phone.
‘Hi, hon. How’s things?’
‘Okay. I think.’
‘I wanted to check on you. I’ve been feeling crappy all day for telling you about the Neil Stevenson and Miranda thing when you have way bigger things going on.’
For a second April wondered what she was talking about. After today, life in Edinburgh felt so distant and removed.
‘Oh, that . Forget about it, life moves on.’
‘Okay then. Tell me all about Ravenwood!’
April watched Caro get on the bus, forcing a smile as she waved from the top deck. ‘You’re never going to believe this, Fee,’ she said. ‘I’m surrounded by loonies.’
Chapter Five
Sometimes, thought April, being bad feels pretty good . She grinned as she clanged the front gate closed behind her and skipped across the road, swinging around an old-fashioned streetlamp and across the square. She felt a slight pang of guilt knowing that her parents had banned her from leaving the house after dark, but when she arrived home and found her mother not yet back from her long lunch and her father still at work, she had figured it would do no harm to nip out for a while. It wasn’t as if Highgate was South Central LA, was it? And anyway, she had to admit it was the fact she was sneaking out that made it so much fun. She had spent the last few weeks - the last sixteen years, now she came to think about it - having everyone tell her where to go, what to do, what to think. For once she was free, going where she wanted, no one knowing where she was.
April crossed the square and passed the Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution: built in 1839, according to the carving under the eaves. April imagined a group of mad professors sitting around smoking pipes and discussing poetry. Dad should join, she thought with a smile, he’d fit right in. She glanced at her watch. It was six-thirty on a clear autumn evening and already April could see a bright, three-quarter moon in the sky. As she walked down Swain’s Lane, retracing her route to school that morning, she wondered if it was the unusually luminous moon that had sent everyone in Highgate a little loopy.
She mulled over her day as she walked, breath steaming in the cold air in front of her. Okay, so there had been the incident in Philosophy class, but then Mr Sheldon had been pushing them, trying to get them to think about the subject properly and open their minds. And he had said something nice to her at the end, too. Not that Gabriel Swift had done anything to help, barging into her, whatever his problem was. But still, to be honest, her first day at Ravenwood hadn’t been too awful; she had two new friends - acquaintances, at least - and that couldn’t be bad, could it? Better than being the weird new girl no one wants to speak to. Davina was a little over-familiar, but then maybe that was just her way, and April liked Caro, even if she was full-on and kinda crazy. Funny but odd. Fiona had laughed at April’s description of Caro and said, ‘She sounds just like your dad.’
April peered through a gate to her left where she could see the church roof shining in the bright moonlight. It’s just a church, not a haunted castle, she thought, smiling. It was Ravenwood that looked like Dracula’s house - from the outside, anyway. Inside, it was the other kids rather than the narrow corridors that had unnerved her. They actually seemed to be there to learn; no giggling at the back, no note-passing, everyone fully engaged in the lessons. April had to admit she had been swept up in it too and had actually come away from school feeling inspired and enthused about her subjects, which was something that had rarely happened before. So what’s wrong with that? she scolded herself. They might be geeks with enormous brains, but for a school for the academically gifted, they weren’t too freaky. At least someone there had heard of Alix Graves.
The dead singer, of course, was the real reason she
‘Hi, hon. How’s things?’
‘Okay. I think.’
‘I wanted to check on you. I’ve been feeling crappy all day for telling you about the Neil Stevenson and Miranda thing when you have way bigger things going on.’
For a second April wondered what she was talking about. After today, life in Edinburgh felt so distant and removed.
‘Oh, that . Forget about it, life moves on.’
‘Okay then. Tell me all about Ravenwood!’
April watched Caro get on the bus, forcing a smile as she waved from the top deck. ‘You’re never going to believe this, Fee,’ she said. ‘I’m surrounded by loonies.’
Chapter Five
Sometimes, thought April, being bad feels pretty good . She grinned as she clanged the front gate closed behind her and skipped across the road, swinging around an old-fashioned streetlamp and across the square. She felt a slight pang of guilt knowing that her parents had banned her from leaving the house after dark, but when she arrived home and found her mother not yet back from her long lunch and her father still at work, she had figured it would do no harm to nip out for a while. It wasn’t as if Highgate was South Central LA, was it? And anyway, she had to admit it was the fact she was sneaking out that made it so much fun. She had spent the last few weeks - the last sixteen years, now she came to think about it - having everyone tell her where to go, what to do, what to think. For once she was free, going where she wanted, no one knowing where she was.
April crossed the square and passed the Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution: built in 1839, according to the carving under the eaves. April imagined a group of mad professors sitting around smoking pipes and discussing poetry. Dad should join, she thought with a smile, he’d fit right in. She glanced at her watch. It was six-thirty on a clear autumn evening and already April could see a bright, three-quarter moon in the sky. As she walked down Swain’s Lane, retracing her route to school that morning, she wondered if it was the unusually luminous moon that had sent everyone in Highgate a little loopy.
She mulled over her day as she walked, breath steaming in the cold air in front of her. Okay, so there had been the incident in Philosophy class, but then Mr Sheldon had been pushing them, trying to get them to think about the subject properly and open their minds. And he had said something nice to her at the end, too. Not that Gabriel Swift had done anything to help, barging into her, whatever his problem was. But still, to be honest, her first day at Ravenwood hadn’t been too awful; she had two new friends - acquaintances, at least - and that couldn’t be bad, could it? Better than being the weird new girl no one wants to speak to. Davina was a little over-familiar, but then maybe that was just her way, and April liked Caro, even if she was full-on and kinda crazy. Funny but odd. Fiona had laughed at April’s description of Caro and said, ‘She sounds just like your dad.’
April peered through a gate to her left where she could see the church roof shining in the bright moonlight. It’s just a church, not a haunted castle, she thought, smiling. It was Ravenwood that looked like Dracula’s house - from the outside, anyway. Inside, it was the other kids rather than the narrow corridors that had unnerved her. They actually seemed to be there to learn; no giggling at the back, no note-passing, everyone fully engaged in the lessons. April had to admit she had been swept up in it too and had actually come away from school feeling inspired and enthused about her subjects, which was something that had rarely happened before. So what’s wrong with that? she scolded herself. They might be geeks with enormous brains, but for a school for the academically gifted, they weren’t too freaky. At least someone there had heard of Alix Graves.
The dead singer, of course, was the real reason she
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