Walking single file, they followed a nearly overgrown footpath that wound steeply upwards from behind the walled garden.

Allie could see her breath hanging in the air in the moonlight. She didn't want to go to this party but she had to admit it was nice to be out doing something that wasn't work or Night School.

'I've never been up there,' she said, pointing up ahead of them. 'Is it cool?'

'It's supposed to be haunted,' Zoe said.

'Everything's supposed to be haunted,' Jo scoffed.

'Yeah, but this is really supposed to be haunted.' Zoe seemed to find the idea of ghosts both amusing and absurd. 'Apparently some lord lived there who was Catholic. He was tortured brutally by Henry VIII and executed.'

'So does he haunt the tower?' Allie asked.

'No. His wife was totally pissed off after Henry had her husband chopped up, so she started supporting the rebels. They say she allowed them to hide around here maybe even in the old house that used to be where the school is now.' As Zoe talked, their pace slowed. 'Finally, Henry's soldiers came to get her too. But she wouldn't give up. She and all of her supporters fought them off for days. Eventually, though, the soldiers killed all of them except her. She fought like a wildcat they say she killed at least five men but there were too many of them. They cornered her in her bedroom at the top of the tower.' She pointed up the hill where the shadowy outline of the old stone building could just be seen, leering down at them like a vulture. 'When they got her sword away from her, they used it to flay her skin off a little at a time while she was still alive.' She whispered the last line. 'They took her eyes last.'

'That is so unnecessarily grim,' Jo murmured.

'Nobody has ever lived in the castle since then. They say you can see her on moonlit nights, walking on the top of the tower looking out for Henry's soldiers. Which is super creepy because there is no top of the tower any more.' Zoe had lowered her voice to a whisper. 'So she must just be floating there ...'

'Hi, guys.'

Lucas' voice came from nowhere and they all screamed. 'Jesus.' He turned on his torch, blinding them. 'What the hell is the matter?'

'Zoe was just telling us a horrible story.' Jo sounded defensive.

'Oh.' He grinned at Zoe. 'Did you tell them about the Floating Lady?'

She smiled back. 'Totally.'

He high-fived her. 'Awesome. I love that story. Scary as hell.'

'They fell for it completely,' Zoe said, with satisfaction.

'Where is everyone?' Shining her light in a circle, Allie saw trees and little else.

'We're not there yet,' Jo said.

Up ahead, Allie heard the faint sound of laughter carried down on the breeze.

'Is the fire going yet?' Jo asked as they began walking again.

'They were lighting it when I left.' He looked uncomfortable.

'I came back to look for Rachel. Have you seen her?'

'She's not coming,' Allie said, puzzled. 'Didn't she tell you?'

'Yeah.' His hands shoved deep in his pockets, he kicked a pebble until it rolled down the hill. 'I was hoping she'd change her mind.'

'Sit with us,' Zoe said. 'We're going to kiss with tongues.'

He blinked. 'Excuse me?'

'Without tongues, Zoe,' Jo corrected her primly.

'Well,' Allie said as they headed up the hill, 'tongues are optional.'

The slope lessened as they neared the top of hill, and Allie could just make out the old tower. The sweet smell of woodsmoke filled the air, and she could hear voices laughing and shouting.

The tight invisible string of nervousness Zoe's story had strung around them loosened now as they headed across the stony hilltop to the castle.

Lucas led them to a spot where fallen stones had made natural steps up to the top of the old castle wall. At the top, it was about three feet thick, and for a moment they all stood in a row, looking out over the other side where a giant bonfire blazed. Students sat around it like a coven, talking and laughing.

As they walked up to the group, Katie bounded over to Allie. 'Hey, you made it.' She wore a ski jacket and white cashmere hat. 'Welcome. There are drinks passing around and marshmallows, of course.' Her smile was disarming. 'Come on over.'

As she hurried back to the fire, Allie dropped behind to whisper to Jo. 'Katie's broken. Fix her.'

