my watch.”

We sat there, not wanting to say a word.

“That is all. You may go.”

“What was that all about?” I asked Scarlet, when I’d overcome the shock.

“Search me.”

We walked towards the stairs, and I had that strange feeling once again, doubting that my twin was really beside me. I’d never walked these halls with her before. “Do you think we can trust him?” I asked, as we climbed the staircase.

Scarlet laughed sarcastically. “Trust him? He looks like a vampire!”

I risked a smile. “At least he’s not Miss Fox. And he obviously doesn’t like her. Perhaps he’ll come clean to the school, tell everyone what’s really been going on.”

“He might. I mean, people are surely going to notice that there’s two of me all of a sudden.”

We’d just reached the top of the stairs when someone came barrelling into me and knocked me backwards on to the carpet.

“IvyohmygoshIvyyou’reback!”

I looked up, stunned, and saw a familiar grinning face.

“Ariadne!” I cried.

“Hello!” my friend scrambled up, pushing her halo of mousy hair out of her eyes. “I’m just so pleased to see you! And –” she turned and took in the sight of my twin, who looked frankly baffled – “Scarlet! Scarlet’s here! You found her, you really did it!”

Ariadne started bouncing up and down to the point where I felt mildly seasick. But nevertheless, I was truly, truly pleased to see her again. I grinned and clambered up from the scratchy floor. “Yes, I did it. Well, we did it.”

“Who is this?” said Scarlet in a mock-whisper.

“Oh, um …” I held out my hands to both of them. “Scarlet, this is Ariadne. She helped me find you.”

My sister frowned, but Ariadne didn’t seem to notice. “Nice to meet you!” she said brightly. “Ariadne,” she repeated, “like in Theseus and the Minotaur.”

“Who and the what?” said my twin rudely

“Scarlet,” I said meaningfully, “we need to get to our room and …” I looked at Ariadne, and a horrible realisation dawned. There were only two beds in our dorm.

I looked back and forth between my twin and my best friend. Ariadne’s smile had faded to something that was only a fraction of her usual cheeriness. “Oh yes, about that. Mrs Knight said I had to move.” She looked at the floor. “I’m to have a new roommate, apparently.”

I felt crushed. Scarlet appeared not to notice – she was too busy glowering at passing students that were staring at us. “I’m so sorry, Ariadne. I didn’t even think about this.”

“It’s no bother,” she said, though I was pretty sure it was. “We’ll still see each other every day. Can I come and sit in your room now, while you unpack?”

I nodded. “Of course.”

And then I grabbed Scarlet before she could get us into further trouble, and we headed back to room thirteen.

Returning to my old room was like a dream. One of those where you go to somewhere you know well, only for it to be strangely different and unsettling. It was the same old room thirteen, but none of my things were where I’d left them. The left side of the room was completely empty, presumably where this Ariadne girl had cleared her things out, while the right side was littered with Ivy’s possessions. “I always chose the right side,” I said aloud. “Well done, sis.”

Ivy smiled half-heartedly. I think she was annoyed at me for not being very polite to her new friend. But it was her fault, really. I’d heard her side of the story and I knew all about Ariadne, but I didn’t have to be happy about it. Ivy had been supposed to keep everything a secret. How had she known that she could trust this girl?

I picked up some of the books from the right-hand bed and plonked them down on the left.

“What are you doing?” Ivy asked from the doorway, Ariadne leaning around her with a puzzled expression.

“Sorting things out so I have the right, you have the left.”

Ivy raised her eyebrows at me. “We’re still doing that?”

“Of course. And besides, this bed has the hole I keep my diary in.” I went over to my suitcase that had been deposited just inside the door and pulled out the flimsy notebook I’d been given in the asylum. “You should really try keeping a diary, Ivy. You never know when it might save your life.”

“True,” my sister conceded. She traipsed over to the other bed, Ariadne following behind her like a lost puppy.

I got down on my hands and knees and stuffed my new diary into the familiar hole in the mattress. I wasn’t sure if it would be safe there any more – of course I could trust Ivy, but I didn’t know Ariadne one bit. But then I wasn’t exactly in danger now. Was I?

“Who’s your new roommate, Ariadne?” asked my sister.

