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Chapters (93)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Prologue
  4. Chapter 1
  5. Part One
  6. Chapter 1
  7. Chapter 2
  8. Chapter 3
  9. Chapter 4
  10. Chapter 5
  11. Chapter 6
  12. Chapter 7
  13. Chapter 8
  14. Chapter 9
  15. Chapter 10
  16. Part Two
  17. Chapter 1
  18. Chapter 2
  19. Chapter 3
  20. Chapter 4
  21. Chapter 5
  22. Chapter 6
  23. Chapter 7
  24. Chapter 8
  25. Chapter 9
  26. Chapter 10
  27. Chapter 11
  28. Chapter 12
  29. Part Three
  30. Chapter 1
  31. Chapter 2
  32. Chapter 3
  33. Chapter 4
  34. Chapter 5
  35. Chapter 6
  36. Chapter 7
  37. Part Four
  38. Chapter 1
  39. Chapter 2
  40. Chapter 3
  41. Chapter 4
  42. Chapter 5
  43. Chapter 6
  44. Chapter 7
  45. Chapter 8
  46. Chapter 9
  47. Part Five
  48. Chapter 1
  49. Chapter 2
  50. Chapter 3
  51. Chapter 4
  52. Chapter 5
  53. Chapter 6
  54. Chapter 7
  55. Chapter 8
  56. Chapter 9
  57. Chapter 10
  58. Chapter 11
  59. Part Six
  60. Chapter 1
  61. Chapter 2
  62. Chapter 3
  63. Chapter 4
  64. Chapter 5
  65. Chapter 6
  66. Chapter 7
  67. Part Seven
  68. Chapter 1
  69. Chapter 2
  70. Chapter 3
  71. Chapter 4
  72. Chapter 5
  73. Chapter 6
  74. Chapter 7
  75. Chapter 8
  76. Chapter 9
  77. Chapter 10
  78. Chapter 11
  79. Part Eight
  80. Chapter 1
  81. Chapter 2
  82. Chapter 3
  83. Chapter 4
  84. Chapter 5
  85. Chapter 6
  86. Chapter 7
  87. Chapter 8
  88. Chapter 9
  89. Epilogue
  90. Acknowledgments
  91. Reading Group Guide
  92. About the Author
  93. Copyright

They tell me it’s important to follow all the rules this time. St. Oswald’s is a New Start, far away from Netherton Green. A new start. No trouble; no pranks. No hanging around with the Wrong Sort. No sharp objects. No rough games. And always follow all the rules.

Of course, I don’t know all the rules. That’s part of being a seventh-­term boy.* Seventh-term boys have a whole two years to catch up, including schoolwork, making friends, joining teams, and learning The Ropes. That’s a nautical term, by the way. Dad likes nautical terms. He’d have liked me to join the navy one day, but I can’t, because of My Condition. (That’s what they call it. My Condition, Mousey.)

My Condition means that there are things they’ll never let me do at home. My Condition determines the friends I make, the games I play, even the school I attend. That’s why Dad chose St. Oswald’s. St. Oswald’s is a Church school, with a Rigorous Moral Code. That’s what I need, apparently. Well, maybe there’s some truth in that. After all, there’s no fun in breaking rules unless they really mean something. Running in corridors doesn’t count. You need to see past the trivia before you can reach for the fun stuff.

Oh, and Never Get Caught, of course. That’s the most important thing. Breaking rules is only fun if you get away with it. That means not telling anyone, even your best friend—assuming I had one, which I don’t. Not anymore, anyway. Perhaps that’s why I’m telling you all my secrets, Mousey. Imaginary friends—like dead ones—don’t talk. They never give the game away. Still, it might be nice to find someone who shares my interests. Someone who likes to break the rules. Someone to share in the fun stuff. The fun stuff, like at Netherton Green.

The fun stuff. Like murder.

*Some English secondary schools start pupils as first-term entrants (first-years) at age eleven. Seventh-term boys, coming from a different school system, start in the third year, at roughly age fourteen.

Part One

PART ONE

Agnosco veteris vestigia flammae.

—VERGIL

Chapter 1

1

St. Oswald’s Grammar School for Boys

Michaelmas Term, September 7, 2005