Night School: Legacy

She said left on Foxborough, she decided after a moment. Then right on the High Street. But she wasn’t certain. Everything had happened so fast.

As soon she turned left, though, she saw ahead the bright lights of the High Street and she knew she’d been right. But even as she ran towards them she wondered whether the presence of the taxicabs, buses and lorries rumbling down the road meant she was safer. She was out in the open now.

Without slowing, she powered right down the High Street looking for the place Isabelle had told her about.

There! At the garishly decorated sandwich shop on the corner Allie veered right and found the little alleyway where the headmistress had told her to wait. Without looking back, she dashed into the shadows between two massive metal rubbish bins.

Leaning back against the wall, she paused to catch her breath. Her hair hung into her eyes, clinging to the sweat on her face, and she shoved it back absently as she wrinkled her nose.

What the hell is that smell?

The bins reeked but there was also some other awful stench around that she really didn’t want to think about. Focusing on her rescue, she kept an eye on the entrance to the alley. Isabelle had said she wouldn’t have to wait long.

But as the minutes ticked by she grew impatient. Even here in the dark she felt too exposed. Too easily discovered.

If I were looking for me, this would be one of the first places I’d look, she thought.

Frowning, she chewed her thumbnail absently, until a strange shuffling sound drew her attention. Glancing down, she saw a discarded sandwich box moving by itself. At first she couldn’t register what she was seeing then her mouth opened in startled astonishment as the box crept slowly towards her from the far side of the alley. Only when it moved into a pool of light did she see the thin, prehensile tail dragging the ground behind it.

Allie covered her mouth with her hands to stifle a scream.

She was crouching in a rats’ nest.

She looked around desperately but there was no place to go. As the sandwich box made its uneven way towards her, she could feel her heart flutter with fear and she struggled to stay still. She had to remain hidden.

But when the rat-box bumped against her left foot it was too much – she tore out of the alley as if she’d been scalded. When she stopped, she found herself back on the street with absolutely no idea of what to do now.

At that moment a sleek, black car skidded to a stop in front of her. Before Allie could react, a tall man leapt out of the driver’s side door and whirled to face her, all in one smooth move.

‘Allie! Quick! Get in the car.’

She stared at him in astonishment. Isabelle had told her she’d send people to help. She hadn’t said ‘I’ll send one guy in a posh car.’ He looked very much like the men who’d chased her earlier – he wore an expensive-looking suit and his dark hair was cropped short.

Allie raised her chin stubbornly.

No way am I getting in that car.

But as she turned to flee two figures appeared out of the darkness on Foxborough Road. They were running straight for her.

She was trapped.

Looking back at the man with the sleek car she saw that he was watching her worriedly. He’d left the car running and it purred like a tiger, spotting its prey. As she took a hesitant step away from him, he stretched out his right arm, his hand turned sideways. He spoke rapidly and without punctuation.

‘Allie my name is Raj Patel I’m Rachel’s dad Isabelle sent me to get you please get in the car as fast as you can.’

Allie froze. Rachel was one of her best friends. Isabelle was the headmistress at Cimmeria Academy.

If he was telling the truth, she was safe with him.

With only seconds to make up her mind, she searched for a sign to tell her what to do. Any indication that he was who he said he was.

His extended hand was steady; he had Rachel’s eyes.

‘You do not want those men to catch you, Allie,’ he said. ‘Please get in the car.’

Something in his voice told her he was telling the truth. As if he’d said the magic words that somehow made her function Allie sprang towards him, scrabbling at the car’s unfamiliar door handle and then leaping in. She was still reaching for her seat belt when the car took off.

By the time the catch clicked into place they were doing sixty miles an hour.





TWO





The thing was, the night had started out so well.

Allie had gone out with her old friends Mark and Harry for the first time in months. These were the guys she’d hung out with back when she was always getting into trouble – she and Mark had been arrested together just a few months ago.

Her parents loathed them both, so she’d expected a bit of pushback when she announced her plans for the evening. But they hadn’t appeared cross at all.

Her mother said only, ‘Be in by midnight, please.’ And that was that.

Ever since she’d come home from Cimmeria Academy that summer they’d treated her differently. With respect.