The Gray Institute (The Gray Institute Trilogy Book 1) (24 page)

'I just know.' I shrug.

'Who told you?' Tia asks. She, like Lorna Gray, is smarter than she seems.

'I just heard it on the grape vine.' I shrug, trying to be vague, but this time, Tia isn't letting go.

'I'm not stupid,' She snaps. 'This sort of information isn't just
passed along the grape vine
. Nobody knows where Katy Branch is kept. Well, save a few select people, and as far as I know, none of them would be inclined to tell you.'

'Well that just shows how much you know doesn't it?' I retort, rising from the bench and heading back to the Institute. I feel bad on Tia, but she's such a gossip mongrel and I'm messing in things that ought not to be messed in. The only way to dissuade her is to put some distance between us. Not enough that she gets mad and goes blabbing about my plans, but enough that I can avoid her easily, thus avoiding a scene like this one.

'It was Malachy, wasn't it?' I hear her call from behind me. I stop dead in my tracks, my breath catching in my throat. I take a few deep breaths and spin around to face her, quicker than I've ever moved. She stares back at me, her gaze wavering. I storm across the grass, my movements swift, and grip her arm tightly.

'Who told you that?' I snarl, trying not to feel bad as she flinches and tries to pull her arm away.

'Nobody!' She squeals. 'I guessed.'

'You guessed?' I scoff, cocking an eyebrow.

'An educated guess.' She reproaches herself.

'What do you mean, an
educated
guess?' I narrow my eyes. She stammers, avoiding eye contact. She's desperate to get away from me, away from the conversation, and I feel guilty watching her pretty face squirm. I'm tempted to let her go, but I need her information.

'You know something about Malachy, don't you?' I ask for the second time, my gaze piercing. She doesn't reply. 'You're supposed to be my friend!' I try a different tactic, one more suited to Tia's personality. I don't want to guilt trip a good friend, but it seems I don't have a choice.

'I am!' She pleads. 'I just don't want to get involved in all this! It's dangerous!'

'You think?!' I screech. 'I'm the one in danger, Tia, not you!'

'I will be if I tell you what I know!' She squeaks. I stop, loosening my grip on her arm slightly.

'What do you mean?' I frown.

'If I tell you what I know about Malachy, I'll be in even more danger than you.' She replies steadily, her gaze meeting mine.

'Why?' My question is simple, but loaded.

'I'm forbidden to speak of it. Everybody is.' She says, her voice lowered to little more than a whisper. She scans the Institute's windows and for the first time, I'm wary of onlookers from inside. I lower my arm so that my hold on Tia will be less obvious to any audience.

'For God's sake,' I hiss. 'Is there
anything
in this bloody place that isn't forbidden? What, does Sir Alec have a list as long as his arm of things that are forbidden?'

'It's forbidden for a good reason. A higher reason than Sir Alec.' Tia replies quietly. I frown, my thoughts flitting to the Auctoritas – and Malachy's place within them.

'Look, Tia,' I sigh, taking a seat next to her on the bench and releasing her arm. She watches me warily, but doesn't run. 'I am in some serious shit,' I lay it out as simply as I can for her.

'The bottom line is, I've been given a task by Sir Alec that is near impossible to complete.

The chances are I won't be able to give him the result he wants even if I
do
manage to speak to Katy and even if I
do
know the history of this place. But I certainly won't if I don't.

If I don't get Sir Alec the result he wants, it really makes no difference to him – he'll change Lorna with or without her consent – but his favour towards me will drop dramatically. He won't be pleased that he'll have to do something he doesn't want to, and he'll see it as my fault. That puts me in a pretty scary position. Sir Alec can do what he likes with me. Sure, he has to listen to the Auctoritas, but from what I've heard, they're not known for their sympathy or fairness. He will isolate me, or worse – Confine me.

I didn't ask for this, but I can't very well get out of it. Given my chance I would go back in time and fail miserably at my fake attack on you. But I can't, and now I have to play with the hand I've been dealt.

I will do this with or without your help, but without, I will undoubtedly fail. And when I'm sent to the West wing to live my time here out in solitude, isolated within and outside of the Institute, or sent to the Confine for all eternity, do you really want that on your conscience?' I ask, watching her expression darken with every word, the realisation of my desperation dawning on her.

She considers for a few moments everything I've told her, no doubt playing the scenario out in her mind, weighing up the odds.

'Whatever happens, no-one will ever find out that it was you who told me,' I press. 'I'll take it to my grave – theoretically. And no matter what I'm threatened with – be it isolation or the Confine – I will not tell a soul. You can trust me, Tia.' I say truthfully. She sighs, slumping in defeat. I take the opportunity.

'Now, can I trust Malachy?' I ask.

'Yes.' She replies, nodding once. My shoulders loosen and I smile gratefully. 'I mean, normally I would say no. But you, yes.
You
can trust Malachy.' She adds. I frown at her emphasis of the word 'you.'

'Why can
I
trust him?' I ask, weirdly dreading the answer.

'It's a long story. And one I'm not allowed to tell,' She replies.

'Tia, we've been though this – '

'You didn't let me finish,' She interrupts. 'I'm not allowed to tell it, and now that I've assured you that you can trust Malachy, I don't see why you even need to know, but I'll tell you anyway. I know you won't let it drop otherwise and you'll go snooping around asking the wrong people,'

I can't deny that. It appears Tia has an educated insight to my personality.