“I don’t know,” the mousy girl replied. “I asked Mrs Knight, but she just made a funny face and walked away. Who do you think it could be?”

“Probably just some new girl,” I said, since everyone else would have a dorm already. “I’m sure they’ll be great. You won’t want to hang around with us at all.”

Or at least I hoped not, because Ivy and I will always be a team of two, no more.

Ivy started pulling things out of her suitcase and laying them out on the bed. “It’ll be dinner soon. Maybe you’ll find out then.”

I grimaced. There were many horrors at the school, and the dinners were one of them. But at least it wasn’t hospital food, which had tasted like despair.

There was a knock at the open door. We all looked round.

It was Nadia Sayani. I glared at her, thinking she’d come to pick on me, but to my surprise Ivy and Ariadne greeted her warmly. Clearly a lot had changed while I was away.

She did a double take upon seeing me and Ivy side by side. “So there really are two of you,” she said, slightly breathless. A smile spread across her face. “Well, I never … Twins! Or did your reflection just walk out of the mirror, Ivy?”

Ivy smiled at her. “Yes, that’s definitely what happened.”

“Ha! Well, I came to tell you that Mr Bartholomew has called an assembly,” she said. “Before dinner. We all have to get down there now.”

That was unusual. We never had assemblies on Sunday, nor at this time of day. “Who told you?” I asked.

“Mrs Knight,” Nadia replied. “She asked me to run round and tell everyone.”

Ariadne jumped up. “Maybe he’s giving out prizes!”

I wasn’t so sure. “Or canings …”

We filed into the assembly hall and sat down on the uncomfortable wooden benches. Looking around, I spotted Miss Finch on a chair at the side, and she smiled at me. The stage was empty, though – no sign yet of Mr Bartholomew.

I leant over to Ivy. “Do you think he’s going to tell everyone what happened last year?” She shrugged, and pointed at Miss Bowler, the swimming teacher, who was glaring at me from the other side of the hall. We weren’t supposed to be talking, apparently. “But he’s not even here y—”

My sentence was interrupted by a loud cough echoing around the walls, and suddenly the headmaster appeared on the stage. The teachers shushed everyone into complete silence.

“Good afternoon, girls.” He spoke in the same slow, dragging manner that he had done in his office. “Some of you may not know me, as I have been away for some time, recuperating from an illness. I am Mr Bartholomew, the headmaster of Rookwood School. My father was the founder of this school, which he set up to provide a proper education for his daughters, as well as those of his important, influential friends.” He paused, coughed into a dark red handkerchief, and then carried on. “You may be wondering why I’ve called an assembly at this hour.”

There was a murmur of agreement.

“I have been informed that there were some incidents while I was away.”

I nudged Ivy. “He’s going to tell everyone about Miss Fox!” I whispered. Miss Bowler waggled her finger at me, but I ignored her.

“Well, I can assure you, now that I have returned, we are going to be doing things my way. Severely delinquent behaviour will be punished with immediate expulsion. I will have nothing going on –” he paused, cleared his throat – “nothing in this school that is not directly sanctioned by me. Is that clear?”

Everyone murmured their agreement, but it clearly wasn’t enough for him. “I said, IS THAT CLEAR, girls?” His gravelly voice could reach a surprising volume, and several girls around me flinched.

“Yes, sir!” we chorused.

“The prefect system will be reinstated, since it has been neglected in my absence. I will be selecting representatives from Richmond, Evergreen and Mayhew houses to be my prefects. They will be making sure that everyone follows my rules.”

Ivy was looking at me, and I could tell we were thinking the same thing. Wasn’t he going to say anything about Miss Fox and what she’d done? Surely that was more important than picking prefects?

Mr Bartholomew started pacing up and down slowly, and said, “We will keep the past in the past, and look towards the future. And to that end, I want to welcome two students.”

I looked around. New students?

“Ivy Grey, stand up, please.”

My sister looked horrified. But she stood up, trembling a little as the eyes of the whole school fell on her.

“Miss Grey will be joining her twin sister, Scarlet. Everyone welcome Ivy, please.”

