Darke Academy 4: Lost Spirits (2 page)

‘We have him! He’s ours! WE HAVE HIM!’

C
assie Bell stared out of the small oval window. Below her the land seemed endless, a yellow expanse dotted with scrubby trees and threaded with rivers and the ancient tracks of animal migration. Kenya, from this height, was wildly beautiful. Her mind buzzed with anticipation, and not just of a new term in a stunning new location. This was going to be the term when she turned everything around.
Everything
.

And yet, despite her determined positivity, Cassie’s heart was hardly brimming with happiness.

‘Are you OK?’ she murmured to her best friend at her side.

Isabella Caruso only nodded, her eyes empty, and stared towards the cockpit. Cassie felt the familiar frisson of unease. Isabella hadn’t so much as glanced out at the landscape since they’d taken off from Nairobi airport. Far from the bouncy, excitable Isabella of previous terms, she seemed glazed, a walking automaton.

‘Hey, ladies,’ Richard Halton-Jones bawled from the cockpit. The flying conditions were tricky, and he was clearly enjoying the challenge of the strong winds against the Cessna jet. ‘Did I tell you about Yuri Tretschnikov and the Siberian gas heiress? Wait till you hear
this
…’

Cassie was glad of Richard’s banter, even if he did have to yell his gossip over his shoulder above the noise of the plane. He must be used to this awkward form of conversation; after all, this was his very own small twin-engine plane. Presumably his parents had bought it to go with his string of polo ponies.

That, Cassie thought, was an unworthily bitchy thought from her. She didn’t know where she’d have been without Richard last term, after the murders at the Darke Academy and all that had unravelled at the Hagia Sophia. And he’d made it more than clear that if she had to give up on Ranjit Singh, he would be there to catch her as she fell…

Part of her really wished she could love him that way too. How much easier it would be to find solace in Richard’s secure embrace than to go on placing her faith in Ranjit? But even if she tried, she knew it would be a lie. Cassie knew that now better than ever. She’d made her decision last term, and she would stick with it: she would find Ranjit, get him back; it didn’t matter what he’d done under the Pendant’s influence, they could work it out together. She and Ranjit were meant to be together, and they would be.

And that was more than would ever happen for Isabella and her boyfriend Jake Johnson. He was gone now. Cassie shut her eyes, feeling a renewed stab of grief. She’d be strong for her friend, she owed her that much. Isabella had lost so much more than she had.

Opening her eyes again, Cassie placed a hand on Isabella’s arm. ‘Look,’ she said softly. ‘Did you hear Richard? We’re above the Tsavo national park.’

‘Are we?’ Isabella turned obediently to look out, but listlessly.

‘Not a lot of shopping down there, I’m afraid!’ shouted Richard cheerfully. ‘We’ll try Malindi one day.’

‘If you don’t take us on a game drive on day one, we’ll never speak to you again!’ Cassie shouted back. ‘I take it you have some kind of stretch-jeep with a cocktail bar and a chauffeur?’

‘Are you
mocking
me, Scholarship Girl?’

‘I certainly am.’ Cassie nudged Isabella and gave her a wink, but Isabella didn’t even attempt a laugh, and Cassie felt her mood sink again.

Even Isabella’s usually glossy dark hair looked lifeless, and was pulled back in a rough ponytail. Cassie knew her friend had come back to the Darke Academy only after much persuasion and begging from her parents, and then only because she hadn’t wanted to worry them any further by refusing. The Carusos had hoped – and Cassie still hoped – that a term in Kenya would begin some kind of a healing process in Isabella’s soul. It wasn’t looking good so far.

And yet Cassie was actively looking forward to the new term, despite her sense of guilt. Kenya seemed the ideal choice: wildness and space and open air, after three consecutive terms in cities. It would be good for all the students, she thought, and especially for the Few – Richard, Ayeesha, Cormac and the others – after the calamitous events in Istanbul. They all needed some space to regroup. She wouldn’t have been surprised if Sir Alric Darke had made his choice on that basis. As far as she knew, the school’s changing location each term was his decision alone, however much he had to answer to the Council of Elders for the actions of his students.

Cassie shivered, remembering her own confrontation with the terrifying Elders, two terms ago in New York. When she’d come so close to being sent to the Confine for life…

For the first time, Isabella seemed to notice what was going on around her, and this time she squeezed Cassie’s arm.

