Sea of Ghosts - Alan Campbell [142]
Ianthe pulled back the blanket.
In the darkness she could just make out a dim figure crouching next to her bed. She realized it was the fat red-haired girl she’d briefly sat next to at supper. The girl leaned close and whispered, ‘Don’t let them get to you. They pick on everyone at first. And Sister Ulla is a monster.’ She pressed something into Ianthe’s hands.
It was a piece of chicken, wrapped in a napkin. Ianthe began to eat it at once.
‘You’re from Evensraum?’
Ianthe nodded.
‘I’m from Harpool, about thirty miles north of Losoto. My family are farmers, too.’
‘We’re not farmers,’ Ianthe said. ‘I mean, I don’t . . . what does it matter?’
‘Regina and Constance are the worst,’ the girl said. ‘They think they’re Losotan nobles or something. It’s like they’re always going on about Emperor Hu and how their families have arranged a special deal with him and they’re going to be attached to his court. It doesn’t even work like that. You don’t get to choose where you’re posted.’
‘What’s your name?’
‘Aria. I’d better go.’
‘Thank you,’ Ianthe said.
Aria turned away, but Ianthe grabbed her and whispered, ‘Are they talking now?’
‘They’re asleep.’
Ianthe lowered her head. ‘I wasn’t sure.’
‘Silences are difficult here,’ Aria said. ‘But you’ll soon start to miss them.’
Ianthe got up before dawn and sneaked into the bathroom to wash herself before the other girls woke up. She returned to her bed but didn’t have to wait there for long. As the first glimmer of light crept into the forest outside, the dormitory door opened, and Sister Ulla marched in.
‘Up,’ she said, ‘up, you lazy creatures. We’ve too much to do today.’
The girls rose, complaining groggily. Ianthe looked over at Aria, but the big, auburn-haired girl avoided her eye. Constance and Regina, the pair whom Sister Ulla had expelled from the library with bleeding noses, were not so coy. Constance offered Ianthe a cut-glass stare, then brushed her blonde curls from her shoulder in an exaggerated manner. She turned and smiled at her companion in a way that seemed to promise mischief. Regina suppressed a giggle.
‘You!’ Sister Ulla said to Ianthe. ‘You’ve washed? Come with me.’
The Testing Room was further along the corridor from the dormitory. It was bare but for a table and two chairs in the centre of the floor. Tall windows overlooked an empty courtyard flanked by colonnades and facing a wall with an iron grate leading into the forest. Sister Ulla told Ianthe to sit, and then left the room.
Ianthe waited.
The courtyard outside grew steadily lighter. Ianthe watched the shadows draw back towards the easternmost colonnade. Birds hopped along the forest wall. Half the morning passed by, and still nobody came. She wondered if this was part of the test. If she stood up and walked over to the window, would she fail? Perhaps she was supposed to make a decision and leave? Were they watching her? She got up and listened at the door but heard nothing. She sat down again.
The morning dragged on. Noon came and went. It must have been early afternoon when Sister Ulla returned. The little old woman carried a glass bell jar, which she placed unceremoniously on the table as she sat down. In the jar was a frog.
Sister Ulla regarded Ianthe for a long time. Her crumpled face was unreadable, but her eyes were small and cold. Finally she said, ‘Know where you are and who you are with. This organization gives nothing. If you want to be a part of it, you will accept that.’
Ianthe looked at the frog.
‘Some members of the Guild like to think they can bend the rules,’ the old woman went on. ‘They expect me to make concessions for students. But I don’t hold with that. The Guild is not a crown to be worn or a sword to be wielded. It is an ideology. Do you understand?’
Ianthe thought she should nod, so she did.
The old woman’s eyes narrowed. Then she tapped the glass jar and said, ‘I want you to kill this creature.’
Ianthe just looked at her.
‘Psychic communication requires the lightest touch,’ the old