'When did she stop hating you?' Jo looked as baffled as she felt. 'Why didn't I get the memo?'

'I don't like that girl,' Zoe said before spotting somebody she knew and running off.

As they reached the fireside, Allie instinctively glanced around for Carter but didn't see him. As her eyes swept the crowd they alighted on Sylvain. Aside from a few marks, his face had largely returned to normal. The bruise across his throat had taken the longest to heal. He sat with Nicole, who looked glamorous in a long black coat and earmuffs. Seeing them together made Allie's chest hurt they seemed perfect together. And now she wasn't perfect with anyone. When Nicole saw her looking at them across the flames, she waved a champagne bottle at her and smiled.

Allie held up her hand in a tentative wave.

Jo pulled her to the front where the fire was warmest and they sat on a large flat stone that had once been part of the castle structure. Zoe joined them and they watched as someone nearby held a long thin stick into the fire. When the marshmallow on the end toasted, the air began to smell of candy. Allie breathed in deeply, inhaling the scent of camping trips and childhood.

'Want,' she said, in a piteous voice.

'Lucas,' Jo called over authoritatively.

Glancing over at her he arched one eyebrow.

'Marshmallowy stick thing, please.'

From the stack on the ground behind him, he pulled a whip-like length of freshly cut twig. Someone passed a bag of marshmallows over.

Bottles of wine and champagne made the rounds as well. Some people had plastic cups; others swigged directly from the bottle. When one was handed to Jo, Allie held her breath. But to her relief Jo waved it away.

'I'm like a saint now,' she told the person who'd tried to give it to her. 'Haven't you heard? St Jo of Not Drinking.'

Allie passed on the wine as well. After what had happened at the summer ball she wasn't interested in losing control.

Jo stabbed another fluffy marshmallow on to the end of the stick.

'They're so good but I can only eat three,' she said pleasantly. 'And then I want to vom.'

Someone threw more wood on the fire and it flared brightly, casting the woods around them into darkness. Its heat seemed to curl soft woolly tendrils around them. Leaning back, Allie looked up at the ruined castle tower that loomed over them, its crenellated roof like jagged teeth and tiny archers' window slits like eyes.

'I wonder if there's any truth to it,' she murmured, thinking aloud.

Jo looked over at her enquiringly. Allie could just make out the blue of her eyes in the firelight.

'The story of the lady being murdered, I mean,' Allie said. 'I wonder if it really happened.'

Jo held her marshmallow just above the dancing flames. 'My brother said he saw her ghost when he was at school here.'

Allie leaned back doubtfully. 'He was just trying to scare you.'

Looking uncomfortable, Jo shrugged. 'Maybe. But I don't think so. Tom isn't scared of anything, but whatever he saw that night, it did seem to scare him.'

Other students were listening to their conversation now.

'What exactly did he see?' Lucas stood next to her, a champagne bottle in one hand.

'He said he and some friends were up here for the winter bonfire just like we are now only they were actually in the tower. At midnight, they heard footsteps above their heads. He said the wood floor creaked clearly with every step. Only there are no wood floors, no floors at all. Just empty space.'

The group had fallen silent now. Allie swallowed hard.

'So they all decided to get the hell out, you know?' Jo continued. 'They took off running. But just before they went down the hill they looked back and they could see her.'

'See what?' somebody asked.

'A woman in a long grey dress standing and watching them go.' She pointed at the top of the tower. 'Right up there.'

There was a collective exhalation, like a long sigh. Someone giggled nervously.

'He probably imagined it,' Katie said, pouring champagne into a plastic cup.

'Maybe, but ... Oh, bugger!' Jo's marshmallow was on fire and she blew on it fiercely, but by the time the fire went out it was a blackened lump. She scraped it into the flames. 'He never came up here again.'

Lucas took a swig from the bottle before passing it to a friend. 'I've been up here plenty of times and I've never seen ...'

