Suddenly the night felt empty and quiet; she took a deep calming breath of the cool air and for the first time noticed the stars, like silver frosting on the dark sky.

She was glad Sylvain hadn't said anything, hadn't made things worse. For a second, she thought about saying something to him about that night. About maybe forgiving him for the bad things and remembering only the good. About being friends.

But she didn't.

And as they walked back towards the school building in awkward silence, she thought about the things she should say. The things Carter would want her to say.

I really appreciate your help, Sylvain. But we can't ever do it again. Carter wouldn't understand and he really doesn't want me hanging out with you. Or speaking to you. Or breathing the same air as you.

But, instead, all she said was, 'Thanks for helping me.'

As he held the door for her his eyes were as blue and enigmatic as the smooth surface of a lake. And all he said was, 'You're welcome.'

The next morning, despite the late night, Allie woke before her alarm went off and couldn't get back to sleep. Giving up on rest, she sat up slowly, feeling the new aches in her muscles.

Everything hurt.

With a groan, she climbed out of bed and draped a towel over her shoulder before trudging down the silent hallway. The bathroom was mostly empty, although she could hear water running in one of the showers.

The last cubicle in the row was her favourite it seemed bigger than the others, and lighter. Setting her slippers on the teak bench, she hung her robe on a polished brass hook set into a wall tiled in cream-coloured stone. The long, hot shower loosened her knotted muscles, and by the time she padded out of the cubicle she felt like herself again, but she was no longer alone. Another girl, swathed in a white Cimmeria robe identical to Allie's, stood at a sink.

To give them both privacy, Allie chose a sink well away from her. But as she studied herself in the mirror and scrubbed up a toothy foam the girl spoke.

'Excuse me. Are you Allie?' The accent was French. The voice light, musical.

'Yes?'

The girl moved closer. She was tiny, Allie saw now. Barely five feet tall, and delicate, with enormous brown eyes and ludicrously lush lashes. She looked strangely familiar but Allie couldn't place her.

'I thought so.' The girl seemed pleased. 'I've heard so much about you from Sylvain. I am Nicole.'

Allie had never heard of her Sylvain had never mentioned her.

'Oh yeah ... I mean ...' she said through the toothpaste. 'Of course. It's nice to meet you.'

Nicole blinked up at her. 'He talked about you so much over the summer term in his letters I feel that I know you.'

She even blinks prettily, Allie thought.

She wasn't sure what was happening here. Was Nicole Sylvain's girlfriend? One he forgot to mention? And even if she was, what did that matter?

She really needed to rinse her mouth.

'Last night, he told me was going to check on you after training.' Nicole seemed completely unaware the Allie was drooling foam. 'He could see you were upset. Did he find you?'

Colour crept into Allie's cheeks. Night School. That's where I saw her. And that means she saw me totally fail.

'Yes. He did find me.'

'And he helped you.' Nicole said it as if there was no question anything else could have happened.

'He was very helpful,' Allie said stiffly. Then she turned around and spat out the toothpaste.

After rinsing her mouth, she turned to gather her things, but when she looked up Nicole was still watching her.

Her giggle was musical, like water trickling in a stream. 'I am sorry to bother you without ... warning.' She wrinkled her pert nose. 'It is just nice to know who you are.'

'And it's great to meet you at last,' Allie said with false enthusiasm as she hurried out the door. 'After hearing so much about you from Sylvain.'

'Who is Nicole and why is she so pretty and French?' Allie cast a sideways glance at Rachel.

'Ooh. Sylvain's off-and-on girlfriend. Very sophisticated, annoyingly gorgeous,' Rachel said. 'Why?'

'Are they off now?' Allie asked. 'Or on?'

Rachel arched one questioning eyebrow. 'Off ... I think. But who knows with those two? Why?'

They were walking down the hall between classes. Allie longed to tell her everything that had happened last night, but she knew full well that, not only could she not mention it, but Rachel really wouldn't want to hear about it anyway. She hated that suddenly she couldn't tell her best friend everything. It felt uncomfortable like an unspoken lie.

