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details. It seemed … not right to ask, you know? There were rumours. There always are.’
    Cassie had bitten her lip, hoping she didn’t sound ghoulishly curious. ‘What kind of rumours?’
    ‘Oh, terrible things. People make things up, when there is no information. That is why I think we should have been told. Then gossip does not start.’ Isabella had hesitated, picking at a fingernail. ‘You look like her, by the way.’
    ‘Like Jake’s sister?’ Cassie shivered. Resembling a dead girl was not an appealing thought.
    ‘A little. Not exactly, of course, but her eyes were almost the colour of yours. Not so pale but still, that yellowish green. And a similar sort of face – how do you say, sharp? Intelligent. I think Jake got a fright when he first met you.’
    She remembered. Spooky. ‘So what were the rumours?’
    ‘Oh, crazy things. That her body was … damaged.’
    ‘ What? ’ Cassie swallowed hard. ‘Mutilated, you mean? Like she was killed deliberately?’ Poor Jake.
    ‘No, no. I don’t know. Not mutilated. More … drained, dried-up. Maybe she cut herself, bled to death; that is what I think. By accident or not, who can tell? Something so simple and so tragic.’
    ‘For God’s sake. That wouldn’t drain her whole body.’
    Isabella shrugged. ‘Maybe she lay in the sun too long. Before they found her, I mean. Horrible, but it was all exaggerated, I’m sure. Oh, the dreadful things people say. And that’s why …’
    ‘Why what? Come on Isabella, spill.’
    Isabella sighed, raking her fingers through her hair. ‘That’s why Jake doesn’t like Ranjit. Jess was Ranjit’s girlfriend, you see. There were rumours at school that he was involved.’
    Cassie went pale. ‘But that’s—’
    ‘Crazy, of course! But it is hard for Jake to ignore the gossip. He cannot stop thinking that perhaps Ranjit … well, I don’t even like to say it. It was a terrible accident, that is all, and Jake is grief-stricken. He cannot bear to blame it just on the school’s bad luck.’
    ‘Bad luck,’ repeated Cassie, licking parched lips. Dried-up …
    ‘Yes. Only bad luck. We are lucky Sir Alric has influential friends. Our parents, too. That is, I mean …’ Biting her lip, she blushed furiously and rushed on. ‘Such incidents can destroy a school, yes?’
    ‘Such incidents.’ At some point, thought Cassie, she would think of something original to say, instead of echoing Isabella like a dazed parrot.
    ‘Accidents, I should say. Another one a few years ago. Before that … well. Let’s not talk about it, Cassie. Let’s talk about Richard!’
    Which, by that point in the conversation, Cassie had been more than happy to do.
    Still, it wasn’t like Isabella to clam up. Hah! Great Understatements of Our Time, thought Cassie fondly. Oh, she was probably imagining things. Being paranoid. She wasn’t having any miraculous revelations just by standing on the stairs, anyway. Plus, she was hungry. Isabella would be in the dining room, and Richard too. She was supposed to be meeting him later, but it would be nice to bump into him now.
    She was halfway down the flight of stairs to the third floor when she heard the voices. They weren’t muted. They rang out clear and confident, and she recognised them straight away.
    Especially Richard’s.
    ‘Oh, come along, Katerina. It’s not like you to be insecure.’
    ‘Insecure?’ The voice froze Cassie where she stood, there was such malevolence in it. ‘I can’t think what you mean, Richard.’
    A hidden door closed sharply, and Cassie jumped. The pair were in that long corridor with the rows of classical busts, the one where she’d tracked down Jake. The one that led to the Few’s common room, she realised with a jolt.
    Giving its archway an anxious glance, Cassie ran down the stairs to the landing and ducked behind a marble-topped cabinet. An enormous gilded clock and two candelabra obscured her view, but she could peer past, just.
    Mad , thought Cassie, almost