‘What about you, Cassie? Are you all right?’ There was concern in her voice that only sharpened Cassie’s sense of responsibility.
If it hadn’t been for Ranjit, Jake would still be alive. If it hadn’t been for Cassie, her insane boyfriend and his crazy plan for them to be together backfiring so spectacularly
…

‘Don’t worry about me, Isabella, for heaven’s sake!’ Cassie laughed lightly, shaking off the memory. After all, what had she just been thinking? A new location, a chance to breathe and think, plenty of time and space to plan. Council of Elders be damned – indeed, Sir Alric Darke be damned – she would track down Ranjit all by herself. She would find him, bring him back, help put things right. Or as right as they could be after all that had occurred.

‘You’ve been so kind, Cassie. But last term—’ Isabella took a breath. ‘It was hard for you too.’

‘I told you, don’t worry about me,’ Cassie whispered. ‘I’ll be fine. And so will you. We’ll look after you.’

‘I don’t know, Cassie.’ Isabella looked away again, clasping her hands tightly. ‘I don’t know if I will be fine …’

Her voice trailed off. Richard half-turned his head, raising his eyebrows at Cassie, and she returned his troubled look.

‘Nearly there, ladies,’ he called, clearly trying to keep his voice light.

The new subdued atmosphere at least gave her time to think a little more. She’d say nothing to the grief-stricken Isabella, who had good reason to be bitter, but she couldn’t help the hope in her heart. Knowing what she wanted, knowing
who
she wanted, had given her a new strength of purpose. The horror of Istanbul could never be obliterated, but she knew as surely as she knew anything that she’d find Ranjit again, that they’d somehow be together again, and that everything would come right, even despite the Few spirit still eager to be entirely inhabited inside her.

She couldn’t afford
not
to believe it.

Richard had been so supportive and understanding, in spite of his declaration of love last term; she wouldn’t lose him as a friend. Hadn’t he offered to fly her and Isabella to the coast in his private plane? She wasn’t regretting the offer
quite
yet, despite the queasy way her stomach lurched with the aircraft. As for the spirit Estelle inside her, well, she wasn’t quite so supportive …

I don’t know what you expect, my dear!

The petulant voice made Cassie smile. So far Estelle was being non-confrontational to an extraordinary degree, probably for diplomatic reasons. Estelle knew what was in her head; the spirit always did. For all her wickedness and black sense of humour, Estelle knew how much Cassie loved Ranjit, knew of her determination that they’d one day be together.

And for her and Ranjit to be together, Estelle had to go.

I refuse to discuss this at present.

Cassie grimaced. So long as you’re not just biding your time, old girl …

No response, and for now Cassie had to be happy with that. The whole thing wasn’t going to be easy – as Ranjit’s experiment with the Pendant had proved. Sighing quietly, she gazed out of the window again at the magnificent sprawl of the savannah below her.

‘All right, ladies,’ called Richard. ‘Nearly there. I can see the landing strip now. I’m just descending. Tighten your seatb— Whoa!’

The little plane lurched and bucked, swaying wildly. Cassie grabbed her armrest as she was flung sideways, almost into Isabella’s lap.

‘Richard?’ yelled Cassie.

He didn’t answer for long moments, wrestling with the controls. At last he gasped, ‘Turbulence! It’s OK, I can—’

But he didn’t finish; he was focused on the plane again. Cassie glanced at Isabella; the Argentinean girl was gripping her seat, jaw tight and skin pale. Cassie undid her seatbelt and managed to wriggle out, grabbing anything close for support, as she stumbled to the cockpit.

‘Go back!’ yelled Richard. ‘It’s fine.’

‘No! Can’t I help?’

‘Not unless you can fly a bloody plane! Sit down!’

But the plane at that moment took a crazy plunge, and Cassie had to hang on to the pilot seat for dear life while Richard struggled to bring its nose back up.

‘I wish you’d let me—’

‘Cassie, go back!’

Thrown against the cabin bulkhead, Cassie thought wryly that she wouldn’t be wearing her bikini for a while, not with all the bruises she was getting. Bracing herself against the control panel, she ducked to look out of the window, and instantly wished she hadn’t. The land was racing towards them at a most unlikely angle.

‘It’s absolutely fine,’ yelled Richard. ‘I’ll just— Ah, bugger!’

‘What?’

‘Control’s stuck. Don’t panic!’