'Oh it's nothing, really.' Allie shrugged. 'She just talked to me in the bathroom this morning. Freaked me out.'

'I hate being talked to in the bathroom,' Rachel commiserated as she dodged a crowd of giggling girls. 'What did she say?'

'Just that Sylvain told her all about me. It wasn't weird or anything. It was just ... weird.'

'I understand completely,' Rachel said, shaking her head and staring at Allie as if she were mad.

'I know,' Allie sighed. 'It doesn't make sense. It's nothing. I have a more important question.'

'Hit me.'

'What's the story with this Zoe creature?'

'What?' Rachel looked confused. 'You mean Zoe Glass? When did you two meet?'

Allie shrugged non-committally and Rachel shot her a knowing look. When she spoke again her tone was brisk. 'Right. What do you want to know?'

'What's her story?' Allie asked. 'She's strange. Like ... I don't know ... a really violent robot.'

Rachel didn't laugh she didn't find anything related to Night School funny.

'Zoe is your basic prodigy. She's thirteen but she's studying at our level actually above our level she takes college courses with a tutor-'

'Wait. Seriously?' Allie interrupted her, stopping so abruptly the person behind her ran into her. 'Sorry,' she said, glancing over her shoulder as the nervous first-year boy shuffled by without meeting her eyes. 'She's thirteen? I knew she was younger than us but ...'

'Seriously. She's like a genius.'

This was not at all what Allie expected to hear. But Rachel had more to tell. As they climbed the stairs to the first floor of the classroom wing she reeled off the basic Zoe facts.

'Her dad's a lawyer; her mum's a journalist, I think. She's from London like you. Her parents are older. Like, maybe she was an accident. Anyway, until she came here she was homeschooled by her grandparents. So until then, she'd never spent time with kids her own age.' They reached the landing and slowed their pace as Rachel continued. 'She's totally socially awkward. It's like she was raised by wolves. I think she's probably a bit Asperger's ... but the good bit, if you know what I mean.'

'That's a nice way of saying she's psycho, right?'

Rachel shot her a disapproving look. 'Don't be mean.'

'Sorry.' Allie held up her hands.

By then, though, Rachel had already moved on. 'She doesn't accept new people easily she doesn't like change. So, good luck with that. But if she does accept you, she's so loyal it might drive you crazy.'

They stopped on the landing.

'If she accepts me,' Allie muttered.

Rachel nodded. 'There are people in this school she ignores completely, like they don't exist. She'll run into them if they stand in front of her. It's like they're invisible to her.'

Somehow this didn't surprise Allie at all. 'Does everyone just ... accept her?' she asked. 'I mean, she's really odd.'

Rachel's brow creased. 'Some don't get why she is the way she is they think she's rude because ... Well, she's rude. But she doesn't mean to be. I'm mean, she's not, like ... cruel. She seems rude because she's honest. And people aren't used to honesty.'

Allie felt a ping in her chest, as if Rachel's words had physically touched her.

Glancing at her watch, she winced. 'Look, I'd better run. My next class is with Zelazny. Tardiness is not an option.'

With a quick wave, Allie hurried down the hall to history class, where Jo had saved her a seat; she slid into it just before Zelazny walked into the room. He surveyed the students darkly.

'I see you all made it on time.' He marked a sheet of paper and put it back in a folder. 'How kind of you. Welcome to ancient history. This term we'll be focusing on the classical civilisations of Greece and Rome.'

As he spoke, he walked around the room putting a textbook on every desk with a deliberate thud.

'Class participation counts towards your overall grade,' he said, setting a book down on Jo's desk. 'So I expect you to be engaged and involved in classes. This is advanced history there will be no slacking.'

As Zelazny moved across the room, Jo wrote diligently in her notebook. When he was well away from them she turned it sideways so Allie could read it.

'THIS IS GOING TO SUCK DONKEY BALLS.'

A laugh burst out of Allie before she could stop it. She feigned a coughing fit to disguise it, but Zelazny turned to glare at her. She slid down in her seat, fighting to keep a straight face as Jo gazed around the room innocently and flipped to a clean page in her notebook.