There was a mumbling of welcomes, but everyone was still looking at Ivy strangely. Not least me, who was wondering what on earth our headmaster was playing at. Why was he pretending that Ivy was new? Why was he covering up what Miss Fox had done?

“And we have another student who has returned from spending some time abroad,” Mr Bartholomew continued in his rattling drone.

He pointed to the back of the room. I turned round, following his finger. “Miss Adams, please stand up as well.”

I couldn’t believe it.

Vile Violet.

She was back.

I had never seen Scarlet look as horrified as she did at that moment. Her complexion went a strange shade of green when Mr Bartholomew called out Violet’s name. I sat down again and grabbed hold of her hand.

But then Violet looked awful too; pale and frightened. I’d never seen her before, but I felt as if I knew her from Scarlet’s diary entries. She’d seemed like a horrible bully, someone to be afraid of, but at that moment I only felt pity for her.

I hadn’t known that they’d found her. I hadn’t even been certain that she was still alive. Perhaps Miss Finch had tracked her down too, or Mr Bartholomew himself. If she’d been locked away in the asylum like my sister … Well, wherever she’d been, she certainly hadn’t been “spending some time abroad”. The thought made me queasy, and I had to look away.

The headmaster had finished the assembly with boring notices and some reminders of Rookwood’s many rules. Lights out at nine o’clock sharp. No food in bedrooms. No running in the corridors. In fact, no running anywhere, except perhaps on the running track.

I still couldn’t believe that he was persisting with Miss Fox’s deception, claiming that Violet had been away and I was a new student. What exactly was he playing at? I supposed that the school’s reputation was being put ahead of us, ahead of me, yet again.

And it meant more lies. Just when I thought I could be myself again, I’d have to act like I hadn’t already been here for months.

We traipsed to the dining hall, where the familiar chatter and clatter enveloped us. I could feel people staring in amazement. I supposed we were a startling sight – perfect mirror images of one another.

“Oh, Rookwood food, how I didn’t miss you,” I said to my stew as we sat down, before realising that, according to the headmaster, I’d never eaten it before. I glanced round, hoping no one had noticed my comment. I thought Scarlet might nudge me and tell me to shut up. But she was distracted, staring at the other side of the Richmond table.

Violet was standing there, and she looked miserable.

Mrs Knight was talking to her. “Miss Adams, I’m afraid you’ll have to join the Evergreen table.”

Penny jumped up. “But Miss, she was in Richmond before! Can’t we just kick someone else out?” Penny had been Violet’s best friend, not to mention another of Scarlet’s worst enemies.

Our house head frowned. “There’s simply no room now that Ivy and Ariadne have joined us. And besides, there are several free places in Evergreen.”

What? Suddenly Mrs Knight was talking about me as if I were a new student, too. She knew full well what had really happened. Why was she going along with the headmaster’s game?

Scarlet spoke up. “She should do as she’s told and go and sit with Evergreen.” And then in a dramatic whisper to me, “As far away from us as possible.”

“Miss Grey, will you mind your manners?” snapped Mrs Knight, exasperated.

I looked at Violet, expecting her to start shouting at any moment. But to everyone’s surprise, she simply walked off to the other table without a word.

Penny sat down again, looking stunned. I could tell she was wondering what had happened to her old friend Violet. The one that ordered everyone else around and wouldn’t be told what to do by anyone.

I picked up a forkful of the unappetising stew and stared at it. Oh well, I was hungry. I ate some, and it was at least hot. Someone had gone overboard with the pepper, though.

Ariadne appeared beside me with her dinner. “Did I miss something?”

“Violet was sent to the Evergreen table,” I said.

Mrs Knight’s gaze flashed to Ariadne. “Miss Flitworth, your room has been arranged. You will be staying with Violet.”

Ariadne’s eyes went wide. I almost choked on my stew.

“I trust there won’t be any problems?”

Ariadne shook her head slowly, but she didn’t blink. “No, Miss.”

Mrs Knight nodded, and then turned to talk to Madame Lovelace, the history teacher.

Oh gosh. Poor Ariadne, subjected to Violet. It had been bad enough reading about what the girl had done to Scarlet, making her life a living hell – I really hoped that history wasn’t about to repeat itself. But so far, Violet seemed to be giving everyone the silent treatment.