The Safekeepers

Chapter Six

“You are failing Addison.” Anna’s voice reprimanded sternly over the phone, “If that’s all you’ve got after a week then we shouldn’t have sent you. Have you any ideas how many strings we had to pull just to get you in there?”

“Anna! I haven’t had a chance, there’s nothing I could have done.”

“Try harder.”

Kaylee flinched as Anna put down the receiver on the other end. It was freezing cold on top of the roof and she shivered, blowing on her fingertips to warm them up. Even the sunrise, captivating as usual with its different hues of rose and gold and peach, did little to improve her spirits. Staring down at her hands, she noticed that for the first time she could remember, her tan was disappearing. The roof tiles were slippery with frost and she gritted her teeth as she maneuvered her way back into the tower.

“Kaylee? What are you doing on the roof?”

Emily looked up through the window with wide, accusing eyes.

“I was just fixing the aerial.”

Kaylee dived back through the window, leaping into the room. Emily gave her a distrusting look.

“It’s dangerous up there.” She threw an envelope onto Kaylee’s bed, “The Registrar asked me to give this to you.”

“Claire?”

Emily nodded, brushing past Kaylee into the bathroom. Emily was unquestionably irritated about something. Making her way over to her bed, Kaylee picked up the envelope, flicking it over. She noticed at once, from the clumsy way it had been resealed, that someone had already opened it. Ripping open the envelope she removed a stiff white card and sprig of lavender. She read the card, sucking in her breath. She’d been invited to join the tea society.

*****

“What’s in there?” Kaylee asked Marshall and Mansi. They were on their way back up the hill to their boarding houses from hockey practice.

“The dungeons!” Marshall said in a mock-sinister voice, glancing over at the small, turreted building with its blackened stonewalls and monstrosity of a front door, entirely out of proportion with the rest of it.

Mansi laughed. At first too aloof to bother communicating with ‘the new girl’ she’d quickly let down her guard once Kaylee had described her delightful trip to Bombay to her.

“He’s joking of course,” she said, clapping Marshall on his curly head. “It’s the teacher’s common room.”

“Apparently,” Marshall butted in, “they have a notice board there with all the school gossip on it so they can keep up to date. It has lists of who is in each society, only the licensed ones of course.”

“Really?” Kaylee replied with interest, her ears pricking with excitement. “So no students have ever gone in?”

Marshall shook his head, “There are a great deal of us who want to though.”

Kaylee stared at the building as she passed it, detecting that a light had just been switched on in one of the upstairs rooms.

“If I went in” she asked hesitantly, turning to Marshall, “Would you come with me?”

Marshall laughed, “Come on, you can’t be serious.” He looked at her hard and his smile slipped away with nerves.

“There’s no way I’m going in there.” Mansi said quickly.

Marshall looked down at the ground, “We could have a quick look. Mr. Peters, the chemistry teacher, is on duty in my house tonight. He always falls asleep in the duty room so it would be easy to take his keycard. If we crept out at nine then the common room would be empty. Only a very quick look though.”