'TRUE GRADUATES OF THE BLACK ACADEMY TAKE LIFE BY THE THROAT, ELSA. REMEMBER THAT!'
The Black Academy is a school like no other. An élite establishment that moves to a new exotic city every term, its students are possibly beautiful, sophisticated...
Tearing herself reluctantly away from the painting, Elsa followed. She was trying to look cool and uninterested and at home, but she had a terrible urge to creep along behind Rapunzel on tiptoe. Any minute now, someone would come along and suss her out, and then she'd be out on her ear like the fraud she was.
There's been a dreadful mistake, they'd tell her coldly. A case of mistaken identity. You can find your own way back? To Miss Peregrine's, where you belong? Naturally we will pay your fare. You look as if you need the charity. . .
In the meantime, she might as well soak in the atmosphere. God, this was beautiful. She'd imagined such buildings existed, but only in fairy tales. Didn't you need silk dresses and crinolines to hang out in a place like this? Or at least a ball of string to stop you getting lost for ever?
The gilded hallways and corridors and arches seemed endless, the corniced ceilings so high she was getting a crick in her neck from string at the gods and monsters playing in the painted sky. The soft carpet muffled even the squeaky rumble of that Saver Price suitcase. Watching Rapunzel trundle it along, Elsa blushed.
Second-hand Saver Price at that, and it looked as if it might fall apart at any moment. No wonder the rich brats had laughed. (A/N No offense if you are rich.) "OK, not far now. You are going to love it, Elsa – Ah!" Rapunzel tugged her to a panelled door, jabbing a thin finger at the polished plaque set into the wood.
ELIZABETH SONG RAPUNZEL CORONA
"You see? Roommates!" Rapunzel could barely contain her excitement, but Elsa was struck dumb as the door swung silently open. "You like it?" Rapunzel went from joyful to mournful in an instant. "You don't like it!" At last Elsa found her voice, but it was hoarse and quiet. "Like it? I can't . . . There must have been a mistake." "No mistake." Cheerful again, Rapunzel tossed Elsa's case onto one of the silk bedcovers, right next to a small mountain of designer-label luggage.
Knowing she must look as out of place as her case, Elsa felt a jab of homesickness for the cramped pit she'd shared with two other girls at Miss Peregrine's. You see Miss Peregrine's is a home for Peculiar Children. We call them Peculiars. Peculiars are children who have a peculiarity, that others don't have. Elsa is one of the Peculiars. No one knows how, but Elsa can control and manipulate Ice.
Now, instead of compost walls and vomit-coloured skirting boards, she had rose paint and gilt, and – for God's sake – a chandelier. Instead of a communal bathroom that smelled of damp and toenails, she could see through a second door into an Edwardian-tiled bathroom with a claw-footed tub.
Instead of squabbling over make-up and CDs with girls as foul-mouthed and hard-bitten as she was, she had a roommate who looked and acted like an exotic film star. Yet so far Rapunzel actually seemed . . . nice.