Men!
she thought grimly. ‘That one there?’

‘Obviously!’ He was wrestling with it.

Shutting her eyes and instantly reopening them, she focused. The world around her turned red as she projected her spirit beyond herself and into the cockpit, coiling it round the lever. Richard let go with a yelp of surprise.

‘Jeez!’ Sweat sheened his face, but his expression changed as he saw what was happening. ‘Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it!’ he shouted, grinning.

Cassie felt her jaw ache with the effort of concentration. And then, abruptly, the lever released and the plane gave a last buck-and-leap. But Richard had control back and the juddering Cessna was finally levelling. Easing towards the ground at a shallower angle, it no longer felt as if they were being shaken by a giant fist.

‘We’re there! You did it!’ yelled Richard.

The landing might not have been the smoothest she’d ever experienced, but the plane thumped down and rumbled to a halt. It seemed to sigh with relief itself as red dust settled round its wheels. Cassie flung her arms round Richard and hugged him, and he returned the embrace with enthusiasm.

‘Well done, Halton-Jones. That was a hell of a landing!’

‘Well done both of us! You can fly with me any time, gorgeous.’

She laughed. They knew each other too well now for any awkwardness.

Together they turned to look at Isabella. Her face was still white, but her hands didn’t tremble as she undid her seatbelt and pulled herself to her feet, ducking her head in the tiny cabin. Her lips were compressed in a firm line. Well, thought Cassie, she’s been holding herself together since Jake died. It might be becoming second nature – but that worried Cassie …

‘Yes, well done, guys,’ Isabella said quietly. ‘Though, Cassie, you’re a reckless girl to do what you did. I was afraid for you.’

Isabella’s smile was strained, and Cassie didn’t think that was only down to nerves. What must go through her best friend’s head now, when she saw Cassie’s unusual Few power deployed? Cassie shook herself as Richard creaked the plane’s door wide and the coastal heat struck them.

‘Thank you for flying Bronco Airways, ladies.’ He grinned, and flung out an arm towards the country beyond. ‘Welcome to Mombasa!’

N
ot
quite
Mombasa, as it turned out; Cassie had been expecting the school to be located in the heart of the ancient coastal town, but the new Darke Academy was a few miles to the south. It felt strange to ride in the air-conditioned car that had been dispatched to collect them, and she rubbed her goose-pimpled arms even as she gazed out through thick glass at equatorial vegetation and turquoise seas. Wanting to feel the air and smell the atmosphere, she surreptitiously leaned a finger on the window control, and it slid down. Warm damp air rushed in.

Gratefully Cassie sucked in the hot scent of oleander and dust, even as Richard shook his head and leaned across her to wind up the window with an impish grin. Marat the porter-cum-general-factotum, who was driving, took no notice of any of them.

Cassie smacked playfully at Richard’s arm, wrestling it away. ‘Come on, Ricardo. Soak up the atmosphere!’

‘I
will
be soaking,’ he complained, tugging his damp shirt away from his skin. ‘Ugh. Isabella, control this barbarian!’

Isabella seemed not to hear, just went on staring out of the opposite window at spiky plantations of sisal. Once again Cassie and Richard exchanged troubled glances, settling back in their seats.

‘Not much further, I don’t think, anyway,’ he murmured. His face brightened as he leaned forward, pointing. ‘Ah! Thank God. That’s it!’

Cassie too leaned forward eagerly; she couldn’t imagine that she’d ever lose the thrill of spotting the new Academy each term. The building was barely visible as they turned into a long driveway lined and overshadowed by flamboyant trees, but each moment it revealed more of itself. When Marat turned the car out of the trees into a wide circle in front of the house, Cassie gasped.

The other mansions and hotels they’d passed on the road from Mombasa had been white stuccoed Arab-style affairs, but this great house was built of warm stone and roofed with red tiles. Set back from the sea, its gables were draped in vines and bougainvillea. It looked quite old, but ‘It was built in the 1930s,’ said Richard casually. ‘Sort of a holiday house, for a tea planter up near Nairobi.’

‘
Holiday house
,’ echoed Cassie sarcastically, taking in the size of it. It was a world away from that modern city, the skyscrapers and the sprawling, teeming slums of Kibera. ‘I suppose the whole country was different back then, anyway.’

‘Very different,’ said Richard, ‘but in some ways it’s always the same. Bit like the Academy, really.’