'I think Allie has a point,' Sylvain interjected. 'This is not an ideal time for him to go.'

'Look, both of you,' Isabelle said in her most soothing tone, 'as important as we are, we are not as important as the prime minister. So I cannot ask Raj to stay when he's been called in for something like this. But I promise you we will not have less security while he's away. We will have more. We've planned for this. His people will be everywhere inside and out. All of them highly trained, very skilled. If I thought it mattered that Raj wasn't going to be here to oversee this personally I would never have agreed to him going. I genuinely don't think it does. I think we will be safe.' She turned her gaze to Allie. 'You will be safe.'

Her words were comforting, and Allie nodded to show she understood. But every instinct she had told her to be afraid.

After the meeting, Allie walked out with Sylvain into the now silent hallway. In the quiet, their trainers made a sticky sound on the polished floor. Somewhere in the building a door closed too loudly.

The heat was off, and the air felt cold and heavy as if it were waiting for something to happen.

'Sylvain ...'

'Allie ...'

They both spoke at the same time.

Stopping at the foot of the grand staircase they laughed awkwardly, their voices echoing.

'You first.' Shivering, she wrapped her arms around her torso for warmth.

'I think Isabelle is probably right,' he said. But something about the way his eyes searched her face told her this wasn't what he'd wanted to say. 'Everything will be fine.'

'Of course,' she said, not meaning it. 'I'm sure she's right.'

'We can still talk to Raj or Zelazny if you're worried?' he continued, and she shook her head.

'No, it's fine. Isabelle made sense.'

Dropping her gaze to her feet, she thought about all the things she wanted to tell him. To explain about Truth or Dare. How torn she felt. How she couldn't bear to hurt Carter and yet ...

Against her will, her eyes darted up to meet his.

And yet.

For a long moment they looked at each other; the moment seemed frozen in time. Allie was steeling herself to speak when they heard footsteps. Turning, Allie saw Jerry Cole walking towards them.

'What are you two still doing out?' he said, his tone sharp. 'You know The Rules. Allie, aren't you in enough trouble already?'

Instantly, she took a step towards the staircase. Jerry was usually the most laid-back of the teachers so his anger caught her off guard. A puzzled frown crossed Sylvain's face before he smoothed it away. 'Sorry, Jerry. We were just going.'

But Jerry's reply startled them both. 'Do it quicker.'

The science teacher stood at the bottom of the stairs, watching as they walked up side by side.

'What's wrong with him?' Allie whispered without looking at Sylvain.

His reply was equally stealthy. 'Not sure.' At the landing they glanced back Jerry was still there.

As they separated to head to their respective dorms, Sylvain caught her eye, arching one expressive eyebrow; she responded with a tiny bewildered shrug.

They both nearly smiled.

Amid all that was happening, Allie still worried about Jo. Two weeks after Truth or Dare she was keeping Allie at arm's length, and the schism left Allie feeling lonelier than ever. She was determined to fix it not just for herself but for Jo.

Much as the idea of the ball frightened Allie, she imagined it must be worse for Jo.

So she decided to do something about it. After supper the next day, she tracked Jo down in the library where she studied alone at a table, her short blonde hair backlit into a halo by the glow from the brass desk lamp.

'Hey,' Allie whispered to a student nearby, 'can I borrow a piece of paper?'

Looking thrilled that she'd spoken to him, he handed her a sheet.

'And a pen.' Allie gestured impatiently.

Without a hint of hesitation he handed her the one he was using and waited as she scrawled out a quick note.

J.

Come and talk to me outside. PLEASE. I miss you.

I'm sorry.

Ax 'Thanks,' she told the star-struck student, handing him back his pen. 'Do me a favour. Go and hand this note to that girl.'

As she pointed at Jo he leapt to his feet so quickly he nearly knocked his chair over.

'Steady.' Allie arched one eyebrow. 'Nobody needs to get hurt here.'

Then she hurried out of the room and waited in the hallway, chewing on her thumbnail.

But when Jo still hadn't appeared ten minutes later, Allie's heart sank.

She's not going to do it. She'll never forgive me.

Her head dropped to her chest, and she leaned back against the wall, propping one foot up behind her.

'Posture fail.' Jo's cut glass accent was so familiar, Allie smiled at her shoes. This sounded like old Jo. Sane Jo.

'You came.'

Crossing her arms across her chest, Jo scowled at her, but for the first time in weeks Allie saw a glimmer of amusement in her eyes.

'I wanted to hear your grovelling apology.'

'It was all my fault,' Allie said. 'I'm an idiot. You should refuse to be my friend and become very good friends with evil Katie instead. She deserves you more than I do.'

Jo fought to keep a straight face. 'That's an excellent start. Please continue.'

'If I told anybody, I should have told you. It was insane of me not to, and I promise,' Allie held up her right hand as if she were swearing in court, 'that I will never keep an important secret from you again.'

Jo dimpled at her. 'Now we're getting somewhere.'

'Will you please, please, please forgive me?'

'Of course I will,' Jo said. 'I'm not a monster.'

'Thank God.' Allie launched herself at her, pulling her into a hug. 'I couldn't have taken it much longer.'

'It is hard to live without me,' Jo agreed. 'I missed you, too. But no more secrets, OK? Tell me things. I'm not going to, you know, go mad up on the roof with a bottle of vodka or anything.'

'Like that'd ever happen,' Allie agreed.