At that moment a log in the fire popped so loudly it sounded like a gunshot and they all jumped. Several girls screamed then dissolved into giggles.

'I do not like ghost stories.' Nicole sounded disapproving. 'It disturbs the dead when we speak of them. It's dangerous. They should be left in peace.'

'Do you believe in ghosts then?' Lucas asked.

'Of course!' She seemed to find the question absurd. 'I am from Paris. The city is full of spirits. It would be arrogant to say something doesn't exist simply because you don't understand it. I don't understand how the television works and yet I still admit that it's there.'

A murmur swept through the group as they considered her logic.

'This conversation is a total buzz killer,' Katie said. 'Let's play a game.'

A burst of derisive laughter followed. 'What should we play?' somebody asked. 'Snakes and ladders?'

'How about Truth or Dare?' she replied without missing a beat. 'I haven't played it in ages.'

'That is a risky game.' Nicole leaned back against Sylvain.

Allie noticed how his arm rested with familiar ease around her narrow waist. But when her eyes drifted to his face she saw he was looking at her. Something dangerous fluttered inside her.

When she tuned into the conversation, Katie had taken command. She stood up on a fallen stone so everyone could hear her. Her hair was the same colour as the flames behind her.

'OK, here are the rules. Anyone who has been asked a question can ask someone else a question. You can decide after the question is asked whether you want Truth or Dare.' A roar of dissension followed but she raised her voice to be heard above it. 'This makes it safer. I know it's kind of cheating but ...I'll get the ball rolling,' she said. 'Alex. Have you ever been given a blow job?'

'Gross.' Zoe wrinkled her nose.

Glancing at her, Allie remembered that she was only thirteen and wondered if she should suggest they leave together before this all got out of hand. It was making her uncomfortable, too. This wasn't how she remembered Truth or Dare. But Zoe seemed more curious than disturbed and she didn't want to embarrass her.

A tall blond boy who Allie recognised from Night School stood up, a bottle of wine loose in one hand.

'Truth,' he said. The crowd fell silent. 'Yes.'

They hooted in disbelief and someone threw marshmallows at him, which he swatted away. 'Once,' he insisted. 'I swear to God.' He grinned lasciviously. 'I can't tell you the details because I'm a gentleman.'

'I doubt that. Now you ask a question,' Katie said, taking the bottle from him.

'Pru,' he called out.

'Present!' A giggling blonde girl stood up.

'Is it true that you lost your virginity on a yacht?'

Laughter and gasps greeted the question as, wobbling a bit, Pru considered her options.

'Dare,' she said finally. Her friends howled with laughter. Alex considered what to ask. 'Take off your top and go into the tower alone for three minutes.'

Pru looked nonplussed. 'I don't want to go to the tower.' 'It's Truth or Dare, Pru,' Katie said, her voice stern. 'You know the rules.'

With a sigh, Pru unzipped her ski jacket then pulled off her thick sweater. Underneath it she wore a tight, pink T-shirt. Without the slightest indication of inhibition, she pulled it over her head revealing a lacy white bra. The boys cheered.

'For God's sake, girl,' Jo muttered. 'Have some self-respect.' 'Bra goes too,' Alex insisted but he needn't have, she was already taking it off.

'To the tower! To the tower!' the crowd chanted.

As she disappeared, weaving and laughing, breasts bouncing, into the dark depths of the stone building, Allie decided she would leave and take Zoe with her as soon as everybody was too busy to notice. This wasn't her kind of party.

'Somebody really should go with her to make sure she's safe,' Alex said. 'I volunteer.'

'Don't be vile,' Katie said above the jeers. 'This isn't a porn film. I'm timing this.'

As they talked and laughed and passed bottles around, Allie leaned towards Zoe.

'If you want to go, say the word,' she said, giving the younger girl a significant look.

'It's kind of fascinating, in an anthropological way,' Zoe said. 'I haven't ever done anything so I would always take Truth.'