“All right,” Mrs. Whitworth said, “In that case, you will receive it.”

I nodded, keeping my eyes glued to her face as Seth darted up the stairs behind her back.

“Seeing as this is the first time you’ve broken a rule at this school I will not suspend or expel you,” she said.

Next to me, Noelle let out a breath she must’ve been holding.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“You will, however, do community service. I think two weeks of laying the table for every meal should suffice.”

“Of course. Thank you,” I said hastily.

“All right.” She exhaled another sigh, pulling her knit cardigan tighter around herself. “Off to bed now, girls.”

Noelle and I practically raced up the stairs and to our room, Noelle still a little wobbly on her feet.

As soon as we entered our room and I had stripped off my soaking wet coat, I flopped onto my bed, one hand draped over my eyes to block out the bright ceiling light. A few feet away from me I could hear the creaking of leather as Noelle got out of her jacket, followed by footsteps as she made her way into the bathroom.

I assumed she was just going to change into her sleeping clothes. Instead, she walked back over to me, cleared her throat, and handed me a towel. Quietly, she said, “You didn’t have to.”

Before I could say anything, she was already turning around, avoiding my eyes, and locked the bathroom door behind her.

She never thanked me, but I didn’t expect her to: this was the first time she had spoken to me since the day I had touched her notes, and more than she had been willing to give me all week.

Right now that seemed more than enough.

6

Evelyn

It had only been a matter of time until I had a nightmare.

Back at home, I had had them almost every night, to the point where I had dreaded falling asleep and tried to stay up as long as possible. In the two weeks I had spent at Seven Hills now, they had temporarily stopped: surrounded by new people, in a new place with new routines, I was so tired that most days I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow and woke up the next morning not remembering anything I had dreamt.

However, as the days went by and I got used to my new surroundings, the nightmares crept back in, as stealthy and inevitable as the cold that crept through the cracks in the castle walls at night.

I woke up with a start, the gasp that had torn from my throat still ringing in the air. My fingers were trembling when I forced myself to uncurl them from where they had been clutching at the sheets and ran them over my face instead.

I was at Seven Hills.

I was in my room.

No one else was here other than . . .