'Let's walk, I don't want anybody wondering why we're sat outside at dusk talking quietly on an isolated bench,' She snipes.

The temperature has dropped even further and darkness draws in quickly, the only light emanating from the full moon and the glowing windows of the Institute. Tia and I scale the forecourt, our eyes wide in the shadows as we follow the winding stream downhill. The sounds of the Institute fade as we gain distance and the crickets and frogs become louder in the quiet.

'Not too far, I don't want them to panic that we're attempting to escape,' Tia mutters, circling back on our path. 'Look, you can't repeat to any of your first years what I'm about to tell you. Or the second years for that matter. I'm serious, this is not a joke.'

'Tia, relax, it's for my ears only, I promise.' I assure her.

'Okay. There's a reason Malachy acts the way he does. I don't just mean his bitchiness and arrogance whenever Lucrezia is around, I mean that coupled with the fact that when he's alone he's an entirely different person.'

'So I'm not the only one to notice!' I breath a sigh of relief.

'Of course not, people have noticed that for years,' Tia tuts, irritated at my arrogance. 'But what nobody knows is the exact reason for it. We all have our theories based on what happened in our first year at the Institute. But the important thing to remember is that no one knows for sure. It's all speculation.'

'Okay, okay,' I reply hastily. 'So what happened?'

Tia hesitates, her eyes darting back to the Institute before indulging me. 'We were six months into our first year. Everyone knew Malachy and Lucrezia, I mean, they're Auctorita children so of course they had notoriety.

They were then exactly as they are now; arrogant, snobbish and bitchy. They rejected anyone who wasn't from a wealthy or important family in their past lives, and even those who were they treated with contempt – like the Bermudez sisters.

Anyway, the twins themselves were very close, they even shared a room at first. Somebody once told me that they had a difficult upbringing, which isn't hard to believe – everyone here has – but it would explain their almost unnatural bond.

So, six months into our first year, Malachy started dating a girl in our class, Aleks Anzhela. She was Russian, a real down-to-earth young girl whose previous family were just everyday Russian citizens trying to make an honest living. But she was separated from them somehow, I think in some kind of attack. That's how she ended up here.

Everybody who knew Aleks liked her; she was friendly to everyone and had no pretences. Everyone was naturally surprised when she and Malachy got together, you imagine their surprise.' Tia laughs and I nod, knowing all too well the differences in class, status and personality. 

'No-one really knows how it happened; one minute Malachy never left Lucrezia's side, the next he was spending every waking moment with Aleks. And they were really in love, anyone who saw them for just five minutes could tell that, they were inseparable. Nobody had ever seen Malachy act like that before, and no-one had ever seen Lucrezia so livid.

Malachy moved out of their room and into his own, he gradually saw less and less of Lucrezia until eventually it was rare to see them in the same place.

Malachy started to change, you see. Aleks began to rub off on him. He started talking to everybody, smiling, being polite. He was a different person – and Lucrezia hated it. Everyone noticed how she glared at Mal and Aleks, how she deliberately intervened in an attempt to keep them apart. Malachy and Aleks were together for six months and in such a short time, Malachy did a complete 180. Then, suddenly, Aleks was gone.

She didn't come to class, nobody saw her, nobody saw Malachy or Lucrezia either. For two weeks they disappeared, and the gossip spread like wildfire. Nobody knew what to make of it.

With Malachy being our future Auctorita, of course everybody assumed that his father had intervened. Auctoritas are free to choose their own mate, but are usually heavily influenced by their predecessors. And if their mother or father disapproves of their choice, the romance usually doesn't last long. 

Then, just like that, Malachy and Lucrezia returned to classes, joined at the hip again. Malachy resumed his bitchy, arrogant attitude. He rejected everyone he'd made friends with, and would speak to nobody save Lucrezia.

Aleks didn't come back.

Obviously, questions were asked, voices were raised. Students didn't just disappear into thin air, even at the Institute. I guess Sir Alec bowed to pressure eventually as he called an assembly of all five years, including all faculty. He told us that Aleks had broken a law. He didn't go into detail but mentioned that she'd attempted to contact a friend from her previous life. No-one believed it, not one of us.

Anyone who knew Aleks knew she would never risk herself or Malachy's lives just to contact an old friend. But that was the story Sir Alec and everybody else, including Malachy, stuck to.

We were all informed that if we ever spoke of Aleks or the incident again, we would be severely punished. So nobody did. It was as though she never existed.

The only trace of her now is Malachy's odd, schizophrenic personality.' Tia shrugs, a strange end to a strange story.

I realise that I've been holding my breath throughout Tia's monologue and I let it out slowly and silently. I know instantly, without asking or being told, that Aleks' disappearance was Lucrezia's doing. It's just my gut instinct.

But how?

How did one vindictive girl manage to convince the government and our headmaster that Aleks had contacted a human?

I suddenly view Malachy as a completely different person, not at all who I thought he was. His strange ways slot into place; his violent mood swings, his change in personality, they all make sense. His persona is an act, but for whose benefit? Lucrezia's? Sir Alec's?

My mind feels overloaded with information and I need time to process it. Just one question still nags at me.