By the time Allie made her way to Isabelle's English class that afternoon, her bag was heavy with books and her to-do list filled a full page in her notebook. When she was going to find the time to do that work was a mystery to her. She had Night School at ten, so everything would have to be done before then. Somehow.

She was walking down the hall with her head down when she bumped into someone.

'Sorry,' she said automatically, before looking up into Carter's dark eyes. 'Hey!' Her face lit up and she leaned in for a kiss but he took a quick step away from her.

Confusion and doubt roiled her. 'What's wrong?'

He looked furious.

'Wait, are you still pissed off about me training with Sylvain?' She couldn't believe it. 'You can't be serious, Carter.'

'Am I still pissed off?' He stepped out of the hallway traffic flow and lowered his voice. 'Of course I'm still pissed off, Allie. Wouldn't you be? Put yourself in my shoes. You had a bad lesson and instead of coming to me you went straight to Sylvain for comfort. How would you feel if I did that with one of my ex-girlfriends?'

He had a point, but she wasn't about to admit it.

'That's not fair, Carter. I didn't go looking for him. He was just checking to make sure I was OK. Then he offered to help.'

'Oh that's so much better,' he snapped. 'And did you ask yourself why he went looking for someone else's girlfriend?'

'Carter, seriously.' Anger fired inside her hot and dangerous. She fought to stay calm. 'First of all, I'm not just "someone's girlfriend". I'm Allie Sheridan, Person. Second of all: Nothing. Happened. You have to trust me.'

'Do I?' he said. 'Would you trust me in the same situation? In all honesty, if you found me in the woods practising with Clair, would you trust me?'

Allie winced; Clair was his ex.

'No, because Clair's not in ... well, you know what. So that would be weird.' He rolled his eyes but before he could interrupt her she added, 'But if you were practising with Jules? Yes. I'd be fine with that. And if you were studying with Clair? Yes, I'd be fine with that. Because I trust you.'

'Oh really? Well, I might just put that to the test,' he said, stalking off.

'Carter,' she called after him but he didn't look back. With a sigh, she heaved her bag on to her shoulder and followed him into class.

Isabelle always arranged the desks in a circle for what she called her English 'seminar'. Carter sat moodily to one side avoiding her eyes, his long legs stretched out towards the centre.

She was trying to decide whether to sit next to him when Zoe bounded over, her brown eyes bright. Dressed in her school uniform, with prim white socks and loafers, she looked more like a little girl than a martial arts expert with personal boundary issues.

'Allie!' she said. 'I looked all over for you last night.'

'Yeah,' Allie said vaguely, 'I ...'

Without waiting for her to finish, Zoe continued in a low voice. 'I had a long talk with Mr Patel and he explained what I was doing wrong. It was totally my fault you were so lame at it. He told me not to hurt you any more.' She winced. 'He was kind of firm about that. Did I hurt you?'

Allie thought about how her back had ached when she climbed into bed last night, and the humiliating experience of finding herself staring up at that stupid ceiling over and over again. Then she looked into Zoe's curious eyes.

'Nah.' She shrugged. 'I'm still in one piece.'

'Aces,' the girl said with clear relief. 'I won't hurt you tonight. I've been practising.'

'Me too-'

'Take your seats, please.' Isabelle's words interrupted their conversation.

Just as Isabelle started the class, Sylvain walked in. His eyes met Allie's and for a second she froze, terrified he'd sit next to her. Her eyes darted to Carter, who stared at them both with narrowed eyes.

But Sylvain slid into the seat next to Nicole, who Allie hadn't noticed before. She leaned over to whisper something that made him laugh. Watching them made Allie feel strangely hollow.

'This term,' Isabelle said, walking around the room putting a book on each desk, 'we're focusing on early twentieth-century literature. Our schedule is tight we will be reading four books. The first is Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence ...'

As she talked, Allie couldn't resist glancing over at Carter. He was studying the book cover so intently he might have been trying to memorise it. He didn't look at her.

'So far, so painful,' Jo said, sipping from her glass of water. 'I've got enough prep for a week and it's only the first day.'