In Training Room One, a rota for student patrols had been posted on the wall. They were working in shifts, alongside Raj's hired security guards. When they weren't out on patrol, they were trained relentlessly. The lessons were intense but practical: how to escape; how to raise an alarm; when to stay together and when to divide; how to fight someone with knife; or a gun.

Allie was asked to demonstrate the move she'd used to stab Gabe with a stake. One night all the Night School students dispersed in the woods trying to find a sharp stick like the one she'd described, which they could use as a weapon.

Even with all of that, her sense of unease hadn't lessened, and each night she focused intently on the training she knew better than almost anyone how important these skills could be.

The night of Allie and Zoe's first patrolling shift, they were so nervous they both showed up early for their nine o'clock shift, arriving at the changing room to find their patrolling gear hanging from hooks on one wall. It was bitterly cold out, so the clothes left for them were black thermal leggings and tunics, black silk long underwear for additional warmth. Black hats and gloves. Black running shoes.

As she changed into the unfamiliar clothes in front of a full-length mirror, Allie studied the changes all the exercise had made to her body. The muscles in her upper arms and shoulders were defined. Her stomach was taut and flat. Her leg muscles had always been long and lean from running, now her upper body matched it.

I don't even look like me any more.

Ten minutes before their shift was due to begin, angry voices rang out from a room across the hall. She leaned closer to the door until she could make them out.

One of the voices was Jerry Cole's. The other belonged to Carter.

Humming to herself in a changing cubicle, Zoe didn't notice as Allie slipped out the door.

In the narrow basement hallway, she could hear the heated discussion clearly.

'They aren't trained enough.' Carter's voice was sharp. 'I think this is unacceptable. I can't believe Isabelle's allowing it. They shouldn't be out there on their own.'

'This is Zoe's second year in Night School,' Jerry replied. 'She's as highly trained as you.'

'But she's physically small.' Carter sounded as if he thought the science teacher was being intentionally obtuse. 'Just look at her. Her head barely comes to my chin. And Allie's only been training a few months. No other Neos are going out. I just don't think they should be out there alone. They should be with a more experienced student.'

Leaning back against the dressing room door, Allie stared unseeing at tiles on the floor as she listened. She could tell that Jerry was trying to calm him down.

'Carter, I'm sure that they'll be fine,' he said. 'They'll always be given the earliest shift, and they have to check in every hour. We'll keep a close watch on them.'

The door swung open so quickly Allie didn't have time to react Carter stood in the doorway, his back to her, still arguing with Jerry. He hadn't seen her.

'I'm sorry, but I think it's dangerous. If one of them gets hurt ...'

As he spoke, Allie scrabbled at the door behind her, finally finding the doorknob and diving back into the changing room just as he turned around.

Standing behind the closed door, she closed her eyes for a second as she steadied her breathing. Heat rose in her face.

'What's the matter?' Across the room, dressed all in black, Zoe was watching her quizzically. 'You look strange.'

'Nothing.'

With a shrug, Zoe turned back to the mirror.

The overheard conversation bothered Allie as she finished getting ready. Carter hadn't given her a clue that he was worried about what was happening. He'd acted as if he hated her. The fact that he was still trying to protect her made everything harder.

Yanking on a hat, she stared into her sober grey eyes in the mirror as she argued with herself. Because, wasn't this just another example of his suffocating overprotectiveness? 'They aren't trained enough ... They shouldn't be out there on their own.'

Her eyes darkened. He doesn't believe in me. He never believes in me.

A few minutes later, she and Zoe stood in front of the school building, looking out into the dark night.

'You ready for this, partner?' Allie asked.

'I am so ready.' Zoe's reply was fervent.

I hope you're right, Allie thought. But all she said was, 'Let's do it.'

They followed the path assigned to them by the security guards, their feet crunching on the icy ground. Their breath froze in the air like puffs of smoke as they ran into the dark forest, where the moonlight disappeared. It was a still night no wind stirred the treetops. Their footsteps were the only sound. As their training dictated, they ran in silence.

Their first check was the fence, which they followed to the main gate, looking for signs that anybody had tried to get over, under or through. But everything was just as it should be. The fence seemed solid and impregnable. The gate was locked tight.

From there they ran through the woods to the stream. As they neared the place where Allie had met Christopher, she felt her heart speed up, but the stream ran by them innocently and empty. There were no footprints in the mud nobody had been down there in a while.

The churchyard gate squawked unhappily as they passed through it on their way to check the chapel it, too, was closed up tight. No flitting shadows to scare them. No flickering lights inside.

Each hour they met with one of Raj's security guards near a side door to the school building to check in, and each hour they reported nothing.

They were hurrying back to make their last report when something moved just off the path. 'Did you see that?' Allie whispered, pointing.

They skidded to a stop.

At first, all was still. Then the dried bracken began to sway, as if something behind it moved.

'What is it?' Zoe spoke so quietly Allie could almost not hear her. She shook her head.

When the thing moved again, she gestured for Zoe to approach from the left. She circled around to come at it from the right.

Lowering themselves to a crouch, they moved as quietly as possible but the brush beside the path was dry and brittle, and it crunched with every step. To Allie, the sound seemed deafening.

The thing must have heard it, too, because it quit moving.

For a long moment Allie and Zoe stood very still, each trying to see what was hidden in the darkness. Then, out of nowhere, a strange snuffling sound almost a snort made them both jump. Zoe's eyes widened. When the sound came again, her lips quirked up in sudden amused recognition.

'Oh my God,' she said. 'I know what it is.'